The relation between consumer-based brand equity and brand performance was investigated across 15 product categories in Brazil and the UK. Brand equity was conceptualized as related to the level of social benefit offered by each brand and was measured with a simple questionnaire that asked consumers to rate brands with respect to their familiarity and quality levels. These measures were then related to brand market share and revenue. Results showed that the relation between consumer-based brand equity and brand performance varies across product categories, indicating that products differ with respect to their level of brandability and suggesting ways to measure it.

According to the Behavioral Perspective Model (Foxall, 1990; 1997; 1998), consumer behavior occurs at the intersection of the consumer behavior setting and the individual’s learning history, which signals aversive and reinforcing informational (e.g., status level) and utilitarian (e.g., value in use) consequences. This model was adopted in the present study with the purpose of investigating the effects of the utilitarian level of products upon the duration of search behavior. Direct observation (Oliveira-Castro, 2003) and brand classification (Foxall, Oliveira-Castro e Schrezenmaier, 2004) methodologies were adopted. 1020 observations of buyers searching for two products (mayonnaise and sweet biscuits) in real situations were conducted. The instrument to classify utilitarian level was developed analogously to that used for informational level (Pohl, 2004) and responded by 232 consumers. The questionnaire attempted to identify how much different attributes can increase the value of the products. The classification of attributes was based, in part, on the results from Anovas with the support of Post Hoc tests (Tukey). Results indicated longer search duration with higher level of utilitarian benefits for one of the products, suggesting that this relation might be specific to different product categories.