The analysis of the relationship between word of mouth communication and customer based brand equity an application on the customers of tour operators and travel agencies

Aaker, who has leading studies on consumer based brand equity in literature, has described the term as: "Set of assets and liabilities which depends on the brands' dioristic name and symbol, and an intangible asset created by marketing activities which is increasing or decreasing the value of products and services provided to consumers by the company". Consumer based brand equity has the components such as brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association. Brand equity perception in consumers' mind is effected by many factors but particularly these four components. One of the factors is word of mouth (WOM). Word of mouth (WOM), one of the oldest ways of communication, is described as the consumers' tend to share with their circle the positive or negative experiences and information about the product that they bought. It is mentioned in literature that in addition to positive WOM and negative WOM, content and frequency of WOM is also effective on purchase decision process. Main purpose of this study is to measure the effect of WOM on consumer based brand equity. For this purpose, in first part of the study which has three main parts, definition, specialities and types of WOM is given within the scope of information derived by literature search. In second part which is also created on the basis of literature search, definitions of brand, brand equity and brand equity components are given. In third part which consists of the application part of the study, results of the questionnaire, applied on German, Russian and English tourists who came to Turkey for holiday purpose through the travel agencies, are given. As a result of the analysis it is determined that tourists' level of approach to WOM and brand equity components is differ mainly by nations and also by demographic datas. Also as a result of canonical correlation analysis it is detected that the WOM components have effect on brand equity components. Keywords: Word of Mouth (WOM), WOM Types, Brand, Brand Equity, Brand Equity Components.