Impact of brand equity on sales in context of insurance industry

A REPORT ON

(Impact of Brand Equity on sales in the context of insurance industry)

By:-Sandarbh Goswami 13A3HP041A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of MBA Program of IMT Hyderabad (IDBI FEDRAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LTD.)

Company Guide Details Faculty Guide Details Mrs. Shanthi Yagnanath Dr. Sridhar Vaithianathan Assistant Manager Associate Professor June 25th, 2014

Impact of brand Equity on sales in the context of insurance industrySandarbh GoswamiIDBI FEDRAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LTD.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At first , I would like to extend my thanks to Ms Shanthi yagnanatha who gave me a chance to have the hands on experience of learning the ethos of corporate culture in an organization like IDBI FEDRAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY Ltd.

I would also like to thank my company guide Mr. Datta Reddy (Assistant Manager) under whose tutelage and guidance, I have been successful to execute this undertaking.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank my faculty guide, Dr. Sridhar Vaithianathan (Associate Professor, Operations), who has been a continuous epitome of putting in the correct efforts and as well as how to improvise over time. He has been a catalyst in bringing this undertaking to the desired format.

Not to forget, I would also like to thank all other people from IDBI FEDRAL LIFE INSURANCE. who provided me with constant help and took out time to listen to my queries and helped me override them in the best possible way.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ContentPage No.

Title Page2

Acknowledgement3

Executive Summary5

Introduction6

Industrial Analysis7

About Company8-14

Methodology15-33

Limitations34

Findings35

References36

Executive SummaryThe health of the insurance sector reflects a countrys economy. This sector not only generates long-term funds for infrastructure development, but also increases a countrys risk-taking capacity. Indias economic growth since the turn of the century is viewed as a significant development in the global economy. This view is helped in no small part by a booming insurance industry. The future of the Indian insurance sector looks bright. The sector which stood at a strong US$ 72 billion in 2012 has the potential to grow to US$ 280 billion by 2020. This growth is driven by Indias favorable regulatory environment which guarantees stability and fair play. This environment has given rise to an insurance market which encourages foreign investors to tap into the sectors massive potential.This project is about the brand equity of the insurance company, which is what factors are there which makes the brand equity for this company and what is their impact in insurance perspective. Thus in the nutshell it will give the effect which the IDBI Fedral company is having of its brand equity on its sales. In this project the focus is on the customer based brand equity model. As per Kevin Lane Kellar brand equity is the differential effect of knowledge of brand on customers to the marketing aspects. The factors which are responsible for the brand equity are past experiences, perception, information. Brand equity is composed of brand image which is what image of the brad a customer has based on the past experiences of itself or of others, second is brand knowledge which is the major part as for having any perception one should have full knowledge of that particular subject and that is where brand knowledge comes into play. Third comes the brand perception it is the thought or hypothesis in the minds of customers about the working of a product or a company. As this project is dealing with a service sector company customer relationship with company is a major factor here which decides the perception a customer will have about the company. Fourth is the brand substitutability, which is specially considered for this project it determines the level to which a customer can substitute its brand with other brand if that brand is unavailable. Thus this project will give the current strength and positioning of the brand and when this brand equity will be combines with the sales data it will give that what is the impact of different factors of brand equity on sales, it will elaborate that which factors hold sales with them with respect to others.

Industry overviewInsurance in India is the market for insurance in India which covers both the state and private sector organization . It is listed in the Constitution of India on the Union list in the Seventh Schedule meaning it can only be legislated by the central government.The insurance sector has gone through a number of phases by allowing private companies to solicit insurance and also allowing foreign direct investment of up to 26% (as of 2013 there have been proposals to extend the FDI up to 49% to strengthen the Insurance Market even further).The future of the Indian insurance sector looks bright. The sector which stood at a strong US$ 72 billion in 2012 has the potential to grow to US$ 280 billion by 2020. This growth is driven by Indias favorable regulatory environment which guarantees stability and fair play. This environment has given rise to an insurance market which encourages foreign investors to tap into the sectors massive potential.Ever since the Indian government liberalized the insurance sector in 2000 and opened the doors for private participation, the sector has gone from strength to strength. The resultant competition has provided the consumer with a never-before-seen range of products and providers, and also enhanced service levels markedly.The health of the insurance sector reflects a countrys economy. This sector not only generates long-term funds for infrastructure development, but also increases a countrys risk-taking capacity. Indias economic growth since the turn of the century is viewed as a significant development in the global economy. This view is helped in no small part by a booming insurance industry.Road Ahead- The insurance business in India is projected to reach Rs 4 trillion (US$ 63.01 billion) in FY 201314, according to Mr. TS Vijayan, Chairman, IRDA. Total premiums collected by the general and the life insurance industry in FY 20122013 amounted to Rs 3.75 trillion (US$ 59.07 billion). The chairman believes that insurance penetration in India has the potential to rise to 56 per cent from the current 3.86 per cent.Life Insurance Council, the industry body of life insurers in the country, has projected a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1215 per cent over the next five years for the segment. Indias insurable population is expected to grow to 750 million by 2020, with life expectancy projected to reach 74 years around the same period. The council believes that this favorable Indian demography would result in more people seeking out life insurance. Also, the council predicts life insurance penetration percentage of insurance premium to GDP to reach 5 per cent by 2020 from its current 3.2 per cent.Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) projects the growth rate for Indias insurance industry in FY 201314 to be around 5 per cent. It also anticipates 60 per cent of non-life insurance companies to record an average growth of more than 10 per cent. The raising of the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit from 26 per cent to 49 per cent in the sector is viewed as a key element to promote the insurance industry in India.

Life insurance companies in India (Public Sector)- Life Insurance Corporation of India Private Sector AEGON Religare Life Insurance Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Co. Ltd Aviva India Shriram Life Insurance Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Bharti AXA Life Insurance Co Ltd Birla Sun Life Insurance Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Future Generali Life Insurance Co Ltd HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited IDBI Federal Life Insurance IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company ING Life Insurance Kotak Life Insurance Max Life Insurance PNB MetLife India Life Insurance Reliance Life Insurance Company Limited SBILife Insurance Ltd. IDBI FEDRAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LTD

IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co. Ltd.,(formerly IDBI Fortis Life Insurance) is a joint venture between three financial companies development and commercial bank, IDBI Bank, Indias private sector bank, Federal Bank and European insurer Ageas (formerly Fortis), which was formed on March 2008. In this venture, IDBI Bank owns 48% equity while Federal Bank and Ageas own 26% equity each. Having started in March 2008, in just five months of inception, IDBI Federal became one of the fastest growing new insurance companies by garnering Rs.100 Cr in premiums. Through a continuous process of innovation in product and service delivery IDBI Federal aims to deliver world-class wealth management, protection and retirement solutions that provide value and convenience to the Indian customer. The company offers its services through a vast nationwide network 2,308 partner bank branches of IDBI Bank and Federal Bank in addition to a sizeable network of advisors and partners. As on 31st December 2013, the company has issued nearly 5.5 lakh policies with a sum assured of over Rs. 32,110.48 crores.

Current market share of insurance companies in India-

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About my Project

The title of my project is IMPACT OF BRAND EQUITY ON SALES IN CONTEXT OF INSURANCE SECTOR .In simple terms, brand equity is a construct that is designed to reflect the real value that a brand name holds for the products and services that it accompanies. Brand equity is considered important because brands are believed to be strong influencers of critical business outcomes, such as sales and market share. For example, Inc. Magazine notes that branded products invariably command a higher price than so-called "generic" or "store brands"even when the product is itself a commodity like sugar. In such cases the higher price is due almost entirely to the power of the brand.This project is about the brand equity of the insurance company, which is what factors are there which makes the brand equity for this company and what is their impact in insurance perspective. Thus in the nutshell it will give the effect which the IDBI Fedral company is having of its brand equity on its sales. In this project the focus is on the customer based brand equity model. As per Kevin Lane Kellar brand equity is the differential effect of knowledge of brand on customers to the marketing aspects. The factors which are responsible for the brand equity are past experiences, perception, information. Brand equity is composed of brand image which is what image of the brad a customer has based on the past experiences of itself or of others, second is brand knowledge which is the major part as for having any perception one should have full knowledge of that particular subject and that is where brand knowledge comes into play. Third comes the brand perception it is the thought or hypothesis in the minds of customers about the working of a product or a company. As this project is dealing with a service sector company customer relationship with company is a major factor here which decides the perception a customer will have about the company. Fourth is the brand substitutability, which is specially considered for this project it determines the level to which a customer can substitute its brand with other brand if that brand is unavailable. For this project a set factor are designed based on the Aakers and Kevin Kellers brand equity model and the research result from Brad Aukens The blake Project. The factors which are taken are brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand image perceived brand quality, brand association, post purchase decision, brand response and brand substitutability.

BRAND AWARENESS Keller (2003) stated that Brand awareness can be referred to as the ability of a consumer to distinguish a brand under various conditions.Brand awareness is built and increased by familiarity with the brand as a result of repeated exposure of the brand through various marketing strategies which eventually leads to consumers experience with the brand.Consumers experience of a particular brand could either be by hearing, seeing, or thinking about it and this will help the brand to create a certain degree of perception in the minds of consumers.There are three levels of brand awareness namely: Brand recognition: It is the ability of consumers to identify a certain brand amongst other i.e. aided recall. Aided recall is a situation whereby a person is asked to identify a recognized brand name from a list of brands from the same product class. Brand recall: This is a situation whereby a consumer is expected to name a brand in a product class. It is also referred to as unaided recall as they are not given any clue from the product class. Top of mind: This is referred to as the first brand that a consumer can recall amongst a given class of product.Brand awareness plays a major role and has the most powerful influence on consumers purchase decision. Brand awareness is an important way of promoting commodity-related products. This is because for these products, there are very few factors that differentiate one product from its competitors. Therefore, the product that maintains the highest brand awareness compared to its competitors will usually get the most sales.

For example, in the soft drink industry, very little separates a generic soda from a brand-name soda, in terms of taste. However, consumers are very aware of the brands Pepsi and Coca Cola, in terms of their images and names. This higher rate of brand awareness equates to higher sales and also serves as an economic moat that prevents competitors from gaining more market share.

BRAND LOYALITY-

Aaker defined Brand loyalty as the attachment that a customer has to a brand. It can also be seen as consumers preference to purchase a particular brand in a product class and this could be as a result of the consumer awareness about that particular brand.Aaker classified loyalty as follows: Non- customer: these are people who buy the brands of competitors. Price switcher: these are the once that are sensitive to price. Passive loyal: these once are purchase brand/product as a result of habit rather that reason. Fence sitters: are those that are indifferent between several brands. Committed:are those who are honestly loyal to the brand.

BRAND IMAGE-

Brand image is referred to as the consumer perception about the brand or how they view it.According to Keller (1993), brand image is also seen as a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consist of all the information and expectation associated with product or service .

Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be defined as a unique bundle of associations within the minds of target customers. It signifies what the brand presently stands for. It is a set of beliefs held about a specific brand. In short, it is nothing but the consumers perception about the product. It is the manner in which a specific brand is positioned in the market. Brand image conveys emotional value and not just a mental image. Brand image is nothing but an organizations character. It is an accumulation of contact and observation by people external to an organization. It should highlight an organizations mission and vision to all. The main elements of positive brand image are- unique logo reflecting organizations image, slogan describing organizations business in brief and brand identifier supporting the key values.

Brand image is the overall impression in consumers mind that is formed from all sources. Consumers develop various associations with the brand. Based on these associations, they form brand image. An image is formed about the brand on the basis of subjective perceptions of associations bundle that the consumers have about the brand. Volvo is associated with safety. Toyota is associated with reliability.

The idea behind brand image is that the consumer is not purchasing just the product/service but also the image associated with that product/service. Brand images should be positive, unique and instant. Brand images can be strengthened using brand communications like advertising, packaging, word of mouth publicity, other promotional tools, etc.

Brand image develops and conveys the products character in a unique manner different from its competitors image. The brand image consists of various associations in consumers mind - attributes, benefits and attributes. Brand attributes are the functional and mental connections with the brand that the customers have. They can be specific or conceptual. Benefits are the rationale for the purchase decision. There are three types of benefits: Functional benefits - what do you do better (than others ),emotional benefits - how do you make me feel better (than others), and rational benefits/support - why do I believe you(more than others). Brand attributes are consumers overall assessment of a brand.

Brand image has not to be created, but is automatically formed. The brand image includes products' appeal, ease of use, functionality, fame, and overall value. Brand image is actually brand content. When the consumers purchase the product, they are also purchasing its image. Brand image is the objective and mental feedback of the consumers when they purchase a product. Positive brand image is exceeding the customers expectations. Positive brand image enhances the goodwill and brand value of an organization.

PERCIEVED BRAND QUALITY-

Perceived quality can be defined as the customers perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives(Valarie A.Zeithaml 1988). Perceived quality is, first a perception by customers. Perceived quality is defined relative to an intended purpose and a set of alternatives. Perceived quality is an intangible, overall feeling about a brand. However, it usually will be based on underlying dimensions which included characteristics of the products to which the brand is attached such as reliability and performance.Perceived quality can be defined as the customer's perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives. Perceived quality is, first, a perception by customers. It thus differs from several related concepts, such as:a) Actual or objective quality: the extent to which the product or service delivers superior service b) Product-based quality: the nature and quantity of ingredients, features, or services included c) Manufacturing quality: conformance to specification, the "zero defect" goal

Perceived quality cannot necessarily be objectively determined, in part because it is a perception and also because judgments about what is important to customers are involved. An evaluation of washing machines by a Consumer Report expert may be competent and unbiased, but it must make judgments about the relative importance of features, cleaning action, types of clothes to be washed, and so on that may not match those of all customers. After all, customers differ sharply in their personalities, needs, and preferences.

Perceived quality is an intangible, overall feeling about a brand. How-ever, it usually will be based on underlying dimensions which include characteristics of the products to which the brand is attached such as reliability and performance. To understand perceived quality, the identification and measurement of the underlying dimensions will be useful, but the perceived quality itself is a summary, global construct.Perceived quality is a major determinant of brand strength. Quality helps to increase market share, which results in lower unit costs through scale economies. So it provides a competitive edge over the rivals in securing potential market area by inspiring the customers.

BRAND ASSOCIATION-

To create brand equity, it is important that the brand have some strong, favorable and unique brand association. Creating strong, favorable and unique associations is a real challenge to marketers, but essential in terms of building customer-based brand equity.The favorable brand associations are created by convincing consumers that the brand possesses relevant attributes and benefits that satisfy their needs and wants such that they from positive overall brand judgments. Basically brand associations can be classified into three major categories that is, attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes are those descriptive features that characterize a product or service.Attributes are further sub divided into product related and non-product related. Benefits are the personal value consumers attach to the product or service attributes can be further distinguished into three categories i.e. functional benefits, experimental benefits and symbolic benefits. Brand attitudes are consumers overall evaluations of a brand, which is most important one because it is directly associated with the consumers buying behavior.

POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR-

After purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The consumer will also engage in post purchase action and product uses of interest to the marketer. The consumers satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will influence subsequent behaviour, if the consumer is satisfied, then he/she will exhibit a higher probability of purchasing the product on the next occasion.The satisfied consumer will also tend to say good thighs about the product and the company to others. The post purchase behaviour is depending upon the extent of consumers set of experience stored in memory, how well they select products and stores and the type of feedback they received.The post purchase evaluation involves comparison between the expectations and actual performance of the product or brand. There are three possibilities at this stage. First, there is no discrepancy between expectations and actual performance. It leaves the consumer with neutral feelings. Second, performance exceeds expectations, in this situation consumer feels satisfied. Third, performance falls below expectations, this leaves the consumer dissatisfied.Post purchase behaviour indicates to what extent these purpose have been met and motives achieved. Post purchase activity gives an indication as to whether the customers are going to again patronize a firm in future, and also whether they will be in a mood to recommend a product to potential customers.Simply defined, Post-Purchase Behavior is the stage of the Buyer Decision Process when a consumer will take additional action, based purely on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The consumer's level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is directly related to the varying relationship between their initial expectations of the product (pre-purchase), and their perception of the actual performance of the product (post-purchase) in their hands.

If after the purchase the consumer perceives the product's performance as matching their expectations, or even exceeding them, they will be "satisfied". If their perception of the product's performance is less than their expectations, then the consumer will feel "dissatisfied". The larger the gap between their expectations and the product's performance, the more dissatisfaction. This dissatisfaction leads to Cognitive Dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance is buyer discomfort caused by post-purchase conflict resulting from dissatisfaction. The reality is that all purchases, big and small, will result in some degree of Cognitive Dissonance. This is always the case, because every purchase a consumer makes involves some sort of compromise, however small or minute. Since consumers form beliefs and attitudes early in the Buyer Decision Process, at some point they will be concerned about having a negative experience with the product they may chose, or potentially missing the perceived benefits of other competing brands.

The issue of Cognitive Dissonance raises an important question: Why is it so important to satisfy the consumer? It all comes back to our basic definition of marketing: Managing profitable customer relationships. The goal is to attract new customers through superior value, and to keep growing customers by delivering customer satisfaction. If we are doing these things, then we will be able to capture value from customers to create profits and build customer equity. So, if our customers are satisfied they will begin to develop brand loyalty. This brand loyalty will help us develop profitable relationships. Our satisfied customers will buy from us again. They will become influencers in their cultural and social groups. They will pay less attention to competitors, and buy more of our products.

Dissatisfaction breeds the opposite. Consumers that perceive poor product performance will not create profits and will erode customer equity. They will not be loyal, and they will become negative influencers in their cultural and social groups, leading others away from our brands. What should we do with dissatisfied customers? We should pursue them. Even if they do not want to buy our products, we can still target them with dedicated messaging. We can directly reach out to them, and we can figure out ways to repair the relationship. These consumers can provide us with a wealth of primary data that can be used to improve our offerings and create focused marketing campaigns. Dissatisfied consumers are just as valuable as satisfied ones.

The conclusion is clear: Our job is not done once the consumer buys our product. Once a consumer buys a product they will enter some degree of post-purchase behavior. These behaviors, based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction, will either build customer equity and brand loyalty, or lead to eroding sales and brand image issues. This all is related to their relationship between their expectations and the perceivced performance of the products in their hands. As marketers, we must have messaging ready for this specific part of the Buyer Decision Process. It is our job to encourage happy consumers to share their experiences and dive deeper into brand offerings. It is also our job to be brand advocates by reaching out to dissatisfied consumers and transforming their experience into one that leads to a profitable relationship.

BRAND SUBSTITUTABILITY-

Substitution refers to the degree of likelihood that the customer will purchase another brand if their preferred brand is not available. When the substitution is low or nonexistent, a customer would leave the store without making the purchase if there preferred brand is not available. A high substitution rate can mean the category is commoditized, and/or the brand isn't differentiable from competing brands.For the interest of this project the Longman Moran model of measuring brand substitution has been used in which the measure is based on the scale that by asking the two questions.

1) Which brand did you buy last time ?2) If the brand had not been available, what would you have done ( in insurance sector this will be that if a person again wants to take insurance products will he be going for the same coming or if he finds the better deal or relevance in some other companies policies , will he switch to that company or not?

This project is designed such that it will give the outcomes in the perspective of present as well potential customers. This project will quantify the level of brand equity with the perspective of present customers of insurance company with future customers. Then this quantified brand equity value for given insurance companies will be compared against the last year sales data which will give the level and quantified value of the brand equity impact on sales.

Thus this project will give the current strength and positioning of the brand and when this brand equity will be combines with the sales data it will give that what is the impact of different factors of brand equity on sales, it will elaborate that which factors hold sales with them with respect to others. This research will enable managers with the data which will tell that what level of brand equity that company has and how much it has to work on the brand equity so as to increase the sales.

METHODOLOGY

This research is cause and effect relationship type so it will require both primary and secondary data. Further this research will be divided in two parts. First is the basic exploratory research and second is causal research.

Basic Exploratory Research-This research will explore the different level of brand equity in the companies of insurance sectors. For this study one market leading company and IDBI Fedral will be considered. Sampling-The sample collected here is convenience non- probabilistic type and it is convenient and snowball sampling.Total sample size is 150. Out of which we have made two categories, one is for present customer of IDBI FEDERAL and LIC and other is potential customers and ratio used here for sampling is 1:1:1. So as to give the equal weight age. Type of research methodology-Survey form of methodology will be used in which questionnaire will be given to the sample and data will be taken out from that. The questionnaire will be close ended with few questions that will use the aided method of recognition. For this research a model for measuring brand equity will be introduced which will evaluate the various factors for the brand equity, which are- - Brand Awareness-Brand image-Brand association-Post purchase behavior-Brand Perception-Brand substitutability -Brand association-Brand responseQuestionnaire will be in the form of ranking order and In this all the parameters of the brand equity will be evaluated and will be given a score.

Causal- effect research- This will constitute the second phase of project. The quantified value of brand equity will then be run against the previous sales data of selected company which will be our secondary data. This result will show us that quantitatively what is the correlation between the brand equity value and sales of a insurance company. After that a evaluation will be done on observation basis about the difference in brand equity in the companies on the basis of marketing program for brand equity.

DISCUSSIONThis research is about the brand equity and its impact on sales. Its about measuring the brand equity and then calculating its impact. This research depends on the questionnaire to collect the data. The questionnaire was designed such that it covered all the seven factors which are taken in order to quantify the value of the brand equity. This research is designed in the way that it will quantify the brand equity value for the existing customer of IDBI FEDERAL and LIC as well as for the potential customers. Existing customers--The first question was regarding the brand response that was is the extent the customers find their policy relevant to the level of their need to purchase policy. The result for this was

Fig : 1.1

Fig : 1.2The figure 1.1 and 1.2 shows that on the level of the relevance LIC customers find it more relevant than IDBI FEDERAL customers as for former the percent of people who find it most relevant is 12% while for the later it is just 12%. - The second part was regarding the brand image. It was about the image of agents and their trust on the information provided by them regarding policy contract.

Fig : 1.3

Fig : 1.4We can see here that LIC customers have more trust and their companys agents better than IDBI FEDERALs customers find it.- In the area of brand relationship the factor was about online service of the insurance company. It was divided into 4 factors.1) Informative

Fig : 1.6

Fig : 1.7Thus we can see that 80% of LIC customers find the companys site informative while for the later 28% think that it is very much informative. 2) Easy to access-

Fig : 1.8

Fig : 1.9Thus 44 % customers find LIC online service easy to access while in the case of IDBI F. only 14% customers found it so.3) Easy and quick payment facility-

Fig : 1.10

Thus from the above figure we can see that again LIC is having better percentage of the customers who agrees that their online service is easy and quick in payment.4) Detailed- Fig : 1.11So, here also LIC customer find it more detailed online service information providing company then the IDBI FEDERAL customer find it.- The fourth part is about the brand relationship in the form of customer care. We can see from the figures below that in the customer care IDBI FEDERAL scored better than LIC. In the aspects given below-1) Customer friendly- Fig : 1.12

2) Quick response- Fig : 1.133) Easy to reach- Fig : 1.14 4) knowledgeable staff- Fig : 1.15 5) Simple customer redressal system- Fig : 1.16-The fifth part is about the brand substitutability. And here the results came out differently, out of all given factors mostly LIC customer said that they were least interested in moving to other companies, but when asked overall then the customers of LIC wanted to switch there company more than the customer of IDBI FEDERAL wanted to do.

Fig : 1.17- Next part is the for the potential customers which consists of brand awareness. It is about the level of brand awareness people have about LIC and IDBI FEDERAL . from the figure below we can see that LIC is having 78% of people who are having high level of awareness regarding LIC, while for IDBI FEDERAL it is 20% and major concerning factor here is that about 17% people are there who are unaware of the IDBI FEDERAL which is on the higher side. Fig : 1.18

-Now next is about the perceived brand quality and brand image, which was in the form of the factors which potential customers consider the companies in. it shows that what image and perception people have regarding these companies. From the figure given below we can see that 46% people had a perception that LIC is reliable company and it is the most selected factors by people for this company. While in the case of IDBI FEDERAL 32% people find it relevant and only 2% people found it reliable.

Fig : 1.19-The next part was regarding the brand association in which people were given different product categories to associate different companies with given product category.

Brand equity quantificationFactors LIC IDBI FEDERAL

Brand response

Product relevance 3.74 4.03

Brand Image

Agent information an policy contract 3.54 3.26

Brand Relationship (online service)

Informative 4.66 4.03

Easy to access 4.32 3.98

Easy and quick payment 4.46 3.83

Detailed 4.28 3.6

Factors LIC IDBI FEDERAL

Brand Relationship (customer care)

Customer friendly 3.88 3.99

Quick response 3.24 3.74

Easy to reach 3.6 3.57

Knowledgeable staff 3.16 3.51

Simple redressal system 3.18 3.56

Product substitutability

Better return on investment 4.66 4.54

Same return on investment 4.34 3.62

Flexible policy 4.14 3.95

Wont change company at all 2.64 2.85

Perceived brand quality

Performance experience 3.08 3.33

- Now for potential customer the brand equity score comes out to be-Factors LIC IDBI FEDERAL

Brand awareness

Familiarity 4.54 2.74

Brand image

Performance factor 3.82 2.18

Brand Association

Category association 3.8 0.4

Now on calculating the total of the brand equity score for the existing and potential customers for the LIC and IDBI FEDERAL we found the scores to be 73.08 for LIC while for IDBI FEDERAL it is 60.76. As in our ranking order the weightage was given highest to the 5 ranking while lowest to the 1 ranking. The calculation was made like for eg.1- customer friendly 38- 76% -> 1*.76= .76 2- quick response 4- 8% -> 2*.08= .163- easy to reach -2 4% ->3* .04= .124- knowledgeable staff-3- 6% -> 4*.06= .245- simple customer redressal system- 3- 6 % -> 5*.06= 0.3So the brand equity score comes out to be - .76, .16, .12 CONCLUSIONThis research is about the brand equity and its impact on sales. Its about measuring the brand equity and then calculating its impact. This research depends on the questionnaire to collect the data. The questionnaire was designed such that it covered all the seven factors which are taken in order to quantify the value of the brand equity. This research is designed in the way that it will quantify the brand equity value for the existing customer of IDBI FEDERAL and LIC as well as for the potential customers. This project is about the brand equity of the insurance company, which is what factors are there which makes the brand equity for this company and what is their impact in insurance perspective. Thus in the nutshell it will give the effect which the IDBI Fedral company is having of its brand equity on its sales. In this project the focus is on the customer based brand equity model. As per Kevin Lane Kellar brand equity is the differential effect of knowledge of brand on customers to the marketing aspects. The factors which are responsible for the brand equity are past experiences, perception, information. Brand equity is composed of brand image which is what image of the brad a customer has based on the past experiences of itself or of others, second is brand knowledge which is the major part as for having any perception one should have full knowledge of that particular subject and that is where brand knowledge comes into play. Third comes the brand perception it is the thought or hypothesis in the minds of customers about the working of a product or a company. As this project is dealing with a service sector company customer relationship with company is a major factor here which decides the perception a customer will have about the company. Fourth is the brand substitutability, which is specially considered for this project it determines the level to which a customer can substitute its brand with other brand if that brand is unavailable.

Out of the eight factors which were selected for this research to quantify the brand equity value. Market leader LIC was used as a control quantified brand equity score to compare the level of brand equity of IDBI FEDRAL with the sales. Out of the all factors only brand image was the factors of brand equity in which IDBI FEDERAL came out victorious against LIC which is the market leader as discussed earlier. Brand awareness is the factor were IDBI FEDERAL lacks a lot.

So thus through the result it can be say that brand equity is not a soul factors, its composed of many elements and it is made by thriving and exploring on these mentioned factors, and then that has the direct impact on sales because brand equity impact is the impact on the minds of the custom

Recommendation1) IDBI FEDERAL needs to improve its brand awareness that was the first straight outcome which came out of the research2) It was found in this research that workplace and television commercial are the two ways through which information flows which makes people aware about the products, so IDBI FEDERAL can use these mediums in better way to increase their share of brand awareness.3) In the questionnaire about 56% people said that their insurance company should be reliable, means reliability is the major factors to be considered for the insurance companies.4) It was found that majority of people consider IDBI FEDERAL as a company which provides relevant products. A total of 36% people thought that. So IDBI FEDERAL should consider to have an approach to increase its reliability, so that majority of customer can consider IDBI FEDERAL.5) It was found in this research that 53% people agreed that they can switch to the new brand and product if they are given flexibility in product and options of different products.6) Currently, IDBI FEDERAL is having only 11 products while the LIC who is the market leader in the insurance sector is having 53 different products.7) According to this research about (23-28)% people use the online service of their insurance company. With the increasing mobile penetration nearly (5-6)%, IDBI FEDERAL should introduce its mobile application.9) According to our brand equity score IDBI Federal got better score in customer care and service experience than LIC. IDBI Federal should use this better customer care service experience to market itself.10) This company should use digital media specially TVC and online ads. ( YouTube commercially) to show the better customer experience its providing to whole family and generations. LIMITATIONS

1) Field work limited only for a small geographical area due to time and resource constraints.2) Respondents may not provide accurate and true information for the surveys which may lead to a variation in consumer responses.3)Chances of biasing and non- responsive error exists.4)This research work does not reflect the opinion of rural area where there is low internet penetration.

Reference Business Maps of India: India Business Directory (1999, August).Insurance industry. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from Maps of India website: http://business.mapsofindia.com/insurance/ Carol Holding. (2004, February 2004).Managing brand equity in rapidly changing markets. Retrieved April 12, 2011,fromholding website: http://www.holding.com/articles/articles8.html Economic Times. (2007, July 31).In search of brand equity. Retrieved from: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-07-31/news/27683069_1_brand-equity-brand-finance-brand-asset Insurance in India. InWikipedia.Retrieved April 12, 2014, fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_in_India. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. (1999, August).IRDA. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from IRDA website: http://www.irda.gov.in/ADMINCMS/cms/NormalData_Layout.aspx?page=PageNo4&mid=2. http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2010/3756/how-to-get-your-message-heard-in-a-crowded-market#ixzz1JGjm4VH8 Kevin Kale Keller.(2009).Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Equity.Pearson Education www.iseg.utl.pt www.ibef.org http://jgateplus.com

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