BUS631: Brand Management

After the re-analysis process was carried out, the results were fit and identified. The results of the analysis can be seen in the following table.

Perception and brand awareness

Theoretically and from the results of previous research, it indicates that there is a close relationship between Perception and Brand Awareness. In this research, it can be proven that Perception is closely related and affects Brand Awareness in a positive and significant manner at the 1% error level with a determinant coefficient value of 1.14 and a standard error of 0.21. This means that if public perception increases by 1 percent from the previous one, Brand Awareness will increase by 1.14 percent and vice versa; if public perception decreases by 1 percent from the previous one, Brand Awareness will decrease by 1.14 percent.

If we look at the descriptive statistical analysis, the average value of this perception variable is 3.68 with the moderate category, with the average value of the Brand Awareness variable being 3.35 in the moderate category too (Table 2). The highest perception is obtained from the Quality construct variable, while the lowest is the Price variable.

With the achievement of this value, the UT Statistics Study Program needs to increase its public perception, so that its brand awareness can increase. This effort can be done by increasing knowledge related to the price, quality, and services in the UT Statistics Study Program. Roadshows to high schools/ vocational high schools, promotions through social media and mass media, as well as organizing sports, arts and academic events at high schools/ vocational high schools can be conducted, so that the brand perception and awareness increases towards the UT Statistics Study Program.

When carrying out the introduction or marketing of a study program, this is related to emotional marketing. Emotional marketing can be defined as a unique shift in marketing management that focuses on creating emotional relationships between companies and consumers as the main driving factor for consumer purchasing decisions and exchanges or consumption. This emotional relationship has something to do with the consumer's perception.

Perception is a procedure for someone selecting, formatting, and interpreting stimuli. These stimuli are separated and are ensured to become one's view of the world. Two people will never experience the same thing even if the same item is displayed in the same environment. Every day, we are shown millions of different kinds of stimuli, smells, sounds, tastes, sights, and textures. But only a few of these stimuli are absorbed and processed by our brains. Consumer perception depends on how consumers think about a brand and how they imagine the brand, so consumer perception is an important attribute for brand comparison. It has always been at the core of a business. This is important because it can affect consumer loyalty and awareness of a brand which in turn has an impact on changing consumer purchasing decisions for the brand. In terms of sales, finance, advertising, etc., perception, awareness, and consumer loyalty are very important about any brand, including the UT Statistics Study Program.

Attitude and brand awareness

From the analysis, it can be found that statistically Brand Awareness and Attitude has a regression coefficient value of 0.355; a standard error of 0.148; and a critical ratio of 2.391 with a probability value of 0.017 or a 95% level of confidence. This means that Brand Awareness is significantly and positively influenced by Attitude. When community members have a positive attitude towards UT and the Statistics Study Program, the brand awareness of UT and Statistics Study Program will increase.

This increase in Brand Awareness is constructed by an introduction to Universitas Terbuka and the Statistics Study Program, familiarity, and knowledge of the existence of UT and the Statistics Study Program. They often hear, see, and relate to UT and the Statistics Study Program either directly or indirectly, through social media or other media, which will increase the UT brand awareness and the Statistics Study Program. When the community is positive and receptive towards an institution, including UT and the Statistics Study Program, the institution's brand awareness will increase. This happens if the institution is already running so that the community is familiar with it. This recognition will form repeated brand awareness, which could be better, or vice versa, depending on what they see, hear, and feel.

For new companies, this model can be started by developing brand awareness first, which will have an impact on the user's brand attitude. Their results show that when the product recommended in a blog post is a search item or has high brand awareness, consumers have a very positive attitude towards the sponsored recommendation posts, which increases the purchase intention. Thus, a new company must be known and talked about as often as possible, so that people will become familiar with the company's products, and in the end, they can form a positive and open attitude towards the company's products, which in the end, after considering other aspects, people will buy the products.

Based on the theory of promotion, to increase awareness of the UT brand and the Statistics Study Program, based on the results of this research, it can be done by increasing direct contact with prospective students through various media such as advertising and social media. It can also work with schools. Scholarships can also be offered for prospective students who have academic abilities but are economically disadvantaged or unable. Then cooperation can be made with various companies or institutions to accept graduates of the Statistics Study Program, so that new positive perceptions and attitudes can be formed for prospective students to enter the Statistics Study Program. This needs to be done considering that people who know the Statistics Study Program brand are individuals who have a defensive ego and are adherents of high utilitarianism (Table 2).

One strategy for changing consumer attitudes is to change the basic motivational function of a product or service. Consumer attitudes can be classified into four functions: utilitarian, ego-defensive, value-expressive, and knowledge. By changing the basic motivational function of a product or service, special needs are made to stand out. For example, marketers can direct their campaigns towards a strong stance to protect the ego or self-image from threats, fulfilling the ego-defensive function, as seen above.

Brand awareness, brand salience, and buying intention

The results of hypothesis testing using the SEM method with AMOS software show that Brand Awareness affects Buying Intention with the Brand Salience variable intervening. Brand Awareness positively and significantly affects the Brand Salience variable with an error level of 1%, a determination coefficient of 0.881, and a standard error of 0.067. Meanwhile, Brand Salience affects Buying Intention positively and significantly with an error rate of 1%, a regression coefficient of 0.874, and a standard error of 0.66. This means that if Brand Awareness increases by 1%, Brand Salience will increase by 0.88%. If Brand Salience increases by 1%, Buying Intention will increase by 0.87%. Likewise, the opposite will happen (Tables 3, 4).

It is interesting to observe in this regard. From the results of the analysis using descriptive statistics, it can be explained that the community's Brand Awareness of the UT Statistics Study Program obtained a score of 3.35, which is categorized as moderate. This value is formed from the measured variable Know (a score of 3.72); Familiar (a score of 3.22); and Recognition (a score of 3.11). The community's introduction to the Statistics Study Program is still not high. They are also not familiar with the UT Statistics Study Program. To increase the community's Brand Awareness of the UT Statistics Study Program, it can be done with the segmenting, targeting, and positioning strategies, the 4P generic strategy, and the customer loyalty program. When Brand Awareness increases, Brand Salience increases, so that in the end it increases people's buying intention in the community towards the UT Statistics Study Program.

To achieve high-level consumer purchasing decisions, a company or organization can use emotional marketing with a focus on the symbol of emotional advertising clips; concentrate on emotional advertising images; and create an element of self-identification. This occurs because purchasing decisions are directly influenced by brand recall, brand recognition, and perceived product quality. On the other hand, the factors of media types, meanings, and forms of cultural symbols indirectly influence purchasing decisions.

Formulation of brand management

After obtaining the research results as mentioned above, the question that then arises is how to formulate brand development for an organization, including the UT Statistics Study Program. To compile and develop a brand, this study used Keller's Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) approach, which was modified by considering Logman's brand management model.

The first stage that needed to be done was to extensively introduce Universitas Terbuka and the UT Statistics Study Program. However, the Statistics Study Program is closely related to the UT Brand. From the research results, it appears that the UT brand is "weaker" in the public perception of the UT Statistics Study Program. In this process, the introduction of UT is not just as a public university, as this is not effective enough in attracting the public's interest to study at UT. In this regard, UT's identity needs to be renamed to be Universitas Negeri Terbuka (UNT). In this regard, this STATE identity or name will have a strong impression in society regarding its existence. The word NEGERI has the connotation of belonging to the state, safe, trustworthy, and its existence is trusted, including related to its pricing.

This effort will increase the public's brand knowledge of UT. This is inseparable from the market target of UT to be achieved, namely the equal distribution of education acquisition that is not limited by time and space. In this broad market, brand knowledge is very important. To increase this, UT including the Statistics Study Program can increase its brand awareness and brand image. The name change will clearly increase the brand awareness and brand image in the community.

After making these efforts, the next step is to increase the brand equity of UT and the Statistics Study Program. One possible approach is Keller's customer-based brand equity (CBBE) approach. Customer-based brand equity is defined as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer responses to brand marketing. Three important concepts are included in the definition: "differential effects", "brand knowledge", and "consumer response to marketing". The differential effects are determined by comparing consumer responses to the marketing of a brand with responses to the same marketing of an unnamed name or version of a product or service. Brand knowledge is defined in terms of brand awareness, and brand image and is conceptualized according to the characteristics and brand association relationships described earlier. Consumer responses to marketing are defined in terms of consumer perceptions, preferences, and behaviors arising from marketing mix activities; for example, brand choice, understanding of copy points from advertisements, reactions to coupon promotions, or evaluations of proposed brand extensions.

In this CBBE approach, there are several things that need to be done to carry out brand management. The first one is to choose a brand identity. Then develop supporting marketing programs. Next, leverage secondary associations. An identity that can be developed is a country, affordable for space, time and cost, quality and sustainable.

To realize this identity, the marketing team must do several things such as increase the brand awareness and build profitable, strong, and unique brand associations in the memory, so that consumers buy products or services. Brand awareness is related to brand familiarity, namely the number of product-related experiences that consumers have accumulated through product use, advertising, and repeated exposure to a brand, which will increase the consumer's ability to recognize and remember the brand. Frequent and prominent mentions in advertising and promotional media can increase a consumer's exposure to a brand, as can event or sport sponsorship, publicity, and other activities. Profitable, strong, and unique associations can be created by a marketing program in a variety of appropriate ways.

Customer-based brand equity must be built with the aim of excellence, strength, and uniqueness of brand association, combined with brand awareness, which can generate different consumer responses to the marketing of a brand. However, it is important to consider in more depth how the belief associations about brand attributes and benefits emerge.

One of the ways belief associations are made is based on direct experience with a product or service. The second way is with information about the product or service communicated by the company, other commercial sources, or by word of mouth.

A third important way in which belief associations are made is based on the conclusions of several existing brand associations. That is, many associations are assumed to exist for brands because they are characterized by other associations. The type and power of inference is a function of the correlation perceived by consumers between attributes or benefits. The UT marketing department and the UT Statistics Study Program must sum up the quality of a high-level product or service from a high price, and convey certain attributes or benefits such as prestige and social status as well as a community evaluation of some of the attributes or benefits felt by the existence of UT and the UT Statistics Study Program.

UT and the Statistics Study Program can also improve their brand association through other information in memory that is not directly related to a product or service. Because a brand is identified with these other entities, consumers may conclude that the brand shares an association with that entity, thereby generating an indirect or "secondary" link to that brand. For example, there is "Orang pintar minum Tolak Angin". Orang pintar (smart people) has its own connotations and status juxtaposed with herbal medicine, which at that time was for the lower classes, in villages and mountainous regions, who had no education.

These secondary associations can lead to the transfer of global associations such as attitude or credibility, expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness or attributes and benefits that are more specifically related to the meaning of the product or service. Secondary associations may arise from associations of primary attributes related to (1) the company or UT, (2) distribution channels, (3) celebrity spokespersons or product or service advocates, or (4) events.

In addition to the items above, Pinar et al. emphasized the need to develop a college or university brand ecosystem, which has the potential to guide students to places they do not know yet or that they want to visit. Indeed, this is one of the challenges in managing the ideological divide identified by Ng and Forbes.

However, to the extent that the gap is controlled and students are provided with an extraordinary educational experience, the university or college may have a strong brand differentiator. The promise of the brand ecosystem as a platform to bridge this gap lies in its unifying strategic focus and direction, the level of intent generated, and the role of individual employees centered on the student experience.

Given the intangible characteristics of specific services, complexity, heterogeneity or variability, simultaneous production and consumption, and the nature of the process, creating a great (learning) experience and university brand depends not only on creating core values with academicians, but also on student experiences with all the supportive value creation activities. This is because all value creation networks are dynamically interlinked with each other, where each of these value networks individually and collectively contributes to the student learning experience with the university brand. As a result, student expectations are constantly updated and revised throughout their direct or indirect experiences with the university brand. For example, although academia is a core value-creating vehicle for students, there is no doubt that students' experiences (positive or negative) with libraries, dormitories, food, or even sports can significantly influence their university experiences. In turn, the brand of the university or the nature of the service (university) process, contributes to the complexity of the service encounter experience, where student evaluations of their learning experiences become the accumulation of many factors - some under the control of university employees and some not. This may partly explain the challenges that universities as service producers face in dealing with inbranding strategies.

It is well known that the customer experience with the company is much greater than the company's own communication to the customer. So far, experiences dominate the formation of customer evaluations (e.g., perceptions of quality, satisfaction, value, and loyalty), and expectations for the next service encounter. As stated by Ostrom et al., frontline employees are brands for customers; it is the employees who provide the service and convey the brand to the customers. Berry and Berry and Bendapudi suggested that because frontline employees (or contacts) embrace most customer impressions, brand marketing to employees or internal brands, is critical. This shows that all personnel (administrators, faculty, and staff) need to understand their importance in providing the desired student learning experiences. Our proposed brand ecosystem framework demonstrates the dynamic interrelationships among the value-creating elements in developing a university brand. The implication is that in order to create the outstanding multidimensional student learning experiences that universities promise, universities must coordinate all activities of their brand ecosystem value delivery network through internal branding.

The brand ecosystem can be used to develop the university's brand by focusing on creating the core values of academia, as well as all areas of support in providing a superior learning experience for students. The university's complete brand ecosystem (i.e., core and supporting activities) will also take advantage of the brand ecosystem framework including the alumni, donors, and potential employers. These external constituencies have the potential to add significant value to the brand ecosystem. Certain companies and organizations that recruit on campus are one example. Certainly, having recruiters on campus can be a strong attraction for prospective students, and as such, reflects an important aspect of the university's brand ecosystem. Apart from attracting prospective students, certain recruitment companies can serve as important stimulators for student academic success which can indirectly affect students' university learning experiences significantly. In addition, opportunities arise for these organizations to contribute to other dimensions of the student experience (e.g., guest speakers, student group sponsors, internships, and study tours) that add value to the total educational experience. Another instance of strengthening the university's brand ecosystem is by more fully integrating alumni into the core activities and supporting the value propositions.

It is also essential to keep in mind that parents are an important part of the university's brand ecosystem, especially as influencers and interpreters of the experiences their children have on campus. Potential employers, alumni, donors, and parents are significant contributors to the university experience; therefore, they should be included in the university brand ecosystem as part of a holistic university branding strategy.