The effect of brand extension strategies on brand equity in banking sector

Abstract

Marketers often use already established brand name to introduce a new product in the market and utilize the familiarity of existing brands. This research study analyzes the factors that affect brand equity through brand extension, measures the effects of the brand extension on brand equity, study the awareness about various brand extension strategies in banking sector and also measure the impact of demographic variables on the brand extension strategies adopted by Banks. The study considered brand extension as the independent variable, which constitutes three important components namely Similarity, Brand familiarity and Perceived fit. The dependent variable brand equity will be measured using three components which are perceived quality, Brand Loyalty, and Brand Association. The research employed questionnaire for sample consisting of 107 customers belonging to the age of above 18 years and account holder of any bank to examine the impact of brand extension strategy on brand equity, analysing reliability of the questionnaire, testing hypothesis by applying chi- square statistics, Pearson correlation between brand extension strategy and brand equity and Regression analysis to find the effect of independent variable (brand extension: Similarity, Brand familiarity and Perceived fit), on dependent variable (brand equity). The results reveal that there is positive strong relationship between brand extension and brand equity in banking sector. Perceived fit has a significant effect on the brand equity excluding Similarity and Familiarity. Brand extension strategies adopted by Banks has affected by the education level, age, occupation and income of the respondents.