The evaluation of a brand association density metric

Date11 February 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-02-2018-1768
Published date11 February 2019
Pages104-116
AuthorMarco Vriens,Song Chen,Judith Schomaker
Subject MatterMarketing,Product management,Brand management/equity
The evaluation of a brand association
density metric
Marco Vriens
Department of Marketing, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Song Chen
Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA, and
Judith Schomaker
Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Section, Health, Medical and Neuro-psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a new brand association density metric and evaluate its performance in terms of correlations with
recall, consideration, brand equity and market share and to compare different data collection methodologies to identify brand associatio ns.
Design/methodology/approach The authors present results from two studies covering three product categories. The authors use an open free
association question and associations to a set of pre-dened brand attributes. The responses to the open free format question are text-mined prior
to further analysis.
Findings The authors nd that the brand association density metric performs better than a metric that only uses the number of distinct
associations. The authors also nd that these metrics work best when derived from open free association data.
Practical implications First, in addition to focusing on trying to build specic brand associations in consumersminds, it may be equally
important, if not more important, to manage the number and inter-connectedness of the brands associations. Second, rms should complement
their existing survey approaches with open-ended free association questions.
Originality/value The brand association density concept presented is believed to be new. The empirical comparison between the use of free
association to pre-dened attributes is also new.
Keywords Brand associations, Brand equity, Brand image, Measurement, Brand performance, Brand choice
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) is a key concept in
marketing (Hoefer and Keller, 2003) and has been linked to
several positive business outcomes, including: brand extension
potential (Aaker and Keller, 1990), willingness to pay a
premium (Yoo and Donthu, 2001), Word-of-mouth (WOM)
recommendation (Vazquez et al.,2002), slower advertising
wear-out effects (Campbell and Keller, 2003), reduced rm
risk (Rego et al., 2009), usage and purchase intention (Cobb-
Walgren et al.,1995;Vriens and Martins Alves, 2017), sales
(Attaman and Ülengin, 2003) and positive stock returns
(Madden et al.,2006;Mitzik and Jacobson, 2008). Several
brand equity conceptualizationshave been proposed: e.g. using
scanner data (Kamakura and Russell, 1993), using conjoint
(Cobb-Walgren et al.,1995;Ferjani et al.,2009) and several
derived from Aakers (1991) or Kellers (1993)
conceptualizations (Yoo and Donthu, 2001;Netemeyer et al.,
2004;Pappu et al., 2005;Baalbaki and Guzman, 2016;
Christodoulides et al., 2015).In these latter frameworks, brand
equity is seen as multi-dimensional; the dimensions include
brand image [associations that can differ in terms of
favorability, strength and uniqueness (Keller, 1993)] and
perceived product quality and unaided awareness, both which
can be viewed as associations as well. Hence, brand managers
need to understand the roleof brandassociations.
Branding is memory-based (Walvis, 2008), and according to
the spreading activation theory (SAT), memory retrieval depends
on the spreading of activation in an associative network consisting
of nodes (Quillian, 1967;Collins and Loftus, 1975;Anderson,
1983;Nelson et al.,1993;Janiszewski and Van Osselaer, 2000;
Heckler et al.,2014). Nodes refer to concepts (e.g. brand
associations) in a semantic network. When a buyer is cued by
something associated with a brand, this then activates that brand:
for example, I need toothpastemay evoke the association
Colgate. The more associations a brand has in a consumers
mind, the easier it will be for a consumer to recall and consider
the brand (Nedungadi, 1990;Coates et al.,2004;Walvis, 2008).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
28/1 (2019) 104116
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-02-2018-1768]
Conict of interest: On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states
that there is no conict of interest.
The authors would like to thank Colin Ho and Claudia Meillat for their
help with the data collection and coding. The authors would like to thank
Professor Jan-Benedict Steenkamp and two anonymous reviewers for their
helpful and productive feedback.
Received 24 February 2018
Revised 8 October 2018
Accepted 9 October 2018
104

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