The third and final way to build brand equity is, in effect, to “borrow” it. That is, create brand equity by linking the brand to other ...
The third and final way to build brand equity is, in effect, to “borrow” it. That is, create brand equity by linking the brand to other information in memory that conveys meaning to consumers
These “secondary” brand associations can link the brand to sources, such as the company itself (through branding strategies), to countries or other geographical regions (through identification of product origin), and to channels of distribution (through channel strategy), as well as to other brands (through ingredient or co-branding), characters (through licensing), spokespeople (through endorsements), sporting or cultural events (through sponsorship), or some other third party sources (through awards or reviews).
Suppose Burton—the maker of snowboards, ski boots, bindings, clothing, and outerwear decided to introduce a new surfboard called the “Dominator.” Burton has gained over a third of the snowboard market by closely aligning itself with top professional riders and creating a strong amateur snowboarder community around the country. To support the new surfboard, Burton could leverage secondary brand knowledge in a number of ways:
• It could “sub-brand” the product, calling it “Dominator by Burton.” Consumers’ evaluations of the new product would be influenced by how they felt about Burton and whether they felt that such knowledge predicted the quality of a Burton surfboard.
• Burton could rely on its rural New England origins, but such a geographical location would seem to have little relevance to surfing.
Burton could sell through popular surf shops in the hope that its credibility would rub off on the Dominator brand.
• Burton could co-brand by identifying a strong ingredient brand for its foam or fiberglass materials (as Wilson did by incorporating Goodyear tire rubber on the soles of its Pro Staff Classic tennis shoes).
• Burton could find one or more top professional surfers to endorse the surfboard, or it could sponsor a surfing competition or even the entire Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour.
• Burton could secure and publicize favourable ratings from third-party sources such as Surfer or Surfing magazine.
Thus, independent of the associations created by the surfboard itself, its brand name, or any other aspects of the marketing program, Burton could build equity by linking the brand to these other entities.
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