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ABSTRACT
Brands are an increasingly important marketing aspect in today‟s business and
marketing environment, ranging across different industries. Most importantly, the
customers‟ perceptions and opinions of brands are crucial and can determine the
eventual success or failure of a business. As competition is continuously increasing
in the operating environment of businesses, it is even more important for companies
to differentiate in the market, gain the customers‟ awareness and sustain their
loyalty. This can be achieved with brands, and a brand which is widely recognized
and liked in the market and which has a loyal customer base, is a significant
financial asset for a company. To be a successful company, a good product or
service isn‟t enough. Differentiation is the key and in order to do that you need a
strong reputation. Organizations compete on several levels to maximize profits and
diminish future risks. Reputation is one of the key elements in creating
differentiation from other companies in uncertain environments and competing for
economic resources. (Allen 1984; Horner 2002; according to Rhee & Valdez 2009,
146.)
This paper examines company image and reputation through theory and research. The theory explains how images are created
and managed, how to achieve a strong image and how image affects a company. Also the relation between reputations and
images is explained, as well as why they matter and why they should be treated as assets.
Keywords: brand, brand image, Reputation, Brand associations
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays it is not enough to have an awesome product, service and a solid business plan. A company has to have a
good image. Every time you hand out a business card, welcome a client to your office or store, send a letter or an
email, you tell something about the company. (Lesonsky 2007, 258.) You can also express your personal identity
through your logos, products, services, buildings, stationery, uniforms, and any other public side of you shown to
your constituencies (Argenti& Forman 2002, 70-71). Everything you do and how you look creates an image
(Marconi 2002, 70). Your look helps you promote your business by creating a good image (Lesonsky 2007, 258).
Advertising and public relations are also greatly involved in creating a company identity and image (Heath 2001,
170).
In order to gain a long-term success in the market and a loyal customer base, it is not enough to sell a single product
or service. A brand is more than a product as it has more dimensions and elements, including features such as
personality, symbols and emotional benefits. A brand is always more desirable and more appealing in the market
than an unknown product or service. Also in the long-term perspective, building a brand is more economical and
cost-effective for the company. When a brand is widely known in the market, it does not require as much marketing
effort to maintain the brand. (Aaker 2002; Rope & Mether 2001)
THE BRANDING : A STUDY OF BRAND IMAGE , BRAND
ASSOCIATIONS AND REPUTATION
Asal Mirzai Department of Management and Accounting,College of Humanities , Islamic Azad university of Hamedan Branch,Hamedan,Iran
Yaser Sobhani Fard Assistant Professor, University of Imam Sadegh, Tehran, Iran
Alireza Slambolchi [email protected]
Faculty Member of Management ,Islamic Azad University Hamedan Branch , Hamedan, Iran
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Nowadays competing in the business world can be extremely difficult. Not only do companies have to worry about
the efficiency of their operations but with so many companies looking similar, how do they differentiate themselves
from the masses? Customers appreciate a good reputation as everything you do and say affect stakeholder opinions.
This is why reputations matter. Companies need to stand behind their words and meet the stakeholders‟ needs in
order to maintain their reputation, since strong reputation takes years to form yet it can be destroyed in a flash.
What makes a reputation or image so fragile that merely a circulating rumor can be the end of it?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Brand and Branding
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as: “A name, term, design, symbol, or any other
feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is
trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a
whole, the preferred term is trade name.” (Marketing Power – American Marketing Association 2010) It is not
adequate that the brand name is familiar, but it also has to be distinctive. A brand needs to be distinctive in a
manner that is beneficial to its customers. A product or a service needs to be characterized by a distinctive attribute
in the mind of the consumer, in order to be a brand. Duane E. Knapp has further deepened the concept of a brand to
a genuine brand, which he has defined as: “The internalized sum of all impressions received by customers and
consumers resulting in a distinctive position in their “mind‟s eye” based on perceived emotional and functional
benefits.” Eventually, a brand is only that which is perceived in the mind of the consumer. Thus in order to truly be
a brand, the brand has to occupy a distinctive position in the mind of the consumer. The difference between brand
names, brands, and genuine brands, can be found in their levels of distinctiveness. From the consumer‟s
perspective, there are no differences between unknown commodities except for price, whereas a brand name may
be well known but it still does not differentiate in the mind of the consumer. Further, a brand is distinctive in the
mind of the consumer, whereas a genuine brand is perceived by the consumer as unique. Thus the more distinctive
a brand becomes in the mind of the consumer, the closer it approaches the definition of a genuine brand.(Knapp
2000, 6 – 8)
Brand is “The company‟s promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits ,services, and experiences
consistently to the buyers.” (Kotler 2005 p. 250). According to Kotler &Armstrong (2004 p.285),a brand is a name,
term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of a maker or
seller. Consumers perceive the added value from the branded article which most closely meets their needs. These
added values maybe good brand‟s quality, good brand image to consumers, or they may bring easier search
behavior to consumers. Brand is successful when it keeps produce these added values to consumers. (Blythe 2008
p.133)
Figure 1 shows the relationship between commodity products and branded products in terms of price and image.
Commodity products have low price differentiation, low product characteristic differentiation and low brand image
differentiation. In contrast, branded products have high differentiation on all three factors.
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Figure 1.Commodity products v branded products(Blythe 2008 p.134)
A consumer may recognize the benefits that a product may give him through the brand name. Buyers can know the
benefits from a branded article when he always buys it. He knows that he will get the same benefits from this
branded article, such as quality and product features.(Kotler& Armstrong 2004 p.285)
Branding is a big range of activities across the whole marketing mix. It delivers the brand image to consumers.
Consumers receive messages and arouse associations about self-image, quality, cost, expected performance, brand
features and status.
Brand Image
“Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be defined as a unique bundle of
associations within the minds of target customers. It signifies what the brand presently stands for.” (Management
study guide, MSG 2013)
A brand image means the public‟s perceptions about the brand. The American Marketing Association (AMA)
defines a brand image as: “The perception of a brand in the minds of persons. The brand image is a mirror
reflection (though perhaps inaccurate) of the brand personality or product being. It is what people believe about a
brand their thoughts, feelings, expectations.” (Marketing Power – American Marketing Association 2010)
Brand image is on the side of receiver. Image is how consumers perceive a product, a brand, a politician, a
company or a country. Image refers to the way consumers perceive the signals from the products, services and
communication of the brand.(Kotler 2004 p.174).“A brand image is a subjective mental picture of a brand shared
by a group of consumers (Riezebos 2003 p.63).”
The importance of brand image has inspired business scholars to form the concept of „brand equity (Aaker 1991).
Under this concept, brands are seen as valuable assets, which can help companies generate revenues. Brand equity
can be divided into four main categories: brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand association.
(Aaker 1991 p.16) Meanwhile, brand associations are divided into eleven types.
They are product attributes, intangibles, customer benefits, relative price, use/application, user/customer,
celebrity/person, life style/personality, product class, competitors, and country/geographic area. (Aaker 1991 p.115)
Brand associations are shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2. Brand associations (Aaker 1991 p.115)
Brand image, an essential element in marketing research, is defined as “perceptions about a brand as reflected by
the brand associations held in consumer‟s memory” (Keller, 1998 p. 93). Although the term brand image has been
broadly defined and used in various ways, one general agreement of the definition is that brand image is a
consumer‟s overall impression of a specific brand through the influence of a consumer‟s reasoned or emotional
perceptions (Dobni & Zinkhan, 1990; Aaker, 1996). Brand image is formed by the combined effect of brand
associations; (Biel, 1991; Dohni & Zinkham, 1990; Yoo, Donthu, & Lee, 2000; Keller, 1998, 2003) therefore,
brand association is considered an important factor in several brand image studies. Brand association is often based
on the associative network model (Farquhar & Herr, 1992), in which a person‟s memory is made up of links and
nodes: links represent relationships (positive or negative, weak or strong), and nodes represent concepts (e.g. brand
associations) and objects (e.g. brands). Aaker (1991) refers to brand associations as the category of brand‟s assets
and liabilities that include anything linked in memory to a brand. Similarly, Keller (2003) defines brand association
as informational nodes linked to the brand node in memory that contains the meaning of the brand for consumers.
Figure 3 shows an example of brand associations of Apple, a computer brand.
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Associations come in all forms and may reflect characteristics of the product or aspects independent of the product
itself (Keller, 2003). Strength, favorability, and uniqueness are three dimensions of brand associations that reflect
brand image (Keller, 1998).
Figure 3. Brand Associations source: Keller (2003, p. 66)
Brand image are networks elements stored in long-term memory. The core of the network is a brand name, which is
linked to a number of other knowledge elements or associations. (Riezebos 2003 p.68-69)
Brand image has three components. They are content, favorability and strength. Favorability and strength can be
combined into a term called „reputation. The content of a brand image means the associations a brand name may
generate. Associations refer to cognition (knowledge), feeling, smells, sounds, etc. (Riezebos 2003 p.68-69)
There are distinction between material and immaterial brand associations. Material brand associations can be
associations about the nature of certain material aspects (reliability and durability, function, quality and aesthetics)
and associations of the presence or absence of certain attribute. Material brand associations are related to the
product itself. Immaterial brand associations can be associations not related to the (physical) product, such as
associations of a certain lifestyle and experience. (Riezebos 2003 p.64-65) The favourability of a brand image
means the feeling that consumers have about the associations. The feeling can be negative and positive. The
strength of a brand image means the extent to which the association is experienced as negative or positive.
(Riezebos 2003 p.64-65)
The central question of image forming is that how associations can be tied to the brand name.
Marketing communication gives content to the brand image. They give consumers the first impression about the
brand. Also, the brand images in consumers‟ mind are difficult to change at a later stage. Companies should try to
guide the brand image in the direction of the brand identity through the marketing communication. The image
called up in marketing communication should not be in conflict with the image called up in consumption
experiences. (Riezebos 2003 p.65-66) For example, the effect of advertising is greatest when the product realizes all
the benefits promised in the advertisement.
The problem of brand associations has also been discussed by Keller (1993). In figure 4, a picture of the
components of brand image is presented.
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Figure 4. Components of brand image (Keller 1993 p.7)
Keller classified the brand associations into three categories: attributes, benefits and attitudes (Keller 1993).
Attributes can be either product related or non-product related. The product related attributes are defined as the
necessary ingredients for performing the products or services functions. They are related to the physical aspect of a
product. The non-product related attributes are defined as the aspects related to purchase and consumption. There
are price attribute, packaging attribute, user imagery attribute (a consumer‟s image of who uses the product) and
usage imagery attribute (a consumer‟s image of when and the situation in which the product is used).User and
Usage imagery attributes can produce brand personality attributes (youthful, colorful and gentle).(Keller 1993)
20 Benefits are the values that consumers attach to the product attribute (what the consumers think of the product
can do for him or her). Benefits can be divided into three categories: functional, experiential and symbolic benefits.
Functional benefits are usually corresponding to the product related attributes. They meet the consumer‟s need to
solve their problems. Experiential benefits are about the feelings of using a product. They are corresponding to the
brand knowledge
brand awareness
brand recall
brand recognition
brand image
types of brand associations
attributes
non-product-related
price
packaging
user imagery
usage imagery
product related
benefits
functional
experiential
symbolicattitudes
favorability of brand associations
strength of brand associations
uniqueness of brand associations
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product related attributes. Experiential benefits can be such as sensory pleasure, wellbeing, variety and cognitive
stimulation. Symbolic benefits are usually corresponding to non-product related attributes. They satisfy the needs of
social approval, personal expression, the desire to be seen, to play a social role, outer directed self-esteem, and the
needs to belong to a group. (Keller 1993)
Brand attitudes are the overall evaluation of the consumer to the product. They form the basis of consumer behavior
and brand choice. They have the relation with the products, perceived quality, non-product related attributes,
functional benefits, experiential benefits and symbolic benefits. Consumers may use the signals such as the color of
the product appearance and the scent to evaluate the brand and the product quality. (Keller 1993) In conclusion, the
different types of brand associations build up the brand image. The brand associations includes product and non-
product related attributes; functional, experiential and symbolic benefits; and overall brand attributes. (Keller 1993)
Design as a brand instrument
In nowadays environment it‟s extremely challenging to build brands, and internal and external substantial pressures
and barriers may inhibit the brand builder. It‟s essential to understand these pressures and barriers when making
and developing brand strategies.(Aaker 1995 pp. 28-34) According to Aaker (1995 pp. 28-34) there are basically
two keys to success when building brands. First of all, it should be understood how to develop brand identities.
That is to say, the brand builder should know what the brand stands for, as well as how to express that identity most
effectively. The other way is to manage internal forces and pressures. All in all, Aaker states (1995 pp. 28-34),
“The
need is to recognize organizational biases against true innovation and towards diversification, short-term results,
and frequent changes in brand identity or execution.” According to Kotler (2006 p. 148), one of the factors
influencing the buying behavior is each person‟s distinct personality. The personality may be useful when
analyzing buying behavior for brand choices or a certain product. Kotler (2006 p. 148) defines personality as “the
unique psychological characters that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to one‟s own environment.”
It‟s suggested that brands also have personalities, and the brand personalities influence the buying behavior when
the consumer chooses which brand to use; consumers are often likely to choose the brands whose personalities
match to their own personality features. A brand personality is defined as “the specific mix of human traits that may
be attributed to a particular brand” by Kotler (2006 p. 148). It has been identified that there are five different brand
personality traits, which include sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. It‟s said that
many brands tend to be firmly connected with one of these personality traits. (Kotler 2006 p. 148)
There are several instruments in brand strategy. Design plays a large role as a brand instrument. Design makes the
product‟s quality, technical performance, reliability, safety or ease of use visible. Design differentiates products,
creates a unique selling position and evokes desire and interests. Consumers decisions can be influenced by design.
According to Riezebos, there are four important roles of design as a brand instrument.
1. Identification: People can know the owner, producer, or sender of the branded article or advertising message.
Recognition and categorization are two functions of design. Better visibility and a strong profiled image can
influence the consumers decisions.
2. Differentiation: Through distinctive design, a brand stands out from the competition in the eyes of consumers.
3. Transfer of material brand values. Design contributes to the perceived performance of the brand through the
physical aspects. For example shape, size, color, material, structure and image.
4. Transfer of immaterial brand values: Design contributes to the psychosocial meaning of the brand, shows certain
character traits being attributed to the brand through the visual expression. (Riezebos 2003 p.129-130)
The importance of a Brand’s Visual Identity
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Visual identity of a brand includes its logo, symbol, form and packaging, even includes the environment in which it
appearance. It is said that a person dedicates 80 percent of his/her brain to recognize the visual stimulus. A person‟s
first impression to most of the things is visual. A product‟s visual appearance communicates the product features,
benefits, brand‟s personality, and values of the brand with consumers. Consumers can gain associations about the
brand from a product‟s visual appearance. Visual appearance of a product is a powerful tool to create brand loyalty.
A brand‟s visual identify is very important for brand identification and brand communication. (Hart & Murphy
1998 p. 46-47)
Communication of Symbolic Meaning
A product can communicate symbolic meaning to consumers directly by its appearance. Consumers sometimes may
see the symbolic meaning as a critical determinate in the product selection. Consumers may form meaningful
associations with a certain style of appearance. Consumers choose products or brands to express self-image and
express what kind of people they want to be. (Creusen & Schoormans 2005) A product or a product appearance can
strengthen brand image. This is because that the product appearance describes the brand identity or brand meaning
visually. For example, a company uses the bright colour and the large size on its newly launched cars. It is easy to
position the car brand as aggressive. A company can use consistently certain design elements to its future products,
which would ensure, to a great extent, consumers to recognize its products and brand easily. For instance, a
company uses a particular color combination, a distinctive form element or style to make its products recognizable
or differentiable (Creusen & Schoormans 2005).
Reputation
The term „reputation‟ is defined in Encyclopædia Britannica (2009) as the “overall quality or character as seen or
judged by people in general” and as the “recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability”. Reputation
refers to general beliefs or impressions of something, or to its evaluation (Bromley 1993, 2). People and other
entities have reputations that are important and valued. The extent and the subject of a reputation vary. People can
have reputations for many things, or of being or doing something. There are many kinds of reputations and all of
them can be manipulated. (Bromley 1993, 3.)
If you want your reputation to be superb, you need the help of a strong brand (Ettenson & Knowles 2008, 20).
Brand is an essential part of reputation and they need to work together. The brand can suffer if you focus only on
reputation at the expense of the brand. On the other hand, if you neglect reputation it can lead to difficulties, for
example attracting talented work force. (Ettenson & Knowles 2008, 19.) You can influence the consumers buying
behavior by a powerful brand image created by strong brand associations. Image has the capability to influence the
information processing of consumers and therefore it can evoke certain psychologicalpatters or behavior. (Kahle &
Kim 2006, xv.) Brands are only as good as how the consumers see them (Satterthwaite 2007, 16).
“Brand describes the associations that customers have with the company‟s products.” A poor brand has a weak
awareness and functional appeal to customers whereas a good brand has high awareness and appeal. (Fombrun &
Van Riel 2004, 4.) Brand focuses on the promises and commitment the product, service or company has for the
customers. Brand is a customer centric concept. The brands value and strength depends on the fulfilled promises of
the product or service to the customers. A strong brand helps to communicate with customers how the company‟s
products are relevant and unique for their needs. (Ettenson & Knowles 2008, 19.) As Keller (1993) mentions a
positive brand image boosts the brand awareness of a certain product or service and it improves customer based
equity and satisfaction. Consequently a good brand will be beneficial for enhancing customer satisfaction and
loyalty on a long-term basis. (Kahle & Kim 2006, xvii.)
Branding is a part of reputation management as it affects the possibilities of customers favoring certain purchase
decisions, while reputation affects the supportive behavior from the brands stakeholders (Fombrun & Van Riel
2004, 4).
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A strong reputation is like a magnet. It is drawn to those who have it. (Fombrun & Van Riel 2004, 3). It brings in
new opportunities, attracts talented work force, customers and investors (Fombrun & Van Riel 2004, 4).
FIGURE 5. Reputations are like magnets: They help a company attract resources. (Fombrun & Van Riel 2004, 5.)
Figure 5 indicates how reputations affect on people‟s decisions. It implies that a good reputation has an effect on a
person‟s decision which company to work for, which products customers should buy and which shares investors
should accumulate.
Reputation vs Image
The company‟s image is a reflection of an organizations identity, so everything you do and how you look creates an
image and over time these images create a reputation (Argenti & Forman 2002, 69; Marconi 2002, 70; Alsop 2004,
10). These images can speak to you in levels of beliefs, impressions or perceptions and these beliefs can be formed
by a single word or a name. The impressions can be formed after reading persuasive research, impressions created
over a lifetime, a series of impressions or our first impressions. Whoever your customer or client is, everybody acts
on the basis of what he or she have seen, heard and learned and everybody has his or her own image of your
organization. (Marconi 2002, 1; Argenti & Forman 2002, 69.) After every interaction with your company the
lingering associations and impressions together form the image of your company (Argenti & Forman 2002, 69).
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FIGURE6. What are identity, image, and reputation? (Argenti & Forman 2002, 69.)
As seen from figure 6, a good reputation is formed by a strict alliance between a company‟s identity and image
(Argenti & Forman 2002, 70). It is a compilation of all the images formed by your constituencies‟ impressions
(Argenti & Forman 2002, 57). A strong and long-lasting image is built through the organization‟s identity, the
overall coherence of the images the public perceives, and the association of the organization‟s identity with the
images held by its constituencies (Argenti & Forman 2002, 68).
Brand attachment
Vincent (2012) evaluates the success of some world-famous brands and states that one of the major factors is brand
attachment. Vincent (2012) claims, that when consumers become attached to brands their behavior changes, on the
other hand brand attachment measures how much consumers view the brand as an extension of themselves. Vincent
(2012) differentiates brand attitudes and brand attachment; brand attitudes measures how much people like some
specific brand, when brand attachment weights how much people say that the brand is like them. That is to say,
brand attachment deals with consumers identifying with a brand because it expresses their values as well as
resembles in a way they see themselves. When people get attached to some specific brand, the brand becomes part
of the consumer‟s self-concept. The brand builder should understand how consumers collectively attach a brand to
their self-concept, as the attachment “proves to be one of the best drivers of relevance.” (Vincent 2012) The power
of brand attachment is significant, and Vincent (2012) claims that when consumers are truly attached to a brand,
they are willing to make compromises in their other consumer and buying behavior in order to keep that specific
brand in their life. Vincent(2012) mentions as an example many luxury brands, which have posted record sales
when the economic times have been tough. When consumers view the brand as part of their own identity, they are
likely to defend it and attack anything that threatens it. All in all, the more consumers view the brand as an
extension of their own identity, the more they want to have the brand in their life nearby. (Vincent 2012) There are
different ways how consumers act in different situations and nowadays also the social media plays a big role what it
comes to brands and brand attachment. Vincent (2012) reminds that it‟s said that every time a consumer includes a
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brand to their social stream, they signal to their world what they stand for. According to Vincent (2012) when a
brand enjoys a high level of attachment, the brand has an obligation to live up to what the brand builder promises.
On the other hand, if this doesn‟t happen there is a risk that the brand becomes irrelevant, or even reviled and
outcast.
CONCLUSION
Technically brands are also dealing with names, logos and symbols for a product. According to Keller (2003 p. 3)
The American Marketing Association, AMA, defines brand as “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a
combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competition.” Even so, the American Marketing Association, AMA, claims that a
brand might also be defined, for instance, in terms of having actually created a certain amount of awareness,
reputation and prominence in the marketplace. (Keller 2003 pp. 3-4) According to the American Marketing
Association, AMA, the key to creating a brand is to “choose a name, logo, symbol, package design, or other
attribute that identifies a product and distinguishes it from others.” (Keller 2003 p. 3)
A brand image which relates to the brand as it is seen by the customers needs to be examined regularly. It is
important to know the current situation of the brand image, as it reveals the opinions and attitudes of the target
customers towards the brand. In addition, it provides a basis for future marketing planning and marketing activities.
Reputation management is the mission of keeping the positive image in the minds of stakeholders (Heath 2001,
309). However you need to remember that you can‟t please everyone at the same time (Alsop 2004, 40). The
reputation management starts from building an alignment between the company identity and image. You need to
create your identity and manage the people‟s perceptions. (Argenti & Forman 2002, 70.) Remember that you do it
through creating and managing your identity (Argenti & Forman 2002, 89). You also need to measure the
reputation for managing it (Alsop 2004, 25).
Reputations matter because they are connected to the strategic positioning. A company reputation is like a mirror
that reflects the relative success at its ups and downs, the current and the future strategic direction. But the mirror
can also be like a magnet. If people like what they see and hear, they start supporting the company and as a result it
attracts more resources to the company. (Fombrun & Van Riel 2004, 20.)
Because of the value that reputations hold with customers, investors, employees, and even with competitors, a
company wants to preserve a good reputation (Marconi 2002, 13). With a strong reputation comes great
responsibility. If customers are used to a high standard and you fail to deliver that image, your customers judge it
more harshly than they do others (Alsop 2004, 13).
You should care about the cumulative effect of the messages you deliver to your constituencies because all the
stories contribute directly to the impressions people have of your company and depending on how well they align
with your company‟s reality, which can be negative or positive.
A strong brand doesn‟t necessarily mean you have a good reputation, and the other way round, a solid reputation
doesn‟t equate with a good brand. A company with a poor reputation can have a brand with high awareness, and in
contrast, a weak brand doesn‟t always result a strong reputation. (Ettenson & Knowles 2008, 20; Fombrun & Van
Riel 2004, 4.)
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