Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1
2. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................. 3
2.1 RESEARCH STRATEGY ...........................................................................................................................3
2.2 QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS ...................................................................................................................4
2.2.1 INTERVIEW WITH TRINE HASS ..............................................................................................................4
2.2.2 INTERVIEW WITH ENGLISH 25-35 YEAR-OLD FEMALES.........................................................................5
2.2.3 INTERVIEW DESIGN...............................................................................................................................5
2.2.4 LIMITATIONS OF QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS ........................................................................................6
2.3 COLLECTION OF TEXTS AND DOCUMENTS ...........................................................................................6
2.3.1 LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................................................6
2.4 DELIMITATION .......................................................................................................................................6
3. CASE INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 BESTSELLER AND VERO MODA .............................................................................................................8
3.2 THE ENGLISH MARKET .........................................................................................................................8
4. STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT .......................................................................................... 10
4.1 WHAT IS A BRAND? ..............................................................................................................................10
4.2 BRAND EQUITY .....................................................................................................................................11
4.3 THE FOUR BRAND BUILDING STAGES.................................................................................................11
4.3.1 ALERTNESS – BRAND SALIENCE ......................................................................................................... 13
4.3.2 ATTRIBUTES - FUNCTIONAL AND EMOTIONAL .................................................................................... 14
4.3.4 ATTITUDE – JUDGMENTS AND FEELINGS............................................................................................. 15
4.3.5 RELATIONSHIP - BRAND LOYALTY ..................................................................................................... 15
5. ANALYSIS OF VERO MODA ........................................................................................................... 17
5.1. ALERTNESS - SALIENCE ......................................................................................................................17
5.2. ATTRIBUTES – FUNCTIONAL ...............................................................................................................17
5.3. ATTRIBUTES – EMOTIONAL ................................................................................................................18
5.4. ATTITUDE – JUDGMENTS AND FEELINGS...........................................................................................19
5.5. RELATIONSHIPS – BRAND LOYALTY ..................................................................................................19
6. ANALYSIS OF CONSUMERS ........................................................................................................... 21
6.1 IDENTITY - SALIENCE ...........................................................................................................................21
6.2 ATTRIBUTES – FUNCTIONAL ................................................................................................................22
6.3 ATTRIBUTES – EMOTIONAL .................................................................................................................22
6.4 ATTITUDE - JUDGMENTS AND FEELINGS ............................................................................................24
6.6 RELATIONSHIPS – BRAND LOYALTY ...................................................................................................25
7. DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................................ 27
7.1 BENEFITS AND BARRIERS.....................................................................................................................27
7.2 BRAND BUILDING GUIDE .....................................................................................................................27
8. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 30
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
1. INTRODUCTION
Recently much attention has been devoted to the concept of branding. Not only are products and
companies branded, also people, places, services and ideas are managed accordingly
(Keller,2008:11-27). As a consequence, brands are everywhere – some bigger than others. A brand
like Coca Cola has been very strong ever since its establishment and was even rated the most
valuable global brand of 2005. Louis Vuitton and H&M are other noteworthy and well-established
brands (ibid:29) reflecting what has come to be known as luxury and discount brands, respectively.
Throughout the world, especially discount brands have emerged progressively during the past
decade1; this growth has also manifested itself within the clothing industry. In fact, a lot of attention
has been given to budget clothing chains throughout Europe, especially due to its significant
increase in market share during the past five years.2 In Denmark, a very noticeable player within
this field is the Danish clothing company ‘Bestseller’ that markets brands like Jack & Jones, Only
and Vero Moda3. During its 34 years in the business, Bestseller has made good progress and is
currently operating in 41 countries throughout the world4. Despite this, however, Bestseller is not
succeeding in every foreign market e.g. not in England. Due to extremely high competition and
expensive tenancies, this country has historically been one of the most difficult markets for
Bestseller to succeed in (Cf. appendix 1) 5 . For this reason, the number of Bestseller stores in
England is very limited; so far the marbles have been put into the male brand Jack & Jones (present
in 15 towns) and the female brand VM (present in 9 towns)6 which targets 18 to 30 year-old men7
and 25 to 35 year-old women respectively (cf. AP 2). However, the competition is toughest on the
female side, especially because the English market has an almost endless number of female clothing
suppliers (cf. AP 2&3). Considering this and the fact that VM is currently very interested in
expanding on the English market (AP 2), it seems relevant to consider how VM could expand in
England in the best possible way. Since branding is one of the most valuable assets of a company
(Riezebos,2003: 8) a very relevant way to look into this matter is by focusing on how VM should be
1
(Consumer Insight) (carrefour), (Guadian March 3rd)
(Independent October 30th), (Verdict Report), (Guardian April 5 th)
3
Will hereinafter be referred to as VM
4
(Bestseller History)
5
Appendixes will hereinafter be abbreviated AP
6
(Bestseller - Vero Moda)
7
(J&J)
2
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
branded in order to create the best possible relationship with its English customers. On the basis of
these reflections, this project will revolve around the following question,
How should Vero Moda be branded in England when targeting 25 to 35 year-old English females
in order to improve Vero Moda’s competitive advantages on the English market?
The problem formulation above is meant to be considered the main question, however, in order to
specify more precisely how to reach an answer to this, two sub questions are listed below,

What are VM’s intentions on and expectations of the English market?

What are the needs and expectations of English consumers?
In order to answer the problem formulation, the branding theory best suited for this project will be
explained in chapter 4. The main focus here will be on four brand building stages which will
constitute the framework for the analysis of both supplier and consumer. An analysis of VM will
therefore be performed in chapter 5 in order to get an understanding of the brand, its intentions and
expectations on the English market. Subsequently, interviews with 25-35 year-old potential English
consumers will be analyzed in chapter 6 in order to get an understanding of their needs and
expectations regarding clothing brands. On the basis of both analyses, a discussion and estimation
of how to match both parts’ needs and wants will follow in chapter 7.
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 RESEARCH STRATEGY
As indicated above, the main aim of this project is to understand how VM’s wants and interests can
be matched with the consumer’s in a branding building guide that suits both parts. Producing
understanding is a very contemporary response to social research behind which a social
constructivist assumption of the world is prevalent (AP 4). This approach acknowledges the fact
that people are different and that cultural backgrounds have an effect on how people view social
reality; employing this approach consequently means believing that knowledge is indeterminate
(Bryman,2008:19) and therefore entails taking distance from the realist approach which perceives
social action as a “product of external forces” (AP 5). Concordant with the constructivist approach,
the objective of this assignment is to grasp social behaviour from a subjective point of view and
consequently interpretivism will be the epistemological position throughout this project. The
research is therefore done in an attached position which entails gaining access to people’s
perception of the social world and understanding it from their point of view (Bryman,2008:16).
Accordingly, the research process in this assignment will be inductive as the produced
understanding of the social actors - i.e. VM and 25 to 35 year-old English consumers - will generate
a theory about how to brand VM in England.
The features described above naturally leads into a qualitative research strategy seeing that only this
strategy corresponds with the epistemological and ontological assumptions outlined above
(ibid:366). Qualitative research is, however, associated with several methods e.g. interviewing,
observation, collection of texts and documents etc. (ibid: 369) and in order to specify which of these
methods will be appropriate for the research problem and more specifically for the sub questions
delineated above, AP 6 provides the reader with an overview of the considerations made regarding
this - including those of ethical and practical character. Underneath, however, an exposition of the
two research methods utilized will be presented, namely ‘Qualitative Interviews’ and ‘Collection of
Texts and Documents’ and only the justification and limitation of these methods will be elaborated
on.
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
2.2 QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS
In the answering of both sub questions, qualitative interviews are utilized as this method enables an
in-depth understanding of the people interviewed. By choosing qualitative interviews the results
rely on quality and not on quantity. Consequently, the focus will be on interpreting the meaning of
the words (Kvale,1996:5-6) and from this get a contextual understanding from which a theory can
be developed (Bryman,2008:394). Doing qualitative interviews is very flexible,
The interviewers can depart significantly from any schedule or guide that is being used.
They can ask new questions that follow up interviewees’ replies and can vary the order
and even the wording of questions (ibid:437).
As a result of the follow-up questions, a discovery of concepts not considered previous to the
interview might occur and moreover, the answers given by the interviewees will be open-ended and
therefore reveal what the respondent find relevant (ibid:395,437). A total of seven interviews have
been performed for this project, two of which were with Trine Hass, Retail Manager of VM and the
final five were with 25-35 year-old English females.
2.2.1 INTERVIEW WITH TRINE HASS8
The initial interview9 was performed in order to get background knowledge about VM i.e. its target
group – to figure out who to interview on the consumer side- , its competitors and its intentions on
the English market. This interview led to very usable first-hand information about these issues,
although VM’s intentions on the English market were only covered briefly. Consequently, a second
interview10 was performed with the purpose of getting information about the VM identity and its
intentions on the English market. Both interviews led to very usable and reliable information which
could not have been attained otherwise and when exploring a company’s brand building
opportunities in another market, reliable insights like these are important to gain a proper and useful
result. Interviewing an employee does, however, entail a drawback in the sense that the information
might be too subjective. Although, VM’s interest in expanding on the English market and the
project being a benefit to VM, could suggest that the information given by TH is more specific and
precise than if the purpose of the interview had no interest to VM.
8
She will hereinafter be referred to as TH
Referred to as I1 in the analysis
10
Referred to as I2 in the analysis
9
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
2.2.2 INTERVIEW WITH ENGLISH 25-35 YEAR-OLD FEMALES
The purpose of the consumer interviews was to gain knowledge about their wants, interests and
preferences in relation to clothing brands. Three interviews were conducted face-to-face whereas
the final two were carried out via telephone; all did, however, involve an interactional exchange of
dialogue. The criteria for the informants, besides their age, were for them to be English residents
seeing that this would entail their being part of English culture. Consequently, these interviews
resulted in getting personal opinions and experiences from the people of interest to the research
problem and therefore also resulted in attaining understanding of the topics discussed from the
interviewees’ points of view. Furthermore, their being English residents was an advantage as they
were familiar with other English women’s opinions on the subject. Finally, the women being nonanalytical provided opinions from a neutral perspective and thus resulted in reliable and credible
information. Underneath, a table of the interviewee sample is included.
TABLE 1
Interviewees
Age
Current Occupation
Respondent 1 (R1)
25
Employed
Respondent 2 (R2)
34
Employed
Respondent 3 (R3)
25
Student
Respondent 4 (R4)
25
Student
Respondent 5 (R5)
29
Employed
2.2.3 INTERVIEW DESIGN
Research interviews vary in the degree of structure (Kvale,1996:126). The initial interview with TH
was quite unstructured although leaning towards being semi-structured as it contained three main
questions that needed to be touched upon (cf. AP 7). As a result, the answers achieved did not fully
cover the issue of VM’s intentions on the English market but did include information not
considered previous to the interview. Interview 2 with TH was therefore particularly concerned with
VM’s intentions and in order to make sure that every aspect of this was covered, an interview guide
was created (cf. AP 8); the interview did, however, remain semi-structured as the questions asked
were relatively open-ended.
The interviews performed with the English consumers were all semi-structured as well. An
interview guide (cf. AP 11) was created which contained several questions that were all inspired by
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
the four brand building blocks (cf. 4.3). This made it possible to get an insight into the main areas of
interest in the analysis and also ensured the data to be somewhat comparable. Being semi-structured,
these interviews also contained follow-up questions not included in the guide (ibid:438).
2.2.4 LIMITATIONS OF QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS
Qualitative interviews have often been criticized for their subjectivity in the sense that the results
rely too much on the researcher’s personal views on what is important (ibid:391). Naturally this
issue needs to be considered and to minimize the extent of this as a possible source of error,
attachment 9 includes a short biography which clarifies the shape of the research agenda. The fact
that the sample in qualitative interviews is smaller than in quantitative interviews leads into the
problem of generalization. Quantitative research is often viewed as being more ‘generalizable’
seeing that the sample is larger, however, the reliability of this can still be questioned as the
respondents have to choose between already listed answers. In contrast, qualitative interviews result
in deep and rich data (ibid:394) which provides a reliable and credible understanding of a few
people’s lived world (Kvale,1996:29) which could be used for further research.
2.3 COLLECTION OF TEXTS AND DOCUMENTS
Another qualitative data source employed in the answering of the first sub question is mass media
outputs (Bryman,2008:523-524). Information about VM has been found particularly on web pages
and in newspapers. Applying this kind of data has entailed gaining a broader insight into VM’s
identity as these texts do not revolve around this project’s research question.
2.3.1 LIMITATIONS
Finding information properly suited for the topic of the project is, however, not easy, especially
seeing that VM is practically unknown on the English market and therefore also to English
newspapers. Also the reverse situation limits the information, seeing that no Danish articles are
written about VM in England. However, articles on fashion, VM’s competitors etc. are accessible,
although the reliability and validity of these are relevant issues to consider. According to Bryman,
the authorship of editorials and magazine articles is occasionally unclear (ibid:525) which could
lead to the articles being unreliable and invalid. Even if the authorship is stated, it is still important
to consider the fact that all newspapers are known to be politically biased.
2.4 DELIMITATION
Currently, the financial crisis is a much discussed subject, however, its possible effect on VM’s
expanding in England will not be considered. Moreover, it should be noted that other issues might
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
make the English market difficult to penetrate, however, in this project only high tenancy prices and
tough competition will be mentioned. Concerning the target group of VM being 25-35 year-old
females, it is important to recognize the diversity within this segment both in terms of personality,
values, social class, geography etc., however, throughout the project this group will be perceived as
an equal unity of England and reasons for possible differences within the five respondents’ answers
will not be looked into.
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
3. CASE INTRODUCTION
Before delineating the theory of branding, it is important initially to establish the case which this
project will revolve around. Consequently, the following will shortly outline the history and
accomplishments of Bestseller and VM and secondly focus on the English market and its intense
competition within the female clothing sector.
3.1 BESTSELLER AND VERO MODA
Bestseller is a Danish family-owned clothing company founded in 1975. It started out designing
clothing for women under the brand name ‘Vero Moda’ but soon developed into being a company
offering clothes for men and children as well. Today, Bestseller manages ten different brand names
which can be found in Europe, the Middle East, China and Canada. The clothes are sold both in
their chain stores and through more than 12,000 independent retailers. Generally, Bestseller has
been doing very well, in fact the 2007/8 turnover was € 1.45 billion excluding “turnover and
earnings for China as well as partner related retail turnover”.11 According to Christian Madsbjerg,
partner in the consultant firm ‘Red Associates’, Bestseller is the most successful Danish clothing
brand.12 VM is up to this day still Bestseller’s leading female brand (attachment 3) and more than
800 stores can be found throughout the world.13 Customers also have the opportunity to shop online
and can sign up for the ‘Vero Moda Universe’; doing so will provide them with trend updates,
special offers, and invitations. With its annual eight collections, the Vero Moda look adds classical
features to the newest trends of the catwalk ranging from very feminine clothes to a casual jeanslook. Hence part of their vision is to offer variation and individuality so that women can create their
own style according to various situations, moods etc.14
3.2 THE ENGLISH MARKET
The fact that the competition on the English market is extremely intense is noticeable immediately
when turning to newspapers. For instance, Kate Bostock - head of womenswear for Marks &
Spencer – points out competitors like Primark, New Look and Peacocks15. In 2005, the budget
11
(Bestseller 1)
(Politiken)
13
(Vero Moda – about)
14
(ibid)
15
(Guardian Sep. 9th)
12
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
clothing store Matalan, announced increasing pressure from supermarkets like Tesco and Asda16
and Mark One, has been struggling “to compete with other budget and discount clothing outlets on
the high street”17 as well; Primark and supermarkets are listed as important competitors (ibid). One
important reason for the high competition among budget clothing brands is the development of what
has been described as ‘Fast Fashion’,
Student budgets are tight and leave little room for luxury. The success of chain stores
such as Primark has led to the rise of “fast fashion”: clothes are being produced more
cheaply than ever and are regarded as disposable rather than a long-term wardrobe
investment.18
Hence, students are constantly looking for the biggest bargains and are therefore turning to the
budget clothes retailers when shopping for clothes. In an article published in The Guardian, a 23year old girl agrees as she normally shops at Topshop, Miss Selfridge and H&M. Being a little
skeptical about Peacocks, she does, however, end up stating “I was so surprised. They've got some
good stuff […].” 19 Thus it seems that even the cheapest stores are progressing and perhaps
becoming increasingly popular. From the interviews made with the English consumers, the
popularity of discount brands is noticeable as well; the brands first listed when they are asked to
mention clothing brands were all discount brands. The brand mentioned most frequently is Top
Shop followed by H&M, Dorothy Perkins, Next and Primark. Vero Moda being a discount brand,
the answers given by the interviewees also supports the fact that the competition on the English
market is extreme. Consequently, the competition in England is strong and definitely an issue which
needs to be considered when deciding on a new branding strategy for Bestseller.
16
(Guardian May 4th)
(Independent Nov. 21st)
18
(Independent Jan. 27th)
19
(Guardian, June 14th)
17
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
4. STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT
The solution to VM’s problem of penetrating the English market is manifold but as stated earlier,
looking into how VM could be branded in England is a relevant starting point. The purpose of this
chapter is therefore to introduce the concept of strategic branding and to define the theory best
suited when wanting to determine how VM could be branded in order to create competitive
advantages in England. Initially, the meaning of the term ‘brand’ will be established.
4.1 WHAT IS A BRAND?
Brands as we know them today have existed for more than a century. What started out in the 1850s
being a manufacturer-owned brand developed into being a distributer-owned brand.20 During the
past two centuries focus has shifted away from both, into now being about the value of the brand
and the strategic way to handle it (Riezebos,2003:4-8). Despite the brand’s well-established
presence, a final definition has not yet been given although most 21 do describe a brand as the
features distinguishing a product or the source of the product from that of competitors; Riezebos
draws on a definition put forward by trademark offices which illustrates this “A brand is every sign
that is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of a company” (ibid: 32). In contrast, the
definition put forward by the brand management company ‘Persuasive Brands’ captures the broader
essence of a brand as it manifests the binding side as well,
Any brand is a set of perceptions and images that represent a company, product or
service […]. A brand is the essence or promise of what will be delivered or
experienced.22
This definition not only states what is does for the consumer but also what it requires of the supplier.
As the purpose of this project is to look into the supplier’s and the consumers’ wants and interests,
this definition is very well suited. However, brands do reside in the minds of consumers (Schmitt,
Rogers,2008:89) and it can be argued that the main function of a brand is to create and send social
meaning. According to Elliot and Percy, this is what gives a brand ‘added value’ and specifically
this idea has lately been treated by marketers as brand equity, underneath this concept will be
elaborated on (Elliot&Percy, 2008:80-81).
Also known as ’store brand’
Keller,2008, Aaker,2002, AMA, Kotler,2005
22
(Persuasive)
20
21
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
4.2 BRAND EQUITY
Since the 1980s marketers realized the importance of the added value of a brand name and this idea
has emerged into the concept of brand equity. So far, no final definition has been put forward but
most revolve around the importance of the added value provided by a brand name; as Elliot and
Percy suggests, they either perceive this added value from a financial or a consumer perspective
(ibid:81). It can be argued, however, that brand equity always begins with the consumers,
In a very real sense, understanding brand equity must come from the consumer’s point
of view because that is what ultimately will affect the brand success. It is the
consumer’s sense of added value that will lead to preference for a particular brand.
Financial consequences of brand equity will follow from the consumer’s perception of
added value (ibid:82).
Therefore it seems reasonable to focus on Customer-based Brand Equity (CBBE) when deciding on
how VM should be branded in England in order to create competitive advantages. Keller agrees and
argues that CBBE “occurs when the consumer has a high level of awareness and familiarity with
the brand and holds some strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in memory” (Keller,
2008:53) and he further defines it as “the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer
response to the marketing of that brand” (ibid:48). Within this lies what the consumers have felt,
seen, heard and learned about the brand as a result of their experience over time, the question is then
how to build and create CBBE?
4.3 THE FOUR BRAND BUILDING STAGES
Creating CBBE is far from straightforward but the process can be described as follows “awareness
of a brand leads to learning and the formation of attitudes about that brand, which will be
influenced by emotional associations, which results in preferences for that brand building brand
loyalty” (Elliot&Percy,2008:86). Elliot and Percy suggest the model below,
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
Figure 1 Brand awareness, salience, and attitude leading to brand loyalty (ibid:87)
A similar model has been put forward by Keller, i.e. the CBBE-model, which constitutes four brand
building stages corresponding very much to the model above. Keller argues that brand equity can
only be achieved if the brand building reaches the top of the pyramid.
Figure 2 Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid (Keller,2008:60)
Seeing that the model covers various aspects of the brand building process, the brand objectives and
the six brand building blocks has been the inspiration for the interview questions which will be
analyzed in the following chapters. However, one could argue that the stages of the model could be
simplified and made more straight-forward by combining it with Elliot and Percy’s model. The
terms used to describe the stages in Keller’s model are rather unspecified e.g. he does not clearly
define the two steps ‘Brand Identity’ and ‘Meaning’ which are quite broad terms defined in various
ways. In contrast, Elliot and Percy’s stages seem more direct and specified; hence the model below
is inspired by both sources and will constitute the framework for the analysis.
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
Figure 3 CBBE-model
Inspired by Keller,2008 and Elliot&Percy,2008
Each of the model’s four steps is dependent on successfully achieving the brand objectives of the
preceding step; the model can be summarized as follows: being aware of a brand leads to learning
of the brand which means getting to know the product’s attributes (functional and emotional). After
this, associations of the brand will be built which leads to the consumer having attitudes (judgments
and feelings) about the brand. These attitudes will lead to preferences towards the brand in question
and hence result in building brand loyalty.
Consequently, the theory of CBBE will be used to answer the problem formulation. Taking this
perspective will provide VM with great competitive advantages seeing that CBBE is very highly
valuated as stated above. The purpose is therefore to explore how the wants and needs of potential
consumers and VM could be filled into and matched in the six brand building blocks. Subsequently,
each stage will be explained more thoroughly and with focus on clothing brands.
4.3.1 ALERTNESS – BRAND SALIENCE
This first step is about making the consumer alert in order to create a high level of brand
awareness. 23 The importance of a strong BA lies in the increased familiarity which is achieved
through repeated exposure (Keller,2008:55); the more the consumer experiences the brand by
seeing it, hearing it etc. the more likely she is to strongly register the brand in memory (ibid) and is
23
Hereinafter referred to as BA
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
therefore also more likely to purchase it. BA can take 3 forms; passive awareness, active awareness,
top-of-mind-awareness24. Passive awareness is the ability to recognize a brand when being exposed
to it, active awareness reflects a consumer’s ability to think of a brand when a need belonging to the
product category occurs and the first brand coming to mind in this situation reflects the brand of
Top-Of-Mind-Awareness (TOMA) (Riezebos,2003:71-72). Ideally last-mentioned is the object at
this stage and to achieve this, the supplier needs to know what makes customers recall a brand. The
reason why BA is considered a part of brand equity lies in the concept of brand salience which
describes a situation where “a brand is familiar, and linked in memory with those situations where
such a product would be needed; and the more salient the brand, the more likely it will be the
chosen or preferred brand when a purchase decision is made” (Elliot&Percy,2008:87).
Consequently, a high level of brand salience is more likely to occur when consumers are often
exposed to the brand - i.e. by advertising, promotion, sponsorship, events, PR etc. (Keller,2008:55).
4.3.2 ATTRIBUTES - FUNCTIONAL AND EMOTIONAL
Having established alertness in the mind of consumers leads to learning about the brand and its
attributes. These can be both functional e.g. price, style, quality or they can be emotional in the
sense that they meet customers’ psychological and social needs. The product itself and its tangible
attributes are the heart of brand equity seeing that these are what leave an impression on the
consumers primarily. Certain tangible features are important when dealing with clothing brands e.g.
the quality of the clothes and the service of the people behind the brand as well as those in the store.
Moreover, the style and design of the clothes needs to match what the customers are looking for and
finally the price needs to complement all before-mentioned features (ibid:64).
The emotional attributes, on the other hand, are intangible and when dealing with clothing brands,
the image of the people who use the brand is very likely to be important. The consumer either has a
typical or idealized image of the brand users and this could influence the purchase motivation.
Personality traits and values are important assets as well when dealing with clothing brands since
these need to reflect the personality and values of the customers, at least to some degree. Finally,
purchase and usage situations are important to consider in order to learn where and in which
situations consumers prefer to buy and wear certain clothing brands (ibid:66).
Based on the features above, points of difference (POD) and points of parity (POP) can be
determined, doing so is meant to provide VM with competitive advantages (ibid:98). PODs are
24
Hereinafter referred to as TOMA
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Branding Vero Moda in England
Aalborg University
Lotte Esbensen – CCG May 28th 2009
“attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and
believe that they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand” and POPs reflect
attributes which are not unique to the brand but which matches the claimed benefits of the
competitors. These concepts are key issues in brand positioning and will therefore not be
scrutinized into depth; they will on the contrary be considered during the analysis as the results
hereof is meant to provide a brand building guide as well as recommendations for VM including
how VM can be differentiated from competitors.
4.3.4 ATTITUDE – JUDGMENTS AND FEELINGS
Brand associations are built once consumers are familiar with the brand attributes and these are
crucial in order to build a brand attitude that leads to strong brand equity. Brand attitudes represent
a consumer’s overall evaluation of a brand which can be divided into those arising from the ‘head’
and those arising from the ‘heart’. The former is here described as ‘Judgments’ and reflects the
personal estimations made on the basis of the experience with the brand’s attributes. These are
divided into three main categories,
1) Brand Quality - perceived quality, customer value and satisfaction
2) Brand Credibility - whether or not the company or organization behind the brand is
considered good at what it does, trustworthy and likable
3) Brand Superiority - whether or not the brand is viewed by customers as being unique and
better than competitors’ brands.
‘Feelings’, on the other hand, constitutes the emotional response evoked by a marketing program.
Emotional branding is being used increasingly by marketers and hence it is important to look into
which feelings the potential customers of VM want a brand to evoke (Keller,2008:67-69). The
objective at this stage is consequently to find out which attitudes to tap into when branding VM in
order for the customers to have the most positive reaction to the brand.
4.3.5 RELATIONSHIP - BRAND LOYALTY
The final stage in the pyramid is the result of a strong positive brand attitude and thus comprises the
ultimate relationship between the brand and the consumer. At this stage the depth of the
psychological bond and its affect on consumer’s loyal activities are in focus; both are further
divided into three main categories. ‘Behavioral loyalty’ is one category which deals with repeat
purchase - that is how often do customers purchase and how much? This is part of brand loyalty but
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is not sufficient for strong brand loyalty to occur. For this to happen ‘Attachment’ is necessary
wherein “a psychological state of mind [emerges] in which a strong cognitive and affective bond
connects a brand to an individual in such a way that the brand is an extension of the self”
(Schmitt,Rogers,2008:5). Strong attachment often involves willingness to spread positive word-ofmouth25 and thus leads into active engagement which is the last category represented in the pyramid
and probably “the strongest affirmation of brand loyalty” (Keller,2008:74). For engagement to
occur, consumers are willing to invest time, energy etc. which go beyond just purchasing and
consuming the brand; examples of active engagement are joining member’s clubs, exchanging
correspondence either informally or formally. In order to explore VM’s possibility of reaching
strong brand loyalty with English consumers, questions were asked concerning their present
engagement with the brands they are already familiar with and the likelihood of their being engaged
in clothing brands in general.
Accordingly, the four brand building stages which will create the framework for the analysis have
now been explained. In the following chapters, analyses will be performed in order to get one step
closer to answering the problem formulation.
Word-of-mouth refers to “An unpaid form of promotion in which satisfied customers tell other people how much they
like a business, product or service” (Entrepreneur)
25
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5. ANALYSIS OF VERO MODA
Having established how strategic branding is managed by introducing and explaining a CBBEmodel it is now time to employ this model by exploring how the needs and wants of both VM and
their potential English consumers can be copied into the six brand building blocks. In the following
chapter, the focus will be solely on VM; an analysis hereof will be performed on the basis of the
interview with TH, an interview with the coordinator in the VM design team, Kristine Iversen,
published in TextilWirtschaft and finally on several pieces of online information.
5.1. ALERTNESS - SALIENCE
On this first stage of the CBBE-model, a company needs to consider to which degree they want
their customers to be aware of their brand and how to create this awareness. When TH was asked
whether or not the intention of VM was to be a brand of TOMA, her answer indicated a disbelief in
VM’s and any other foreign brand’s ability to achieve this status, she does, however, express a
desire for VM’s level of awareness to be active as she states they want VM to have a somewhat
similar status in England as in Denmark, where people do recall VM (I1). The question is then, how
they wish to create active awareness? Throughout the interview, it is very clear that VM being
represented substantially on the English market is their main tool to do so, TH argues,
I truly believe that the degree of knowledge is essential […] in every other big country
that we’re in, a great number of VM stores can be found; there is one in every town. So
regardless of where you’re going, you always know that you can find a VM store. This
creates awareness in the mind of the consumer […] (I1).
Especially the issue of convenience is a reoccurring subject, even when the questions were not
particularly related hereto. At the alertness stage, active awareness through convenience is therefore
the objective and moving on to the second stage it is time to ask which attributes VM wants to tap
into?
5.2. ATTRIBUTES – FUNCTIONAL
When asked how VM would like customers to perceive the brand, the answer was “as being a
fashion brand offering fashion for reasonable prices”; consequently, price and style are central
features within the functional attributes. In fact TH keeps referring to VM’s intentions on the
English market as wanting to have “the right products at the right time at the right price” (I2). In
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this statement, timing occurs and can therefore be considered of essence as well, Kristine Iversen
agrees,
it is very important to be prompt but I believe that being prompt and being trendy is
interdependent. We might not be the first to present a new color or new trend but we
want to be the first to present this trend on a commercial level (AP 10)
When turning to VM’s homepage these factors are underlined as well. Accordingly price and style
seem to be key attributes of VM and is by TH considered VM’s POPs. However, a company also
needs to determine its PODs and when asked about this, the answers indicated a slightly despairing
attitude, the two quotations below illustrates this,
[…] the right product, at the right time and at the right price. That’s how all brands live.
Every new brand is compelled to, or that is what we all aim to do best, that is both
being prompt and at the right price (I2).
In a place like England, not much can be done to stand out because we all [high-street
brands] want the same […] we approach the same customers (I2).
From this it seems that VM finds it difficult to stand out and several times she indicates that all
retail brands want the same; the same target group, the same prices and similar styles. On the
subject of store interior and service, TH did express a desire to stand out in terms of providing very
approachable staff as well as nice and expensive interior, she described this as ‘good value for
money’. Before going any further into the discussion of POPs and PODs (cf. 7.2), it is important to
look into which emotional attributes VM wants to employ.
5.3. ATTRIBUTES – EMOTIONAL
Throughout the interviews, emotional attributes are somewhat less in focus, however, when looking
on the web pages of VM and Bestseller, it is clear they have in fact been carefully considered. The
VM girl is describes as,
[one who] has a great interest in fashion and likes to combine her own style. She is an
independent girl who is capable of making her own decisions. Both career and family
life are of great importance for her. She wants fashion items at the right time at the
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right price. She doesn’t worry about age and her look changes depending on where she
is in life and what she feels like wearing.26
In this description several personality and value traits are to be found. Perhaps the most noticeable
feature is the VM customers’ fashion consciousness reflecting their ability to and interest in
combining their own style on the basis of current trends. In addition, both Kristine Iversen and the
information on VM’s web page suggest that VM appeals particularly to feminine, independent and
family-oriented women with a lively personality. Additionally, VM seems to focus on their ability
to offer clothes for different situations, moods and occasions,
We try to cover the different moods and feelings which the women in our target market
have and consequently divide our collection into three segment (AP 10).
Thus, the emotions which VM particularly wants to tap into are personality and usage situations.
5.4. ATTITUDE – JUDGMENTS AND FEELINGS
At the third step of the CBBE model, VM appears to concentrate on credibility in the sense of being
prompt, trendy and considerate of what the consumer wants. This conclusion is drawn on the basis
of every aspect gone through above; a pronouncement suggesting this further is put forward by
chairman, Troels H. Povlsen who argues, “The foundation of Bestseller, which is based on closeness
to the market and business acumen, will secure long-term growth” 27 the key words here being
‘closeness to the market’. Concerning the emotional aspect of brand attitude, the description of the
VM girl suggests an independent woman, and therefore a person to whom self-respect is a top
priority. At the same time, however, it can be argued that social approval is a feeling to promote as
well seeing that VM’s intention is to offer a variety of clothes for different occasions by providing
products which makes the consumer feel trendy in every situation.
5.5. RELATIONSHIPS – BRAND LOYALTY
Finally, the relationship with the English customers needs to be considered in order for VM to
create CBBE. From the interview with TH, ‘attachment’ appears to be the type of brand loyalty they
strive for, “[brand loyalty] is always a positive thing and the member clubs launched in Denmark
should definitely be launched in other countries and this could possibly be interesting in England”.
Throughout the interviews with TH, it is clear that VM is aware of the high competition and the
26
27
(Bestseller 2)
(Epn)
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difficulty of creating extremely high brand loyalty; their desire to launch these memberships might,
however, be a way for them to create an advantage compared to their competitors and therefore also
a tool for them to increase loyalty. Before deciding on this it is necessary to look into how potential
English customers feel about this type of loyalty as well as every other aspect of the brand building
blocks. Initially though, the model below illustrates how VM’s intentions on the English market can
be copied into the CBBE-model and therefore shows how VM wants to create CBBE on the English
market.
Figure 4 CBBE-model from VM’s perspective
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6. ANALYSIS OF CONSUMERS
In the preceding chapter, VM’s intentions on and expectations of the English market was
established and having related these issues to the brand building stages, it is now time to do the
same with the wants and needs of potential English consumers. This chapter will therefore include
an analysis of the interviews performed with potential consumers and with that constitute the
second part of the analysis.
6.1 IDENTITY - SALIENCE
Seeing that this first stage deals particularly with brand awareness, the interviewees were asked to
list clothing brands and subsequently consider the reason for their choices. The brands listed were
mainly discount brands and their reasons for choosing so were not surprisingly related to price.
Generally, their arguments were connected to certain functional attributes provided by the brand,
the most common besides price being style, design and quality i.e. “good value for money” as R1
put it. R2 did, however, stand out as she presented convenience as an argument and despite R3 not
stating this directly, her saying “If I want something new I’d pop by Oxford Circus” could suggest
that convenience is a way for her to be aware of clothing brands as well, since Oxford Circus holds
all the brands she mentioned. As gone through in 4.3.1, brand awareness is often created through
repeated exposure of e.g. logo, symbol, character, slogan, however, none of these elements seemed
to matter to the interviewees; on the contrary, the overall attitude towards this was quite indifferent.
Only R2 had a positive response; she stated that advertising in general would raise a brand’s profile
and that this would increase her interest and perhaps result in a purchase. R3 regarded the usage of
spokes people, logo etc. as having a sub-conscious effect and continued,
Probably if it was someone that I didn’t like it might put me off […]I haven’t really
thought to deliberately shop at Top Shop because there is Kate Moss there. I think it can
have a more negative effect than a positive effect (R3).
Consequently, the interviewees’ answers imply that their being aware of a brand is not affected by
certain advertising features; on the contrary it could be argued that convenience is the most relevant
factor since two respondents indicated this and moreover as they all named high-street brands which
are very convenient and available on several high streets. Secondly it can be concluded that the
awareness is strengthened by providing the right style and design at the right price; this naturally
leads into the second stage of brand building i.e. attributes.
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6.2 ATTRIBUTES – FUNCTIONAL
At this second stage learning about the brand has occurred leading the customer to be familiar with
the brand attributes. Having already mentioned price and style, which are indeed important
attributes for all interviewees, it seems relevant to look further into whether or not other attributes
are of equal relevance for the respondents.
Service empathy and quality are features worth mentioning as well. Whereas R1 stated that
unhelpful staff would make her leave a store, R4 and R5 expressed a desire for the staff to be
“accessible rather than them coming to you” (R4). From their statements service empathy appears
important in the sense that store employees should be accessible, obliging and not least
knowledgeable about the store’s products. Additionally, R4 mentioned another type of service when
she was asked to consider why certain stores attract her,
[…] it’s partly down to the way they’re laid out a lot of the time and I think you get used
to knowing what you’re gonna get in these sort of shops but also I think like the music
so you sort of work in and you feel your hear certain types of music and that reflects the
age you feel you are […]it’s about your identity […] it might [also] be down to a
window display (R4).
Thus, store layout and positive shopping experiences are important to R4; both could therefore be
considered services of importance as well. Finally, quality is worth taking into account, especially
as R1 and R5 recently rejected certain shops due to bad quality standards; R2 agreed as she said, “I
believe in quality because if you buy cheap you buy twice and that’s always the way that I always
think”. Both service empathy and quality therefore needs to be considered, however, price and style
were without a doubt the functional attributes which were given most attention - the question is then,
how important the emotional attributes proved to be?
6.3 ATTRIBUTES – EMOTIONAL
Turning attention towards the emotional attributes, personality is given nearly all attention as
everyone seemed to imply that a brand should indicate their own personality. Especially to R1 and
R4 this seemed important as they both brought up the subject unsolicited,
I dress to suit my personality, I have a very smart, casual kind of look and that goes
across my entire wardrobe […] I’d go for the more sophisticated look and down to
earth […] Because that’s who I am, I’m very down to earth (R1).
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[…] if they would use any kind of personality you would want it to reflect how you think
you are […] It would have to reflect the age that I feel I am and the style that I feel I am
[…] if it’s a woman or someone who is slightly sophisticated and who’s got a bit of a
brain you know (R4).
R2 had similar preferences and what these three seemed to prefer was consequently for a brand to
indicate a smart and down-to-earth personality with a touch of sophistication. Focusing on R5,
‘funky’ and ‘young’ were key words when she was asked to consider what personality would attract
her the most and R3 shared similar preferences as she wanted the brand to indicate excitement.
Generally their preferences reflect their own personalities, whether it being the actual or an
idealized image of themselves. Regardless, personality traits relatable to the consumers are
definitely attributes of importance. Closely related to brand personality are brand values which were
mentioned by R4,
[…] one thing I’m moving towards a bit more is how ethical a shop is. I think that’s
gonna be the next big thing […] People are much more aware about where it’s coming
from and how it’s organic or, I think people are gonna start moving that way (R4).
Consequently, this suggests the importance of brand ethics and despite no one else commenting on
this, R4’s noticing a move towards this within her circle of acquaintances does imply that proper
ethics are important for a brand to indicate. The interviewees were also asked to reflect on user
profiles and whereas they all wanted a brand to reflect their own personality, R4 did express a
desire to wear clothes that suited her age i.e. clothes which those belonging to her age group would
wear. R5 agreed as she wanted to wear what other young people wear and in addition she indicated
a slight craving to dress as celebrities. Another emotional attribute appearing somewhat important
was ‘purchase situations’. R1, R3 and R5 preferred a clothing brand to have its own shops and
disliked department stores and online shopping. In addition, R4 stated,
I do go to department stores but again I tend to get drawn to the same sort of collection
within the department stores which will usually reflect especially the shops that I’m
going in anyway (R4).
Her being drawn to the brands of the shops she would go into anyway, could make department
stores seem somewhat superfluous, however, R2 appraised department stores very positively and
she liked online shopping as well; both opportunities were preferred due to a time saving aspect.
Consequently, the five interviewees seem to prefer different purchase situations.
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Finally and slightly related to purchase situations are usage situations which proved to be an
attribute of significance as well. Generally, clothing brands providing clothes for different occasions
were regarded positively. R3 was positive about this idea as well but questioned a store’s ability to
actually accomplish this. Despite her doubt, she would be positive if this could be done, hence all
interviewees regarded this as a somewhat alluring brand attribute.
6.4 ATTITUDE - JUDGMENTS AND FEELINGS
From attributes to attitudes - at this stage associations have been built in the minds of the consumer.
Asking the interviewees about brand judgments and feelings, their responses are therefore based on
their previous experiences with brands and on the attitudes they prefer to hold towards a brand. A
feature of importance appeared to be brand credibility. For instance, R4 said,
it’s funny because I think a lot of it is down to knowing what you are gonna get so
obviously a lot of the times I go to certain shops is because I got to know them and I’ve
got to know that they have the sort of stuff […] (R4).
R3 supported this as she said “I just kind of stick to the shops I know, because I know I’ve got nice
stuff before and that I can afford” – in both quotations knowing what to expect and knowing that a
brand considers these needs are of essence. Moreover, brand credibility was commented on in terms
of a brand caring about the consumers’ opinions. This was, however, only perceived as being
relevant by R2. The remaining interviewees agreed that it might be appealing to have the
opportunity to give a brand feedback but none of them would utilize an opportunity like that.
Concerning the more emotional attitudes towards a brand, social approval was a topic discussed. As
gone through above, the majority wanted clothes to reflect their personalities and could therefore
also be considered expressive of how they wanted their surroundings to perceive them. Especially
R4 and R5 seemed aware of their surroundings’ opinions about their clothing; R5 argued,
I do like getting things that you know, to make people know that they are from Top Shop
[...] it’s nice to say Top Shop rather than Primark. [...] Top Shop is very widely
accepted in student and university [...] (R5).
This definitely proves a desire to fit in, yet she also expressed a wish for standing out although still
with the purpose of being socially approved - perhaps even adored,
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It’s quite nice when you get something from a shop that no one really knows about [...]
pick up a few items from a small store and then when I got back OH where is that from,
oh it’s from Bristol and it’s quite nice to say that (R5).
For R4 social approval took a somewhat different form as she leaned towards wearing what people
expect her to. She did, however, end up stating that her choices of clothes were just as much about
her having self-respect as being socially accepted. In fact, R1, R2 and R3 shared this opinion, as
they considered themselves to be individual and from this maintained their self-respect and yet they
still wanted to fit in. Analysing this third stage of the pyramid proved the importance of credibility,
social approval and self-respect. From this there is only one stage left which involves forming
preferences for a brand.
6.6 RELATIONSHIPS – BRAND LOYALTY
In an attempt to find out what would make the interviewees brand loyal, questions concerning brand
memberships and events were asked. The initial reactions to both were quite similar as they were all
rather indifferent. Regarding events, R4 said “if they did throw events occasionally, I suppose you’d
have to really be connected to a brand and shop there quite often to be bothered to go at it because
you can go to so many different places so no probably not”, in fact only R5 had a positive comment
towards this as she said the effect of throwing events would definitely be more positive than
negative. Generally, though, events were of no interest to the respondents and therefore not a tool to
use in order to create attachment. On the contrary, brand memberships proved to be of interest. Four
interviewees ended up being very positive about a membership card if it was presented as a loyalty
card, and all of them stated that it would make them consider the store as a first option. R3, however,
was extremely reluctant to get a loyalty card as she was convinced cards like these always entailed a
“rip off” like she articulated it. Initially, R4 was skeptical too, however, unlike R5 who kept her
skepticism, she ended up finding the idea very alluring,
I think it’s more a loyalty card […]or a swipe card that gave you points or whatever
and that would definitely get me to go there more […] I’d go there first knowing that I
could get points on my card. But it would have to be done in quite a nice way so it
wouldn’t seem as cheap [e.g.] branded in a way that would make it feel kind of
sophisticated (R4).
Hence, creating behavioral loyalty definitely proved to be an option for the majority and so the final
stage of the CBBE-model has now been examined and completed. Below the CBBE-model
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illustrating what the analysis showed about the needs and wants of the English female interviewees
will be presented,
Figure 5 CBBE-model from Consumers’ Perspective
The only question left is how the needs and wants of English consumers can be matched with those
of VM in the CBBE-model?
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7. DISCUSSION
In the two preceding chapters, the wants and needs of VM and potential English consumers have
been copied into the CBBE-model. The analyses have both benefits and barriers; these will shortly
be discussed in order to justify the results. Finally, a brand building guide for VM will round off
this chapter in order to determine how VM should be branded when wanting to create the best
possible relationship with customers.
7.1 BENEFITS AND BARRIERS
Having chosen to focus on CBBE and having decided to do so solely in the perspective of Keller,
Elliot and Percy does incite barriers in the results of the analyses. Not only have other possibly
relevant issues of brand management not been considered, the financial perspective of brand equity
has been neglected as well; this combined naturally leaves several additional issues which needs to
be considered by VM before expanding on the English market. Focusing on CBBE does not provide
a straight-forward theory either; several strategies and models have been put forward within this,
generally though, scholars working with CBBE do share similar views on how to work with the
concept; the differences among them being constituted mostly by diverse terminology. As for the
interviews, all questions were asked with Keller’s CBBE-model in mind, and this might have
excluded other probable and perhaps relevant insights not directly relatable to the CBBE-model. On
the contrary though, the issues discussed can be considered very relevant and adequate since they
covered most features of Keller’s CBBE-model, which is, in fact, recognized as one of the most
comprehensive models available in CBBE literature.28
7.2 BRAND BUILDING GUIDE
The CBBE-model utilized is therefore adequate to answer the problem formulation. To put the
model into action, marketers must make several strategic decisions about the specific nature of the
brand building blocks they will use (Keller:98) and the brand building guide presented and
explained below will assist this decision making.
28
(Emerald)
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Figure 6 Recommended CBBE model for VM
At the first stage, VM strives for active brand awareness and the findings show that this should be
created through convenience by placing the stores particularly on the high streets. Moving on to the
second stage, both parts perceived price, style, and creating a nice shopping experience very
important and concerning emotional attributes, especially personality was highly valuated - that is if
it reflected the respondents different personalities. However, the majority seemed to want the
personality already portrayed in the VM girl i.e. a grown-up, sophisticated and down-to-earth
personality. These attributes reflect what customers find in VM’s competitors as the English
respondents referred to previous experiences with clothing brands; hence Price, Style,
Purchase/Usage Situations and Personality could be considered POPs29, all of which are important
for VM to focus on in the brand building in order to make customers believe that VM can do just as
well on these attributes as the competitors. Succeeding in doing so will make customers more
“willing to base their […] decisions on other factors potentially more favorable to the brand”
(Keller,2008:110). The best possibilities of PODs will be for VM to tap into ethics seeing that no
Despite the difficulties of deciding on VM’s POPs and PODs without having clarified precisely who constitutes the
competitive frame of reference, the information gained through the interviews with both TH and the English women
does make it possible to consider these issues on a rather superficial level. Thus choosing POPs and PODs should be
considered a suggestion and not a final answer.
29
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competitors have done so (cf. appendix 12). Bestseller mentions ethics on the web page30 and can
consequently be considered the ethics of VM; hence ethics have already been carefully considered,
all they need to do is emphasize it in their branding. Another POD is connected to creating loyalty that is through attachment. All five respondents seemed very indifferent on the subject of brand
loyalty. However, the findings did suggest that the best way to create this was through loyalty cards
which are not yet a widespread English marketing tool by clothing brands. Providing these would
not only make VM appear different but would also mean that customers would consider going to
VM first. Hence potential PODs of VM are brand ethics and loyalty cards.
What made the majority of consumers judge a brand positively was to know what to expect and
credibility therefore seemed to be the main issue. VM strived for credibility as well in the sense that
VM would always be right on time with the newest fashion. It could be argued that these issues are
somewhat similar as customers going in to VM could always expect the newest trends, for the least
amount of money; credibility in terms of functional attributes are indeed highly evaluated. As for
‘Feelings’, both VM and consumers wanted a brand to provoke feelings of social approval and selfrespect and these features connect very well with the emotional attributes.
Finally, all previous stages should result in brand loyalty and the findings showed that VM should
not aim higher than behavioral loyalty. The initial and fastest way to create this seemed to be
through loyalty cards. Naturally, however, any type of loyalty will be the result of the learning
about and experiencing of the brand attributes and attitudes, and therefore loyalty cards is only part
of the creation of behavioral loyalty inciting e.g. repeat purchases.
30
(Bestseller3)
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8. CONCLUSION
Customer-based Brand Equity (CBBE) was chosen as a tool to determine how VM could improve
its competitive advantages on the English market. Throughout the project a CBBE model was used
with the purpose of understanding how brand equity could be reached when considering the wants
and needs of VM and potential consumers. The findings showed that VM should initially create
active awareness by increasing the number of stores in England. A way to increase the active
awareness further was through emphasizing their providing fashion for reasonable prices. Moreover,
positive shopping experiences, a fashion conscious, independent and lively personality as well as
providing a variety of purchase and usage situations were all attributes of importance to both VM
and consumers. In order for VM to differentiate itself from competitors, focusing on ethics and
loyalty cards in their branding seemed very relevant as this was positively valuated by the English
respondents and yet somewhat unknown to them. The attitude wanted from tapping into these
attributes was for the customers to perceive VM as a credible brand offering clothes that provide
consumers with feelings of self-respect and social approval. Finally, brand loyalty was important
for VM, although, creating this seemed extremely difficult. For this reason, the goal on the final
stage should be initially to create behavioral loyalty.
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