Measuring Customer Based Brand Equity Using Aaker's Model

Building a strong brand requires careful planning and a great deal of long-term investment. The most distinctive skill of professional marketers is the ability to create, maintain, enhance and protect brands. Brand equity being the added value of a product by virtue of its brand has both psychological and financial value for a firm. This paper attempts to examine the applicability of customer based brand equity model developed by David Aaker in the Indian context. A survey was conducted to collect the perceptions of consumers on jeans brands. Statistical analysis was performed to test the reliability of the scale, and the results showed Cronbach's coefficient value to be quite satisfactory, ranging from 0.66 to 0.80. Further, correlation analysis showed significant relationship of brand equity with all the four dimensions. Stepwise regression analysis found brand loyalty to be the most important predictor of brand equity followed by brand awareness, whereas perceived quality and brand association were found to be not significant. Thus, the study provides empirical evidence as to creating higher levels of awareness and high degree of loyalty is what is required in building superior brand equity in India. Overall, the findings indicate that Aaker's model may not be applicable in the Indian market, and further research is necessary to understand the dimensionality of brand equity in India.