Brand equity

It is the value of a brand; depend on the extent to which it has great perceived quality, brand loyalty, name awareness, strong brand associations, and other assets like trademarks, patents and channel relationships. Strong brand names command strong consumer preference and are powerful possessions. Possibly the most distinctive skill of professional marketers is their capability to create, protect, maintain and enhance brands. Measuring the definite equity of a brand name is hard.  However, the advantages of having it include following:

1.   High consumer alertness and loyalty.
2.   Simpler to launch brand extensions because of great brand credibility.
3.   A good defence against fierce price competition.
4.   It is believed to be the company's most lasting asset. Customer equity tends to aid marketing planning in assuring faithful customer lifetime value.