Eliciting brand association networks: A new method using online community data
Résumé
This study explores a new methodology called community-aided brand concept map (CA-BCM) for eliciting brand association networks using data collected from technology-enabled online communities. NVivo software is used to qualitatively code these data to 1) uncover how users associate themselves with a brand and 2) use content analysis to quantify each of these associations, leading to the elicitation of a comprehensive network of brand associations and their relationships. Using the example of a movie brand, the new tool CA-BCM effectively uncovers 1) the core, secondary, and tertiary brand associations and 2) classifies the brand associations into strong, favorable, and unique associations. Finally, 3) using these brand association classification data and the brand awareness level, customer brand equity is measured. Pearson correlation is used to provide external validity to the CA-BCM technique, which shows a significant and positive relationship between customer brand equity and market performance. The implications and limitations of this study are presented.