BRAND RESONANCE AS A

STRATEGIC MARKETING TOOL

 Agenda
• Understanding Brand Resonance
• Managing the Four Components of Brand
Resonance
– Key concepts
– Case studies
• Summary & Discussion

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 Definition of
Customer-Based Brand Equity

• The differential effect that brand knowledge

has on customer response to brand marketing
activity
– Sources: Thoughts, feelings, images, experiences,
beliefs, attitudes, experiences, etc.
– Outcomes: Revenue enhancements & cost savings

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 Brand Resonance

• The marketing challenge is to ensure consumers have the

right types of experiences to create the right brand
knowledge
• Brand resonance is when consumers feel that they are
“in synch” with a brand
• Creating brand resonance involves a series of steps as
part of a “branding ladder”
• Creating brand resonance is also characterized by a
logically constructed set of brand “building blocks.”
 BRAND RESONANCE PYRAMID
Stages of Brand Branding
Building Blocks Objective at
Development
Each Stage

RELATIONSHIPS: Intense,
4 What about you & me? Active Loyalty
Resonance

RESPONSE: Positive,
3 What about you? Accessible
Judgments Feelings Reactions

MEANING: Points-of-Parity
2 What are you? & Difference
Performance Imagery

IDENTITY: Deep, Broad

1 Who are you? Salience Brand
Awareness
 Brand Resonance
Building Blocks: Salience

• Salience
– Depth and breadth of brand awareness
• Recognition and recall at purchase and consumption
– How easily and often the brand is thought of
• In all the right places … at all the right times … in all the right ways
 Brand Resonance Building Blocks:
Performance & Imagery

• Performance
– What the brand does to meet customers' more functional needs.
• Brand performance refers to the intrinsic properties of the brand in
terms of inherent product benefits.
• Imagery
– How people think about a brand abstractly rather than what they
think the brand actually physically does.
• Brand imagery is thus more extrinsic properties of the brand.
– Four important intangible dimensions are:
• Type of user
• Brand personality
• History & heritage
• Experiences
 Superior Competitive Positioning

• Performance and Imagery associations should be chosen to help the

brand achieve a superior competitive positioning
• Develop 3-5 unique brand points-of-difference (POD’s)
– Desirable to consumer
– Deliverable by the company
– Differentiatied from competitors
• Establish 2-4 shared brand points-of-parity (POP’s)
– Negate competitor points-of-difference
– Overcome perceived vulnerabilities from points-of-difference
– Demonstrate category credentials

Kevin Lane Keller, Brian Sternthal, and Alice Tybout (2002), “Three Questions You Need to Ask
About Your Brand,” Harvard Business Review, September, 80 (9), 80-89.
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 Brand Resonance Building Blocks: Judgments
& Feelings
• Judgments
– Consumers overall brand evaluations
• How consumers combine performance and imagery associations
to form different kinds of brand opinions
• Quality, satisfaction, credibility, consideration, superiority
• Feelings
– Consumers emotional responses and reactions to the
brand
• Can be mild or intense; positive or negative; or experiential or
enduring in nature.
• Can also relate to the social currency evoked by the brand.
 Dimensions of Brand Feelings

Brand feelings can be divided into two broad categories:

 Experiential – immediate, short-lived during purchase/consumption
 Enduring – private, possibly part of day-to-day life
Brands should have one, or ideally both, types of feelings

Experiential Feelings Enduring Feelings

• Warm • Sense of Security (Inner-directed)
Increasing
level of • Fun • Social Approval (Outer-directed)
intensity

• Exciting • Self-Respect (Actualization)

Self-Respect Higher
level of
values &
Sense of Security Social Approval needs

Inner-Directed Outer-Directed
 Brand Resonance Building Blocks: Resonance
• Resonance
– The extent to which customers feel that they are “in
synch” with the brand
• Intensity or depth of the psychological bond that customers have
with the brand or others
• Level of activity engendered by this loyalty
– Repeat purchase rates
– The extent to which consumers seek out brand information, events,
or other loyal customers
 The Four Components of
Brand Resonance

• Behavioral Loyalty
– Customers’ repeat purchases and the amount or share of category
volume attributed to the brand
• Attitudinal Attachment
– When customers view the brand as being something special in a broader
context
• Active Engagement
– When customers are willing to invest personal resources on the brand –
time, energy, money, etc. – beyond those resources expended during
purchase or consumption of the brand
• Sense of Community
– When customers feel a kinship or affiliation with other people associated
with the brand.
 BRAND RESONANCE PYRAMID
Stages of Brand Branding
Building Blocks Objective at
Development
Each Stage

RELATIONSHIPS: Intense,
4 What about you & me? Active Loyalty
Resonance

RESPONSE: Positive,
3 What about you? Accessible
Judgments Feelings Reactions

MEANING: Points-of-Parity
2 What are you? & Difference
Performance Imagery

IDENTITY: Deep, Broad

1 Who are you? Salience Brand
Awareness
Sub-Dimensions of Brand Resonance Pyramid

RESONANCE
LOYALTY
ATTACHMENT
COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT

FEELINGS
JUDGMENTS WARMTH
QUALITY FUN
CREDIBILITY EXCITEMENT
CONSIDERATION SECURITY
SUPERIORITY SOCIAL APPROVAL
SELF-RESPECT

PERFORMANCE IMAGERY
PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICS & USER PROFILES
SECONDARY FEATURES PURCHASE & USAGE
PRODUCT RELIABILITY, SITUATIONS
DURABILITY & SERVICEABILITY PERSONALITY &
SERVICE EFFECTIVENESS, VALUES
EFFICIENCY, & EMPATHY HISTORY, HERITAGE,
STYLE AND DESIGN & EXPERIENCES
PRICE

SALIENCE
CATEGORY IDENTIFICATION
NEEDS SATISFIED
 Nike Brand Resonance Pyramid

Attachment
Community
Engagement

Rational Fun Emotional

Credibility Exciting Route
Route
Superiority Self-respect

Innovative Empowerment
Quality Irreverence
Stylish

Salience – Everything Athletic

 Starbucks Brand Resonance Pyramid

Loyalty
Attachment
Community
Engagement

Quality Warm
Rational Emotional
Credibility Fun
Route Route
Consideration Relaxation
Superiority Romantic indulgence

Quality ingredients Sophisticated & elegant

Exotic variety Casual & comfortable
Personalized service “Third Place”
Comfortable atmosphere Progressive & cool

Salience – Highly accessible & convenient (ideally anywhere & anytime)

 Brand Resonance Components

• Behavioral loyalty – Customers’ repeat purchases

and the amount or share of category volume
attributed to the brand
– How often do customers purchase a brand?
– How much do they purchase?

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 Brand Resonance Components

• Attitudinal attachment – When customers view the

brand as being something special in a broader
context
– Do customers “love” the brand?
– Do they describe it as one of their favorite possessions?
– Do they view it as a “little pleasure” they look forward to?

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 Brand Resonance Components

• Sense of community – When customers feel a

kinship or affiliation with other people associated
with the brand.
– Do customers interact with fellow brand users or
employees or representatives of the company?
– Does this occur on-line and/or off-line?

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 Brand Resonance Components
• Active engagement – When customers are willing to invest
personal resources on the brand – time, energy, money, etc.
– beyond those resources expended during purchase or
consumption of the brand
– Do customers choose to join a club centered on a brand?
– Do customers receive updates, exchange correspondence with other
brand users or formal or informal representatives of the brand itself?
– Do they visit brand-related Web sites, participate in chat rooms, and
so on?

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 Brand Resonance Network

Company Company – Brand

connections

Consumer – Company
connections
Brand

Consumer – Brand
connections

Consumer Consumer
Consumer – Consumer
connections
Any marketing activity can be judged by its total effect
on the four dimensions of brand resonance

Behavioral
Loyalty

Attitudinal Sense of
Attachment Community

Active
Engagement
 Achieving Resonance

• First, must create foundation for resonance

– Proper salience & breadth & depth of awareness
– Firmly established points-of-parity & points-of-difference
– Positive judgments & feelings that appeal to the head &
the heart
• Then, must optimize four dimensions of brand
resonance

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 1. Building Behavioral Loyalty

• Break down barriers at

purchase & consumption
• Broaden customer access
point
– Find appropriate new
distribution outlets
– Elicit additional & new
consumption opportunities

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 Starbucks Growth Strategy

• Product development
– Coffee driven
• Bottled Frappuccino, DoubleShot, Ice Cream
– Complements
• Starbucks Card Duetto Visa, Hear Music Choice Artist CD
series, healthy breakfast items, smoothies
• Market development
– New outlets
• Hotels, airports, airlines, book stores, department stores,
corporations, etc.
– New markets
• Almost 5,000 coffeehouses in 93 markets outside North
America (with carefully chosen partners)
 2. Building Brand Attachment

• Stake out emotional territory

– Experiential
• Warm, fun or exciting
– Enduring
• Sense of security, social approval, or
self-respect
• Celebrate uniqueness & make
indispensable
– Relevance
– Immediacy

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 Pampers

• Pampers evolved from a functional to an

emotional positioning:
– Absorbency & dry baby
– “Caring for Baby’s Development”
• Pampers changed marketing program
accordingly
– Advertising etc.
– Web site
 3. Building Brand Community

• Allow, facilitate, and

encourage interaction online &
offline with others
– Learn from and teach others
– Express and observe loyalty
• Give them something to talk
about
– Product or brand news
– Social events
– Marketing activities

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Dove “Real Beauty”
• Dove had been backed for decades by traditional advertising touting the
brand’s benefit of one-quarter moisturizing cream and exhorting women to
take the seven-day Dove test.
• A significant shift in strategy occurred for Dove in 2003 with the launch of
the Real Beauty campaign, which celebrates “real women” of all shapes,
sizes, ages, and colors.
• The multi-media campaign was thoroughly integrated.
– Traditional TV and print ads were combined with all forms of new media, such as real-time
voting for models on cell phones and tabulated displays of results on giant billboards.
– PR was dialed up; paid media was dialed down.
• The Internet was crucial for creating a dialogue with women. A website
was launched and supplemented with ad videos (“Evolution” & “No Age
Limit”).

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 Consumer-to-Consumer
Equity Transfer

Promotions Sponsorships
Events Experiences

Information
Consumer 1 Consumer 2
Emotions

Blogs Web
sites
Online ads Bulletin
& videos boards
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 Building Brand Engagement

• Must have people read

about, talk about, think
about, and engage in
activities with the brand
• Create opportunities for
brand involvement

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 Jeep Jamborees & Camps
• In addition to the hundreds of local Jeep enthusiast
clubs throughout the world, Jeep owners can
convene with their vehicles in wilderness areas
across America as part of the company’s official
Jeep Jamborees and Camp Jeep.
• Since the inaugural Camp Jeep in 1995, over 28,000
people have attended the three-day sessions, where
they practice off-road driving skills and meet other
Jeep owners.
• Jeep Jamborees bring Jeep owners and their
families together for two-day off-road adventures in
more than 30 different locations from Spring
through Autumn each year.

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 Marketing & Resonance

• Any marketing activity can affect more than one

dimension of resonance
– Interactive or multiple effects
• Certain categories allow for more resonance
– Inherently high levels of interest & activities
• To maximize brand resonance, increase the levels
of both the intensity & activity of customer
loyalty relationships

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 The Duality of Brand Resonance

Intensity of Heirloom Beloved

Relationship Brands Brands

Heritage Brands

Necessity Brands

Utilitarian
Brands

Activity of
Brand Resonance Requires Relationship
Customer Intensity & Activity
 Summary
• Brand resonance can provide a useful means to
maximize brand equity & customer equity
• Brand resonance is created by developing
marketing activities that:
– Overcomes physical & mental barriers for purchase &
consumption
– Strikes an emotional chord
– Is a catalyst for social connections
– Creates meaningful opportunities for interactions

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