CONDUCTING BRAND AUDITS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Describe the new accountability in terms of ROMI
• Outline the two steps in conducting a brand audit
• Describe how to design, conduct, and interpret a tracking study
• Identify the steps in implementing a brand equity management system
 THE NEW ACCOUNTABILITY
Conducting Brand Audits The new accountability
• Need for increased accountability
Brand Inventory has led to develop brand value
measurement approaches.
Brand Exploratory • Tools and procedures are
required to justify expenditures
Brand Positioning and the Supporting
Marketing Program beyond ROMI measures.
CONDUCTING BRAND AUDITS
• Brand audit: Comprehensive examination of a brand to discover its sources of
brand equity
• Marketing audit: Independent examination of a company’s marketing
environment, objectives, strategies, and activities
• agreement on objectives, scope, and approach
• data collection
• report preparation and presentation
BRAND AUDIT

• A brand audit is a comprehensive examination of a brand to discover its

sources of brand equity.
• In accounting, an audit is a systematic inspection by an outside firm of
accounting records including analyses, tests, and confirmations.
• The outcome is an assessment of the firm’s financial health in the form of a
report.
CONDUCTING BRAND AUDITS
Brand audit
• Consumer-focused exercise to assess the health of the brand, uncover its
sources of brand equity, and suggest ways to improve and leverage its equity.
• Useful background for managers as they set up their marketing plans and can
have profound implications on brands’ strategic direction and resulting
performance.
Marketing audit
• Internal, company-focused exercise to make sure marketing operations are
efficient and effective.
MARKETING AUDIT

•A marketing audit is a “comprehensive, systematic, independent, and

periodic examination of a company’s or business unit’s marketing
environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with a view of determining
problem areas and opportunities and recommending a plan of action to
improve the company’s marketing performance.
CONDUCTING MARKETING AUDITS

The process is a three-step procedure in which:

• The first step is agreement on objectives, scope, and approach;
• The second is data collection;
• The third and final step is report preparation and presentation.
This is an internally, company-focused exercise to make sure
marketing operations are efficient and effective.
 BRAND AUDIT
• A brand audit, on the other hand, is a more externally, consumer-focused exercise
to assess the health of the brand, uncover its sources of brand equity, and suggest
ways to improve and leverage its equity.
•A brand audit requires understanding the sources of brand equity from the
perspective of both the firm and the consumer.
• From the perspective of the firm, what products and services are currently being
offered to consumers, and how they are being marketed and branded?
• From the perspective of the consumer, what deeply held perceptions and beliefs
create the true meaning of brands and products?
BRAND AUDIT

The brand audit consists of two steps:

• the brand inventory
• the brand exploratory
 BRAND INVENTORY
• The purpose of the brand inventory is to provide a current, comprehensive
profile of how all the products and services sold by a company are marketed
and branded.
• Profiling each product or service requires marketers to catalogue the following
in both visual and written form for each product or service sold:
• the names, logos, symbols, characters, packaging, slogans, or other trademarks
used; the inherent product attributes or characteristics of the brand;
• The pricing, communications, and distribution policies; and any other relevant
marketing activity related to the brand.
 BRAND INVENTORY

• The outcome of the brand inventory should be an accurate, comprehensive, and

up-to-date profile of how all the products and services are branded in terms of
which brand elements are employed and how, and the nature of the supporting
marketing program.
• Marketers should also profile competitive brands in as much detail as possible to
determine points-of-parity and points-of-difference.
 BRAND INVENTORY
• Comprehensive profile of how all the products and services of a company are marketed
and branded
• Profiling requires marketers to catalogue:
• Visual and written form for each product or service sold
• The inherent product attributes or characteristics of the brand
• Pricing, communications, and distribution policies Rationale
• Helps understand consumers’ perceptions.
• Provides analysis and useful insights into how brand equity may be better managed.
• Reveals the extent of brand consistency and lack of perceived differences among
different products sharing the brand name.
• Helps uncover undesirable redundancy and overlap that could lead to consumer
confusion or retailer resistance.
Rationale
• The brand inventory is a valuable first step for several reasons.
• First, it helps to suggest what consumers’ current perceptions may be based on.
Consumer associations are typically rooted in the intended meaning of the brand
elements attached to them but not always.
• The brand inventory therefore provides useful information for interpreting follow-up
research such as the brand exploratory.
• Although the brand inventory is primarily a descriptive exercise, it can supply some
useful analysis too, and initial insights into how brand equity may be better
managed.
• For example, marketers can assess the consistency of all the different products or
services sharing a brand name. Are the different brand elements used on a consistent
basis, or are there many different versions of the brand name, logo, and so forth for
the same product perhaps for no obvious reason depending on which geographic
market it is being sold in, which market segment it is being targeted to, and so forth?
Similarly, are the supporting marketing programs logical and consistent across
related brands?
• As firms expand their products geographically and extend them into other
categories, deviations sometimes significant in nature commonly emerge in brand
appearance and marketing.
• A thorough brand inventory should be able to reveal the extent of brand consistency.
• At the same time, a brand inventory can reveal a lack of perceived differences
among different products sharing the brand name—for example, as a result of line
extensions that are designed to differ on one or more key dimensions. Creating sub-
brands with distinct positions is often a marketing priority, and a brand inventory
may help to uncover undesirable redundancy and overlap that could lead to
consumer confusion or retailer resistance.
BRAND EXPLORATORY

Preliminary
Activities

Interpreting
Qualitative
Research

Conducting
Quantitative
Research
 BRAND EXPLORATORY
• Brand exploratory
• Steps for brand exploratory:
• Study prior research.
• Interview internal personnel.
• Conduct additional research.
Preliminary activities
• A number of prior research studies may exist and be relevant.
• It is useful to interview internal personnel to gain an understanding of their beliefs
about consumer perceptions for the brand and competitive brands.
• Additional research is often required to better understand how customers shop for
and use different brands and what they think and feel about them.
 PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES.

• Several preliminary activities are useful for the brand exploratory.

• First, in many cases, a number of prior research studies may exist and be
relevant. It is important to dig through company archives to uncover reports
that may have been buried, and perhaps even long forgotten, but that contain
insights and answers to a number of important questions or suggest new
questions that may still need to be posed.
• Second, it is also useful to interview internal personnel to gain an understanding of
their beliefs about consumer perceptions for the brand and competitive brands. Past and
current marketing managers may be able to share some wisdom not necessarily
captured in prior research reports. The diversity of opinion that typically emerges from
these internal interviews serves several functions, increasing the likelihood that useful
insights or ideas will be generated, as well as pointing out any inconsistencies or
misconceptions that may exist internally for the brand.
• Although these preliminary activities are useful, additional research is often required to
better understand how customers shop for and use different brands and what they think
and feel about them. To allow marketers to cover a broad range of issues and to pursue
some in greater depth, the brand exploratory often employs qualitative research
techniques as a first step,
 BRAND EXPLORATORY
• Interpreting qualitative research
• Qualitative research should:
• Vary in direction and depth as well as in technique.
• Provide accurate interpretation.
• Ask specific questions, so as to narrow the range of information given by the
respondents.
• Ask open ended questions for freer and less constrained responses.
QUALITATIVE TECHNIQUES
 BRAND EXPLORATORY

• Mental maps and core brand associations

• Mental map: Accurately portrays in detail all salient brand
associations and responses for a particular target market.
• Core brand associations: Abstract associations that characterize
the 5 to 10 most important aspects or dimensions of a brand.
• A mental map accurately portrays in detail all salient brand associations and
responses for a particular target market. One of the simplest means to get
consumers to create a mental map is to ask them for their top-of-mind brand
associations (“When you think of this brand, what comes to mind?”).
 BRAND EXPLORATORY

• Core brand associations are those abstract associations (attributes and

benefits) that characterize the 5–10 most important aspects or dimensions of a
brand.
• They can serve as the basis of brand positioning in terms of how they create
points-of-parity and points-of-difference.
• For example, in response to a Nike brand probe, consumers may list LeBron
James, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, or Lance Armstrong, whom we could
call “top athletes.” The challenge is to include all relevant associations while
making sure each is as distinct as possible.
CLASSIC MTV MENTAL MAP
POSSIBLE MTV CORE BRAND ASSOCIATIONS
 BRAND EXPLORATORY

Conducting quantitative research

• Assess all potentially salient associations identified by the qualitative research
phase according to their strength, favourability, and uniqueness.
• Examine both specific brand beliefs and overall attitudes and behaviors to reveal
potential sources and outcomes of brand equity.
• Assess the depth and breadth of brand awareness by employing various cues.
• Conduct similar types of research for competitors to better understand their
sources of brand equity and how they compare with the target brand.
 BRAND POSITIONING AND THE SUPPORTING
MARKETING PROGRAM
• Ideal brand positioning aims to achieve congruence
between:
• What customers currently believe about the brand
• What customers will value in the brand
• What the firm is currently saying about the brand
• Where the firm would like to take the brand
JOHN ROBERTS’S BRAND POSITIONING CONSIDERATIONS

John Roberts, one of Australia’s top marketing academics,

sees the challenge in achieving the ideal positioning for a
brand as being able to achieve congruence among four
key considerations:
(1) what customers currently believe about the brand (and
thus find credible),
(2) What customers will value in the brand,
(3) what the firm is currently saying about the brand, and
(4) where the firm would like to take the brand
Because each of the four considerations may suggest or
reflect different approaches to positioning, finding a
positioning that balances the four considerations as much
as possible is key.
DESIGNING BRAND TRACKING STUDIES
• Product- brand tracking
• Corporate or family brand tracking
What to Track • Global tracking

• Whom to track
How to Conduct • When and where to track
Tracking Studies

• Important benchmarks
How to interpret • Brand associations determining
Tracking Studies consumer behavior
ESTABLISHING A BRAND EQUITY MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM

Brand Charter

Brand Equity Report

Brand Equity Responsibilities

BRAND EQUITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

•A brand equity management system is a set of organizational processes

designed to improve the understanding and use of the brand equity concept
within a firm. Three major steps help to implement a brand equity
management system: creating brand charters, assembling brand equity
reports, and defining brand equity responsibilities.
ESTABLISHING A BRAND EQUITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• Brand equity management system

• Set of organizational processes designed to:
• Improve the understanding of brand equity.
• Use of the brand equity concept within a firm.
 BRAND CHARTER
• Formalizes the company view of brand equity into a document
• Provides relevant guidelines to marketing managers and key marketing
partners
• Should be updated on an annual basis to provide decision makers with
a current brand profile
 BRAND CHARTER

• Should:
• Define the firm’s view of branding and brand equity and explain why it is important.
• Describe the scope of key brands.
• Specify what the actual and desired equity is for brands at all relevant levels of the brand
hierarchy.
• Explainhow brand equity is measured in terms of the tracking study and the resulting
brand equity report.
• Suggest how marketers should manage brands with some general strategic guidelines,
stressing clarity, consistency, and innovation in marketing thinking over time.
• Outline how to devise marketing programs along specific tactical guidelines.
• Specify the proper treatment of the brand in terms of trademark usage, design
considerations, packaging, and communications.
BRAND EQUITY REPORT

Contents

Dashboards
 BRAND EQUITY REPORT

Contents
• A brand equity report should describe:
• What is happening with the brand?
• Why is it happening?
• Should include more descriptive market-level information.
Dashboards
• Provides comprehensive but actionable summaries of brand-related information.
BRAND EQUITY RESPONSIBILITIES

Overseeing Brand Equity

Organizational Design and

Structures

Managing Marketing Partners

BRAND EQUITY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Overseeing brand equity

• To provide central coordination, the firm should:
• Establish a position responsible for overseeing the implementation of the
brand charter and brand equity reports.
• Ensure that product and marketing actions across divisions and
geographic boundaries reflect their spirit as closely as possible.
• Maximize the long-term equity of the brand.
BRAND EQUITY RESPONSIBILITIES

Organizational design and structures

• Firms may attempt to redesign their marketing organizations to better reflect
the challenges faced by their brands.
• To meet the challenges of changing job requirements
and duties, traditional
marketing departments may be replaced by business groups, multidisciplinary
teams, and so on.
• New organizational structure aims to improve internal coordination and
efficiencies as well as external focus on retailers and consumers.
 BRAND EQUITY RESPONSIBILITIES

Managing marketing partners

• Performance of a brand is also dependent on the actions taken by outside suppliers
and marketing partners.
• Global trend indicates that firms are increasingly consolidating their marketing
partnerships and reducing the number of their outside suppliers.
• Number of outside suppliers any firm will hire in any one area depends on:
• Cost efficiencies
• Organizational leverage
• Creative diversification affect
DESIGNING BRAND TRACKING STUDIES

• Brand tracking studies collect information from consumers on a routine

basis over time, usually through quantitative measures of brand performance
on a number of key dimensions that marketers can identify in the brand audit
or other means.

• They apply components from the brand value chain to better understand
where, how much, and in what ways brand value is being created, offering
invaluable information about how well the brand has achieved its positioning.
DESIGNING BRAND TRACKING STUDIES

• Tracking studies thus play an important role by providing consistent

baseline information to facilitate day-to-day decision making.
• A good tracking system can help marketers better understand a host of
important considerations such as category dynamics, consumer behavior,
competitive vulnerabilities and opportunities, and marketing effectiveness
and efficiency.
DESIGNING BRAND TRACKING STUDIES

• Each brand faces a unique situation that the different types of questions in its
tracking survey should reflect.
• Product–Brand Tracking. Tracking an individual branded product requires
measuring brand awareness and image, using both recall and recognition
measures and moving from more general to more specific questions. Thus, it
may make sense to first ask consumers what brands come to mind in certain
situations, to next ask for recall of brands on the basis of various product
category cues, and to then finish with tests of brand recognition (if
necessary).
DESIGNING BRAND TRACKING STUDIES

• Moving from general to more specific measures is also a good idea in brand
tracking surveys to measure brand image, especially specific perceptions like
what consumers think characterizes the brand, and evaluations such as what
the brand means to consumers.
• A number of specific brand associations typically exist for the brand,
depending on the richness of consumer knowledge structures, which
marketers can track over time.
CORPORATE OR FAMILY BRAND TRACKING

• Marketers may also want to track the corporate or family brand separately or
concurrently (or both) with individual products.
• The actual questions should reflect the level and nature of experience your
respondents are likely to have had with the company.
• When a brand is identified with multiple products, as in a corporate or family
branding strategy, one important issue is which particular products the brand
reminds consumers of. At the same time, marketers also want to know which
particular products are most influential in affecting consumer perceptions
about the brand.
• To identify these more influential products, ask consumers which products they
associate with the brand on an unaided basis (“What products come to mind when
you think of the Nike brand?”) or an aided basis by listing sub-brand names (“Are
you aware of Nike Air Force basketball shoes?
• Nike Sphere React tennis apparel? Nike Air Max running shoes?”). To better
understand the dynamics between the brand and its corresponding products, also ask
consumers about their relationship between them (“There are many different
products associated with Nike.
• Which ones are most important to you in formulating your opinion about the
brand?”).
• Global Tracking: If your tracking covers diverse geographic markets—
especially in both developing and developed countries then you may need a
broader set of background measures to