The equalization price: A measure of consumer-perceived brand equity

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Building upon the ideas of information economics and market signalling theory, a formal conceptual framework for explaining the creation, management, transfer and measurement of brand equity has been proposed by Erdem and Louviere. The research presented in this paper is a first step in the operationalization of that framework by developing a method for the measurement of brand equity that is built upon a theory of consumer behavior. Specifically, designed choice experiments that account for brand name, product attributes, brand image and consumer heterogeneity effects are proposed as the method for quantifying a brand equity measure called the Equalization Price (EP). Given an existing market structure, brand images built over time by advertising and product experiences, consumer brand perceptions and preferences, EP is a measure of the implicit value to the individual consumer of the brand in a market in which some degree of differentiation exists vis-à-vis its implicit value in a market characterized by no brand differentiation. The proposed measure can be used for both existing products and proposed brand name extensions, so it can double as a product-concept screening tool. We illustrate the application of the method for measuring brand equity using a convenience sample of Canadian consumers. In each of three product classes (deodorants, jeans and athletic shoes) we defined five existing products and two brand name extensions; these were presented to the respondents in designed choice sets which systematically varied prices over a range actually found in the local market. Concurrently, information related to brand image, previous brand usage and consumer sociodemographic characteristics was collected. The consumer choice data were used to calibrate Multinominal Logit choice models, from which we derive EP estimates for our sample. We discuss the interpretation of the modelling results for our data, illustrating the types of managerially relevant information about brand equity and its transfer that can be obtained from the method.