Customer-based brand equity (CBBE) is a model developed by Kevin Lane Keller that defines brand equity as the differential effect brand knowledge has on how customers respond to a brand’s marketing. Put simply: a brand has positive equity when customers react more favorably to a product, its price or its advertising because they know the brand. Keller’s model describes how that knowledge is built, in four levels usually drawn as a pyramid.
For brand equity in general and other models, see brand equity.
The CBBE pyramid: four levels, six building blocks
The pyramid is built from the bottom up. Each level depends on the one below it.
| Level | Question customers ask | Building blocks | Objective |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Identity | Who are you? | Salience | Deep, broad brand awareness |
| 2. Meaning | What are you? | Performance (rational) and Imagery (emotional) | Strong, favorable, unique associations |
| 3. Response | What about you? | Judgments (rational) and Feelings (emotional) | Positive, accessible reactions |
| 4. Relationships | What about you and me? | Resonance | Intense, active loyalty |
The left side of the pyramid (performance, judgments) is the rational route; the right side (imagery, feelings) is the emotional one. Strong brands build both.
Each building block explained
Salience. How easily and in how many situations customers think of the brand. Not just recognition, but being recalled at the right moment, in the right category.
Performance. How well the product meets functional needs: reliability, durability, design, service, price.
Imagery. The intangible associations: who uses the brand, in what situations, its personality, its history and heritage.
Judgments. Customers’ opinions: perceived quality, credibility, whether it’s worth considering, whether it’s superior to alternatives.
Feelings. Emotional reactions: warmth, excitement, security, social approval, self-respect.
Resonance. The relationship: behavioral loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community, active engagement such as recommending the brand or joining its community.
An example, level by level
An invented premium cycling apparel brand:
| Level | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Salience | Serious amateur cyclists name it when asked about premium kit |
| Performance | Known for fit in the riding position and fabrics that last several seasons |
| Imagery | Associated with long training rides and racing culture, not casual leisure |
| Judgments | Seen as expensive but worth it; credible because pro teams use it |
| Feelings | Riders feel serious and capable wearing it |
| Resonance | Customers join its rides, recommend sizes to friends, buy each new season |
How to use the CBBE model in practice
- Diagnose the weakest level. A brand with high awareness but vague associations has a meaning problem, not a salience problem. More advertising won’t fix it; clearer messages will.
- Define the intended associations. The meaning level is where strategy lives: the positioning statement and messaging framework should spell out which performance and imagery associations you want customers to hold.
- Measure each level separately. Awareness surveys for salience, association tests for meaning, satisfaction and consideration for response, retention and advocacy for resonance. See how to measure brand equity.
- Check that everyday content builds the right associations. This is where most brands lose ground.
Where CBBE breaks in day-to-day marketing
The model assumes that customers build associations from what the brand puts into the market. In practice, the most frequent encounters are not brand campaigns but short ads, retailer promotions, product listings and social posts. If those repeat price, urgency or generic phrases, the associations customers form are price, urgency and nothing in particular.
In our benchmark of premium multi-brand retailers’ Google Ads, only 21% of headlines said anything about the brands being sold. In CBBE terms, most of those encounters did nothing for meaning, and the discount-led ones (42%) actively built the wrong associations. Keeping everyday content aligned with the intended meaning is the operational side of the model, and part of brand governance.
FAQ
What is customer-based brand equity?
Customer-based brand equity, a model by Kevin Lane Keller, defines brand equity as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on how customers respond to marketing. A brand has positive equity when customers respond more favorably because they know the brand.
What are the four levels of Keller’s CBBE pyramid?
Identity (salience), meaning (performance and imagery), response (judgments and feelings), and relationships (resonance). Each level builds on the one below.
What are the six building blocks of the CBBE model?
Salience, performance, imagery, judgments, feelings and resonance.
What is brand resonance in the CBBE model?
Resonance is the top of the pyramid: the intensity of customers’ relationship with the brand, shown through loyalty, attachment, a sense of community and active engagement.
How is the CBBE model used?
To diagnose which level of brand knowledge is weakest, define the associations the brand wants to build, measure each level separately and make sure marketing activity, including everyday content, builds the intended associations.
Vashor is a brand governance platform that checks every ad against the brand’s declared strategy before it runs, so everyday content builds the associations the brand intends. It never writes the copy. See how Vashor checks your content →