What is Brand Association?

5 Types of Brand
Association
A customer does not simply buy a branded product. He tries to recall
the brand or product in his mind with something else. That association of the
brand with the customer which forms a mental image of the product in his
mind is called brand association.

It is often agreed that brand associations are mostly caused by visual

impressions. It is the sensory impressions that relate to more than two-thirds
of stimuli which reaches the brain and causes thoughts which allows a
person to relate a product or a brand to a picture in his mind.

The other one-third factor is taken care by taste, sound, smell etc. what’s the
customer associated with the brand he forms an emotional bond with it and
any change in the brand may influence the emotions of the customer in either
positive or negative way.

Brand associations help the buyers to recall your brand on account of its
unique properties. it also differentiates you from the competitors and
provides a reason for the customers to purchase the product. Brand
associations also help to create positive and impactful feelings towards your
brand or a product.

Following are 5 Types of Brand Association

1) Association based on attributes

A descriptive feature of a brand or a product or service which characterizes

it is called an association based on attributes. It is this feature or attributes
that the company promotes heavily and stands out against the competition.
This, in turn, helps the customers in brand recall and helps them to associate
with the product in the market which further, in turn, has an upper hand in
making the purchase decisions.

The attributes may be the physical composition of the products or external

aspects or maybe even appearance or price or packaging combination of
one or more of these attributes. Many brands are associated because of the
high discount offered by them example IKEA. The attribute can also be the
taglines which are helped to promote the brand.

For example, the slogan of M and M which is “It melts in your mouth and not
in your hand.” Or “Take Care” of Garnier. The description of the specifics
helps customers to associate with the brand with its primary characteristics
and creature long-lasting association in their minds. if the brand association
is successful the customers remember and recall the specific brand quality
even years after this login was popularized in the market.

2) Brand Association based on benefits

As the name describes it is the benefits of the product or the brand that
associates customers with it. These benefits can be functional which relate
to specific product or service or they can also be experimental in nature
which is describing feelings of customer wise using the product or service.

The benefits can also be on a symbolic level, for example, the brand which
helps the customers to achieve the social goal. Cosmetic industry heavily
relies on association based on benefits. This is use primer easy to entice
customers who are more women than men.

While they do not focus on how a woman would look after wearing a product
but they also focus on how she would feel after wearing are using that
product. When a woman standing in front of an aisle full of cosmetics
deciding which cosmetic to go ahead with it is the association with the brand
that she remembers and which helps us to make a decision.

While major contribution in that decision making will be of the advertisements

and product placements a substantial part of it also depends on the mood of
the customer at that particular moment and while the earlier part is in control
of the companies, they do not have any influence whatsoever in the latter
part.

3) Attitudes based Brand Association

The brand attitudes are determined by customers after the overall evaluation
by them. This association is quite abstract and more often than not, can be
related to the product attributes including the benefits. these attitudes can
also be linked to a specific lifestyle such as fitness oriented, environmentally
conscious or a celebrity in sports or entertainment. The best example would
be Nike which is a fitness-based apparel company that uses endorsements
from celebrities to establish a brand association for the different product lines
in the minds of the customers. they work with athletes in various areas of the
sports landscape and help the customers to delete the product with
performance.
What is Brand Association? 5 Types of Brand
Association
A customer does not simply buy a branded product. He tries to recall the brand
or product in his mind with something else. That association of the brand with
the customer which forms a mental image of the product in his mind is called
brand association.

It is often agreed that brand associations are mostly caused by visual

impressions. It is the sensory impressions that relate to more than two-thirds of
stimuli which reaches the brain and causes thoughts which allows a person to
relate a product or a brand to a picture in his mind.

The other one-third factor is taken care by taste, sound, smell etc. what’s the
customer associated with the brand he forms an emotional bond with it and any
change in the brand may influence the emotions of the customer in either
positive or negative way.

Brand associations help the buyers to recall your brand on account of its unique
properties. it also differentiates you from the competitors and provides a reason
for the customers to purchase the product. Brand associations also help to create
positive and impactful feelings towards your brand or a product.
Table of Contents
Following are 5 Types of Brand Association
1) Association based on attributes

A descriptive feature of a brand or a product or service which characterizes it is called an association

based on attributes. It is this feature or attributes that the company promotes heavily and stands out
against the competition. This, in turn, helps the customers in brand recall and helps them to associate
with the product in the market which further, in turn, has an upper hand in making the purchase
decisions.

The attributes may be the physical composition of the products or external aspects or maybe even
appearance or price or packaging combination of one or more of these attributes. Many brands are
associated because of the high discount offered by them example IKEA. The attribute can also be the
taglines which are helped to promote the brand.

For example, the slogan of M and M which is “It melts in your mouth and not in
your hand.” Or “Take Care” of Garnier. The description of the specifics helps
customers to associate with the brand with its primary characteristics and
creature long-lasting association in their minds. if the brand association is
successful the customers remember and recall the specific brand quality even
years after this login was popularized in the market.
2) Brand Association based on benefits

As the name describes it is the benefits of the product or the brand that associates
customers with it. These benefits can be functional which relate to specific product
or service or they can also be experimental in nature which is describing feelings of
customer wise using the product or service.

The benefits can also be on a symbolic level, for example, the brand which helps the
customers to achieve the social goal. Cosmetic industry heavily relies on association
based on benefits. This is use primer easy to entice customers who are more women
than men.

While they do not focus on how a woman would look after wearing a product but
they also focus on how she would feel after wearing are using that product. When a
woman standing in front of an aisle full of cosmetics deciding which cosmetic to go
ahead with it is the association with the brand that she remembers and which helps
us to make a decision.

While major contribution in that decision making will be of the advertisements and
product placements a substantial part of it also depends on the mood of the customer
at that particular moment and while the earlier part is in control of the companies,
they do not have any influence whatsoever in the latter part.
3) Attitudes based Brand Association

For example, a beauty brand would always be associated with a female actress of a
younger age while a product like a wrinkle lift creams would be associated with a
celebrity who is relatively older. Similarly, a sports brand would be associated with
sports person or a fitness celebrity or some other model. on the other hand, brands
like Rolexwould be associated with business tycoons or celebrities who are in the
business field for a long time.

Celebrity brand association helps in faster conversion of prospects to customers and

materializes faster sales. However, the biggest drawback of celebrity endorsement
is if the customer does not like a particular celebrity associated with the brand, he
would not buy the product even if the product is of excellent quality

The brand attitudes are determined by customers after the overall evaluation by
them. This association is quite abstract and more often than not, can be related to the
product attributes including the benefits. these attitudes can also be linked to a
specific lifestyle such as fitness oriented, environmentally conscious or a celebrity
in sports or entertainment.

The best example would be Nike which is a fitness-based apparel company that uses
endorsements from celebrities to establish a brand association for the different
product lines in the minds of the customers. they work with athletes in various areas
of the sports landscape and help the customers to delete the product with
performance.

It is for this reason that the company has created best associations with most of the
sports celebrities and top performers in their field. The image that company projects
in the mind of the customers are that by using this particular product they have a
chance of winning and being best in the choice of their sport, mirroring and
replicating the celebrities in the advertisements. The attitudes of the winners and
celebrities are passed on to the customers via the products of the brand.

4) Brand Association by interest

Interest is used as an association factor by many companies for their customers. It is

the basic parameter that is used and appeals intellect or consciousness of the
customers. the primary objective of the company is used to generate interest in the
minds of the customer and position the brand accordingly which in turn would mean
that the brand is of interest for the customer.

The association can be established by celebrity endorsements or by placing it movies

wherein the lead actor uses a particular product out of interest, thus connecting the
potential customer and the product. For example, a writer in a movie would drink a
Starbucks coffee thereby relating Starbucks with productivity and creativity in the
mind of the customer.

5) Brand association by celebrity

This is the most common type of brand association used to promote the products.
the image of a celebrity is used to push the products in the minds of the customer
and thus it helps to sell your product. Careful selection of celebrities is done to
associate with a particular brand.