咩係brand equity?

Brand equity is a dependent variable value associated with a product, service, process, facility, and company. It is an important, greatest and enduring asset to the producer or provider of a good (product and/or service). Brand equity is not only by a name but may include an extraordinary process, facility, design, color, signage, term, patent, symbol, or a combination of all.
Brand equity varies in degrees that are depended on world market exposure, the degree of customer recognition and how a company performing the management of a brand. Global products, services or companies are usually having much higher value than the regional ones. Those global brands ranking at the top ten in the world in 2003-04 were Coca Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, Intel, Disney, McDonald’s, Nokia, Toyota and Marlboro. For instances, the worth of the first ranked brand -Coca was about 67-70 billion US dollars and Marlboro was 22 billions. The brands equity of cigarette producers are declining because of the global campaign for the ban of smoking at public is on the rise. Besides of the ban of demonstration of cigarette brand at public places, cigarette producers will also be not allowed to use their brand on clothing items now.
The worth of a brand can be lasting for centuries even longer than the time its company founded, many brand leaders of 75 years ago are still today’s brand leaders: Kodak, Wrigley’s, Gillette, Coca Cola, Heinz and Campbell. Brand can make influence to customers’ buying decisions as to discriminate others that denotes what is the group of customers, and how many they are. Every powerful brand really represents a set of loyal customers; therefore the fundamental asset underlying brand equity is customer equity. Premium priced or luxury brand would appeal the medium to upper class customers, and customers who are able to distinguish quality or do not familiarize the product or service but having an intuition that a high priced brand is being good in quality such as medicines.

2006-10-19 12:10:16 補充：
correction:customers who are NOT able to distinguish instead of customers who are able to distinguish.......

2006-10-19 12:28:12 補充：
correction:the middle to upper class customers... not meduim to upper class

brand equity is an asset of the company
company can earn addition amount compare with the same industry
e.g LV bag , and a normal bag sold in MK , LV bag has brand quity ( the value is the difference between the LV and normal bags = 6000- 60 = 5400

brand quity is 5400 in this case
We assure that the quality of bags between LV and the normal bags is the same
but due to the existance of brand equity , LV can charge higher than normal bag
Brand is need to built for a long time step by step , so it is valuable ,

Brand equity is the value built-up in a brand. It is measured based on how much a customer is aware of the brand. The value of a company's brand equity can be calculated by comparing the expected future revenue from the branded product with the expected future revenue from an equivalent non-branded product. This calculation is at best an approximation. This value can comprise both tangible, functional attributes (e.g. TWICE the cleaning power or HALF the fat) and intangible, emotional attributes (e.g. The brand for people with style and good taste).

Composition of brand equity
An investment in brand equity is commonly claimed to work through the creation of brand knowledge. This knowledge in turn consists of two aspects of a brand: brand image and brand awareness. Brand image, in this context, consists of the mental associations consumers make with the brand. Brand awareness is composed of the strength of the brand in consumers' minds, for example their ability to recall the brand. The combination of the two is sometimes referred to as the customer franchise. Firms may seek to influence brand equity, but it is the consumer who determines brand equity and its value.

Positivity
It can be positive or negative. Positive brand equity is created by a history of effective promotion and consistently meeting or exceeding customer expectations. Negative brand equity is usually the result of bad management.

Positive brand equity can be a significant barrier to entry for prospective competitors. The greater a company's brand equity, the greater the probability that the company will use a family branding strategy rather than an individual branding strategy. This is because family branding allows them to leverage off the equity accumulated in the core brand. This makes new product introductions less risky and less expensive.