Blending Branding Theory & Practice: Insights & Lessons From Applying the Brand Resonance Model

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Blending Branding Theory Practice Insights
Lessons From Applying the Brand Resonance Model

• Professor Kevin Lane Keller
• Tuck School of Business
• Dartmouth College

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Agenda

• A Brief History of the Model
• Understanding Brand Resonance
• Implications, Insights, Lessons

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A Brief History of the Model

• I was asked by Grey Advertising to develop a
  brand equity model
• I sketched out the basic model structure in the
  back of an exec ed classroom
• After fleshing out model details, I presented to
  Grey, but they passed
• As the result of a Brand Equity Day with PG,
  they chose to use it as their tracking model,
  called it EquityScan, and calibrated it
• It has been adopted, sometimes just in parts, by
  several other companies since

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Objectives of the Model

• The model had to be logical, well integrated, and
  grounded.
• The model had to be versatile and applicable to
  all possible kinds of brands and industry
  settings.
• The model had to be comprehensive and have enough
  breadth to cover important branding topics, as
  well as enough depth to provide useful insights
  and guidelines.

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Definition of Customer-Based Brand Equity

• The differential effect that brand knowledge has
  on customer response to brand marketing activity
• Sources Thoughts, feelings, images, experiences,
  beliefs, attitudes, experiences, etc.
• Outcomes Revenue enhancements cost savings

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Brand Resonance

• Brand resonance is when consumers feel that they
  are in synch with a brand
• Creating brand resonance involves a series of
  steps as part of a branding ladder
• Creating brand resonance is also characterized by
  a logically constructed set of brand building
  blocks.

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BRAND RESONANCE PYRAMID
Branding Objective at Each Stage
Stages of Brand Development
Building
Blocks
RELATIONSHIPSWhat about you me?
Intense,Active Loyalty
4
Resonance
RESPONSEWhat about you?
Positive,AccessibleReactions
3
Judgments
Feelings
MEANINGWhat are you?
Points-of-Parity Difference
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Performance
Imagery
Deep, BroadBrandAwareness
IDENTITYWho are you?
1
Salience
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Brand Resonance Building Blocks Salience

• Salience
• Depth and breadth of brand awareness
• Recognition and recall at purchase and
  consumption
• How easily and often the brand is thought of
• In all the right places at all the right times
  in all the right ways

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Brand Resonance Building BlocksPerformance
Imagery

• Performance
• What the brand does to meet customers' more
  functional needs.
• Brand performance refers to the intrinsic
  properties of the brand in terms of inherent
  product benefits.
• Imagery
• How people think about a brand abstractly rather
  than what they think the brand actually
  physically does.
• Brand imagery is thus more extrinsic properties
  of the brand.
• Four important intangible dimensions are
• Type of user
• Brand personality
• History heritage
• Experiences

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Superior Competitive Positioning

• Performance and Imagery associations should be
  chosen to help the brand achieve a superior
  competitive positioning
• Develop 3-5 unique brand points-of-difference
  (PODs)
• Desirable to consumer
• Deliverable by the company
• Differentiatied from competitors
• Establish 2-4 shared brand points-of-parity
  (POPs)
• Negate competitor points-of-difference
• Overcome perceived vulnerabilities from
  points-of-difference
• Demonstrate category credentials

Kevin Lane Keller, Brian Sternthal, and Alice
Tybout (2002), Three Questions You Need to Ask
About Your Brand, Harvard Business Review,
September, 80 (9), 80-89.
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Brand Resonance Building Blocks Judgments
Feelings

• Judgments
• Consumers overall brand evaluations
• How consumers combine performance and imagery
  associations to form different kinds of brand
  opinions
• Quality, satisfaction, credibility,
  consideration, superiority
• Feelings
• Consumers emotional responses and reactions to
  the brand
• Can be mild or intense positive or negative or
  experiential or enduring in nature.
• Can also relate to the social currency evoked by
  the brand.

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Dimensions of Brand Feelings

• Brand feelings can be divided into two broad
  categories
• Experiential immediate, short-lived during
  purchase/consumption
• Enduring private, possibly part of day-to-day
  life
• Brands should have one, or ideally both, types of
  feelings

• Experiential Feelings
• Warm
• Fun
• Exciting

• Enduring Feelings
• Sense of Security (Inner-directed)
• Social Approval (Outer-directed)
• Self-Respect (Actualization)

Increasing level of intensity
Self-Respect
Higher level of values needs
Sense of Security
Social Approval
Inner-Directed
Outer-Directed
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Brand Resonance Building Blocks Resonance

• Resonance
• The extent to which customers feel that they are
  in synch with the brand
• Intensity or depth of the psychological bond that
  customers have with the brand or others
• Level of activity engendered by this loyalty
• Repeat purchase rates
• The extent to which consumers seek out brand
  information, events, or other loyal customers

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The Four Components ofBrand Resonance

• Behavioral Loyalty
• Customers repeat purchases and the amount or
  share of category volume attributed to the brand
• Attitudinal Attachment
• When customers view the brand as being something
  special in a broader context
• Active Engagement
• When customers are willing to invest personal
  resources on the brand time, energy, money,
  etc. beyond those resources expended during
  purchase or consumption of the brand
• Sense of Community
• When customers feel a kinship or affiliation with
  other people associated with the brand.

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Achieving Resonance

• First, must create foundation for resonance
• Proper salience breadth depth of awareness
• Firmly established points-of-parity
  points-of-difference
• Positive judgments feelings that appeal to the
  head the heart

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Achieving Resonance

• Then, must optimize four dimensions of brand
  resonance by developing marketing activities
  that
• Overcomes physical mental barriers for purchase
  consumption
• Strikes an emotional chord
• Are a catalyst for social connections
• Creates meaningful opportunities for interactions

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Nike Brand Resonance Pyramid
Loyalty Attachment Community Engagement
Fun Exciting Self-respect
Emotional Route
Rational Route
Credibility Superiority
Innovative Quality Stylish
Empowerment Irreverence
Salience Everything athletic
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Starbucks Brand Resonance Pyramid
Loyalty Attachment Community Engagement
Quality Credibility Consideration Superiority
Warm Fun Relaxation Romantic indulgence
Emotional Route
Rational Route
Quality ingredients Exotic variety Personalized
service Comfortable atmosphere
Sophisticated elegant Casual
comfortable Third Place Progressive cool
Salience Highly accessible convenient
(ideally anywhere anytime)
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Brand Resonance Network
Company
Company Brand connections
Consumer Company connections
Brand
Consumer Brand connections
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer Consumer connections
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Any marketing activity can be judged by its total
effect on the four dimensions of brand resonance
Behavioral Loyalty
Attitudinal Attachment
Sense of Community
Active Engagement
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Marketing Resonance

• Any marketing activity can affect more than one
  dimension of resonance
• Interactive or multiple effects
• Certain categories allow for more resonance
• Inherently high levels of interest activities
• To maximize brand resonance, increase the levels
  of both the intensity activity of customer
  loyalty relationships

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The Duality of Brand Resonance
Heirloom Brands
Intensity of Relationship
Resonating Brands
Heritage Brands
Necessity Brands
Utilitarian Brands
Activity of Relationship
Brand Resonance Requires Customer Intensity
Activity
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Brand Resonance Model Implications

• The brand resonance model can be used
• Qualitatively to guide interpret possible
  marketing actions
• Quantitatively to measure marketing effects

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Intel Brand Resonance Pyramid
Loyalty
Rational
Emotional
Quality Credibility Consideration Superiority
Sense of security
Speed/Power Security/Upgradability
Friendly, personal Accessible
Salience Not just for professionals
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What I Have Learned About Using the Model

• It helps to have macro and micro model
  representations
• Complexity helps and hurts
• To really facilitate adoption, you need indices,
  different forms of presentation, etc. to aid
  learning
• It is rare that companies can take models off
  the shelf and apply them successfully

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Thanks!