Loyalty has been the ongoing ultimate goal that all businesses aim to achieve, which will increase the customer lifetime value and provide competitive advantages for the business. However, it is not an easy task to reach this level of brand building without a strategic planning, as unorganized brand building may harm that business resulting in growth decline. In this article, I will be talking about the brand resonance model as well as illustrating each step using the famous cellphone brand BlackBerry.
Brand Resonance Model:
Brand Salience: The brand salience refers to the identity of how the brand could come to consumers mind when they think about a need, product, or service. The higher the brand salience, the easily recalled by consumers when they consider a product/service. BlackBerry has successfully achieved this step of the model by establishing a creative solution to corporate and individuals’ needs, which are better communication device and email friendly. Back to that time when BlackBerry was trendy, I was at the decision-making process of buying a cellphone that has these features, and BlackBerry was one of the first brands came to my mind.
Brand Performance: The brand’s performance is measured by the performance and how well it fulfills its promises to customers. BlackBerry has gained the reputation of its outstanding communication, keyboard, email, and long battery features. Due to this reputation, brands have performed well, which has furthered the growth of consumer perceptions.
Brand Judgments: Brand judgment is the term used to describe consumers’ subjective assessments of a brand based on their impressions of its features and effectiveness. BlackBerry has a positive brand image among its customers that is associated with productivity, reliability, and professionalism attributes. However, due to the nature technology industry that it develops fast, Blackberry has lost its brand image to its rivals, which were Apple and Samsung, and been perceived as outdated. The reason for this failure was that the smartphones industry has advanced, and Blackberry has not taken any step into these advancements and innovate functionable smartphones. Therefore, consumers have shifted to other brands like Apple for their smartphones, which led to decline in brand resonance.
Brand Resonance: The highest level of brand relationship that a company can achieve with its customers is brand resonance. It stands for a strong, enduring, and emotional bond between consumers and the brand. Beyond brand recognition and favorable associations, brand resonance denotes a close relationship in which consumers actively engage with the brand, show loyalty, and turn into brand advocates. BlackBerry had a high level of brand resonance at its peak, particularly among professionals and business users. Within this target audience, the brand had been able to forge a solid emotional bond and brand loyalty. However, as the smartphone landscape evolved, BlackBerry’s brand resonance began to decline. Negative changes in the brand resonance dimensions resulted from the brand’s inability to innovate and adjust to shifting consumer preferences.
These four steps form a comprehensive framework for establishing strong customer-based brand equity. By ensuring the brand’s visibility, brand salience creates the groundwork for recognition. By exceeding expectations, brand performance builds credibility, whereas brand judgments help people form positive attitudes and opinions. Together, these steps pave the way for Brand Resonance, the highest level of brand relationships that fosters loyalties, active engagement, and emotional connections, ultimately resulting in long-term brand success and client loyalty.