Where the wind blows
Identification of different brand levers in international comparison
The customer
With about 7 billion Euros in sales and an annual turnover of just under 100,000 vehicles, our client is the most profitable sports car manufacturer in the world. According to a study from the news channel n-tv, the brand is at the frontline of German brands for both supported brand recognition and brand sympathy.
The project: Brand management – identification of brand levers in different models
The company knows the importance of the brand as a motive for buying and has clearly defined their brand value. However, for efficient brand management, it is very important to identify the corresponding factors for success that make it possible to introduce specific measures in order to strengthen the brand compared to the competition. For this, a valid measuring instrument was created for brand management.
The task
The development of an instrument for regulating brand strength through the identification of crucial factors of success for the long-term strengthening of the brand for Germany and the USA. Here, special attention was paid to three models – also in comparison with relevant competition. 2hm & Associates placed value on a mixture of qualitative and quantitative analyses:
- Analysis of focus groups from the USA and Germany in order to introduce a rational, behavior-related brand lever with more emotion
- Adjusting the proven 2hm brand lever model to the marketing measures for the respective models
- Usage of causal-analytic procedures to evaluate the determining brand lever
The realization
Based upon qualitative analyses in Germany and the USA, along with internal conversations between experts, a measuring tool was created. Subsequently, a total of 1600 people in Germany and the USA were surveyed via telephone about relevant factors of influence on the strength of a brand. With the help of a causal analysis, the importance of individual factors for success were quantified, such as, brand value, communication and distribution activities, product quality and the sales or communicative measures standing behind this. Furthermore, the importance of brand strength for a company’s success was quantified.
The result
The results of the study formed the basis for fine adjustment within the scope of international brand management and provided informative findings for the efficient strengthening of the sports car brand, in general and specifically for the models that were being considered.