Keywords

Brand image, brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand equity, customer behavior, brand performance.

Introduction

This proposes researched based study focuses on investigating time varying effects of advertising on brands during covid19 era. We are going to understand the changing behavior of consumer, brand image, brand awareness, brand loyalty and their effects on brand advertising during covid19.

In recent years, a number of challenges have emerged that raise concerns about the nature of the link between advertising and brands and increase the importance of that interaction.

Advertising is a form of commercial communication about a company and its goods that is sent to a target audience via mass media like print and direct mail (direct posting) like public transport or outdoor advertisements in shape.

According to (Kottler & Keller, 2009), the study of how people select, pay for, use, and make use of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satiate their needs and desires falls under the purview of the area of consumer behavior. Consumers are frequently offered many products through the use of advertising, which is a promotional tactic. Many manufacturers use advertising in order to effectively interact with consumers and stay competitive.

The 2019 new coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has caused enormous economic and public health concerns that may alter how firms conduct their operations. These modifications won't just affect how firms run; they'll also affect how they develop and maintain their brands and clientele. At the heart of this issue is how companies draw in customers and enhance their goods and services. The foundation of its potential for future success will be business marketing campaigns, and promotional procedures. There are restrictions on what the sector can do but it is obvious that advertising and agencies must adjust to practically all- night shifts. Depending on the industry, the media, and the primary markets served, the impact of the epidemic varies greatly.

Problem statement: The following is the problem statement to be explored in this research “To identify the time varying effects of brands on advertising pre and during covid19?”

Literature Review

Brand Equity

Brand equity is the "added value" that a brand gives on a goods; this value proposition can be regarded from the company's, trades, or customer's viewpoint. The author focuses on how to build brand reputation among consumers, how or when to maintain such brands over time, and how to use brand reputation to grow as well as maintain a firm. Kevin Lane (Kottler & Keller, 2009).

Alhaddad (2015) explains in his article, in a model of the brand equity process, marketing is postulated as a mediator of the effect of brand advertising, brand familiarity, and brand distinctiveness on brand equity outcomes. So, in order to determine economic links among customers’ perceptions of brands and price information on brand advertisements and brand equity results such as market share and relative price, brands are utilized as the unit of analysis. The theory is highly validated by the structural model of brand-level data. It's also shown that brand reputation is a distinct concept from brand attitudes, and that it explains the effect of brand advertising on brand equity outcomes greater than attitude towards the brand.

Brand Loyalty

Customers that are enthusiastic about a brand will seek out any marketing activity relating to that brand said Brown (1952). Furthermore, brand loyalty may be measured in two ways: loyalty and loyalty in action. Effective loyalty is a particular brand's objective, from collective satisfaction to prior experiences. On the other side, loyalty refers to a willingness to be repurchased. This isn't to indicate that buyers will face financial penalties as a result of their purchases. Customers are loyal to their favorite companies, so this is difficult to say.

Customers that are practically loyal to a particular brand not only like but also continue their purchases, resulting in functional inertia said by (Jacoby & Chestnut, 1978).

Kumar (2020) says, the link between both the dangers of COVID-19 and customer testing of a product, as well as complaints regarding advertisement authenticity, we believe that in hazardous scenarios like COVID-19, genuine advertising messages assist customers to lessen their uncertainties and expand their product choices. We tested whether a child's socioeconomic status balances the link between the threat and consumer authenticity in commercials since people behave differently in scary surroundings based on their prior experience, which is often represented by their socioeconomic status. A summary of COVID-19's findings in the areas of advertising, advertising, and corporate marketing .This caution contains practical tips for doing better that can help businesses properly understand their responsibilities and strengthen their procedures in the aftermath of the COVID-19 epidemic, reducing the risk connected with promotion, advertising, and other promotion strategies.

Brand Awareness

According to Aaker (2009), brand awareness is "the ability of a buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a specific product category. Strength to the brand's existence in consumers' minds" (Pappu et al., 2005). The recognizability of a brand Almost everyone on the planet recognizes the COVID-19 branding. According to (Chung, Lee, & Heath, 2013) Brand awareness has a huge impact on customer decision-making. The public knows the coronavirus spike as a sign or logo of the epidemic. This logo has appeared in a variety of media messages, and many people have said that COVID-19 has had an impact on their economic, social, and religious activities.

Article that the first step is brand identification, which is in charge of communicating the features of the product until a brand name is created. "Recall" refers to a consumer's capacity to recognize or remember a brand's name. In other words, brand awareness refers to a buyer recalling the name of a brand, particularly throughout the purchasing process as described by (Kottler & Keller, 2009). Huang and Sarigöllü highlight that brand awareness is critical during the decision-making process because consumers use awareness to remember a specific brand during this phase.

COVID-19 is a brand that may be distinguished from previous pandemics. Despite instilling fear and confusion around the world, the media's effective marketing and public relations efforts have raised public awareness of COVID-19 when compared to other pandemics. This increased awareness.

Brand Image

Brand image is a variable that can influence customers' subjective views and subsequent behavior; it is also an external indicator when buyers analyze a product or service when purchasing it. The intention to behave in consumers comes from attitudes towards subjective norms and behavior. The more desirable a brand's image, the more favorable the consumer's attitude toward the product or service and its qualities.

Brand image is the perception that consumers have of a product that is represented by brand associations. As a result, brand image can influence how people feel about a brand and how they perceive it by looking at its quality; it can also assist customers in identifying their requirements and preferences with regard to a brand, helping to set it apart from rivals.

Consumer Behavior

Consumer dynamics are "temporal variations in consumer attitudes and actions." The environment in which customers interact may change over time as a result of economic, social, and technological transformations, resulting in a dynamic process capable of influencing consumer perceptions and actions. Pappalardo discovered that Covid-19 reduced consumer food waste and enhanced customer favorable views toward food waste prevention. Like that some other analyzed changing in shopping behavior.

The COVID-19 dilemma is having an impact on customer behavior and, consequently, the effectiveness of marketing. Similarities between the usage of marketing during (and after) the COVID-19 crisis can be seen (and will continue to be seen) in how marketing is used when the economy is experiencing a downturn. The most pertinent research on the efficacy of marketing efforts in both upheavals and downhauls has been compiled by (Deleersnyder et al., 2009). However, this particular crisis, which will be followed by a recession (contraction), exhibits traits that are different from those of a recession.

Advertising and COVID-19

The advertising sector is facing difficulties right now. In many parts of the world, advertising spending has significantly decreased during the previous few months. According to Statistica, theCOVID-19 epidemic will cost the U.S. $26 billion in missed advertising income, and thus the problem is expected to get worse at least a little in the near future (Vorhaus, 2020). There is no way to predict how long the pandemic and its effects will last, but it seems that everyone agrees that recovery will be challenging and might take longer than it did after the "Great Recession" of 2008. The effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) appeals is one field that is begging for research. According to a recent Berlin Cameron/Perksy poll, a large number of young buyers think that marketers may contribute to the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive way stated by.

According to Cardona there will probably be more emphasis on emotional appeals in advertisements generally during the pandemic. The effectiveness of emotional appeals and the role of emotion in advertising are thus both subjects for further study. It's also possible that platforms for artificial intelligence that may be used to create a variety of messages based on the traits and behaviors of customers can be evaluated in a digital setting. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this pressure got even worse. Advertising and media companies had to develop campaigns and marketing responses “in days when earlier efforts took months and years” said by (He & Harris, 2020). However, advertising has drastically decreased, particularly in mass media, and spending on advertising has dropped by around 10%, with television advertising spending falling by 25%. Most of the marketing messages and communications were directed towards and dedicated to the current clients (Hoekstra et al., 2020).

Research Methodology

Introduction: This chapter will cover the methods we'll use to collect data as well as the size of the sample that we'll be aiming for the test that will be used to assess the data's reliability and correctness will also be covered. The framework draws attention to the independent and dependent factors.

Source of information: Data would be collected from the first hand source that will be respondents that would be the informers of advertising industries.

Sample techniques and procedure: Simple random sampling is adopted to gather the date. In such type of sampling, there is systematic arrange. Google forms is used for questionnaire and the same distributed among target population for their filled response in reply.

Sample size: I had conducted my study according to the 280 sizes of sample responses collect from different brands and advertising companies.

Method of data collection and procedure: The analysis data is obtained through supplementary sources which usually produce all of the necessary along with the helpful attribute has been studied within the research. Collection of material was done by different advertising companies and working methodology.

Instrument of data collection: I had used questionnaire for collecting the data from respondents. The purpose of the study is to analyze top advertising companies. I distributed my questionnaire to different class of customers. In this study the information will gather from the reliable source.

Statistical to be used: In this study, I had used the statistical software name is SPSS. With help of SPSS software easily generates the chart graphs and multiple analyses.

Econometric model: The econometric model that we showed is one-sample t-test to assess all established hypo.

One sample T-test: One-sample using the T-test statistical hypothesis testing method, the sample mean is compared to a value that is hypothesized, such as the mean of the population. If there is a difference between the sample mean and the hypothesized value, such as the population mean, the t-test is employed to assess whether or not the difference is statistically significant. When the population standard deviation is unknown and the sample size is small, the T-test is employed to evaluate a one-sample mean's null hypothesis. T-distribution with a few degrees of freedom is the distribution that is employed. The term "small sample" refers to a sample with fewer than 30 observations.

Where, is the sample mean, μ is the hypothesized population means, S is the standard deviation of sample and n is the number of sample observations.

Results

Finding and Interpretation of the Results In the said study, there are 5 independent variables such as Brand Equity, Brand loyalty, Brand Awerness, Brand Image and Consumer Behavior were bringing into consideration for assessing their impact on Brand Performance. This was considered as dependent variable. SPSS was used to analyze the dependent & independent variables. Results generated from SPSS are follows:

Interpretation: The above Table 1 shows the one sample T-test statistic with different reported mean values, which are the arrived means of the observations collected from the respondents’ responses of 279 sample sizes. The mean values for each construct (which are the established hypotheses as well) are more than the test values i.e. 3 at t> 3.14, therefore, we are failed to reject each hypotheses under proposition P1, which indicates that the brand image has significantly positive impact on brand performance during and pre-COVID19.

Table 1 The Mean Value are more than Test Values Therefore, we Failed to Reject each Hypothesis
				N	Mean		Std. Deviation		Std. Error Mean
The Brand image has positive impact on brand performance. (Pre- covid19)				279	4.32		0.759		0.045
The Brand image has positive impact on brand performance. (During covid19)				279	3.74		1.065		0.064
The performance of brand has a positive impact on brand image.				279	4.31		0.942		0.56
	Test Value = 3
	T	df	Sig. value	Mean Difference		95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
						Lower		Upper
The brand image has a positive impact on brand performance. (Pre- Covid19)	28.940	278	.000	1.315		1.23		1.40
The brand image has a positive impact on brand performance. (During Covid19)	1.634	278	0.000	0.742		0.62		0.87
The performance of brand has a positive impact on brand performance.	19.959	278	0.000	1.125		1.01		1.24

Interpretation: The above Table 2 shows the one sample T-test statistic with different reported mean values, which are the arrived means of the observations collected from the respondents’ responses of 279 sample sizes. The mean values for each construct (which are the established hypotheses as well) are more than the test values i.e. 3 at t> 3.14, therefore, we are failed to reject each hypotheses under proposition P1, which indicates that the brand loyalty has significantly positive impact on brand performance during and pre-COVID19.

Table 2 The Mean Value are more than Test Values Therefore, we Failed to Reject Each Hypothesis
One sample t-test			N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
There is a positive impact of brand loyalty on brand performance. (Pre-COVID19)			279	4.20	0.927	.055
There is a positive impact of brand loyalty on brand performance. (During COVID19)			279	3.61	1.136	.068
Brand reputation shows a positive effect on brand performance.			279	4.13	0.942	0.56
				Test Value = 3
	T	Df	Sig. value	Mean Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
					Lower	Upper
There is a positive impact of brand loyalty on brand performance. (Pre-Covid19)	21.641	278	.000	1.201	1.09	1.31
There is a positive impact of brand loyalty on brand performance. (During Covid19)	8.908	278	.000	0.606	0.47	0.74
Brand reputation shows a positive effect on brand loyalty.	23.405	278	0.000	1.204	1.10	1.31

Interpretation: The above Table 3 shows the one sample T-test statistic with different reported mean values, which are the arrived means of the observations collected from the respondents’ responses of 279 sample sizes. The mean values for each construct (which are the established hypotheses as well) are more than the test values i.e. 3 at t> 3.14, therefore, we are failed to reject each hypotheses under proposition P1, which indicates that the brand awareness has significantly positive impact on brand performance during and pre-COVID19.

Table 3 This Tables Shows that the Mean Value are More than Test Values Therefore, we Failed to Reject Each Hypothesis
One sample t-test			N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
There is a positive impact of brand awareness on brand performance. (Pre-Covid19)			279	4.22	0.877	0.052
There is a positive impact of brand awareness on customer behavior. (During Covid19)			279	4.04	1.007	0.060
Brand performance has a positive relationship with brand awareness.			279	3.37	1.335	0.080
	Test Value = 3
	T	df	Sig. value	Mean Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
					Lower	Upper
There is a positive impact of brand awareness on brand performance. (Pre- Covid19)	23.219	278	0.000	1.219	1.12	1.32
There is a positive impact of brand awareness on customer behavior.(During Covid19)	17.190	278	0.000	1.036	0.92	1.15
Brand performance has a positive relationship with Brand awareness.	4.665	278	0.000	0.373	0.22	0.53

Interpretation: The above Table 4 shows the one sample T-test statistic with different reported mean values, which are the arrived means of the observations collected from the respondents’ responses of 279 sample sizes. The mean values for each construct (which are the established hypotheses as well) are more than the test values i.e. 3 at t> 3.14, therefore, we are failed to reject each hypotheses under proposition P1, which indicates that the brand equity has significantly positive impact on brand performance during and pre-COVID19.

Table 4 The Mean Value are More than Test Values therefore, we Failed to Reject Each Hypothesis
One sample t-test			N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
The brand equity has a positive impact on brand performance.(Pre- Covid19)			277	3.51	1.215	0.073
The brand equity has a positive impact on customer behavior.(During Covid19)			279	3.48	1.134	0.068
Brand equity shows a positive relationship with    brand performance.			279	3.30	1.366	0.082
	Test Value = 3
	T	Df	Sig. value	Mean Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
					Lower	Upper
The brand equity has a positive impact on brand performance.(During Covid19)	6.925	276	0.000	0.505	0.36	0.65
The brand equity has a positive impact on customer behavior.(During Covid19)	7.073	278	0.000	0.480	0.35	0.61
Brand equity shows a positive relationship with brand performance.	3.724	278	0.000	0.305	0.14	0.47

Interpretation: The above Table 5 shows the one sample T-test statistic with different reported mean values, which are the arrived means of the observations collected from the respondents’ responses of 279 sample sizes. The mean values for each construct (which are the established hypotheses as well) are more than the test values i.e. 3 at t> 3.14, therefore, we are failed to reject each hypotheses under proposition P1, which indicates that the customer behavior has significantly positive impact on brand performance during and pre-COVID19.

Table 5 The Mean Value are More than Test Values therefore, we Failed to Reject Each Hypothesis
One sample t-test				N	Mean		Std. Deviation		Std. Error Mean
There is a positive impact of consumer behavior on brand performance. (Pre-covid19)				279	3.87		1.084		0.065
There is a positive impact of consumer behavior on brand performance.(During Covid19)				279	3.47		1.211		0.072
Consumer behavior has a positive impact on brand performance.				279	3.48		1.365		0.082
	Test Value=3
	T	df	Sig. value	Mean Difference		95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
						Lower		Upper
There is a positive impact of customer behavior on brand performance. (Pre- COVID19)	13.477	278	0.000	0.875		0.75		1.00
There is a positive impact of customer behavior on brand performance.(During COVID19)	6.429	278	0.000	0.466		0.32		0.61
Consumer behavior has a positive impact on brand performance.	5.835	278	0.000	0.477		0.32		0.64

Conclusion

This study is concluded that the independent variables (brand image, brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand equity and customer behavior) has positively significant effect on brand performance (dependent variable) by using SPSS. The one sample t-test is used in this study to determine the effect of independent variables on dependent variable. The result through one sample t-test shows the positive impact on this study.

Future Research

It is advised to new researchers that in this study many other variables related to this research not discussed in this study. So in future research should also investigate other factors impacting brand performance.

References

Aaker, D.A. (2009). Managing brand equity. simon and schuster.

Alhaddad, A.A. (2015). The effect of advertising awareness on brand equity in social media. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, 5(2), 73.

Barry, T.E., & Howard, D.J. (1990). A review and critique of the hierarchy of effects in advertising. International Journal of advertising, 9(2), 121-135.

Dangelico, R.M., Schiaroli, V., & Fraccascia, L. (2022). Is Covid-19 changing sustainable consumer behavior? A survey of Italian consumers. Sustainable development, 30(6), 1477-1496.

Deleersnyder, B., Dekimpe, M. G., Steenkamp, J.B.E., & Leeflang, P.S. (2009). The role of national culture in advertising's sensitivity to business cycles: An investigation across continents. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(5), 623-636.

Eng, L.L., & Keh, H.T. (2007). The effects of advertising and brand value on future operating and market performance. Journal of Advertising, 36(4), 91-100.

Google Scholar, Cross Ref

He, H., & Harris, L. (2020). The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on corporate social responsibility and marketing philosophy. Journal of business research, 116, 176-182.

Hoekstra, J.C., & Leeflang, P.S. (2020). Marketing in the era of COVID-19. Italian Journal of Marketing, 2020(4), 249-260.

Kottler, P., & Keller, K.L. (2009). Marketing management. Jakarta: Erlangga.

Pappu, R., Quester, P., & Cooksey, R. (2005). Consumer-based brand equity: Improving the Perceived Quality and Willingness to Order. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 17(4), 1-10.

Vorhaus, M. (2020). COVID-19 represents the biggest challenge to media advertising expenditures ever. Forbes.

Received: 05-Jan-2023, Manuscript No. JIBR-23-13162; Editor assigned: 06-Jan-2023, Pre QC No. JIBR-23-13162(PQ); Reviewed: 19- Jan-2023, QC No. JIBR-23-13162; Revised: 26-Jan-2023, Manuscript No. JIBR-23-13162(R); Published: 31-Jan-2023