Leveraging Secondary Associations
The third and final way to build brand equity is to “borrow” it by linking the brand to other information in memory that conveys meaning to consumers (see Figure 8.4). These “secondary” brand associations can link to sources such as the company itself, countries or other geographical regions, and channels of distribution as well as to other brands, characters (through licensing), spokespeople (through endorsements), sporting or cultural events (through sponsorship), or other third-party sources (through awards or reviews). Leveraging secondary associations can be an efficient and effective way to strengthen a brand. But linking a brand to someone or
FiGURE 8.4 Secondary Sources of Brand Knowledge
something else can be risky because anything bad that happens to that other entity (such as scandal involving an endorser) can also be linked to the brand.
Internal Branding
Marketers must adopt an internal perspective to be sure employees and marketing partners appreciate and understand basic branding notions and how they can help—or hurt—brand equity.27 Internal branding consists of activities and processes that help inform and inspire employees about brands.28 Holistic marketers go even further and train and encourage distributors and dealers to serve their customers well.
