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An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm suggests a brand is a strategic resource that can provide a competitive advantage to the firm possessing the resource. According to this perspective a brand is an intangible asset that can be "valued and traded" ([13] Hoopes et al. , 2003). This implies that brands must be created (or acquired), managed, and valued like other asset that yields future streams of economic returns to a firm. A key component of this process is the assessment of a brand's evolving value across time.
[17] Keller (1993) defines brand value as the incremental price a customer would be willing to pay for a product over the unbranded version of an otherwise identical product. This difference in customers' willingness-to-pay provides the firm excess revenues and is one reason why brands are valuable to firms.
Although the importance of brand value may be intuitive, researchers and practitioners alike have been challenged in isolating and measuring incremental brand value. In this paper the authors develop a simple yet robust tool to assess brand value: the Brand Recall Index (BRI).
The BRI is a measurement tool which requires limited resources in terms of time and money to be deployed. This means that the tool can be used continually to help firms and researchers assess changes in brand value over time. Prior to devolving the BRI and assessing the validity and reliability of the measure, a review of the brand value measures currently in the literature and in practice is contained in the following section.
Existing measures of brand value
Brands are intangible assets which compete for financial value beyond their industry membership. That is, a brand's value is not only a function of its mind-share within a product category but is a function of its mind-share among all brands. Kellogg's for example, demonstrates its value to stakeholders not only in comparison with General Mills brand cereals but also with Kraft, Apple, and Chevrolet. Whereas brand equity helps a brand beat its competition, brand value helps a firm leverage its brands as an asset. When Kraft foods acquired Cadbury for $19.6 billion ([15] Jones and Dorfman, 2010)...