Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

The information-processing theory of consumer choice focuses on explaining
the process of choice. Man is supposed to have limited processing capacity, which
is why the marketer should be aware to make the most efficient communication.
The customer-based brand equity framework is a brand management theory
that draws upon the two above themes. This framework maps brand knowledge
as a cognitive construal. In order to be able to talk about customer-based brand
equity, brand awareness has to exist in the minds of consumers. The brand has to
be recalled and recognized. If this is the case, brand image can be mapped.
Brand image consists of consumer associations depicting tangible as well as
intangible aspects of the brand, also depicting attributes, benefits and attitudes.
Customer-based brand equity is a comparative framework by which the favoura-
bility, strength and uniqueness of brand association can be measured against
those of competing brands.

Methods and data of the consumer-based approach

As described in the introduction to this chapter, the cognitive consumer
perspective and the consumer-based approach have become very dominant both in
the fields of consumer research and brand management. Therefore, there is an
abundance of methods that can be used for researching consumers along this line
of thought. In this section we will present a few of the most widely applied
methods for gathering knowledge of the cognitive consumer and his or her choice
processes. These methods provide an insight into the way consumers are investi-
gated when the researcher aims at understanding the cognitive mechanisms acti-
vated during consumption choices.

Theory

Assumptions

Methods and data

Managerial implications

Figure 6.10Theory of the consumer-based approach

98 Seven brand approaches