Measuring brand association strength: a consumer based brand equity approach

Abstract

Purpose – To date, the brand equity literature has been limited by a gap in the measurement of a key driver of consumer based brand equity (CBBE). The authors ' aim is to address this gap by developing a new, consumer-based measure of brand association strength, a critical element of CBBE. Design/methodology/approach – This paper, based on cognitive psychology, takes a recently developed brand mapping approach and uses its features, along with network analysis measures designed specifically by the authors for this particular analysis, to produce a novel measure of brand association strength. Findings – Traditional network analysis measures (e.g. number of associations, density) neglect to take into account the underlying structure of consumers ' brand associations as reflected in concept maps. The authors use primary research on a well-known brand (McDonald ' s) to show that both number of associations and a modified density measure taking account of the special structure of concept maps can be used to generate an intuitive and readily understood measure of brand association strength. Originality/value – The paper develops a new measure to analyse brand association strength for any given brand. As such it contributes to the methodological and practical development of the CBBE construct.