Brand and brand equity

Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos prekės markės ir markės kapitalo sampratos bei vertės matavimo problemos. Pirmojoje straipsnio dalyje analizuojama markės samprata ir jos raidos aspektai. Antroje dalyje tiriama, kokią naudą markė teikia vartotojui, gamintojui, paskirstymo kanalo dalyviams ir visuomenei. Trečioje dalyje ieškoma sąsajų tarp skirtingų markės kapitalo koncepcijų ir elemente aptariami ir grupuojami skirtingi markės kapitalo įvertinimo metodai, pateikiama metodika, pagal kurią markės vertę apskaičiuoja UAB „SICrinkos tyrimai“.The concept of brand equity has been debated both in the accounting and marketing literature. However, accountants tend to define brand equity differently from marketers. As usuall accountants define the total value of a brand as a separable asset. When marketers use the term "brand equity" they tend to mean brand strength or brand description (brand image), distinguishing them from the asset valuation meaning. The different points of view of brand equity by accountants and marketers raise the problem of discovering relationship between different interpretations of brand equity and application of various methods of brand quantification. There is a relationship between diverse concepts of brand equity: the brand value is the function of brand strength (brand loyalty) and the brand strength is a function ofbrand description (brand image). The given brand equity description indicates, that brand equity cannot be estimated unilaterally: it's impossible to grant the quantitative expression to brand image, while the brand strength and total value can be quantified. Due to this reason in the world practice there are used both financial and non-financial methods to measure the brand equity. The estimating of brands is a sufficiently new subject in Lithuania. In the year 1999 Lithuanian joint-stock company "SIC rinkos tyrimai" launched and published the TOP-10 of valuables Lithuanian brands for the first time. Unfortunately, the applied methods to estimate the brand values were not comprehensive and given results didn't show the definite data of separate brand value in the Lithuanian market