The Comparison Analysis of Brand Association, Brand Awareness, Brand Loyalty and Perceived Quality of Two Top of Mind Camera Products

The Comparison Analysis of Brand Association, Brand Awareness, Brand Loyalty and Perceived Quality of Two Top of Mind Camera Products


INTRODUCTION
The globalization age brings with it new economic prospects and challenges for Indonesian businesses and increases the market for their products; on the other hand, this circumstance breeds fiercer competition both amongst domestic businesses and with foreign businesses.The advancement of technology has a favorable effect on the creation of digital cameras that are more and more sophisticated.One of the top producers of high-quality digital cameras in the market is Canon.Canon also invented the 35 mm focal-plane-shutter digital camera system and manufactured the first prototype of it.The Canon brand is very familiar to consumers, especially in the field of imaging and optical engineering.The first Canon was founded in 1934, but the Canon brand became well-known around the world in 1946, when it came to change the market situation by creating the first camera whose price was relatively cheap compared to the price of other cameras at that time.Canon's market segmentation is very broad, generally segmented across all segments in the market, because the products it creates are very diverse and match the level of consumer needs.For digital cameras, Canon produces digital cameras for beginning photographers, but it also develops a variety of goods for professional photographers that are appropriate for use in the area of photography.Canon aims to provide solutions for all segments that can be utilized at all segment levels.
Creating perceptions is possible through the use of brands, which are a seller's promises to continuously give customers with particular characteristics, advantages, and services.As a result, the finest brands will guarantee quality (Taufik et al., 2022).Strong brand equity refers to a collection of assets and liabilities connected to a brand name or symbol that have the potential to increase or decrease the value that a good or service offers, either to the business or to consumers (Arikunto, 2004).Brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and other proprietary brand assets are the five categories David A. Aaker uses to categorize brand equity.The more brand equity a company has, the more appealing its product is to consumers, the better its ability to build a solid brand platform, and the more it can sustain its position in any market for an extended length of time (Durianto et al., 2004).
Corporate strategy is the key distinction between the two businesses.Since the beginning, Nikon has only focused on Precision Technology and Electronic Equipment Technology related to Precision Lenses (Technologies and Opto-electronic Technologies), therefore Nikon's output products are always lens-based (cameras, binoculars, microscopes, rangefinders, glass lenses, etc.).Meanwhile, since the 1960s, Canon has planned to diversify their products by starting to produce the world's first electronic 10-key calculator in 1964.Since then, apart from having a camera and lens-based business, Canon has also begun producing copiers (in 1970, it became a paper copier machine, first in Japan), laser printers (1979), ink-jet printers (1985), and large-format ink-jet printers (2006).Of the two corporate strategies, Nikon and Canon compete directly in the fields of cameras (SLRs and point-and-shoots) and precision technology (semiconductor manufacturing tools).In this field, the two companies each have equally good technology.Both of these companies also have the same fanatical followers, so it can't be said that one is better than the other.From a financial point of view, Canon has total assets of 3,983,820 yen, while Nikon has 829,909 yen.Canon is about 4.8 times bigger than Nikon.This is of course because Canon's business is far more diverse than Nikon's (www.nikon.com).

Brand Awareness
The capacity of a potential customer to recognize or recall that a brand is a part of a specific product category is known as brand awareness.Consumers' awareness of a brand refers to its existing in their minds.This is important for brand equity and can be important in a number of sectors.Expanding brand market share can be accomplished through increasing awareness (Widjaja, 2007).Perception and behavior are also influenced by consciousness.The opening key to other elements or the key to brand assets is brand awareness.So, it is nearly a given that the brand equity will be poor if the awareness is really low.The following are some signs of brand awareness: People are familiar with brand X.Customers can distinguish brand X from rival brands.Consumers can immediately recall brand X.Consumers can quickly remember the characteristics of brand X.Consumers can quickly remember the logo or symbol of brand X.Consumers can easily imagine brand X in their minds (Haribowo et al., 2022).

Brand Association
All of a person's mental associations with a brand are referred to as brand association. Brand association, on the other hand, refers to all aspects of brand memory.The association is not only real, but it also has some influence.If a brand's communication is built on a variety of experiences or appearances, the linkage to that brand will be stronger (Sutagana et al., 2022).Consumers' memories of various associations can be combined to create a mental picture of the brand or brand image.A set of brand connections that have developed in customers' brains make up a brand's image (Suryani et al., 2022).Customers that are used to utilizing a particular brand have a tendency to be consistent with the brand personality, sometimes referred to as the brand image.In general, brand associations serve as the foundation for consumers' purchase decisions and brand loyalty (especially those that contribute to the brand image).In reality, a brand can benefit from a variety of associations and variants of brand associations that are beneficial to both the firm and the user (Humdiana, 2005).

Perceived Quality
The consumer's view of a product or service's overall quality or excellence in relation to its intended use is known as perceived quality.A customer's assessment of a product or service's overall quality or superiority to what they had anticipated is known as perceived quality.The worth of a product or service can be determined by consumer perceptions of its overall quality, which also has a direct impact on their purchase behavior and brand loyalty (Sumarwan et al., 2004).Raising perceived quality must be followed by raising the product's actual quality, or it will be ineffective to persuade clients that the product's brand quality is good when the facts reveal otherwise.These initiatives will fail, even over time.Disappointed customers will experience disappointment, which will transform the initial perception of quality with the impression of hatred since they feel duped.The episode raised the likelihood of a later, significant brand changeover.The key is that the perceived quality image cannot be upheld if the customer's experience does not match the positioned quality (Pandiangan et al., 2022).

Brand Loyalty
Consumer loyalty to a brand is gauged by brand loyalty.The level of consumer engagement with a brand is measured by brand loyalty.Consumer attachment to a brand and loyalty to it are measured.This measurement can indicate whether or not a client is likely to switch to a different product, especially if the brand under consideration undergoes a price increase or other change.As brand loyalty grows, it can lessen customer groups' susceptibility to competitor attacks, allowing for the most possible profit to be made as a result of brand loyalty.The following are examples of brand loyalty indicators: Brand X customers consider themselves loyal.Consumers will prioritize Brand X. (Kim & Kim, 2004).If brand X is readily available in the store, customers won't purchase any other brands.The indicators of brand loyalty in measuring customer-based restaurant brand equity are as follows: Consumers visit certain restaurants regularly (Siregar et al., 2022).Consumers are interested in visiting certain restaurants again.Consumers usually make certain restaurants their first choice compared to others.Consumers are satisfied with their visit to the restaurant.Consumers will recommend the restaurant to others.Consumers will not switch to other restaurants next time.

METHODOLOGY
There were 60 responders in the study's samples.Quota sampling is the method of sampling that is used.The distribution of questionnaires was the main method of data gathering in this study.In this study, a Likert scale was used to express the weight of the assessment of the questionnaire results.Validity and reliability tests, data normality testing, and discriminant analysis were all used in the data analysis for this study.

CASE STUDIES
Based on gender, there are more male respondents than female respondents.There were 19 men and 11 women that answered the survey.According to the respondents' ages, there are up to 10 respondents who are 23 years old, followed by 7 respondents who are 20 years old, 4 respondents who are 21 years old, 9 respondents who are 22 years old, and 7 respondents who are 23 years old.
Based on the calculation of the discriminant analysis, the Nikon user respondent group has a positive assessment of all variables.This is indicated by the larger average characteristic value compared to the Canon camera user group.The test result shows that the Box's M table has an F value of 0.56 and a significance of 0.812.So, it can be inferred that there are differences in the covariance variance between groups.There is no difference between the groups for the brand awareness variable, which has a Wilks' Lambda score near to 1 and a sig (significance) score of > 0.05.This indicates that there is no distinction in brand awareness between the user groups for Canon and Nikon.The Wilks' Lambda score for perceived quality and brand loyalty is close to 1, and the sig (significant) score is < 0.05, indicating that there is a difference between groups.This indicates that groups of Canon and Nikon camera customers have different brand associations, perceptions of brand quality, and brand loyalty traits.Wilk's Lambda is 0.865 in magnitude, with a Chi-Square of 8.359 and a significance level of 0.004, so it can be concluded that there is a difference in the average scores of the two groups of respondents simultaneously.In the eigenvalues table above, it shows that the magnitude of the canonical correlation is 0.368, or as big as the square canonical correlation () 2 = (0.368) 2 or greater than 0.135.Therefore, it can be inferred that brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty account for only 13.5% of the variation between the Canon and Nikon customer groups.Z = -6.740+ 0.121 brand association + 0.193 brand loyalty is the discriminant model equation.The constant value of -0.6740 represents the amount of differences in the four variables studied-brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty-between the two groups of respondents.Brand loyalty has a coefficient value of 0.193 and brand association has a coefficient value of 0.121, both of which have a positive sign, indicating that the variable has a positive influence.Using the brand association and brand loyalty variables, this implies that, each time they experience an increase, their discriminant power will increase so that they can make a difference.Classification Results describe the crosstabulation between the initial model (original) and the classification results of the discriminant model (predicted group membership).It can be seen that 21 respondents were misclassified, i.e., 11 respondents who initially were Nikon users were then predicted by Canon users, and 10 respondents who were initially Canon users were then predicted by Nikon users.Hence, 20+19/60 = 65% is the hit ratio, or the proportion of objects or cases that were properly identified.According to the study's findings, the discriminant model's accuracy is over 50%, which means it may be used to classify instances among Canon and Nikon camera owners.
According to the findings, there are differences between groups in the four variables examined, namely brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty.In the brand association variables, perceived quality and brand loyalty differ at the same time because the Wilks' lambda value is close to 0 and the significance value is less than < 0.05.And for the brand awareness variable, the Wilks Lambda score is close to 1, and the significance value is > 0.05, which means there is no difference between groups.As seen from the mean values of the two brands, the mean value of the Nikon brand camera is higher than the mean value of the Canon brand.This indicates that Nikon cameras have a higher grade than Canon brand cameras.
The calculations on the brand awareness variable's outcomes demonstrate that Nikon's brand awareness is superior to Canon's.This is because Nikon's mean brand awareness value of 24.57 is higher than Canon's brand awareness value of 24.03.The results of calculations on brand association variables show that Nikon's brand association is better than Canon's.This is due to the fact that the mean brand association score for Nikon is 35.50, greater than Canon's score of 32.67.Users develop better associations with the Nikon camera brand, which strengthens the Nikon camera's reputation as a powerful brand.The assessment of these associations is based on the respondents' answers on the indicators forming brand associations.This evaluation is based on the recall of a brand by respondents.These findings corroborate the notion put forth by earlier study that a well-known brand will stand out from the competition if it is reinforced by numerous powerful connections.A series of connected brand associations will eventually result in what is known as a brand image; the more associations there are, the more robust the brand image is.The results of the calculations on the perceived quality variable show that Nikon's perceived quality is better than Canon's.This is because Nikon's mean perceived quality value is 16.87, which is higher than Canon's perceived quality value of 16.00.Nikon consumers see what they use better; this can be seen from the assessment seen in the distribution of respondents' answers to the lens innovation strategy produced by Nikon.It is a truth that it is compatible with all of the cameras it manufactures, and a number of intriguing features possessed by Nikon, including the JEMSI (Jurnal Ekonomi, Manajemen, dan Akuntansi) E-ISSN: 2579-5635, P-ISSN: 2460-5891 Volume 9 (2) April Tahun 2023, Hal 388-392.multiple exposure function, are advantageous to the user.These findings support the notion advanced by earlier researchers, according to which perceived quality is the consumer's assessment of the general quality or superiority of a good or service in comparison to what the consumer anticipates.The results of calculations on the brand loyalty variable show that Nikon's brand loyalty is better than Canon's.This is because the mean value of Nikon's brand loyalty is 30.18, which is higher than Canon's brand loyalty value of 28.57.Customers recommending brands they are familiar with to others is one sign of brand loyalty.According to the distribution of respondents' responses, customers of Nikon prefer to recommend as opposed to users of Canon.This supports the notion advanced by a previous researcher that a dedicated customer has the highest level of brand loyalty.The customer is steadfast at this point.One of the manifestations of buyer loyalty is the act of recommending the brand to others.

CONCLUSION
This study compares the brand equity of the Canon and Nikon brands, which includes brand recognition, brand affinity, perceived quality, and brand loyalty.There are disparities in brand equity between Canon brand cameras and Nikon brand cameras, as seen from the four dimensions as a whole, according to the data that has been gathered and the tests that have been conducted on the problem using the discriminant analysis approach.While the brand awareness factors for the two items are comparable, brand association variables, perceived quality, and brand loyalty are different.