ABSTRACT
Customer-based brand equity is based on the premise that the brand resides in the minds of consumers as a cognitive construal, which is why we have chosen to name it the consumer-based approach. The consumer-based approach hence embraces external strategy formation, as opposed to the internal strategy formation focus of the two prior approaches and requires a more adaptive mindset. The consumer-based approach assumes that the brand is a cognitive construal residing in the mind of the consumer. The main metaphor for man is that of a computer; cognitive psychology focuses on the process where a consumer is exposed to stimuli from his or her environment, how these stimuli enter the mind via the senses and how they lead to action. The information-processing theory of consumer choice has cognitive psychology as its point of departure and focuses on explaining how consumers process information before reaching a consumption choice.
