Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

processes of choice and will answer questions like ‘How many information

cards are necessary before making a choice?’ ‘Which cards are the most

important?’ ‘Are some information cards revisited?’ ‘Which piece of infor-

mation turns out to be the decisive one?’ Imagine the matrix in table 6.1 as a

mini-bookcase with information cards on the shelves. The respondents then

pick the cards necessary for reaching a consumption choice at their own pace.

• Chronometric analysisis an analysis of response time. The cognitive
  consumer perspective is much occupied with understanding the pace of
  memory. In a chronometric analysis, the respondent is asked to complete
  certain tasks: answering questions or finding associations. The time it takes to
  complete these tasks is then measured. Mapping out the time between the
  presentation of a stimulus and the response to that stimulus is beneficial in
  order to understand the pace of memory as well as understanding how easily
  associations are retrieved (the ‘thickness’ of the links in figure 6. 5).

These are some of the methods that can be applied when wanting to understand the
choice processes that take place in the mind of the ‘computer’ consumer.
Customer-based brand equity can also be measured; how will be explained in the
forthcoming section.

Measuring customer-based brand equity

There is a direct and an indirect approach to measuring customer-based brand
equity. For an optimal result, these two approaches should be complemented. The
indirect approach measures brand knowledge (brand awareness and brand image,
figure 6.6) by assessing its sources (consumers’ associations). The direct approach
measures customer-based brand equity by measuring consumer responses to the
brand’s marketing actions.

100 Seven brand approaches

Table 6.1A simple version of a matrix array

Colour Safety Price Engine

Volkswagen Information Information Information Information
card a: Black card f: 5 Euro card k card p
NCAP stars

Ford Information Information Information Information
card b: Grey card g: 4 Euro card l card q
NCAP stars

Audi Information Information Information Information
card c Red card: 5 Euro card m card r
NCAP stars
Toyota Information Information Information Information
card d Green card i card n card s

Fiat Information Information Information Information
card e Orange card j card o card t