Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

communication. The marketer should also consider the brand a strategic corporate
priority and see all marketing actions as influencing the brand in the future.
Therefore, step 2 in figure 6.12 leads to the need for a new step 1, and so on and so
on. Finally, it should be considered if brand image is balanced with brand identity.

Make consumers aware of your brand

The fact that the brand name ideally should spur high levels of awareness means
that it is important to expose the consumer to the brand name repeatedly.
Customer-based brand equity starts with brand awareness, building that meticu-
lously is one of the important first steps to take when marketing a brand along the
consumer-based line of thought. In the section about the cognitive consumer
perspective we mentioned that memory is assumed to be very durable. As
knowledge we store in memory tends to stay there for a very long time, repeated
exposure to a commercial message is considered very important. Perceptual
enhancement of a concept can lead to permanent memory codes.
Brand awareness might be the most important use of heuristics (the simplifying
strategies) where consumers choose the well known brand because it facilitates the
choice process. The consumer seems to be willing to pay a premium price and accept
lower-quality goods for the same brand if it is a brand with high awareness. Consumers
display a tendency to accept more advertising repetition by a familiar brand than from
an unknown one and pioneering brands have tremendous advantages when it comes to
conquering the permanent positive memory codes. So building the highest possible
degree of brand awareness or familiarity is crucial for a successful brand.
When establishing brand awareness, the marketer might also pay some attention
to whether brand recognition or brand recall is the most important goal for the brand
in question. The recall aspect is most important in high involvement categories and

Consumer

Step 1: The marketer finds

the brand components by

asking consumer-based for

brand associations

Marketer

Consumer

Step 2: After having listened,

the marketer is now able to

control (linear) brand

communication

Marketer

Figure 6.12Dualistic mechanisms of the consumer-based approach influencing the
managerial implications

104 Seven brand approaches