MT450 Unit 3 Brand Associations Analysis Example

The Smallest Bubble Matters Most: An MT450 Unit 3 Brand Associations Analysis for a Fountain Pen Maker

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT450: Brand Management Strategy

Unit 3 Brand Associations Analysis

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Tremont Pen Company, its rival and the survey are composite; the sources cited are real.

Purpose and Data

This analysis scores the associations customers hold with Tremont, the flagship name of the composite Indiana pen company audited in Unit 2. The nine associations tested come from the Unit 2 audit's review coding. Data come from a composite online survey of 300 people who had bought a pen costing more than $50 in the past two years, 120 of them Tremont owners and 180 owners of other brands. Respondents split by age into 110 aged over fifty, 95 aged thirty-five to fifty and 95 under thirty-five.

Three Dimensions, Defined Before Use

Keller (1993) argues that associations build brand equity when they are strong, favorable and unique. Each is defined here as a number. Strength is the percentage of all 300 respondents who link the association to Tremont when shown it. Favorability is the mean rating of how good or bad the association is, on a scale from minus 3 to plus 3. Uniqueness is Tremont's strength minus the strength of the same association for the largest rival heritage pen brand, in percentage points, so a positive figure means the association belongs more to Tremont than to its closest competitor.

Unprompted First

Before seeing any list, respondents typed whatever came to mind for Tremont. Heavy, smooth and old-school led the unaided answers. Almost nobody offered the nib service, craftsmanship or Indiana unaided. Unaided recall is reported first because associations that arrive without help are the strongest sign of what the brand means in memory; prompted ratings come second.

The Scores

Writes smoothly is the strongest association, linked to Tremont by 52 percent, with favorability of plus 2.4, but its uniqueness is only plus 3, because the rival is described the same way. Messy filling is linked by 38 percent with favorability of minus 1.9 and uniqueness of plus 11: it is strong, unfavorable and more Tremont's problem than the rival's. Heavy in the hand is linked by 33 percent, favorability plus 0.4, uniqueness plus 14. Craftsmanship reaches 31 percent, favorability plus 1.8, uniqueness minus 2. Good gift reaches 29 percent, plus 1.6, minus 4. Since 1921 reaches 27 percent, plus 0.8, plus 2. Grandfather's pen reaches 24 percent and plus 0.2 overall. Made in Indiana reaches 22 percent, plus 1.1, plus 19. The factory nib service reaches only 18 percent but has the highest favorability of all, plus 2.6, and uniqueness of plus 16, since just 2 percent link any nib service to the rival.

The Bubble Chart

A bubble chart plots favorability against uniqueness, with bubble size showing strength. Three quadrant labels sort the field. Messy filling sits large and low, an association that is strong and harmful. Smooth writing and craftsmanship sit high but near zero uniqueness, valued associations that Tremont shares with its category. The nib service sits small, high and almost alone in the favorable, unique corner.

The association customers like most and the rival cannot claim is the one fewest customers know about.

One Association, Two Answers

Grandfather's pen resists a single score. Among buyers over fifty, its favorability is plus 1.7; among buyers under thirty-five, it is minus 1.2. The overall average of plus 0.2 hides a conflict, so the paper reports the association twice. Older buyers hear continuity and family; younger buyers hear a pen that belongs to someone else's era. Aaker (1997) found that brands carry personality dimensions, including sincerity, with traits such as family-oriented and old-fashioned, and the age split suggests that the same trait reads as sincerity to one group and as dated to another. Heaviness shows a smaller split in the same direction, favored by older buyers and resisted by younger ones who write in journals for long stretches.

What the Scores Mean for Managers

Keller and Swaminathan (2020) note that a brand cannot build every association at once and must choose. The scores make the choice clearer. An association can be strong but unhelpful, as messy filling is; favorable but shared, as smooth writing is; or favorable and unique but weak, as the nib service is. Only the last can be grown into a point of difference, because strength can be built with communication while favorability and uniqueness are much harder to create.

Build, Hold and Weaken

Build: the factory nib service, by putting it in front of every buyer, and made in Indiana, which is moderately strong and the most unique association of all. Hold: writes smoothly, craftsmanship and good gift, which customers value but which every heritage brand shares; they are points of parity to protect, not to advertise. Hold with care: grandfather's pen and heaviness, which please older buyers and should not be pushed toward younger ones. Weaken: messy filling, through the product and box changes recommended in Unit 2 rather than through any claim, since a promise of clean filling would only remind buyers of the problem.

References

Aaker, J. L. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34(3), 347-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224379703400304

Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299305700101

Keller, K. L., & Swaminathan, V. (2020). Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity (5th ed.). Pearson.