Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

The Building of Brand Affective Equity
How Do People Like Kiva and Zopa: An investigation into the social media?
Do people like not-for-profit brands more than lucrative brands?
Djamchid Assadi, Burgundy School of Business, France
Arvind Ashta, Burgundy School of Business, France
ABSTRACT
Two driving forces command the propriety of a new reflection on brand equity:
1) Fast growing and maturing industries motivate acquisitions and mergers, although for different reasons. The
perspective of acquisition in any sector of activity requires a practical understanding of the brand valuation of the target
firms. We will later explain how the valuation of acquired and merged firms is mainly based on intangible assets, and in
particular in brands, rather than tangible assets.
2) The value of intangible assets in general and brand equity, especially, are progressively going out of control of the
firms because of the massive introduction of the social and consumer-generated media (Edelman, 2010).
While the impact of the social media on branding has led to some studies (Assadi & Ashta 2009, Assadi & Ashta 2010),
the above observation divulgates a field which is much less explored within the brand studies: Are there specific
attitudinal patterns that the Internet users above about the brands and their representations which can be discerned from
the direct and independent conversations and interactions between customers within the Web 2.0 media? Do they
correspond to the official narratives conceived and disseminated by the firms?
Managers need to compare the stories told and retold by customers and individuals in the social media with those
conceived by their own companies. Discrepancy can be fatal. Perhaps the key implication for marketers is managing to
approach to the stories circulating on the Internet about their brands.
This paper studies the influence of people on brands and not brands (firms) on people (‗s perception). We believe that
the findings of the research go beyond the microfinance sector and present both practical and theoretical interests to all
social organizers looking for funding from social investors.
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