How rebranding affects the brand equity of a private label brand

• Autor(a) principal: Faria, Rita Meireles Alves Tamagnini
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/18101
• topic: Private label brand; Rebranding; Brand equity; Identidade de marca; Valor da marca; Marketing; Comportamento do consumidor; Estudo de casos

Private label brands have evolved from being “unbranded” alternatives to receiving significant branding attention, as was the case of SONAE MC’s brand Continente. After identifying the need to create a coherent image that catered the needs of its brand tiers and generated emotional attachment with the consumers, Continente underwent a rebranding process to update its image. Rebranding exercises require considerable investments and may jeopardize previous perceptions of the brand. Thus, they should be monitored and evaluated. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to understand the effects that rebranding had on Continente’s brand equity and its constructs: brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. A questionnaire was conducted to 466 shoppers who expressed their perceptions of the brand’s image before and after its rebranding. When analysed altogether, brand equity constructs have not suffered significant alterations, meaning that previously existing brand equity has successfully been transferred onto the new brand, however, new brand equity has not yet been created. Consumers do still associate Continente’s image with previous identity, however, their ability to easily identify the various brand tiers has improved with the new image. Consumers associate the rebranded image with being “innovative” and “original” and describe the previous image as “inexpensive” and “trustworthy”. Brand loyalty and perceived quality are the factors that relate the most to consumers’ perceptions of the brand before its rebranding. Results also emphasize the importance of time and continuity. Continuously subjecting consumers to the brand’s new identity is essential to rebranding success. This study contributes to the brand management literature by combining three important concepts, private labels, rebranding and brand equity, supporting them with a specific case.