Uzair Mushtaq

SP19-BBA-008-B
Brand Management Project
To: Ma’am Hina Zawar
Date: 17-Dec-2021
 Literature Review
Brand Equity
Brand equity is the additional value or revenue that a brand generates by selling their
products. It can be enhanced by making their products easily recognizable,
memorable and reliable for the target audience (Hayes, 2021). In marketing research,
marketers give brand equity the top most priority while establishing and positioning
their brand. It is essential for the companies to develop a strong brand that will help
the company to differentiate their brand from their competitors (Moreira, Fortes &
Santiago, 2017). In marketing context, brand equity has two perspectives, first is from
consumer side and the other one is from the company side (Vinh et al., 2019). Brand
equity explains the collection of assets and liabilities that are connected to a brand. It
can be its name, image or symbol that add or subtract value from a product or service.
It is also explained as distinctive effects on the consumer responses towards the
marketing campaigns while evaluating the brand knowledge (Verma, 2021). It can
also be defined as a favorable or unfavorable link that a consumer generates in
response to the marketing struggles of a brand (Datta et al., 2017). Brand equity can
be positive or negative. If a consumer favorably react towards the marketing efforts of
a brand then positive brand equity develops in his memory otherwise negative brand
equity (Suárez et al., 2018). Customers having positive brand equity are willing to pay
a higher price to purchase a product regardless they can purchase the same product
from the competitors in low price. Brand equity differs from product to product. In
case of technology related products, the brand equity is higher as compared to FMCG
products (Seric et al., 2016). Brand equity of a brand is influenced by various factors.
The factors include strategic insights of a brand and also how the company is
efficiently and effectively implementing the strategies. The main driving force of
brand equity is the commitment of the consumers towards the brand (Jeon, 2017). it is
not easy to measure brand equity because it is related to the products ad services
(Moreira, Fortes & Santiago, 2017). According to Mangín et al., (2015), brand equity
has four dimensions and they are brand associations, brand awareness, brand loyalty
and perceived quality.
Brand equity provides competitive advantages to the brand. First, it gives room for
new and unique products and second it gives flexibility to handle situations (Shariq,
2018). A strong brand equity helps the company to expand its market share. This will
also influence the substitute products (Senthilnathan & Tharmi, 2017). The construct
of brand equity can be reviewed on the basis of three approaches. First is financial,
second is corporate and third is customer. According to financial perspective, brand
equity is reviewed as the increasing cash flow of the company. According to corporate
perspective, brand equity is reviewed as the value that is being added to the company.
Lastly, according to customer perspective brand equity is reviewed as the consumer’s
response towards the marketing efforts of a brand (Vahdati & Nejad, 2016).
According to previous researchers, brand personality and brand equity are linked with
each other. They believed that brand image that is a fundamental component of brand
personality causes brand equity. In marketing, there are two groups of brand equity.
First that involves consumer preferences and second that includes consumer behavior.
Brand equity can be created by various factors and the key factor that creates brand
equity is advertisements. There are many ways in which advertisements can affect the
brand equity. It increases brand awareness among the audience and it increases the
chance of remembering the products while in need. Advertisements also contribute to
the associations with the brand. The physical attributes that are presented in
advertisements transform brand associations (Cobb-Walgren, Ruble & Donthu, 2019).
Brand equity affects sales, revenue and profit margins directly. First, the customers
prioritize the product over the competitors that increases the demand of the specific
product and thus increasing sales and revenues of the company. Second, the
customers are very satisfied with the products and they are willing to pay premium
price to purchase the product that will increase the profit margin of the company.
Lastly, positive and high brand equity helps the company in retaining the customers
that also affects the profit margins and sales of the company (Hayes, 2021).
According to a previous research, it has been proved that if a company create strong
brand equity of their products and services this will directly impact the purchase
intention of their target audience. So the marketers should focus mainly on developing
a strong brand equity among their consumer minds. In order to develop this marketers
should devise such innovative and creative strategies that will help the customers to
remember the brand (Abdullah et al., 2021). Brand awareness significantly affect the
brand equity (Bougenvile & Ruswanti, 2017).
Research shows that the brand equity and the use of social media networks are
interrelated. If the product or a tourism site is strongly positioned and advertised on
social networks then there is a greater chance for the product to out stand from the
competitors and as a result increases the awareness among the target audience.
Communicating the message about the products and services increases the chance for
developing a competitive advantage over the competitors. There are different methods
that helps the company in creating a strong brand equity through social media
networks. First, customers can get the basic knowledge about the products from the
networks and also the reviews about the product and services that can help the
customers in positioning the product in their mind. Second, influencers post positive
reviews about the product and services that helped the customers in making decision
and also in creating a positive brand equity in the minds of the customers (Stojanovic,
Andreu & Curras-Perez, 2018). According to Stojanovic, et al., (2018), use of social
media networks directly affects the brand awareness and hence increasing the brand
equity of the product and services.
 Customer Based Brand Equity
Customer based brand equity can be utilized to observe how the prosperity of the
brand can be straightforwardly credited to clients' perspectives towards that brand. It
is important for a brand to know about their customer’s thoughts and their feelings
related to the brand. In order to create positive brand equity it is essential for the
company to develop positive experiences with the brand that will help the customers
to think positively and it will generate positive opinions about the products or the
services. Cognitive and behavioral psychology gives birth to customer based brand
equity. Cognitive psychology emphasizes upon the structures and frameworks of
memory. Trademarks, good will and patents are derived from the assets of a brand
that builds the brand equity and awareness of the brand (Habib & Sarwar, 2021).
Consumer based brand equity can be derived from the change among the marketing
and the memory that consumer got or retained from the marketing and advertising to
develop brand equity. According to previous research, associations with the brand
create positive brand equity among the minds of the consumers (Khamitov et al.,
2019). Despite the fact that brand value has been characterized in a variety of ways
still there has been no decisive strategic methodology that has been created to gauge
it.Countless complex measurable methodologies are created that are utilized to
quantify the unquantifiable and immaterial properties of brand value, that is difficult
for the analysts and customers to embrace the technique. The direct and indirect
methods can be used for the differentiation process. Direct methods include consumer
preferences and in indirect methods doesn’t measure directly instead they concentrate
on the impacts of the value through signs, which are illustrated (Habib & Sarwar,
2021). Consumer based brand equity has four dimensions. First brand awareness,
second brand image, third perceived quality and fourth brand loyalty.
The major dimension of brand equity is brand awareness. Awareness is the perception
of the product in the minds of the target and potential customers. According to Valek
(2017), the awareness of a tourism destination can be used as a method to attract new
and potential visitors. Brand image is the set of feelings, intentions and opinions
towards a product or service. Brand image can be established through cognitive and
effective components. The circulation of reviews on social media networks create
positive brand image in the minds of the customers (Lund et al.,2018). The perception
or self evaluation of the customer regarding the product is the perceived quality.
Brand loyalty is defined as the connection of the customer with the brand. Loyal
customers are willing to repurchase the product or to visit the place again or they
recommend the product (Chigora and Zvavahera, 2015).
Integrated Marketing Communication
Apple uses different marketing channels to communicate their products. The main
purpose of using integrated marketing channels is to access as many customers as
they can and to increase the sales and revenue of the company. Marketers use multiple
marketing strategies to attract customers, arise needs and interest of the customers
towards their products.
Print Media
Apple Inc. utilize several print media platforms to communicate their product and
features to their target audience. Apple use billboards to market their new models.
They also promote their phones with the magazines that can be fashion, sports etc.
The magazines that are being read by their target audience.
Digital media
First, Apple don’t have digital marketing platform where they can search for the
products. They have to visit a franchise in order to get information about the phone’s
features but as the customer’s preferences change so does Apple. They started
invested in digital platforms. At first, they outsourced the marketing and advertising
services.
Now, they have a fully updated website where one can get all the information related
to the phones, their features and all the other accessories Apple is providing. Apple is
also using social media accounts at a wide scale. They use social media accounts -
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter- to collect the feedback from their customers. The
company’s representatives also communicate with the customers and clear their
concerns.
Direct marketing
Direct marketing involves the direct interaction of the company’s representatives with
their customers. In direct selling, company representatives encourage customers to
buy a specific product. Apple uses email marketing to reach directly to the customers.
Direct marketing helps the company to get feedback from customers.
In emails, they send the necessary information they need to know. That may includes
the launch of new product, features and the deals or discounts. The direct marketing
team has managed a database of their customers. That database includes both existing
and potential clients.
Personal selling
In personal selling, employees or the sales team advertise the products. They do one
on one interaction with the potential clients and try to sell the products. Apple also has
a sales team that go into the market and interact with the clients. The company assures
that the sales person has enough knowledge that he can use to persuade the client or to
clear his doubts. The sales team is well trained and well explained not only in the
terms of product knowledge but also how to behave in front of client and how to talk
to him. The sales men provide excellent customer services that increase the customer
satisfaction level.
Product Placement
The company has placed their products in a number of serials and movies. They are
placing their phones, laptops and ear pods to grab the subconscious mind of the
customer. The logo is imprinted in their subconscious mind and after that whenever
they need to purchase a phone or a laptop that logo instantly jump in front of them
and they made a purchase.

Plagiarism Report
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