The relationship between unique brand associations, brand usage and brand performance: analysis across eight categories

Abstract

It is considered desirable for a brand to have unique associations attached with it in consumer memory. In this research we tested the interaction between unique brand associations, customer usage/preference and brand performance. In our analyses across 94 brands in eight markets we found that the presence of unique associations was not positively related to past usage or a stronger brand preference. A brand's share of unique associations was also poorly correlated with current brand share. This empirical evidence supports more recent calls for brands to focus on meeting or exceeding performance on general category needs as a primary concern, which builds the richness and accessibility of the total brand associative network in consumer memory.