Learning Journal: Consumer Behavior, Brand Equity and Marketing

This learning journal presents an analysis of brand concepts and their impact on consumer behavior, covering topics such as brand influence, loyalty, and trust. The journal explores how brands affect consumer decisions and examines the role of experience and nostalgia in shaping brand preferences. It delves into brand metrics, including behavior, interaction, perception, and performance metrics, and discusses the importance of these metrics for brand management. Furthermore, the journal analyzes luxury brand extensions, their potential impact on parent companies, and explores key elements in designing a B2B brand. It also examines the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model, detailing its application in both B2C and B2B contexts, emphasizing brand identity, meaning, and response. The assignment provides a comprehensive overview of branding strategies and consumer behavior within marketing.

Running Head: LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 0
Learning journal answers
Week 1 to 6 and week 7to 11
System04122
1/25/2019

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 1
Contents
Week 1............................................................................................................................................................2
Answer 1.....................................................................................................................................................2
Week 3............................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 1.....................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 2.....................................................................................................................................................5
Week 4............................................................................................................................................................6
Answer 1.....................................................................................................................................................6
Answer 2.....................................................................................................................................................6
Week 9............................................................................................................................................................7
Answer 1.....................................................................................................................................................7
Answer 2.....................................................................................................................................................7
Week 10..........................................................................................................................................................8
Answer 1.....................................................................................................................................................8
Answer 2.....................................................................................................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................................................12

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 2
Week 1
Answer 1
a) A brand is a concept, service or a product that is differentiated from the other services and
products. Brands are usually expressed by logo. It is an identity for the company it shows
what a company stands for. Basically it is the symbol, design, name and other features that
distinguish one seller’s product or service from the other sellers.
b) Brands influence consumer behavior in the following ways
Brands alter buyer’s intentions:
Brands can easily influence consumer buying behavior. For example- there are two products
which have similar features and quality. One is a known brand while other is not. It is obvious
that anybody will choose the known brand over the other as brands have some history associated
with them. Brands have built trust over time. Brands also have a status value which highly affects
a customers buying behavior. There is a high portion of trust between a person and a brand,
while on the other hand non- branded products does not en joy this luxury (Wilkinson, 2013;
Sadia, 2019).

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 3
 Brands earn loyalty:
It is basically when people grow a strong relationship with some of the brands. For example- if
someone has been using a particular brand since childhood they build an emotional connection
with the brand, such people always have a sense of nostalgia with the brand even if there are
better options available in the market. It is therefore important to have a strong brand at first
place to have such loyalty. Any new business should focus to build such loyalty.
No, some brands do not impact my decision making process over other brands due to the
following reasons:
 Experience
The main reason behind buying products from a particular company or brand is due to the
experience with the brand. We all go through good and bad experiences we have while buying
from different brands this plays an important role in deciding whether to buy again from the
company or not like it is always said first impressions is the last. I would always like to buy from a
brand with which I have had a good experience (Witcher, 2010; Crossan, 2012).
 Nostalgia:
Second thing which impacts my decision of buying a product from a particular brand is if I have an
emotional connection with the brand. If I have been buying a product from a certain brand since
childhood and the company still holds up to the same experience and quality then I would prefer
choosing the same brand over any other brand.
Thus, I would prefer buying products from a particular brand rather that switching to a new one.

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 4
c) According to me all brands are very similar but the only difference is the way they market its
product in the market. For example: All the toothpaste brands-
Whenever you go to a Supermarket you will be surprised at the number of toothpaste brands.
There would be rows and columns with different toothpaste. Some of them work for sensitive
teeth while others for whitening and etc. Apart from few extra features that the brand offers to
its customers all the toothpaste are basically the same. There is not a lot of difference among the
toothpaste brands
Week 3
Answer 1
The three reasons of trusting a specific brand are:
 Quality of the product the brand offers:
For me the most important thing is the quality of the product offered a brand offers. Cost and
convenience often compromise on the quality of the product. Quality of the product gives
great satisfaction to the customer and builds trust for the brand
 Customer service
It the customer service is good for a brand then the trust for the brand increases, as it is easy
to connect to the support team in case of any problem with the product or service it is easy to
connect with the support team. This allows having a personal connection with brand and
gives a good experience to the customer for buying the product again from the brand

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 5
 Value of the product
This basically means that the price you are paying for the product in comparison to it is
quality. For example amazon customers may value the products for the competitive price it
offers. For example the one plus phones, one plus offers great features In their phones at a
good price which increases the value for the product while on the other hand apple have
phones with high price but the features for the same are not good, which shows that the
value of the product in comparison to its price is less.
Answer 2
“We believe less about what a brand says and instead focus more on how a brand behaves”
This statement clearly means that a person should not focus on what the brand says or how it
market itself to its customers but should focus more on how a brand is behaving in the market in
comparison to its competitors. Sometimes brands promise to give good quality products and
services but are not able to stand on their promise hence creating a bad brand image in the
market. Thus one should always focus on the brand image of a brand in the market rather then
what the brand markets.
An example of this can be cited in the case of Johnson and Johnson baby powder Johnson and
Johnson has been a leading multinational company which manufactures pharmaceutical, medical
devices and consumer packaged goods. Johnsons has been marketing its baby power and shower
to shower powder since ages by saying that it is by the safest product for the baby’s and adults
mainly women. J&J powder now has been linked with ovarian cancer and J&J was also accused of
knowing this association for a long time but they failed to inform this to its customers. That is

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 6
why it is important to see how the brand behaves in the market rather than how it market itself
to the customers
Week 4
Answer 1
Brand metrics is a way of measurement that shows how strong or weak a particular brand in
comparison to its competitors.
Brand metrics has three categories:
a) Behavior metrics: in this it is seen what an employee does to build or promote a brand
b) Interaction metrics: this is a study of how customers interact with the brand
c) Perception metrics: customers perception about a particular brand
a) Performance metrics: lastly how a brand performs in the market
Brand metrics is important as it helps managers to have a better understanding if the brand is on
tract in comparison to its positioning and impact of business in a market.
Knowing your brand helps to align with the business objectives and also to take advantage of the
positive perceptions
Furthermore these types of metrics give visibility in the marketing efforts and helps in growing
the business.
Answer 2
All brands want their brand to be valuable by both the marketplace and the customers. Market
value of the product is determined by the trust and loyalty it builds with its customers.it is not

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 7
about the brand name, logo or the advertisement it about how a brand connects emotionally to
its customers on the other hand the brand’s financial position is all important. Both the things the
financial position and a brands market position matters.
Week 9
Answer 1
Indeed, this market strategy is feasible to attract the new customers (Scholz, 2014). Due to the
history and heritage of the brand it is easier to attract new customers. This tells their customers
that there product is better and unique than the common (Ormaechea and Javier, 2013). Brand
like Louis Vuitton, if they try to sell a handbag they can attract new customers easily as the brand
has a history and heritage of selling best quality products since ages. This strategy gives the
customer a feel of being special, unique and sophisticated. (Ko and Phau, 2016; Som, 2015).
Answer 2
Luxury brand extensions can have both a positive and a negative effect on the parent company.
When extensions take place keeping the luxury criteria in such cases they have a successful brand
extension without harming the luxury brand image. For example: Armani
Armani is one of the most diversified brands in luxury brand industry. Apart from having brand
extensions like Armani Prive’, Armani Exchange and etc. it offers all the things a luxury brand
needs to offer. Armani brand extensions have been successful.
Such brand extensions shows that if carefully thought about makes no damage to the brand
instead increases the brand’s attractiveness (Stankeviciute and Hoffman , 2012).

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 8
Week 10
Answer 1
There are 6 key elements to design a B2B brand:
1. Target audience
In B2B the target audience is the buyer of your product or service but due to a difficult purchasing
process of B2B. It is not only important to see which companies are buying your Product but who
amongst the company is buying your product, like the department manager or the purchasing
managers. (Thomas, 2013).
(Heidi, 2017).
 Brand perception
It is important for a brand to set a goal about what it was in past and what it want to be in the
future. One of the ways to find this is to conduct a survey with the current customers to find out
what the customers feel about your brand (Resnik, 2013).
 Brand positioning
Brand positioning means what position a brand holds in the market. Basically what does the
brand defines to the target audience and competitors (Heidi, 2017). There are a lot of things that
hold up a brand that includes brand logo, packaging quality of product and more such aspects
(Kolter, 2016; Tai, 2011).
Answer 2
The CBBE model

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 9
Level 1- Brand identity
Brand identity is the way a customer distinguishes between brands. Brand identity is used when
customers are not aware of the brand. Brand identity is the first step in Keller’s brand equity
model. Hence it is the base for a brand. If the base will be strong, the pyramid will be stronger too
and the stronger the brand identity a brand will be able to build from the start the better it would
be for the brand (Sibireva, 2014)
Application of CBBE model on B2B: Use USP tool and the market segmentation tool
 It is important to research market to understand how a customer see brand and discover
the different market needs; and how customers differentiate between your brand and
competitive brand
Level 2- Brand meaning
Resonance
Brand Responce
Brand Meaning
Brand Identity

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 10
Once the consumer is aware of the brand and customer is interested in knowing more about the
brand like, if brand is reliable or if it has a good customer service and other information the
second level of the brand equity model has 2 parts.
a) Brand performance: the performance of the brand is more important for the customers.
Companies’ like- Google, Apple. In brand performance 5 factors are considered which are
 Pricing of the product or service
 Product features
 Customer service
b) Brand imagery: it means what image a brand holds. Two of the things that can build a strong
brand image are target marketing and word of mouth.
Application on B2B: after the first level is completed it is important to see if the brand fulfills the
expectations of the customers and if the customers can build loyalty with brand
Level 3- Brand Response
If a customer is ready to buy product, he/she build up certain expectations towards the purchase
and the brand. This thing depends totally on the experience of the customer if a customer has a
good experience will promote the brand further. Thus the various brands experience of the
customer builds negative or positive feeling for a brand.
Application on B2B: first research or examine the four types of judgments. How well does your
brand’s market strategy communicate to its customers how your brand compares does with its
competitors?

LEARNING JOURNAL ANSWERS 11
Level 4 - brand resonance
There are a lot of brands which reach this level. The level where there is a huge emotional and
social connects of a brand with its customers. The factors of brand resonance are:
 Connection and feelings
 Engagement of customers
 Behavior
Application on B2B: list and see what resonance strategy can build good relations with customers.
Always focus on behavioral loyalty, host certain events for better involvement of your customer
in the brand.