1. Primary characteristics and secondary features. Customers often hold beliefs about
the levels at which the primary characteristics of a product operate (e.g., low, medi-
um, high, or very high). They may also hold beliefs about special, perhaps even
patented, features or secondary elements of a product that complement these pri-
mary characteristics.
2. Product reliability, durability, and serviceability. As noted, customers can view the
performance of products or services in a broad manner. Reliability refers to the
consistency of performance over time and from purchase to purchase. Durability
refers to the expected economic life of the product. Serviceability refers to the ease
of servicing the product if it needs repair. Thus, perceptions of product perfor-
mance are impacted by factors such as the speed, accuracy, and care of product
delivery and installation; the promptness, courtesy, and helpfulness of customer
service and training; the quality of repair service and the time involved; and so on.
3. Service effectiveness, efficiency, and empathy. Customers often have performance-
related associations with the service interactions they have with brands. Along
those lines, service effectiveness refers to how completely the brand satisfies cus-
tomers’ service requirements. Service efficiency refers to the manner in which these
services are delivered in terms of speed, responsiveness, and so forth. Finally, service
empathy refers to the extent to which service providers are seen as trusting, caring,
and having the customer’s interests in mind.
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4. Style and design. Consumers may have associations with a product that go
beyond its functional aspects to more aesthetic considerations such as its size,
shape, materials, and color. Thus, performance may also depend on sensory aspects
—how a product looks and feels and perhaps even what it sounds or smells like.
5. Price. Finally, the pricing policy for the brand can create associations in con-
sumers’ minds to the relevant price tier or level for the brand in the category, as
well as to its corresponding price volatility or variance (in terms of the frequency
or magnitude of discounts, etc.). In other words, the pricing strategy adopted for a
brand can dictate how consumers categorize the price of the brand (e.g., low,
medium, or high) and how firm or flexible that price is perceived to be (e.g., as
frequently or infrequently discounted).
Brand performance thus transcends the “ingredients” that make up the product or
service to encompass aspects of the brand that augment these ingredients. Any of
these different performance dimensions can serve as a means by which the brand is
differentiated. Often, the strongest brand positioning involves performance advan-
tages of some kind, and it is rare that a brand can overcome severe deficiencies in
this area.
Brand Imagery. The other main type of brand meaning involves brand imagery.
Brand imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product or service, includ-
ing the ways in which the brand attempts to meet customers’ psychological or
social needs. Brand imagery is how people think about a brand abstractly rather
than what they think the brand actually does. Thus, imagery refers to more intan-
gible aspects of the brand.