Mindshare Strategy

I am constantly surprised by the lack of information available about branding.  Brands have been around since the beginning of time, and people have understood the branding process for years.  At the same time, there is little information commonly available about how to build, or even judge, a strong brand.

I’ve been studying the idea of brand equity lately, and I find it amazing that there is no solid metric.  Some people estimate the premium people are willing to pay on branded products and use the percentage as their BE score.  Others use a subjective measure voluntarily stated by interviewed customers.  Still others use complicated equations relating profits to actual expenses to determine their figures.  None of these correlate with one another, and sometimes even contradict both their competiting calculation methods and common sense.

Therefore I would like to pose a question.  Answer in as many or as few words as you need to be completely understood.  What does the term “brand equity” mean to you?  How do you calculate BE within your organization?  How high on your list is BE when it comes to making day-to-day decisions in your firm?

Please respond by Sunday so we can discuss your comments in Monday’s post.