Applicability of Keller’s brand equity model in the B2B chemical market

A B2B (business-to-business) brand is a distinctive identity that differentiates a relevant, enduring and credible promise of value associated with a product, service or organisation, as well as indicating the source of that promise. The concept of B2B brand equity is one of the most intriguing concepts connected to B2B brands. Although there have been some attempts to conceptualise and measure B2B brand equity in the literature, in practice no consensus about the concept has been reached so far. Unlike previous studies, this study examines the applicability of Keller’s brand equity model in a specific industry and market – the B2B chemical market. For that purpose, a series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with buyers of specific industrial chemical products in the South and Eastern European B2B chemical market. The results show that the Keller’s brand equity model can be applicable in the B2B chemical market, however, the six brand building blocks – salience, performance, imagery, judgements, feelings and resonance – as well as subdimensions that assemble the blocks, need arrangements in different ways in order to meet the logic of the B2B marketing philosophy. As a result, the respondents perceive corporate brands to be more important than product brands. They also point to the significance of the relationship with sales representatives in building brand equity. At the top block of the pyramid respondents set partnership relations, and cooperation in developing solutions oriented towards improvement of customers’ production processes.