Executive Summary
Understanding brand equity involves identifying the network of strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in consumer memory. Consumers might associate a brand with a particular attribute or feature, a usage situation, a product spokesperson, or a logo. This association network constitutes a brand’s image, identifies the brand’s uniqueness and value to consumers, and suggests ways that the brand’s equity can be leveraged in the marketplace.
Methods for measuring brand association networks fall into two categories. First, consumer mapping techniques obtain the information directly from consumers. Brand associations are elicited from consumers, who are then asked to construct networks of these associations. Second, analytical mapping techniques derive the information indirectly from consumers. Brand associations are elicited from consumers, but analytical methods are used to uncover how these brand associations are linked in a network. Illustrative of this approach is network analysis.
In this article, the authors offer a new consumer mapping approach, called Brand Concept Maps (BCMs), to answer the need for a more accessible and standardized method for uncovering brand association networks (brand maps). The approach is easy to administer, does not require specially trained interviewers, and does not involve specialized statistical techniques. In addition, BCM offers a flexible approach and is capable of being used in many research settings, even with large sample sizes that cover diverse market segments.
The authors report two studies in this article. The first study describes the BCM methodology, illustrates its application, and provides evidence of its reliability (split-half reliability) and validity (nomological validity). The second study provides evidence of convergent validity, comparing results from the BCM technique with more conventional ways of measuring brand perceptions. On the basis of these studies, the authors evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the BCM approach and its usefulness for brand management.
Biography
Deborah Roedder John received her doctoral degree from Northwestern University. She is a professor and Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Marketing at the University of Minnesota. Her current research focuses on topics related to strategic branding, including cross-cultural responses to brand extensions and assessing risks of brand dilution. Her research has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of Behavior Decision Making. She serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.
Barbara Loken received her doctoral degree from University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign. She is Professor of Marketing at the University of Minnesota. Some of her current research focuses on branding (brand extension, brand dilution, and brand attitudes); other current research focuses on social marketing. Her research has been published in marketing journals—Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and Journal of Marketing—psychology journals—Annual Review of Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Applied Social Psychology—and health journals—American Journal of Public Health and Addictive Behaviors.
Kyeongheui Kim received her doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota. She is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the cognitive processes that underlie consumer judgment and choice. Her research has appeared in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Advances in Consumer Research.
Alokparna Basu Monga received her doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota. She is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her current research focuses on the influence of cross-cultural styles of thinking and self-construal on various branding issues. Her work appears in Journal of Consumer Research and Advances in Consumer Research.
J Marketing Research, Volume 43, Number 4, November 2006
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