Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Product & Brand Management, Volume 20, Issue 2

In order for a brand to succeed, the level of consumer brand awareness necessary for purchase and use varies depending upon how and where the consumer makes their purchase decision. It may not be necessary for a consumer to have to actually recall a brand name – they need only to be able to recognize a familiar brand, which then may actually allow the consumer to activate their relevant brand knowledge from memory. So it becomes of paramount importance for a company to constantly measure the level of consumers’ brand awareness as it pertains to both products and services. To fail to do so on an ongoing basis seriously weakens any attempts to increase brand equity.

Till, Baack and Waterman develop a new methodology for gaining actionable strategic insight into a brand’s association and its competitive uniqueness as it pertains to key competitors. The authors integrate various techniques to develop a strategic overview of a band’s associations and to depict brands’strategic meaning in a comprehensive visual presentation. The authors present a Strategic Brand Association Map, which provides brand managers with a clear,consumer-driven strategic view of the associations their brand, has, and how said associations may (or may not) be serving to differentiate their brand.

Montaner, de Chernatony and Buil examine the factors that influence the consumers’ response toward gift promotions. Specifically four variables are analyzed: the nature of the product being promoted, the fit between the product and the gift, the type of brand used in the promotion and the deal-proneness. Each of these variables play a role in the consumers’ response to gift promotions. The authors’ findings provide useful guidelines for the design of gift promotions.

Corsi, Rungie and Casini examine whether polarization index represents a valid loyalty measure for evaluating changes over time. The study compares the results obtained with three well known brand performance measures utilized for the analysis of loyalty: the purchase frequency, the share of category requirements, and the repeat rate with those obtained using the polarization index on the purchases of wine made by Italian consumers in the retail sector employing a longitudinal analysis methodology. This study illustrates that marketing managers should always compare the results obtained with brand performance measures with those derived from the polarization index before Drawing conclusions on the real loyalty trends of their products and brands.

Renard and Sitz identify three key elements that maximize sponsorship opportunities and enable a successful relationship between a sponsor and a sponsored party. The authors suggest that a brand should have four strong pillars to build its brand essence: its own brand identity, a clear offer for a value creation process, an organization to support this offer in line with strategic alliances of the sponsor and identified targets or consumers.

Sanyal and Datta explore the impact of country of origin image on brand equity of branded generic drugs. Results of this study showed that country of origin image had a positive and significant effect on components of brand equity, i.e. brand strength and brand awareness. The results also showed that country of origin image of branded generics (drugs) significantly, but indirectly affected brand equity through mediating variables, brand strength and brand awareness. Marketers should be aware of the fact in the pharmaceutical industry that physicians are influenced by the brand’s original country image.

In this issue you will also find a case study, our Pricing strategy &practice section, as well as our Book review section.

Richard C. Leventhal