Marketing mix and customer equity of SPA brands:Cross-cultural perspectives

Globalization has substantially transformed the fashion industry. Firms that conduct innovative marketing campaigns for SPA brands, also known as fast fashion, are operating worldwide. Because SPA brands tend to have short trend cycles, corporate profitability is sensitive to consumers' attitudinal changes. The authors of this study establish a theoretical framework by examining research trends related to customer equity at home and abroad by delving into the current state of global SPA brands, defining customer equity, developing customer equity measurements, and conducting empirical analyses. This study uses structural equation models to analyze corporate marketing activity effects on customer lifetime value through brand attitude. Although earlier studies identify customer equity as driving value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity, the authors introduce social network equity as another driver.     

An Empirical Investigation of Brand Equity: A Cross-Country Validation Analysis

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to propose and test a model in order to better understand brand equity. The goal of this research is to identify the drivers and determine how they influence brand equity performance in the researched industry in order to develop a more effective brand strategy. Quantitative data collected are used to test a model of brand value in the context of the food industry. The findings of this research provided evidence that the customer-based brand equity model can be applied to the food industry context and be used to guide marketing activities internationally. Brand awareness has a positive influence on brand associations and perceived quality. Brand associations have a positive influence on brand loyalty. Finally, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations all have a positive effect on brand equity. This study contributes to the scarce international brand equity literature by testing the proposed model using data from a sample of consumers in two European countries.     

‘Thinking and feeling’ products and ‘utilitarian and value-expressive’ appeals in contemporary TV advertising: A content analytic test of functional matching and the FCB model

Brand equity is now receiving significant attention, both as a result of changes to international accounting standards relating to intangible assets and as a result of the renewed focus on the impact of marketing communications on brand performance. This paper reports on an investigation of the perceptions of senior marketing and advertising agency personnel regarding (1) the importance of brand equity as a valuation and performance measurement tool and (2) whether financially based brand equity measures and marketing-oriented measures can be translated into a single composite measure of brand equity/value. The findings reported herein indicate that, although financially based brand equity valuations have been a low priority in the past, there is increasing interest in this area and in the evaluation of the long-term impact of promotional activity as part of a wider drive for marketing accountability.     

Brand competitiveness antecedents: The interaction effects of marketing and R&D expenditure

This study aims to investigate the interaction effects of marketing and R&D expenditure on brand competitiveness based on performance indicators. While many studies have investigated the individual effects of marketing expenditure and R&D expenditure on a company's brand value, competitive advantage, and performance, there has been limited research on the interaction effect of these two indicators on brand competitiveness. Longitudinal data were collected from 145 companies over seven years, including 1015 observations. The companies were selected using the systematic removal method from 485 companies on the Tehran stock exchange market. We used a generalised method of moments (GMM) to analyse the data. Findings demonstrate that marketing, when considered independently, had a significant effect on brand competitiveness (as reflected in market share) in the long run, while R&D demonstrated a marginally significant effect. In addition, this study revealed that the interaction effect between marketing expenditure and R&D expenditure on brand competitiveness was marginally significant. These results demonstrate that companies need to invest in marketing activities to leverage the benefits of R&D in order to improve their brand competitiveness. As most companies often face budget constraints, maintaining investments in marketing and R&D is recommended to ensure sustained competitiveness in the long term.     

Brand Equity Management in a Multichannel,Multimedia Retail Environment

Today's multichannel, multimedia retail marketing environment presents a number of brand management challenges. From a micro perspective, marketers must manage each individual channel and communication option to maximize their direct sales and brand equity effects, as well as any indirect brand equity effects from being associated with a particular channel or communication option. From a macro perspective, marketers must design and implement channel and communication options such that sales and brand equity effects are synergistic. Concepts, frameworks, and future research directions are put forth to address these different challenges.     

Examining the Role of Brand Equity in Business Markets: A Model,Research Propositions,and Managerial Implications

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a model of brand equity for business markets. It is argued that the potential benefits of branding and brand equity development have been neglected in business markets and that a general model and stream of relevant empirical research could be useful to managers in business markets depending on the situational nature of their market and competitive structure. The model adapts and extends existing brand equity literature to reflect the unique aspects involved in a business-to-business marketing context. The model developed considers marketing strategies as antecedents, two different classes of moderator variables, brand equity as a perception by the buyer or the market, a series of consequences of brand equity perceptions, and perceived risk as a moderator of the brand equity-consequences relationship. Propositions have been defined and discussed to help facilitate research and provide guidelines for industrial marketing managers.     

The impact of functional integration on perceived risk and consumer-based brand equity

Consumers today have access to a wide span of corporate information and are increasingly aware of the degree to which the functional areas of marketing and supply chain activities are becoming more integrated. Functional integration involves coordinating supply- and demand-focused activities and is theorized to create two interrelated benefits for consumers: lower perceived purchase risk and, ultimately, higher consumer-based brand equity. Despite an emphasis on the important role of consumers in the functional integration literature, the consumers’ viewpoint is missing. This research addresses this gap using a survey and an experiment to investigate the impact of functional integration on consumers’ perceptions of risk and consumer-based brand equity. Findings suggest that when functional integration acts as a component of brand association, purchase risk decreases and consumer-based brand equity increases. The results can help scholars and practitioners better understand the role of functional integration by advancing the nomological net of brand associations as part of the standard marketing mix.     

The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Brand Performance: The Mediating Effect of Industrial Brand Equity and Corporate Reputation

In this article, the researchers explore the following question. Can corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the corporate reputation of a firm lead to its brand equity in business-to-business (B2B) markets? This study discusses CSR from customers’ viewpoints by taking the sample of industrial purchasers from Taiwan small-medium enterprises. The aims of this study are to investigate: first, the effects of CSR and corporate reputation on industrial brand equity; second, the effects of CSR, corporate reputation, and brand equity on brand performance; and third, the mediating effects of corporate reputation and industrial brand equity on the relationship between CSR and brand performance. Empirical results support the study’s hypotheses and indicate that CSR and corporate reputation have positive effects on industrial brand equity and brand performance. In addition, corporate reputation and industrial brand equity partially mediate the relationship between CSR and brand performance.     

零售商品牌资产管理策略体系构建——基于多维理论视角的探讨

零售商品牌资产的管理和创建是零售企业获取持续竞争优势的关键,但关于零售商品牌资产管理策略的理论指导并不系统和丰富。因此,本文从零售商品牌营销管理、顾客情绪管理、顾客体验管理、顾客关系管理、顾客忠诚管理5个多维理论视角,对零售商品牌资产管理的策略体系进行了构建,以期为零售商品牌资产的创建过程和途径提供丰富的管理视野与思路。     

Capturing Retailers’ Brand and Customer Focus

This article uses information from two data sources, Compustat and Nexis Uni, and textual analysis to measure and validate the brand focus and customer focus of 109 U.S. listed retailers. The results from an analysis of their 853 earnings calls in 2010 and 2018 outline that on average, both foci increased over time. Although both foci vary substantially, brand focus varies more widely across retailers than their customer focus. Both foci are independent of each other. Specialty retailers have the highest brand focus, and internet & direct marketing retailers have the highest customer focus. A positive correlation exists between a retailer’s customer focus and its profitability, but not between a retailer’s brand focus and its profitability. The authors use the results to generate a research agenda that can direct future research in further systematically exploring firms’ brand and customer focus.     

The Role of Trust in Understanding the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Equity and Brand Loyalty

Abstract

In this era, social media platform is integrated into the marketing strategy. This new technology sets out new mechanisms and communication tools that companies can rely on to interact and engage with actual and potential customers. This study aimed at exploring the impact of social media marketing activities (SMM) on brand loyalty via brand trust and brand equity. Based on an online survey of 287 users who follow telecommunications companies on social media located in Egypt, data was collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that SMM activities comprise only three dimensions; trendiness, customization and word-of-mouth. These attributes of social media marketing directly influence brand loyalty and indirectly influence brand equity mediated by brand trust. The study emphasis the role of trust and provide guidance toward measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing.     

Antecedents and financial impacts of building brand love

Brand love has garnered increasing interest among practitioners and scholars, but little is known about how marketing actions drive brand love, and whether and how brand love transmutes to firm profitability. Using longitudinal brand love data collected from more than 20,000 customers of 152 corporate brands and financial data of firms who own these brands during 2006–2017, the authors examine the antecedents and financial impacts of building brand love. The results show that advertising investments help firms build brand love with diminishing returns after reaching an optimal point, whereas R&D investments positively contribute to brand love. The analyses further show that although brand love does not affect firm profitability and market value in the short term, it increases firm profitability and market value in the long term. More important, the results indicate that the positive effect of brand love on firm performance is stronger for hedonic brands, for firms in product categories that matter greatly to consumers, and those operating in highly competitive markets. Overall, the findings have important implications for marketing theory and provide actionable insights for managers into how to build and manage brand love.     

Brand alliance and customer‐based brand‐equity effects

This research examines brand alliances, a specific marketing strategy designed to transfer the positive brand equity of two or more partner brands to the newly created joint brand. The study explores how customer‐based brand equity (that is, brand equity as seen from the customer's perspective) of partner brands affects consumer evaluations of an alliance brand; how the brand equity of one partner brand affects the other; how customer‐based brand equity of the partner brands affects consumers' evaluations of the search, experience, and credence attribute performance of the alliance brand; and how product trial influences such evaluations. Results suggest that merely the act of pairing with another brand elevates consumers' evaluations of the partner brands' customer‐based brand equity, and high‐equity partners enhance pretrial evaluation of experience and credence attributes that are relevant to the high‐equity partner. As hypothesized, product trial moderates the equity value of the alliance partner for experience attributes, and brand equity of the partner brands influences consumer perceptions of the alliance brand's equity. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Linking marketing capabilities with profit growth

Profit growth is one of the primary drivers of a firm's stock price and therefore is a clear priority for managers. Yet little is known about how a firm's marketing capabilities may be linked with its profit growth. In this study, we use data from a cross-industry sample of 114 firms to investigate how market sensing, brand management, and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities determine firms' revenue growth and margin growth—the two components of profit growth. Our results reveal that these marketing capabilities have direct and complementary effects on both revenue and margin growth rates. Critically, we find that brand management and CRM capabilities have opposing effects on revenue and margin growth rates, such that a failure to examine these two underlying components would mask the relationships between these marketing capabilities and ultimate profit growth rates.     

Enhancing Brand Equity Through Sustainability: Waste Recycling

Unlike many existing research studies that explain reverse marketing from a purchasing perspective, this study recognizes it as an honest effort made by managers aiming to promote sustainability by purposefully managing waste and discusses the spillover effect of their initiatives on brand equity. It argues that efficient recycling of products through reverse marketing by a brand demonstrates its sincere intent to adopt sustainable business practices and enhances its equity in the marketplace. A business‐to‐business viewpoint has been used to combine knowledge about waste recycling and management through reverse marketing based on the unpretentious operations and management practices. The propositions reflect on the criticality of engaging business customer firms in a procedural mechanism of recycling for increase in brand equity as the success of reverse marketing. A comprehensive adoption of an initiative like waste management through reverse marketing by a brand highlights how sustainability initiatives can create value for the customers of the brand and ultimately drive brand equity. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Market orientation and customer-based corporate brand equity (CBCBE): a dyadic study of Indian B2B firms

The relationship between market orientation (MO) and one of its most important consequences – firm performance – has received considerable attention in marketing research. Performance has been largely judged through financial or objective measures. This paper connects assimilation of MO in firms with corporate brand performance since academics have not used judgmental or market-based measures in assessing performance. We have introduced customer-based corporate brand equity to obtain a rounded idea of firm performance. This is achieved through a dyadic study, instead of self-assessment, wherein the marketing chiefs of B2B firms and their respective organisational customers are surveyed to gauge the effects of incorporating MO. We have shown that corporate brand performance is enhanced significantly in the presence of organisational innovativeness. From a practitioner’s perspective, the study details the organisational actions to be taken to assimilate MO and how those can be exploited to enhance corporate brand performance.     

The Impact of Brand Equity and the Company's Reputation on Revenues

Abstract

This paper intends to establish the relationships among variables in corporate communications, especially between advertising and public relations, and to form an evaluation model for integrating the effects of brand equity and the company's reputation in the context of integrated marketing communications (IMC). A new approach for integrating the effects of brand equity and the company's reputation was introduced and the IMC evaluation model was specified for testing. The proposed model was tested with existing secondary data. The outcomes indicated that both brand equity and the company's reputation have significant impact on revenues and showed the positive relationship between brand equity and the company's reputation in the proposed model to justify the need of IMC in overall corporate communications.     

Examining the Relationship Marketing,Marketing Productivity Paradigm

Abstract

The authors examine the relationship marketing research literature and identify three schools of thought regarding relationship marketing. The Inter-organizational, customer relationship, and customer valuation research perspectives are described and representative studies are discussed. The predominant conceptual approaches to marketing productivity in the research literature are identified and described. The shareholder value model of Srivastava, Shervani, and Fahey (1998) is selected as the most useful conceptual framework linking relationship marketing and marketing productivity. The linking constructs of customer equity and brand equity are identified as the critical conceptual connections between relationship marketing and marketing productivity. A research agenda is suggested, covering both conceptual and operational issues for further development of both relationship marketing and marketing productivity.     

Consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and the role of social media communications: Qualitative findings from the Malaysian automotive industry

Previous studies on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) have maintained that CBBE is a multidimensional construct which reflects both consumers’ perceptions and attitudes. However, only few of the extant CBBE models emanate from the context of automotive brands. As such, this present study employs a qualitative approach using a semi-structured face-to-face interview among 11 informants, to explore the concept of CBBE in the context of automotive brands. Also, this study explores the role of social media communications in developing CBBE for automotive brands. The findings of this research demonstrate that CBBE is a valid concept which reflects consumers’ perception and mindset towards their knowledge, which are reflected through brand awareness, hedonic brand image, functional brand image, and brand sustainability of automotive brands. Additionally, the marketing activities and communication contents on social media play an important role in improving the perception of automotive brands in consumers’ minds, hence the development of automotive CBBE. The theoretical implications of these research findings are that this study provides an insight into the feasibility of developing a specific CBBE model for automotive brands. Practically, this study presents insights for brand manager on the importance of developing CBBE through social media communications.     

How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix

Combining survey data with real-market data, this research investigates brand awareness from three perspectives. This study examines the relation between brand awareness and market outcome and explores the relation between brand awareness and brand equity. The study also investigates the effects of marketing mix elements on brand awareness. Results reveal consumers' brand usage experiences contribute to brand awareness, implying experience precedes awareness in some contexts. The results also confirm positive association between brand awareness and brand equity. Lastly, the current work demonstrates the importance of distribution and price promotion in building brand awareness in a consumer-packaged goods category.