Merchandising/Marketing/Retailing: Branding

Strategies for Building Brand Equity for Unfamiliar Companies

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Abstract

Although widely used, existing brand equity models make implicit assumptions about the existence of consumer’s prior brand knowledge, lacking in guidance for less established, unfamiliar brands to build brand equity. Thus, a brand equity process model specifically catering to unfamiliar brands is warranted. In building brand equity for unfamiliar brands, consumer’s risk perception is a crucial factor to consider. Without any previous encounter, consumers can more easily experience a heightened sense of perceived risk, stemming from uncertainties about the brand. Thus, this study proposes that forming the high impression of brand quality, leading to initial trust can play a critical role in alleviating this risk. With this, the study proposes a conceptual brand equity process model with a specific emphasis on developing methods to build quality perception of the brand, and empirically testing the model.

Keywords: Brand equity, brand cues, globalization

How to Cite:

Song, S. & Kim, M., (2013) “Strategies for Building Brand Equity for Unfamiliar Companies”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 70(1).