Measurement of performing artist brand equity in event tourism

Abstract

Music can be seen as one of the most popular elements in the event sector within the tourism industry today, but for a music concert to be successful and have a competitive advantage, the right artist should be involved. Some artists can be seen as more successful than others, because of their bigger fan base, more social media followers, higher album sales, as well as their ability to attract a higher number of attendees. The reason therefore might be related to marketing and the artist's ability to brand him-/ herself. Branding can play an imperative role when it comes to the marketing of tourism products and services; this counts for artists as well. One should therefore not view an artist's brand merely as a name or symbol, but as an entire value offering or experience which in return represents certain benefits and/or level of brand equity. It is evident, from studies on branding, that researchers use different methods, contexts, dimensions and measuring instruments to assess brand equity and, that in the case of artists, brand value is measured and not brand equity. Brand equity with regard to this study refers to all marketing efforts that accrue to a brand with a name compared to those who do not have a brand name. Therefore, the goal of this study was to identify and measure the brand equity of a performing artist in event tourism. In order to achieve this aim, the following objectives were identified and applied to the various chapters. Objective one was to analyse branding, brand equity and the application of brand equity methods by means of a literature review, whilst the second objective was to analyse branding and the importance thereof in marketing, the tourism industry and the event sector by means of a literature review. For the third and fourth objectives to be achieved, two articles were written. The purpose of the first article (Critically review the measurement of brand equity in the tourism industry with specific reference to the events sector) was to undertake a review of research conducted on brand equity within the tourism industry and contribute to a better understanding of how it was applied, the equity dimensions used, the main techniques used, research location as well as to identify the main goals. Thus, taking the first step towards the measurement of performing artist brand equity in event tourism. A review of 137 tourism brand equity papers, published in accredited journals during the period 2001-2018, was undertaken to identify the gaps in literature with regards to brand equity in the events tourism sector. The most significant findings were that the four brand equity dimensions most frequently found were brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand association and perceived quality, whilst the most popular brand equity research categories were on destinations and hotels. It is clear that progress has been made in terms of research within different tourism categories and/or fields indicating an even higher level of expertise within the research community. There is a lack of recent research on this topic within the tourism industry and there is still no standardised questionnaire available, including the lack of a questionnaire measuring artist branding through brand equity measures. Finally, one of the most significant findings is that there were only a few published articles found within the Southern hemisphere, especially the fact that only one of those studies was undertaken in Africa. The article most relevant to this study focused on the overall experience of a music festival, but still not on a specific artist. Most of the above mentioned articles assisted in the development of the questionnaire for Article 2 (Chapter 4). The purpose of the second article (Developing and validating the measurement of the brand equity of a selected Afrikaans artist in South Africa) was to empirically measure the brand equity of a selected Afrikaans artist in South Africa by means of developing and validating a new measuring instrument. The lack of a suitable measuring instrument which measures the brand equity of an artist within the event sector, as indicated by Article 1, is non-existent. The knowledge obtained from this questionnaire can lead to improved marketing efforts for artists, standardised measuring instruments to determine artists' brand equity as well as filling the gap in literature with regards to the branding of artists in the event sector. The most significant findings were that brand equity for artists rely on brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand satisfaction and brand image and experience of which brand awareness is the most important dimension. Furthermore, no measuring instrument for artist brand equity could be found within literature and the brand equity dimensions for an artist are different to that of a product or a service. This is the first study focusing on the measurement of an artist's brand equity in the events sector as a whole, not only in South Africa, but worldwide. All previous studies done throughout literature mainly focused on financial or economic aspects (brand value perspective) and not on the perspectives of the consumers. Therefore, identifying and understanding the dimensions that can be used to measure an artist's brand equity can contribute to better marketing, management and the overall success of any given artist. The information obtained from this measuring instrument can assist with new marketing or management strategies and can help with the development of new shows, collaborations and partnerships. Artists would be able to identify the weakest contributor to their overall brand equity, and have the power and ability to change or better it, thus becoming more competitive within the market. This study directly contributes to the development of literature by determining the equity dimensions, but it also contributes to methodology by developing a research instrument and it contributes practically, because the quality of articles can now be measured based on the opinions of the consumers.