Consumer Perception of Brand Awareness and Loyalty
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Introduction
The project is based on the comparative study of two brands from the beverage industry, one is Pepsi and Coke.
This study will be based on the perspectives of brand awareness and brand loyalty with respect to the consumer perception about the brands.
Both the brands are very famous and excessively used throughout the globe among the fast moving consumer goods, so more convenient to draw conclusions and perform research with the limited time and resources.
Consumer’s awareness about the brand and loyalty for the brands are the key factors for predicting the success of a brand or positioning of any brand within the given market.
Both the factors, brand awareness and brand loyalty has a great impact on consumer’s perception about the brand equity.
Consumer’s perception is something which consumer’s perceive about a brand in their mind and it has a significant impact on a brand. Perception of consumer does not necessarily have very much impact on the actual performance of the product; whereas it is based on the current reputation of brand and product image with respect to the knowledge of the consumers.
Perception is a process through which any consumer tries to manipulate the brand information in order to get awareness about the brand which can lead to transformation of brand into brand loyalty.
Generally, perception leading to brand loyalty and awareness follows through these stages:
• Brand Selection
• Brand Information
• Image formulation
• Relating / bonding with Brand
• Brand Loyalty
Humans unlike machines have the ability to perceive. Perception is the end product of how a consumer’s mindset processes available information. Perception provides the necessary insight to make important decisions such as a decision to purchase a product. Purchasing is tantamount to investing into a brand, thereby making it a greater brand. If the consumer perceives a brand positively, he is likely to purchase it and become a loyal customer. As long as he keeps on getting the right value for his money, the customer will continue to remain loyal.
For the purpose of this study, a comparative study was performed for the selected brands i.e. Coke and Pepsi. Both brands, Pepsi and Coke are Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs), consumed by different segment of consumers of different demographics i.e. gender, ages, occupations etc. Both brands market their brands as soft drinks for consumers. These soft drinks have become an integral part of many people’s daily lives. They are common at Fast foods, hotels, restaurants, during events & occasions like Easter, Christmas, the Eid festival, parties and wedding ceremonies.
Coke and Pepsi brands have matured over the years, have formed higher levels of awareness and strong brand loyalties and have succeeded in building up specific perceptions around them.
Perception means the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted. More precisely, in marketing the perception can be defined as “the process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret the input from their senses to give meaning and order to the brands around them”. The component parts of perception are: (i) Perceiver; (ii) Target of perception; and (iii) Situation. These components interact to produce brand awareness. According to business dictionary, consumer perception can be defined as “a customer's impression, awareness and/or consciousness about a company or its offerings.” (Businessdictionary.com).
Future purchasing decisions are affected by the perception of quality of any product or brand along with its origin and other attributes (Dzever and Quester, 1999).
Consumer perception is typically affected by channels that bring awareness of a brand to us such as advertising, brand reviews, press releases, media, and personal experiences (Zeithamal, 1988).
The perception of consumer depends on how consumers think about any brand and how they imagine brands. Consumer perception is thus critical to brand comparisons. In fact, it is always at the heart of the business. It is vital since it can impact consumer loyalty and awareness towards the brand, which ultimately determines whether a purchasing decision is made for or against a brand by the consumer.
The success of a brand depends upon its ability to sustain the consumers loyal after acquiring the consumers through awareness campaigns and maintaining a good perception of the brand in the minds of consumers as it can influence consumer behavior. This ultimately affects the brand. Thus brands spend a lot of effort on awareness and to retain the consumers’ loyalty to those brands.
An increase in awareness & loyalty of brands leads to brand equity. The expression, “brand equity” is used in marketing to describe the value of having a well-known brand name.The idea is based on the concept that a well-known brand name or a brand enjoying higher level of consumer awareness can earn more from market as compared to a brand with less awareness. Consumers believe brands with high consumer awareness is better, well perceived, also becomes more famous and a favorite of many as compared to the brand which is less well-known (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 2003).
It is important to study brand awareness and brand loyalty so that differences in consumer perception and purchasing behavior with regards to different brands can be evaluated. Product quality is important for maintaining brand loyalty and so it is vital that it is evaluated in the light of consumer expectations and needs (Peri, 2006).
For the purpose of this study therefore, consumer perception with respect to brand awareness and brand loyalty regarding these two famous brands of soft drinks – Coke and Pepsi were evaluated.
2. Main Objective
To evaluate consumer perception about Pepsi and the Coke brands with respect to Brand Awareness and Brand Loyalty.
3. Significance of Study
Insights garnered from the research can be utilized to construct and develop more striking branding strategies using the conclusions of the research regarding consumer perception, brand loyalty and brand awareness.
Additionally, the result outcomes would provide knowledge about the consumer’s brand loyalty, perceived image and positioning of brand to determining the brand strengths and standings in the markets.
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4. Key Findings
The key findings from the study were:
i. Coke is a more adopted brand than Pepsi.
ii. Consumer’s perception and loyalty is far better for brands which have been more advertised or about which more information is spread. In our study, coke due to its widespread awareness through its massive advertisements tends to be more favoured as a brand than Pepsi and so consumers are more likely to buy Coke than Pepsi.
iii. Customers naturally want to know more about brands and especially the brands they are familiar with and this is where awareness campaigns come in. They do this because they want to find out more about the features of the brand as well as any new features or information about that brand.
iv. An important outcome from research is that when customers perception about any brand becomes good, it help them to be loyal to that brand which also comes through the brand awareness, as awareness helps to make the consumer, initially interested and then loyal to the brand. As such, in the event of unavailability of any brand on shelf, consumers still, don’t find it easy to change their minds about purchasing other brands, which concludes that awareness and loyalty are linked strongly and awareness of a brand help the consumers to favorably perceive a brand and then to stick to that brand.
v. Findings indicate that a well-known brand for which consumers has more awareness, ultimately gets closer to consumers and also find a good image and perceived value. Consumers being more aware of and loyal about these brands, tend to prefer the brand when it comes to buying that brand.
vi. Through the research we can conclude that if consumers have the brand in mind, while they are discussing about a product line i.e. soft drinks, then it shows the loyalty of the consumers towards that brand. The more quickly they can remember the brand, the more loyal are they to the brand.
vii. Research leads to conclude, by asking about discrepant information’s effect on chosen brand’s purchase, that the consumer awareness is important thing and company must spread the information about the brand in precise and transparent way, as it has a greater impact on consumer’s loyalty if some information reveal on consumer before purchase, even though sometimes these are in accord with brand, but as these are revealed just in time to consumer so he might not understand or interpret these ones at sudden, so it spoils the loyalty and consumer perception about brand can change.
Disclaimer:
This article is a thesis review on the thesis, "Consumer perception with respect to brand awareness and brand loyalty: case study of coke and pepsi."
Ad: We offer a range of writing and research services. Find out more!
This article is a thesis review on the thesis, "Consumer perception with respect to brand awareness and brand loyalty: case study of coke and pepsi."
Ad: We offer a range of writing and research services. Find out more!
How to Cite this Article
APA Style:
Rehman, H. U. (2014). Consumer perception with respect to Brand Awareness and Brand Loyalty; Case study of Coke & Pepsi. University of Engineering and Technology.
Harvard Style:
Rehman, H.U., 2014. Consumer perception with respect to Brand Awareness and Brand Loyalty; Case study of Coke & Pepsi. University of Engineering and Technology.
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