Brand Equity Research
Brands in today's intense global economy are strategic assets and a key source of competitive advantage. A brand's equity, that which adds or detracts from the power of the brand, must be managed and leveraged to produce strong long-term performance and lasting revenue growth. Strong brand-building and measurement skills are crucial to achieving these critical objectives in today's fiercely competitive global economy.

Abt SRBI is a leader in designing and conducting brand equity research. Abt SRBI has put its considerable brand equity research experience and capabilities to work for many domestic and global brands in media, financial services, consumer goods, telecommunications and transportation services. This includes research to support new branding initiatives and the repositioning and revitalization of established brands.

Mark A. Schulman, Ph.D., President, manages SRBI's brand equity research practice.

SRBI's brand research experience and capabilities are presented within our Brand Equity Evaluation and Measurement Program which addresses such critical brand research issues as:

> attitudes toward and perceptions of the brand

> brand acceptance and affinity

> brand awareness, attitude and usage tracking

> brand equity measurement and evaluation

> line extension evaluation

> market feasibility

> market structure and segmentation

> positioning

> name testing and selection

> USP development and testing

SRBI provides brand research programs that incorporate all of these issues, as well as programs that include only one or several of the above issues. SRBI's brand research is customized to your specific needs and is designed to provide meaningful solutions, not just numbers.

The SRBI Brand Equity Evaluation and Measurement Program is a progressive 5-step process which provides market and customer data and evaluation on which to base brand strategies and tactics.
A key component of the Brand Equity Measurement and Development Program is The Brand Equity Power Index, a single measure of brand power using survey data and external market data as variable inputs. Inputs to this model can be adjusted, modified, and manipulated through gaming to determine the effects of the variable inputs on brand equity power.

SRBI routinely uses many generic statistical techniques in the Brand Equity Measurement and Evaluation Program © to analyze multivariate survey data including, but not limited to, correlation and regression, conjoint and discrete choice, discriminant function, and factor and cluster analyses. In addition, our current portfolio of analytic products and programs includes several proprietary techniques and methodologies that address specific branding issues. They include:

Satisfied Customer Analysis©
Satisfied Customer Analysis provides a picture of customer likes and dislikes about a brand and indicates the brand's strengths and vulnerabilities. It also identifies areas that need improvement.

Salient Importance Analysis©
Salient Importance Analysis determines what really drives brand choice and identifies cost of entry and leverageable brand attributes and benefits.

Equity Structure Analysis©
Equity Structure Analysis identifies the characteristics that differentiate your brand versus the competition to determine the brand's "essence" or core equity.

Seize and Shore Analysis©
Seize and Shore Analysis is a way of charting attributes to show a brand's competitive strengths, opportunities, and vulnerabilities as determined by delivery ratings versus the aggregate competition. It requires the results of the Salient Importance and Equity Structure analyses described above.

Loyalty Landscape Analysis©
Loyalty Landscape Analysis is a total market model that divides customers into loyal and vulnerable based on brand benefit and attribute ratings. It also divides non-customers into convertible or "prime prospects" and non-prospects.

Team Brand Strategy Scores©
Team Brand Strategy Scores are brand affinity measures used to determine the need for offensive and/or defensive overall brand strategies.

Penalties and Rewards Analysis©
Penalties and Rewards Analysis determines those brand attributes for which the brand is penalized if not delivered, and those attributes for which the brand is rewarded if delivered.

Essence Wheels©
Essence Wheels is a qualitative research technique that determines the perceived and/or actual benefits of a brand and the emotional values which customers and prospects attach to it. The process results in a single idea or concept that describes the brand's intrinsic worth to the target market.

Brand Genesis©
Brand Genesis is a qualitative research program that involves the joint participation of senior client management in marketing, finance, operations, and other relevant strata, including top management, to determine the brand's unique selling proposition (USP).

Brand Equity and Affinity Measurement (BEAM) System©
SRBI is the U.S. representative of the Brand Equity and Affinity Measurement (BEAM) System©. BEAM provides measures of brand equity and affinity and produces guidelines on how to improve both.

For further details about these and other SRBI brand analytics and programs, please contact:

Mark A. Schulman, Ph.D., President
145 East 32nd Street, Suite 500
New York, NY 10016
Phone: (212) 779-7700
Fax: (212) 779-7785
m.schulman@srbi.com