Rediffusion launches Y&R's Brand Asset Valuator in India

Rediffusion | DYR has formally introduced Young & Rubicam Inc's (Y&R) globally-renowned proprietary resource, Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), in India in the form of BAV India 2003. The brand management tool was launched in Mumbai yesterday (November 26), with David Jenkinson, regional strategy planning director, Young & Rubicam Australia/NZ, unveiling BAV to Indian marketers and advertisers.

BAV functions on the premise that while brands are valued on a company's balance sheet, a brand's true equity rests in consumers' minds, and the perceived value (of a brand) leads to consumer loyalty and willingness to pay a premium. BAV measures consumer perceptions of brands on an ongoing basis, and provides an understanding of how consumers evaluate brands, how brands gain and lose strength, and how brands can be managed for long-term success. The tool also evaluates the comparative strength of a brand. "BAV is a framework for pursuing strategic options and assessing the effectiveness of brand strategy," Jenkinson said, speaking to agencyfaqs!. "It looks at overall brand problems and explores brand opportunities beyond a brand's existing domain."

According to the agency network, BAV is the most extensive worldwide study of brands. Since the time the study first originated in 1993, the study has apparently created an exhaustive database comprising data from over 2.3 lakh consumers, from 44 countries, on roughly 1,500 brands per country (of which, on an average, some 350 to 400 tend to be large global brands). In comparative terms, the Indian BAV (the fieldwork for which was undertaken in January-March 2003) covers 3,000-plus consumers and 1,375 leading brands in the Indian market. "We first identified over 100 categories, and then we picked the important brands in each of these categories while collating the Indian study," says K Subramanian, planning director, Rediffusion | DYR.

The primary differentiator of BAV is the manner in which it looks at brands: that brands are not bound within limited category definitions. "While the traditional competition for Kodak comes from a Polaroid or a Fuji, today, Kodak's competition includes Nokia and Sony," explains Jenkinson. "Similarly, the biggest competition for Nescafe is Starbucks. BAV gives marketers a broad perspective to understand brands and categories by looking at the consumer brandspace." For this, BAV has identified four ‘pillars' as a basis on which brands are built. These are Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem and Knowledge.

While Differentiation pertains to the perceived distinctiveness of the brand (how a brand stands out from competing brands), Relevance gauges the personal appropriateness of the brand (in the consumer's life). Esteem is the consumer's personal regard for the brand (a function of quality and popularity), while Knowledge is a true understanding of the product or service (stemming from awareness and intimacy). Differentiation and Relevance contribute to Brand Strength, while Esteem and Knowledge provide Brand Stature.

At different stages in a brand's lifecycle, one or the other ‘pillar' tends to be stronger than the others. For instance, start-up brands enjoy greater Differentiation than Relevance (Relevance is gained over a period of time), while commodified brands have greater Relevance then Differentiation (with consumers having no distinctive reason for purchasing such brands). A similar co-relation exists between Esteem and Knowledge (the Ambassador car, for instance, is a good example of a brand that scores well on Knowledge but fares poorly on Esteem).

On the basis of the interplay between these ‘pillars', BAV constructs a power grid to demonstrate how brands gain and lose strength. So you have Emerging Brands (strong on Differentiation), Unrealised Potential (strong Differentiation, with increasing Relevance and Esteem), Declining Leaders (with dropping Differentiation and Esteem), and Eroding Potential (low on Differentiation and Relevance)… "Most brands have a weakness in one or the other pillar, and the study identifies the pillar problem and gives an idea about what to do to solve the problem," Jenkinson says. Citing the example of Sony, he adds that strong brands "are strong across all four pillars".

Apart from measuring Brand Strength and Stature, BAV also evaluates Brand Image using a mix of 48 ‘image' and ‘personality' attributes. Image attributes, for instance, include ‘trustworthy', ‘high quality' ‘innovative', ‘cares for customers', ‘stylish' and ‘best brand' ("Positive image attributes are important for a brand to be credible," Jenkinson points out). While personality attributes include ‘daring', ‘outdoorsy', ‘glamorous', ‘honest' and ‘gaining in popularity'. "By looking at the image and personality attributes of brands in a category, we can arrive at an appropriate positioning for our brand by finding space in the consumer's mind," Jenkinson says. The Brand Image evaluation also highlights the brands that have the most similar image (within and across categories), which can help marketers look for potential alliance partners.

Jenkinson informs that fresh BAV ‘waves' occur once every three years, "as you need three years to allow your recommendations to significantly impact the value of the brand". Rediff's Subramanian, for his part, informs that the agency would be constantly rationalising the India list in time for each ‘wave', "as new brands will come up, and existing ones might fall away in three years' time and would need to be replaced". He adds that while the tool and the processes linked to it are global, the databases and the readings for BAV India 2003 are local, and benefit marketers in India. © 2003 agencyfaqs!