2134/14786 Alan French Alan French Gareth Smith Gareth Smith Measuring brand association strength: a consumer based brand equity approach Loughborough University 2014 Brand equity Brand association strength Brand concept mapping Network analysis Brands Modelling Consumer behaviour Business and Management not elsewhere classified 2014-06-06 14:15:04 Journal contribution https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Measuring_brand_association_strength_a_consumer_based_brand_equity_approach/9502334 Purpose: To date, the brand equity literature has been limited by a gap in the measurement of a key driver of consumer based brand equity (CBBE). The authors' aim is to address this gap by developing a new, consumer-based measure of brand association strength, a critical element of CBBE. Design/methodology/approach: This paper, based on cognitive psychology, takes a recently developed brand mapping approach and uses its features, along with network analysis measures designed specifically by the authors for this particular analysis, to produce a novel measure of brand association strength. Findings: Traditional network analysis measures (e.g. number of associations, density) neglect to take into account the underlying structure of consumers' brand associations as reflected in concept maps. The authors use primary research on a well-known brand (McDonald's) to show that both number of associations and a modified density measure taking account of the special structure of concept maps can be used to generate an intuitive and readily understood measure of brand association strength. Originality/value: The paper develops a new measure to analyse brand association strength for any given brand. As such it contributes to the methodological and practical development of the CBBE construct. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.