Towards a Unified Theory of Brand Equity: Conceptualizations, Typologies and Avenues for Future Research

This paper aims to look into contemporary thinking within the brand equity paradigm, with a view to establishing avenues for further research on the drivers of brand value formation, enabling a more in-depth understanding of the antecedents of brand equity and its determinants, as well as the development of an improved instrument to measure brand equity. We present a taxonomy of brand value grounded on a synthesis of contemporary approaches to the theme. In so doing we identify gaps in the brand equity literature, which we hope will serve as beacons for future research and provide valuable theoretical insights on the determinants of brand value formation and the development of better brand equity measurement tools. We argue that the unifying brand equity theory must be based on three pillars: stakeholder value, marketing assets and brand financial performance outputs.