1. INTRODUCTION
For every organization, brand name
has become very important in today’s competitive era. A brand can simply be termed as a unique
identity of a product or service offered by a particular organization. It enables both, the organization as well as
the consumer to differentiate between similar products or services offered by
competitors.
However, in light of competition,
brand name is not just a unique identity.
It has assumed a broader meaning.
According to Keller, a brand, which is powerful, will be able to create
a meaningful image in consumers’ mind as compared to a weaker brand. A strong brand image and powerful reputation
will be able to enhance the differentiation capability of a product or service
and it will have a positive influence on the buying behavior of consumers
(GORDON et al., 1993; MCENALLY; CHERNATONY, 1999).
Further, branding is important for
all kinds of products and services.
According to Mudambi, branding of an offering in consumer markets could
result in enhancing the financial performance and competitive position of a
firm (KERRI-ANN, et al., 2008).
Brand can be defined as a bundle of
functional, economic and psychological benefits for the end user (AMBLER,
1995). According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), brand is a name,
term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them which is intended to
identify the goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competitors.
Brand equity refers to the marketing
effects and outcomes that build up to a good or service with its brand name
(VIKASGAUTAM, 2012). The power of brand equity can be seen in the form of
consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price for a preferred brand in
comparison to others. Not only that,
brand equity is reflected in the way consumers recommend it to their peers.
(HUTTON, 1997).
In this research, an attempt was
made to study and analyze the brand equity of a leading private sector bank in
Vadodara. For this purpose, the Brand
Resonance Model propounded by Keller was used. Using the components in the
model, a correlation between components and brand resonance was found out. Data was collected from customers of the bank
in Vadodara in the form of a structured questionnaire, which was then analyzed
using SPSS (SPSS stands for Statistical Package for Social Sciences. It is a software which carries out the data
analysis. It is a worksheet where all
the statistical tests are done. IBM is
the owner of the software).
In this research, primary data
collected in the form of questionnaires was encoded in SPSS and from that
statistical results like Cronbach Alpha, Chi-square, mean, correlation,
regression was carried out.
1.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Kevin Lane Keller in the research
titled “Building Customer – Based Brand Equity” suggested that creating brand
resonance needs a careful sequencing of brand building efforts by a firm. Keller put forward the concept of
customer-based brand equity (CBBE) which suggested that brand knowledge makes
consumers’ response to marketing of the brand differently (KELLER, 1993).
1.1.
Kerri‐Ann L. Kuhn, Frank Alpert, Nigel K. Ll. Pope
In this study, researchers
highlighted the suitability and limitations of Keller (1993), customer‐based brand equity
model and check whether it could be applied in a business-to-business (B2B)
market scenario. It was found that amongst institutional buyers there is a
greater emphasis on the selling organization, including its corporate brand,
credibility and staff, than on individual brands and their associated
dimensions (KERRI-ANN, et al., 2008).
1.2.
Vikas
Gautam, Mukund Kumar
Researchers used Keller’s Customer
Based Brand Equity Model to study and analyze the brand equity of banks. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out
to reduce the total number of items to a small number of underlying factors,
and the results produced six factors, which were brand resonance; brand
judgements; brand feelings; brand performance; brand imagery; brand salience.
The alpha coefficients of the
reliability test were found to be ranging from 0.781 to 0.912 for all of the
brand equity constructs individually, and for the entire scale, the value of
alpha was found to be 0.837. Correlation analysis was performed to find out
relationships among various components of brand equity. From the findings of
multiple regression analysis, it was clear that brand performance was the most
important determinant of brand resonance, followed by brand feelings (0.427)
and brand judgements (0.306) (VIKASGAUTAM, 2012).
1.3.
PekkaTuominen
The purpose of this study was to
discuss the main issues encountered in managing brand equity. For this, the
concept of brand equity was analyzed first.
Then a comprehensive framework for managing brand equity was provided;
and finally, ways to measure and leverage brand equity were distinguished by
the authors (TUOMINEN, 1999).
1.4.
Nadia
Farhana and Shohana Islam
This research was carried out to
evaluate the brand equity of banks in Bangladesh using Keller (1993) Brand
Resonance Model. Random samples of 300
respondents were selected and information collected from them in the form of a
structured questionnaire.
The research found that when
customers are emotionally attached to a brand (brand feeling), they go on to
create strong association with the brand. The quality of the services of a
brand, its credibility, and its presence in the choice set of customers
(together what is called Brand Judgment) also lead to customers’ strong
association with a brand.
On the other hand, some of the
building blocks of the CBBE model were not found to be strongly contributing
for the creation of brand association in the banking sector of Bangladesh.
Brand recognition and brand recall (together called brand salience) were found
not contributing significantly in creating strong association with the brand.
Banking institutions may place less emphasis on them in creating brand
awareness (MACINNIS; PARK; PRIESTER, 2009).
1.5.
MacInnis,
Park and Priester
The domain of brand relationships is
extremely complex. There are numerous types of brand relationships and multiple
dimensions that characterize them. They involve varying types and intensities
of emotions and normative processes. They vary in the motivations that drive
them, the strength of the connection bonding the consumer with the brand, and
the role of various meaning makers in creating, establishing, and expanding the
brand’s relationship to the self. Moreover, the psychological and behavioral
outcomes of brand relationships are also numerous and complex.
1.6.
Swaminathan,
Page Gurhan-Canli
As we know the development of brand
is the process which includes identity, meaning, response and relationship but
if helps to attachment of consumers towards brand (KELLER, 2001).
The studies on brand relationship
reveal that strong brand relationship is important factor for promoting
tolerance in the face of negative brand information. Past research shows that
if marketers wants to convert negative brand information to positive then
consumer brand relationship is the best competent to transform this information
(SWAMINATHAN; GURHAN-CANLI, 2007).
1.7.
Fournier
According to Fournier (1998) consumer
viewed brand as a relationship partner. There is different way to achieve this
understanding of consumers about brand, one way is to brand are animated,
humanized or personalized. She also explained the brand animated process
through which the spirit of past or present other, by using brand-person
associations, and through a complete anthropomorphization of the brand. Brand
relationship also depends on the consumers lived experience, this define level
of brand relationship. These relationships offer meanings to the consumer, some
being functional and utilitarian, while others are psychological or emotional.
Figure 1: Theoretical Construct of
Customer – Based Brand Equity Model by Keller.
1.7.1. Brand Salience
Achieving
the right brand identity involves creating brand salience. Brand salience relates to aspects of customer
awareness of the brand. How easily and
how often is the brand evoked under various situations or circumstances? To what extent is the brand top-of-the-mind
and easily recalled or recognized? What
types of cues or reminders are necessary?
How pervasive is brand awareness (KELLER, 2001).
1.7.2. Brand Performance
The
product itself is at the heart of brand equity, as it is the primary influence
of what consumers experience with brand, what they hear about a brand from
others and what the firm can tell customers about the brand in their
communications. To create brand loyalty
and resonance, consumers’ experience with the product must at least meet, if
not actually surpass, their expectations (KELLER, 2001).
1.7.3. Brand Imagery
Brand
imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product or service,
including the ways in which the brand attempts to meet customers’ psychological
or social needs (KELLER, 2001).
1.7.4. Brand Feelings
They
are customers’ emotional responses and reactions with respect to the
brand. Brand feelings also relate to the
social currency evoked by the brand (KELLER, 2001).
1.7.5. Brand Resonance
The
final step of the model, brand relationships focus upon the ultimate
relationship and level of identification that the customer has with the
brand. Brand resonance refers to the
nature of the relationship that customers have with brand and the extent to
which they feel they are “in synch” with the brand (KELLER, 2001).
Resonance
is the intensity of customers’ psychological bond with the brand and the level
of activity it engenders (KOTLER, 2014).
The
brand resonance model as put forward by Keller suggests that brand building is
a series of steps starting from brand salience and passing through brand
performance, brand judgements and brand feelings. The result is brand resonance or brand
loyalty. Thus, all the steps are
inter-related. In this research,
analyses was conducted to study the relationship between these steps.
2.
OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
·
To
study and analyze brand equity of banks in Vadodara.
·
To
study, analyze and understand the determinants of brand equity of banks in
Vadodara.
·
To
analyze the relationship between various components of brand equity for banks
in Vadodara.
·
To
understand the effect of brand salience, brand performance, brand judgment and
brand feelings on brand resonance for banks in Vadodara.
3.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The
research design of this study was descriptive and exploratory. A sample size of 335 customers of a leading
private sector bank in Vadodara was chosen.
Stratified random sampling technique was used to collect data wherein,
occupation was taken as strata. Service,
business, profession and others, which comprised students, were selected as the
strata for the study.
The
questionnaire was divided into 6 parts.
First part of the questionnaire was to collect the demographic
information of the respondents. Second
part had questions regarding brand salience.
Third part of the questionnaire was to collect information about brand
performance whereas, fourth part covered questions pertaining to brand
judgement. Fifth part of the
questionnaire contained questions on brand feelings and last part was to study
brand resonance for banks.
All
questions from part two to part six were on a five point Likert scale where
respondents were asked to rate the statements as “strongly agree”, “agree”,
“can’t say”, “disagree” and “strongly disagree”. (Instead of getting answer in
directly “yes” or “no”, respondents are asked to give their opinion on some
statements given in the questionnaire in the form of “agreement” or
“disagreement”).
After
collecting the data, analysis was done using, SPSS and hypothesis were tested.
For the purpose of confidentiality, the name of the bank has not been revealed
in the study and is referred to as “Bank” in the entire research paper. The data collected for this research was
found to be reliable as mentioned in Table No.1.
The
Cronbach alpha for all the factors determining brand resonance was found to be
greater than 0.70 and overall alpha was 0.896.
Thus, further analysis of the data would give reliable conclusions.
Table
1: Showing Reliability Statistics (Cronbach Alpha)
|
Factor |
Alpha |
|
Brand Salience |
0.732 |
|
Brand Performance |
0.849 |
|
Brand Judgement |
0.861 |
|
Brand Feelings |
0.777 |
|
Brand Resonance |
0.898 |
|
Overall |
0.896 |
3.1.
Hypotheses
H1: There is no significant brand
resonance for the Bank in Vadodara
H2: There is no significant
relationship between brand salience, brand performance, brand judgment, brand
feelings and brand resonance for the Bank in Vadodara.
H3: There is no significant impact
of brand salience, brand performance, brand judgment and brand feelings on
brand resonance for the Bank in Vadodara.
3.2.
Data Analysis
Table
2: Table Showing Demographic Features of Respondents in Vadodara.
|
Feature |
|
N |
% |
Feature |
|
N |
% |
|
Age |
20-30 |
102 |
30.45 |
Income |
<
1 Lac |
48 |
14.33 |
|
30-40 |
128 |
38.21 |
1.01-2.00 |
34 |
10.15 |
||
|
41-50 |
79 |
23.58 |
2.01-3.00 |
52 |
15.52 |
||
|
Above
50 |
26 |
7.76 |
3.01-4.00 |
47 |
14.03 |
||
|
Total |
335 |
100 |
4.01-5.00 |
62 |
18.51 |
||
|
Occupation |
Service |
119 |
35.52 |
Above
5 |
92 |
27.46 |
|
|
Business |
97 |
28.96 |
Total |
335 |
100 |
||
|
Profession |
86 |
25.67 |
Maritals |
Married |
263 |
78.51 |
|
|
Others |
33 |
9.85 |
Unmarried |
72 |
21.49 |
||
|
Total |
335 |
100 |
Total |
335 |
100 |
||
|
Gender |
Male |
218 |
65.07 |
Education |
Graduate |
100 |
29.85 |
|
Female |
117 |
34.93 |
Post
Graduate |
134 |
40.00 |
||
|
Total |
335 |
100 |
Professional |
101 |
30.15 |
||
|
Total |
335 |
100 |
|||||
As can be
seen in Table No.2 above, 35.52% respondents’ occupation was service, 28.96%
respondents were businessmen and 25.67% respondents were professionals. 9.85% respondents belonged to student
category, which is shown above as “others”.
Other characteristics of the respondents can be observed in the above
table.
H1: There is no
significant brand resonance for the Bank in Vadodara
Table
3: Table Showing Descriptive Statistics for Brand Resonance of the Bank in
Vadodara
|
Factor |
N |
Mean |
s.d. |
Chi-Square |
Sig |
|
Salience |
335 |
4.07 |
0.568 |
56.21 |
0.000 |
|
Performance |
335 |
3.92 |
0.857 |
29.71 |
0.002 |
|
Judgment |
335 |
3.85 |
0.741 |
30.86 |
0.021 |
|
Feelings |
335 |
3.57 |
0.767 |
43.00 |
0.000 |
|
Resonance |
335 |
3.45 |
1.058 |
29.60 |
0.003 |
According
to the Brand Resonance Model put forward by Keller, brand resonance of a
product or service is high if the components or bases of brand resonance show
significant degree of strength. In the
present study, it can be seen that all factors affecting brand resonance like
salience, performance, judgment and feelings have a mean value of above 3.45
out of 5 suggesting reasonable levels.
From
among all the bases, brand salience has the highest mean of 4.07 while brand
feelings have the least mean value of 3.57.
Since, all the bases have shown high mean values, brand resonance for
the Bank was found to be high in Vadodara with mean value of 3.45. Further, to strengthen the argument, chi
square values and significance of all the variables were less than 0.05. Thus, from the data analysis it is clear that
there is significant brand resonance for the Bank in Vadodara. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected and
alternate hypothesis is accepted.
H2: There
is no significant relationship between brand salience, brand performance, brand
judgment, brand feelings and brand resonance for the Bank in Vadodara.
Based
on the previous hypothesis, it was established that there is significant brand
resonance for the Bank in Vadodara.
Based on that conclusion, further analysis could be carried out. Therefore, an attempt was made to study the
relationship between the variables of brand resonance. For this purpose, correlation analysis was
carried out which is shown in Table No.4 below-
Table
4: Table Showing Pearson's Correlation between Factors Affecting Brand
Resonance for Bank in Vadodara
|
|
Salience (BS) |
Performance (BP) |
Judgement (BJ) |
Feelings (BF) |
Resonance (BR) |
|
Salience
(BS) |
1 |
.649** |
.752** |
.640** |
.589** |
|
Performance
(BP) |
.649** |
1 |
.776** |
.696** |
.719** |
|
Judgment
(BJ) |
.752** |
.776** |
1 |
.782** |
.690** |
|
Feelings
(BF) |
.640** |
.696** |
.782** |
1 |
.861** |
|
Resonance
(BR) |
.589** |
.719** |
.690** |
.861** |
1 |
** Correlation is significant
at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
From
the above Table No.4 it is clear that there was a significant level of
correlation between the variables determining brand resonance for the Bank in
Vadodara. The strongest correlation was
found between brand feelings and brand resonance (0.861), while the weakest
correlation was found between brand salience and brand resonance (0.589).
This
indicates that consumers prefer a bank not simply on the basis of its identity
and awareness (salience), but on the basis of their own feelings towards the
bank in Vadodara. A value of 0.589
represents moderate level of correlation.
Thus, brand awareness is an important factor determining brand
resonance, but it is not the strongest variable determining brand resonance.
The
strongest variable is brand feelings. In
other words, brand feelings have the maximum impact on brand resonance for the
Bank in Vadodara. Brand feelings refer
to the emotional connect between customers and their banks. Brand feelings include warmth, fun,
excitement, security, social approval and self- respect (KELLER, 2001).
Hence,
it could be said that customers of the bank have a positive brand feeling for
it in Vadodara. Similarly, all other
variables like brand performance and judgment also had significant levels of
correlations as can be seen in the above Table No.4. An important facet that can be seen in the
above table is that not only are the variables related to brand resonance, but
there is a significant level of correlation between the variables themselves.
Thus,
as suggested by Keller, these variables are the steps to brand building which
is resonance. Thus, brand salience,
brand performance, brand judgment and brand feelings lead to brand
resonance. This is clear from the
diagram below-
Figure 2: Correlation between Variables affecting Brand
Resonance for the Bank in Vadodara
Further,
as stated in the model of brand resonance, there exists a positive and
significant correlation between all the variables as provided in the above
figure 1. The strongest correlation was
found between brand judgement and brand feelings (0.782) while the lowest
correlation was found between brand salience and brand feelings (0.640). However, the data showed that there was
moderate to high correlation between all the factors and that led to a high
level of brand resonance.
Thus,
on the basis of correlation analysis and the results obtained, it can be said
that the null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is accepted. Thus, there was significant relation between
the variables determining brand resonance for the Bank in Vadodara.
H3: There
is no significant impact of brand salience, brand performance, brand judgment
and brand feelings on brand resonance for the Bank in Vadodara.
Having
established significant between variables determining brand resonance for the
bank in Vadodara, the next step was to attempt to predict the effect of changes
in variables on brand resonance for the bank in Vadodara. For this purpose, regression was used. For the purpose of developing regression
equation, four components of brand resonance, i.e. brand salience, brand
performance, brand judgement and brand feelings were considered independent
variables and brand resonance was taken as dependent variable. Accordingly, the
following Regression Model was used in this study –
Y1 =
β0 +
β1X1i +
β2X2i +
β3X3i +
β4X4i +
μi,
In
this equation, i is the sample size from 1 to 335, Y is the Brand Resonance, X1
is Brand Salience, X2 is Brand Performance, X3 is Brand Judgement, X4 is the
Brand Feelings, and μ is the random error term.
The results of regression analysis are shown in Table No.5.
Table
5: Table Showing the Effect of Factors on Brand Resonance for the Bank in
Vadodara
|
Independent Variables |
Unstandard Beta |
Standard Beta |
t |
sig. value |
|
||||
|
Constant |
-1.074 |
|
2.619 |
0.011 |
|
||||
|
Brand
Salience |
0.052 |
0.028 |
0.336 |
0.738 |
|
||||
|
Brand
Performance |
0.357 |
0.289 |
3.291 |
0.001 |
|
||||
|
Brand
Judgement |
0.210 |
0.147 |
1.331 |
0.187 |
|
||||
|
Brand
Feelings |
1.044 |
0.757 |
8.556 |
0.000 |
|
||||
|
Table 6: Model Summary |
|||||||||
|
R |
R Square |
Adjusted R Square |
F Value |
Sig. Value |
|||||
|
0.880a |
0.774 |
0.763 |
67.728 |
0.000 |
|||||
|
a.
Predictors: (Constant), Feelings, Salience, Performance, Judgement |
|||||||||
On
the basis of data analysis and above Table No.5, following estimated regression
equation was obtained-
Brand Resonance = -1.074 +1.044
Brand Feelings
+ 0.357 Brand Performance
+ 0.210 Brand Judgement
+ 0.052 Brand Salience
Overall
R2 for the equation was found to be 0.774 with F Value significant at 1% level
of significance. Thus, from the data
analysis and the ensuing regression equation, it was observed that the
component Brand Feelings (1.044) emerged as the most important factor of brand
equity followed by Brand Performance (0.357) and Brand Judgement (0.210). Brand Salience (0.052) was the least
important component in this research.
The
results of the regression equation can be interpreted that more positive or
favorable are the feelings towards the bank, higher will be the brand resonance
among the customers. Hence, the bank
under study should formulate a marketing strategy, which results into positive
brand feelings in its customers. This
positivity could be brought through promotion activities or, more importantly
through customer delight.
4.
FINDINGS
The
research conducted on a leading private sector bank in Vadodara revealed that
brand resonance for the bank was found to be high (Mean = 3.45) and significant
(p = 0.003). All the four components of
brand resonance were also found to be high and significant. Thus, the bank’s brand equity was found to be
high in Vadodara. Further analysis of
the data in the form of correlation analysis showed that all the components leading
to brand resonance were positively and significantly correlated with each
other.
Thus,
the model was successfully tested in Vadodara.
Out of all the components, Brand Feelings (0.861) showed the highest
correlation with Brand Resonance, while Brand Salience (0.589) showed the least
correlation with Brand Resonance. Based
on the results of correlation analysis, regression equation was formed to find
estimated brand resonance. It was found
that the regression equation was significant with R2 = 0.774 at 1%
significance level. Regression equation
showed that brand feelings would have the most effect on brand resonance in
Vadodara. So, higher the brand feeling,
higher would be the brand resonance.
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