Customer-based brand equity 2.0. Un modello innovativo di misurazione.

Since the eighties, the subject of brand equity has been one of the best-known and discussed concepts in the academic literature of marketing. Due to this, on one hand it has allowed to increase its importance, but on the other hand, it also meant a proliferation of definitions, conceptualizations and theories, without a unique and universally accepted ones (Keller, Busacca, & Ostillio, 2005). In particular, a major area of concern within this academic strand is related to methods and models of measuring brand equity, because this analysis can be a very important tool, not only for the marketing management, but also, and especially, for the whole business management. The objective of this doctoral thesis is threefold. First, it offers a detailed review of the literature about methods and measurement models of customer-based brand equity, starting with an overview of the definitions of brand and brand equity, as well as the advantages of a positive brand equity and the potential uses of this parameter within the business management. Moreover, it allows analyzing which product categories and communication tools have already been presented in the literature, in relation to the impacts of these tools on brand equity. In this context, particular attention is paid on the issue of communication 2.0, on its peculiarities and the new challenges that brand equity is taken to address through these media. In fact, the impact of social media on business performance remains an issue a little bit explored (Bruhn, Schoenmueller, & Schaefer, 2012; Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2015). Subsequently, I intend to present an innovative model for measuring customer-based brand equity 2.0. More in details, through the literature review it is possible to identify assumptions, measurement scales, items and methods useful for the formulation of a measurement model of customer-based brand equity. Specifically, it has been identified the methodology of structural equation modeling, which allow to check for any relationships between components (brand equity and communication mix), and the direction and size of these ties (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). In particular, the reference model for comparing the results of the analysis has been identified in the one proposed by the authors Yoo, Donthu and Lee, which studied the impact of the main elements of the marketing mix on the components of consumer-based brand equity conceptualized by Aaker (Aaker, 1997; Yoo, Donthu, & Lee, 2000). Finally, the above model is integrated with the items proposed by the authors Brhun and Schivinski, which analyzed the impact of social media on consumers-based brand equity (Bruhn et al., 2012; Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2015). The third and last objective of this work is to verify the validity of the model within the competitive dynamics of a specific product category, the beer ones. To this end, the analysis is developed through a survey to fans and followers of the major social media of some beer brands among the best known, both at international level, and of both national one. In this way, it is possible to test the existence of the hypothesized relations between the most modern communication tools 2.0 and the major components of customer-based brand equity.