Digital Brand Equity:Research On Conceptualization,Constitution Dimension And Action Mechanism Of Two Kinds Of Antecedents

The rapid development of digital technology is reshaping our current business environment,brand strategy and marketing tools have taken on a new look.However,for both brand managers and theoretical researchers,"brand equity" is the most core concept in brand and branding research,and the building,measuring and managing brand equity is always an inseparable proposition in brand practice and research.The new consumption environment brought by digital technology and tools provides a new source for the research of brand equity.How to build,measure and manage digital brand equity more effectively has become an important research topic.This study seized the research opportunities brought by digital technology and environment to brand equity research,and put forward the new concept of "digital brand equity",focusing on what is digital brand equity? How to build digital brand equity? And the market effect reflected by digital brand equity? A series of studies has been conducted on these three questions.The first research question is "what is the digital brand equity".This study firstly defined the concept of the digital brand equity by literature research along with the classic theory of "customer based brand equity".Based on the theory of service-oriented logic and the concept of digital interactive platform products,this paper proposes the theoretical dimension of the concept of digital brand equity from the perspective of "brand knowledge" generated by the digital environment.On the basis of this work,the question of the digital brand equity scale is developed through qualitative research.And through the quantitative research method,verified the digital brand equity scale in the mathematical science of scientific.The results show that :(1)The digital brand equity is the differentiated response of consumers to the brand marketing activities caused by the brand knowledge generated by digital technology and environment.It includes three dimensions: online brand trust,online brand engagement and online brand co-creation.(2)The digital brand equity scale developed in this study has a good factor structure,and shows good convergent validity,discriminative validity and predictive validity with the existing customer brand equity related scale,showing the "three dimensions" of value-added path brought by the digital environment to brand equity.These research work and results have positive theoretical and practical significance :(1)For the first time,the service-oriented logic theory and digital interactive platform product theory are introduced into the study of brand equity,which enriches the theoretical study of brand equity management and provides a new research perspective for the study of brand equity;(2)It explores the source of digital brand equity,and provides marketing managers with the practice direction of "establishing online brand trust in consumer cognition,enhancing online brand engagement in consumer emotion,and promoting online brand co-creation in behavior".(3)The measurement method of digital brand equity is proposed,which provides a new tool for brand managers to evaluate brand equity and make brand diagnosis.The second research question is "how to create the digital brand equity".This study firstly summarizes two types of consumer(brand)value creation organizations,brand community and brand public in the digital environment through literature review.Based on the theory of brand value chain,brand community identity and brand public expression are regarded as the two factors driving the formation of digital brand equity.The results show that :(1)Both brand community identity and brand public expression have positive effects on promoting digital brand equity.Social identity theory is the theoretical approach to explain how brand community identity promotes the formatio n of digital brand equity.Consumers who identify with the brand community tend to regard the brand as a symbol of collective identity.The theoretical explanation of brand public expression is the theory of open-oriented consumer culture.In this emotiona l model,the brand as an emotional display or an intermediary of individual public ity,rather than a link of collective identity.(2)Brand community identity and brand public expression have differentiated effects in promoting the formation of digital brand equity.Compared with the brand public expression sense,the brand community identity promotes the generation of digital brand equity more significantly.The results of this research and has a positive theoretical and practical significance:(1)To build up the brand community,brand digital brand equity,the relationship between the public and reveals the brand community and the public as two kinds of online consumer groups on the formation of the drive digital brand equity different mechanism of action and differential effect.(2)It differentiates the two ways to form digital brand equity and provides strategic guidance for marketing managers to develop differentiated marketing plans.Community marketing and social media marketing are two major means of digital marketing.For the goal of community marketing,it is not only to form the interactive relationship between consumers and brands,but also to promote the continuous interactive relationship between brand users.Therefore,this kind of marketing appeal point should be more of a social belonging type,and it is particula r ly important to establish the group belonging of consumers.For the purpose of social media marketing,it is more important to promote the interaction between consumers and brands.The "topic" of a brand is more important than the "identity" between consumers.Highlighting the brand's "publicity","discussion" and "visibility" is an important goal.The third research question is " What the market effect reflected by digital brand equity".Based on the brand value chain theory and from the perspective of business practice,this study innovatively takes "online user flow" and "offline market extension" as indicators to reflect the market effect of digital brand equity.Online user traffic refers to the number of visits or usage of brand websites(APP)by consumers.Offline market extension refers to the effect of online market on offline market.The results show that:(1)The digital brand equity positively affect brand online user flow.That is,high digita l brand equity reflects more connection times,frequency and time between consumers and brands online(compared with category brands).(2)The digital brand equity will also have a positive impact on brand offline market extension.In other words,high digital brand equity will increase consumers' potential evaluation of the brand in the offline market.These studies and conclusions have positive theoretical and practical significance :(1)Enrich the academic measurement methods of brand equity from the market perspective in brand value chain research.At the same time,the conclusion of this study also echoes the current view of the engagement of online and offline channels in omnichannel management,reflecting the theoretical contribution of digital brand equity research to omnichannel related research.(2)It reveals the market effect reflected by digital brand equity and provides a theoretical basis for marketing managers to evaluate and manage digital brand equity.When brand managers understand the relationship between online and offline markets,they should not regard them as essentially antagonistic.On the contrary,the engagement of online and offline is an important direction of brand management.For the emerging Internet brands,their success based on the Internet model will actualy greatly reduce their market risks when they develop the offline market.Or for those brands in the incubation period,the strategic choice can be "online" and then "offline" mode.Brand creation and management in the digital age is the trend of brand scientific research.In general,this paper proposes the theoretical construct of "digital brand equitys",and reveals the mechanism of online consumer(brand)organizations,namely brand community and brand public,to promote the formation of digital brand equitys and the market performance reflected by digital brand equitys in the digital environme nt.As a basic and important theoretical innovation result,it has important theoretica l significance for both brand equity management theory and brand theory research in the digital age.More importantly,the research conclusion of this paper clearly points out a different way to form and create brand equitys from the traditional way.This provides rich practical enlightenment for enterprises in formulating digital-driven brand strategy.