Brand market research

Brand market research refers to the process of research which is related to brands and branding. A brand is an abstract set of ideas or beliefs about an organisation, company, product or person. Most often, a brand is associated with a logo, image or tagline – such as the Nike 'swoosh' or Audi's tag line 'Vorsprung deutsch technik'. However, branding, and market research related to branding, also includes elements such as the tone of voice used in communications, fonts, staff uniforms and public perception.

There are numerous aspects of brand market research – including brand awareness and brand advocacy. Brand awareness market research seeks to understand how aware consumers are of a brand – this could be a tangible brand, such as Coca-Cola or Adidas, or an intangible brand which is not owned by any corporation or individual; such as the concept of environmentalism or the breast cancer awareness campaign. Brand market research techniques test awareness of a brand among consumers in different ways – although most involve some form of unprompted recall, followed by prompted recall. For instance, an interviewer might ask what brands of soda a respondent had had in the last two weeks, and if they did not mention Coca Cola, they might then ask directly if the respondent had had this product.

High levels of brand awareness often result in people being able to identify a brand without direct exposure to a name or sometimes even the logo. For instance, Nike utilises the swoosh logo and McDonald's has both the 'golden arches' motif, and the "I'm Lovin' It" tagline. Coca Cola, is often recognised from the distinctive ribbon pattern on the side of its cans and the "Holidays are coming" theme tune with which its Christmas adverts have become synonymous in the UK – indeed, it is often said that Christmas hasn't started until the advert has been shown on television; which is an incredible brand association in itself as Coca Cola is instantly linked to Christmas, which is for many people a time of great fun and enjoyment.

Brand advocacy is the top level of brand loyalty and brand advocates are members of the public who actively market a brand or product to others and would choose that brand over other similar products based on their previous associations with that brand. A good example of a company with a high level of brand advocacy is Apple, who see large queues of people outside their stores at product launches.

At DJS Research we have a wealth of branding market research experience, including brand health, brand tracking, campaign evaluation and value proposition research – to names a few!