Brand equity research is an attempt to put a value on the strength of a brand in the market, in the same way that the shares/stocks put a value on the strength of the corporation in the eyes of the investors. Indeed, brand equity research has shown that the two are related – the growth in brand equity correlates with the growth in stock values, and also sales, profits, price premiums and employee satisfaction. Given that brand value often accounts for a very significant proportion of the value of the total company (75% for Ford, 51% for the Coca-Cola Corporation), and strong brands drive profitability in several ways (additional sales, reduced costs, referrals to new customers), this does make sense.
Brand equity research has two elements:
1. Brand profiling – The brand and its competitors are profiled against a set of indicators and attributes. The indicators are usually fixed within the model, but attributes may be specific to the brand or its category

2. Conversion model – where the model assesses the degree of strength or vulnerability the company has in her customer base in relation to competition. Credit card companies use this to identify which competitive customers they should approach as they are open to alternative offers, and which they should not waste their time on because they are loyal to their existing suppliers.
The usual core measures relate to:
• Awareness
• Familiarity
• Favorability
• Usage
• Loyalty
• Individual brand/category attributes