Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

Measuring customer-based brand equity can be done indirectly as well as
directly. Applying the indirect techniques, brand knowledge is mapped by
consumers. The results should be combined with direct comparative analyses of
the brand and competing brands or through blind-testing marketing actions
against a fictitiously named or unnamed brand.

Managerial implications

In the understanding assumptions section, we discussed the ownership of the
brand in the consumer-based approach, which implies that brand value creation is
measured in the mind of the consumer, but the view of man behind the approach
still allows the idea of linear communication. This duality is reflected in the mana-
gerial implications of the approach. One aspect of the implications is a seemingly
‘all power to the people’ assumption, the other an assumption that the marketer is
still able to control (linear) communication.
The first aspect requires closeness to the consumer. The marketer’s budget
should prioritize constant market monitoring in order to be at the leading edge of
consumers’ development. This ‘market sensing’ priority implies a functional or
market-centred organizational form; – the consumer-based marketers must
possess superior outside–in capabilities in order to succeed.
The other aspect of the consumer-based approach is that the marketer should
create the optimal brand communication in order to create the strongest brand. The
most skilled marketer is the best ‘programmer’. It is all about making the brand
known to consumers, making consumers pay attention to the brand by choosing the
right brand elements, and positioning the brand through consistency in brand

Theory

Methods and data

Assumptions

Managerial implications

Figure 6.11Methods and data of the consumer-based approach

The consumer-based approach 103