BRANDZ: Brand equity Model

What is the BrandDynamics Pyramid?

For each brand, each person interviewed is assigned to one level of the pyramid depending on their responses to a set of questions. The BrandDynamics Pyramid shows the number of consumers who have reached each level.
Bonding – Rational and emotional attachments to the brand to the exclusion of most other brands

Advantage – Felt to have an emotional or rational advantage over other brands in the category

Performance – Felt to deliver acceptable product performance and is on the consumer's short-list

Relevance – Relevant to consumer's needs, in the right price range or in consideration set
Presence – Active familiarity based on past trial, saliency or knowledge of brand promise

Purchasing loyalty increases at higher levels of the Pyramid - consumers at the level of Bonding are likely to be active advocates of the brand. There is also an increase in share of wallet - the proportion of consumer expenditure within the category on that brand - as you ascend the Pyramid.

The goal is to build as large a group as possible of truly loyal consumers, by sustaining a suitable relationship and increasing their loyalty to the brand.

What is Brand Signature?

In sustaining a relationship with the consumer and increasing loyalty, a brand will succeed in converting more individuals up the BrandDynamics Pyramid.

The rate at which a brand converts people from one level to the next is calculated; by comparing this with what you would expect given the brand's size, we can identify the strengths and weaknesses of a brand relative to other brands in its category. This method eliminates the effect of size, thus allowing you to compare the strengths of two brands regardless of whether they are small or large.

A Brand Signature might look like this:

Each bar corresponds to one level of the BrandDynamics Pyramid. Red bars on the left of the line indicate that the brand converts fewer people than expected; blue bars to the right indicate the brand converts more people than expected.

Therefore, we can identify a brand with this Brand Signature as a Cult Brand. It is not widely known and not relevant to everyone - but those for whom it is relevant form a committed and fanatical following.

otal, BrandZ has asked over 650,000 consumers and professionals across 31 countries to compare 23,000+ brands

What is Brand Voltage?

Brand Voltage is a one-number summary of the growth potential of a brand.

Brand Voltage takes into account how many people are very loyal to the brand (the brand's bonding score) and claimed purchasing data for the category to produce a single Brand Voltage number.

+ A brand with a positive voltage score has potential to gain share from its own marketing actions and resist the actions of competitors.

– A brand with a negative voltage score can still grow, but will have to work harder still; over time it will be more vulnerable to the actions of other brands.

Here is an example from the US apparel market.



The Bonding Score quantifies the current strength of the brand while Brand Voltage indicates its future potential.

Therefore, we can see that although Nike and Tommy Hilfiger have the same percentage of consumers who are bonded with the brand, Tommy Hilfiger has a positive voltage score, meaning that it is more efficient at converting consumers up the pyramid than Nike. Old Navy is in an even stronger position and more likely to gain market share in the future, as indicated by its voltage score.

The link between Brand Voltage and market share has been validated by tracking brands over three years.

A Proven Link Between Brand Voltage and Market Share



Analysis of the BrandZ database has shown that, on average, brands with a high Voltage have subsequently grown market share. Being moderately strong is not sufficient to generate significant share gains.