Holistic augmented reality brand equity (HARBE) model: building customer-based brand equity through augmented reality

Although some recent research presents various uses of augmented reality (AR) in brand contexts, no overarching model exists to explicate its effects, justify its usage, or specify how it contributes to brand management objectives, such as customer-based brand equity. To determine if AR actually can support brand equity, the current article adapts an existing customer-based brand equity pyramid into a three-stage framework of AR and AR features (cf. 2D communication tools) as brand experiences, consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of AR as mechanisms, and brand equity (salience, meaning, response, and relation) as consequences. A secondary data analysis of 398 effects, extracted from 74 journal papers, published between 2010 and 2024, reveals three key insights. For brand managers, the findings detail the direct effects of AR on brand equity. For marketing managers, they describe consumer behaviours in response to AR. For AR creators, they demonstrate ways to develop purposeful AR experiences. The newly proposed Holistic AR Brand Equity (HARBE) model details the direct effects of AR features and mechanisms on each type of brand equity, which also enables managers to make rapid, evidence-based decisions about leveraging AR to enhance brand strength.