Branding and Size

In the second of a special feature on papers coming up at the forthcoming MRS conference, we look at the issue of branding and size as presented by Mark Kingsbury of Research International.

The paper argues that big brands always do better than small brands, yet this is a factor that is rarely taken into account in analysis of a brand's status. The speech explores a methodology for establishing the size effect of a brand, so once this has been accounted for, additional aspects of a brand's nature can be identified which will drive its future success.

The first measure used by RI to obtain an understanding is the 'familiarity' that consumers have with a brand is a simple 10 point scale. This measures the amount of knowledge the consumer believes they have about each brand - this also captures a higher level measure of the extent to which competing brands have made an impact on consumers' minds.

Size, as represented by familiarity, according to Kingsbury, does matter but is not all - it certainly is not true that big brands will always have high shares in the future and small brands will find it impossible to break through and gain market share.

The RI Equity Engine tool proceeds to measure brand equity in terms of the overall strength of the brand in terms of its physical and emotional benefits as perceived by the consumer. The measure of the emotional/affinity component of the equity is derived through nine fixed emotional benefits whilst physical performance benefits are category specific.

As to be expected, there is a strong relationship between brand equity and market share but this is insufficient to explain whether a brand is gaining or losing market share. Kingsbury argues that much current branding research does not go beyond explaining the current status of the brand instead of looking at what will drive the future success of the brand.

Although the Double Jeopardy feature (as first noted by William McPhee in the 1930s) is still alive and kicking, Kingsbury's central conclusion is that we need to understand and account for the brand size effect in our brand equity measurement activity so that we can factor it out and see the true underlying health of the brand. According to Kingsbury, the Brand Edge tool developed by RI (and discussed at greater length in the full paper) does this allowing for a prediction of growth or decline of market share over time.

Kingsbury's full paper will be presented on Friday 22 March in the morning session commencing at 9 am.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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