Social brands and social brand equity: definition, role and measurement
Date
2015-02-18
Authors
Rademeyer, Claire
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Abstract
Social marketing has a different objective to commercial marketing. Social
marketing seeks to change behaviour for social good, whereas commercial
marketing endeavours to maximise profit on the sale of goods and services.
Within social marketing, the tool of a brand is often deployed but there is little
understanding of the similarities and differences between brands in social
marketing campaigns and brands in commercial marketing campaigns. The
research explored this, and proposed a new term ‘social brand’ to specifically
distinguish a brand used in a social marketing campaign. Further, the research
sought to define a ‘social brand’ and outline its specific and nuanced role, and
means of measurement.
The research entailed conducting a literature review on both branding and
social marketing, followed by in-depth discussions with expert participants.
Following interrogation of the data, it was confirmed that social brands are
indeed different from commercial brands in that their focus is on behaviour to
achieve social good, and not to optimise profit. Following this finding, the role
and measurement of social brands was explored, and it was found that social
brands act as reminders of, and catalysts for, specific behaviours and that this
can be useful in bringing the community together to create broad societal
change. In addition, the measurement of social brands borrowed from
commercial brand equity constructs, but it was determined that the context of
social brands affected the application of these constructs.
The research highlights that not all brands are the same, and this has led to the
introduction of a new type of brand, the ‘social brand’. By further defining this
type of brand, there is increased awareness in the specific objectives and role
of the social brand, which will lead to improved development and application of
the social brand.
Description
Thesis (M.M. (Strategic Marketing))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014.