Investigating the effect of effective factors on the consistency of brand name and customer-oriented approach

Marketing Management Master Thesis

Abstract:

Creating strong and powerful brands has become one of the priorities of every organization today because it brings countless benefits. Strong brands help companies to establish themselves in the market, to be less exposed to potential competitive risk and to have a stronger intermediary role in cooperation and support for brand expansion opportunities. In measuring and measuring the overall value of a brand, marketing researchers and activists have started to investigate the concept of brand equity, which refers to the remarkable value that the brand name brings to the manufacturer, retailer and consumer of the brand. Brand equity cannot be understood and recognized without considering its sources, i.e. the factors that are effective in the creation and formation of brand equity in the minds of consumers.

     Considering the importance of this issue and also paying more attention to it, in this research, the factors affecting brand equity are investigated. Investigate the effect of these factors on customer-oriented name and brand compatibility. In this research, Saderat Bank of Iran has been studied. Non-probability sampling method is available, and the number of them is 384 people aged 18 and above in Tehran, who went to Saderat Bank branches to receive banking services. The research method is applied and its research design is descriptive survey type. The method of data collection was through a questionnaire, which was analyzed using the path analysis method by Amos software. The results showed that the variable of brand awareness/association had a positive effect on the perception of customers (customers of Saderat Bank) on the superiority of the brand and on the brand influence of customers. But this variable (brand awareness/association) did not have a direct effect on the level of congruence with the customers' brand (Sadaret Bank customers). Also, in this research, the variable of brand effect on brand congruence had a positive effect, but the effect of the variable of brand superiority on brand congruence was not confirmed.

Introduction

Companies always tend to create strong brands with positive special value. The power of a brand resides in the mind of the customer, and at the same time, it is still quite unclear how the special value of the brand is cultivated, managed and maintained (Keller [1], 2003). Although most of the research on brand equity has been done in the field of traditional goods, the importance of brand equity can be found in other products and even services, including in the realm of brands of financial and credit institutions and banks. The domain of commercial banks has grown exponentially in the last decade, both in terms of size and scope. In response to the increase in customer demand, banking organizations have accepted the principles of traditional business management in order to be consistent and remain in this competitive environment. Brand management has become a very important issue as a means of creating special brand value. Although the focus on brand management strategies is a relatively new phenomenon in the banking industry, the importance of branding has been evidenced for traditional goods and service companies since the late 1980s. (Sirinivasan, Park, and Chang [2] (2005). Research has consistently shown that strong brands benefit companies and customers alike. For customers, strong brands reduce perceived risk and research costs, increase the likelihood of further consumption, and can strengthen social identity (Cobb, Wallgren, and Danto [3], 1995; Keller, 1993). Because of the strength of a brand, Organizations can charge a premium for their products or services, have the ability to gain market share, maintain customer loyalty, propose and deliver successful brand extension opportunities, and be able to influence customers to spread positive word of mouth (Brady et al., 2008; Cobb-Wallgren et al., 1995; Sangster, Welton, & McKenney[4], 2001). The way in which the proposed determinants of brand equity affect customers' behavioral intentions has rarely been emphasized in empirical research (for exceptions, see Bauer, Sauer, and Schmitt [5], 2008; Gladden and Funk [6], 2001).Gordon (2010) believes that empirical evaluation of how determinants of brand equity, such as brand awareness and brand association, affect customers' behavioral intentions is important for countless reasons. First, as mentioned above, companies spend millions every year on activities to expand their brand. Increasing knowledge about how brand equity is created can help organizations be more efficient in their brand management strategies. Second, experts believe that experts should focus their marketing activities on creating distinctive marketing knowledge and awareness to guide customer decision-making (Faircloth, Capella and Alford [7], 2001, Keller, 1993). However, experts have not yet provided conclusive evidence that the relationship between awareness, association, and customer behavior is significant or strong. Meanwhile, previous research has not explored the potential role that such global brand attitudes and emotions play in the aforementioned relationships. This empirical evidence that brand association and brand awareness do indeed affect customer behavior lends credence to the focus on marketing mix activities to achieve the goal of developing awareness and enhancing a brand's image. Also, the research that gives us this knowledge of how the affective and cognitive reactions of customers affect brand equity, increases the knowledge of what determines brand equity, and provides guidelines for professors and academics to create brand equity. Finally, there has been an insignificant relationship between customers' behavioral tendencies and the company's increasing financial performance. Many authors have argued that customer perceptions of a brand will have an impact on financial outcomes, such as relative price and market share for a company's offerings (Acker, 1996; Baldinger and Robinson [8], 1996; Bellow and Holbrook [9], 1995; Keller, 1993). In particular, high-quality firms have emerged that sell more branded goods and have customers willing to pay more for their products or services (Boon, Kochani, & Wicklins, 1994; Gladden & Milne [10], 1999). These findings highlight the importance of understanding how organizations can influence customers' behavioral intentions through the strategic implementation of brand management activities. The reasons mentioned above give a case about the importance of exploring the relationship between the determinants of brand equity and behavioral goals. In addition to the importance of determining the relationship between the determinants of brand equity and customers' behavioral goals, Gordon's research [11] (2010) tried to address the weaknesses and gaps of previous conceptualization. Previous studies on customer-oriented brand equity (Bauer et al., 2008; Gladden and Funk, 2002; Ross, James, and Vargas [12], 2006) tested specific determinants of brand equity such as brand association and brand awareness. While these studies have not focused on the constructs that play a central role in influencing a customer's behavioral intentions.

The importance of brand attitudes in relation to brand equity has also been established by previous research (see Bauer et al., 2005; Bauer et al., 2008; Gladden and Funk, 2002; Keller, 1993), while little empirical evidence exists to explain the nature of this importance. there is Brand attitudes have been mistakenly recognized as a special type of brand association. This classification needs to be modified because customers form attitudes towards a brand based on their evaluations of thoughts (i.e. brand associations), thoughts they have towards the target brand. These evaluations are more than mere thoughts about the brand (i.e. brand association). In this way, Gordon's (2010) review does not identify brand attitudes as a specific type of relationship. Brand attitudes were measured as a separate construct called brand superiority.

Statement of the Problem

    Research on brand equity has been a popular topic in the last two decades. The Institute of Marketing Science [13] (2004) stated that issues related to branding and brand equity are one of the main priorities for marketing researchers to investigate. However, research prior to Gordon (2010) related to customer-oriented brand equity has failed to empirically examine the relationship between brand awareness, brand association, and customer behavioral intentions.