Building brand equity in the global food and beverage (f&b) industry: a study of the influence of selected marketing and branding activities on university students' perception

Chua, Seow Wern (2025) Building brand equity in the global food and beverage (f&b) industry: a study of the influence of selected marketing and branding activities on university students' perception. Final Year Project, UTAR.

PDF Download (1838Kb)

Abstract

Brand equity is a determinant factor in sustaining competitiveness in the global F&B sector, where consumers encounter many well-established international brands. This research investigates how specific marketing and branding dimensions, namely marketing mix strategies, branding elements, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), traditional and modern marketing activities, and brand trust influence brand equity among university students. This demographic group were chosen because they are an active consumer group who are constantly exposed to global F&B brands. As such, this study employed a quantitative research design, involving a structured questionnaire that was distributed through convenience sampling due to time constraints. A total of 193 responses were collected from students across various public and private educational institutions. Data were analysed using SPSS, involving descriptive analysis, reliability test, Pearson correlation analysis, ANOVA analysis, multiple regression analysis, and hypothesis testing to examine the relationship between the study variables. The results indicate that while all independent variables positively influence brand equity, only branding elements and brand trust significant positively influence brand equity. Brand trust surfaced to be the strongest predictor of brand equity among the five variables. These findings consistently support existing brand equity frameworks from past studies such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), suggesting that peripheral cues like visual identity and trust are paramount in shaping brand evaluations for university students. This study also offers valuable significant theoretical and practical insights for enhancing brand equity in the global F&B sector. Keywords: Brand Equity, Branding Elements, Brand Trust, Global F&B Industry, University Students

Actions (login required)