PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

To develop a successful global brand strategy, a profound understanding of consumers’ perceptions about the brand in the main markets or countries is needed. Measuring the image of global brands includes at least two challenges. First, the market researcher has to select an appropriate method, knowing that different methods may yield different outcomes. Second, measuring the image of global brands differs categorically from measuring the image of local ones, as the global perspective requires measuring the brand image in diverse markets that may differ according to various cultural and socioeconomic characteristics. To meet these challenges, this paper proposes a two-factor approach, including a combination of the factors “method” and “country.” The data used for illustration purposes were collected in three leading target countries using a multi-method approach, including the free association method, the brand concept maps (BCM) method, and a usergenerated content (UGC) method. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) shows how the two-factor approach enables the uncovering of method and country effects and howthe suggested procedure leads to a holistic picture of the global brand image.