Customer-based measurement of the components creating brand equity: An application in Ankara province

From the point of view that brand concept is one of the most essential concepts enabling the communication between the product and the consumer, the approach of the consumers to the brand is an incontrovertible fact in the determination and measurement of the components which make a brand valuable. Due to this reason this study is aimed at customer-oriented measurement of the brand, thus the application of the study is realised in the mobile phone market where the brand concept is significant during the process of purchasing. Firstly it is asked to people selected at random in Kızılay Avenue in Ankara that whether they were of full age or not and whether they had a particular income or not, and a survey of 10 chapters was made among the mobile phone users providing these conditions. The contents of the survey are aimed at measurement of brand equity, or more essentially awareness of the brands in the mobile phone market, the perceived quality, brand loyalty and associations. The rates of this four components creating brand equity differed due to the brands. It is observed that with some brands while some of the four components were at high levels, the others remained at low levels. Nokia, the 5th most valuable brand of the world, is the brand of which brand equity is the highest, also is the leader in the market. This study has confirmed these figures, Nokia is determined as the most valuable mobile phone brand, it is observed at the same time that this most valuable mobile phone brand is the most purchased brand. From this point of view that it is seen that the sales of the brands which have a high brand equity, is also high and that they have a large share in their sector, that is to say a high brand equity is related with overachievement.