2. Brand Inventory 品牌库存
The understanding of brand inventory is essential when conducting brand audit. According to Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre (2008), brand inventory can be defined as the internal description of the precise way in which the brand in question is marketed. Among the key elements that are examined when looking at brand inventory include core brand values, brand elements, brand communication and secondary brand associations.
在进行品牌审计时，了解品牌库存至关重要。根据Heding、Knudtzen和Bjerre（2008），品牌库存可以定义为对所涉品牌营销方式的内部描述。在审视品牌库存时，所考察的关键要素包括核心品牌价值观、品牌要素、品牌传播和二级品牌关联。
2.1 Core brand values 核心品牌价值
The core brand values are some of the main elements of brand inventory that businesses and organisations rely upon to determine the effectiveness of their brand. In reference to Veselinova and Samonikov (2017), core brand values portray the main characteristics and perceptions that brands portray to their target consumers on the market. In this regard, these values help brands appeal to their target consumers through defining its uniqueness, as well as creating a boundary upon which marketers rely on when creating developing both the internal and external aspects of the brand. Importantly, when talking about branding, most people assume that it only focuses on the uniqueness of the company or organisation in question. However, this is not the case. On the contrary, branding also involves using elements that are not necessary unique to a specific company to stand out in the crown and as such, outpace competitors. Speaking from this point of view, researchers and scholars agree that core brand values play a critical role in creating a balance between points-of-different (factor that create differentiation) and points-of-parity (associations that are shared with other brands on the market) (Downer, 2016; Veselinova & Samonikov, 2017). Importantly, both Downer (2016) and Veselinova and Samonikov (2017) agree that firms need not only develop and implement strong core brand values but also they must identify these values as the first step in their brand development process.
核心品牌价值是企业和组织用来确定其品牌有效性的品牌清单的一些主要元素。参考Veselinova和Samonikov（2017），核心品牌价值观描述了品牌在市场上向其目标消费者描述的主要特征和认知。在这方面，这些价值观有助于品牌通过定义其独特性，以及创建营销人员在创建和发展品牌的内部和外部方面时所依赖的边界来吸引其目标消费者。重要的是，当谈论品牌时，大多数人认为它只关注所讨论的公司或组织的独特性。然而，情况并非如此。相反，品牌还包括使用特定公司不必具备的独特元素，以在皇冠上脱颖而出，从而超越竞争对手。从这一观点出发，研究人员和学者一致认为，核心品牌价值观在创造不同点（创造差异的因素）和平价点（与市场上其他品牌共享的关联）之间的平衡方面起着关键作用（Downer，2016；Veselinova&Samonikov，2017）。重要的是，唐纳（2016年）、维塞利诺娃（Veselinova）和萨莫尼科夫（2017年）都同意，企业不仅需要开发和实施强大的核心品牌价值，还必须将这些价值确定为品牌发展过程的步。
2.2 Brand elements 品牌要素
Apart from core brand values, the effectiveness of a brand in the market depends on the brand elements that a firm has. In reference to Seimiene and Kamarauskaite (2014), brand elements, which include brand names, slogans, characters, logos and symbols, packaging and jingles, play an instrumental in differentiating brands from competitors and creating a platform for customers to identify a specific brand from crowded market environment. In other words, the two main purposes of brand elements are to differentiate and enhance identification of brands in the market. In addition to this, researchers and scholars categorise brand elements as either primary or secondary. According to Keller (2017), the primary brand elements promote the brand’s differentiation aspects and its positioning in the market. On these other hand, secondary brand elements are mainly used to portray restricted associations or rather point-of-parity. With this in mind, whereas most businesses focus on strengthening their primary brand elements, they cannot in any way avoid including secondary brand elements in their brand development process. Furthermore, despite the role that the entire of set of brand elements play in strengthening brands in their respective industries, there are certain elements that are commonly used as compared to others. In reference to brand elements such as logo, name, packaging and symbol are mostly used as compared to brand elements such as characters and jingles. However, this does not imply that the mostly used brand elements have a greater impact on the strength of the brand on the market than the less used brands. On the contrary, marketers need to establish a balance between the more and the less used brand elements to create strong brand equity on the market.
除了核心品牌价值外，品牌在市场上的有效性取决于企业拥有的品牌要素。参考Seimine和Kamarauskaite（2014），品牌元素，包括品牌名称、口号、字符、徽标和符号、包装和广告语，在将品牌与竞争对手区分开来以及为客户创造一个平台，以便从拥挤的市场环境中识别特定品牌方面发挥了重要作用。换句话说，品牌要素的两个主要目的是在市场上区分和增强品牌识别。除此之外，研究人员和学者还将品牌元素分为主要元素和次要元素。根据Keller（2017）的说法，主要品牌元素促进了品牌的差异化及其在市场中的定位。另一方面，次要品牌元素主要用于描述有限的关联，或者更确切地说是对等点。考虑到这一点，尽管大多数企业都专注于加强其主要品牌要素，但它们无论如何都无法避免在其品牌发展过程中纳入次要品牌要素。此外，尽管整个品牌要素集在各自行业的品牌强化中发挥着作用，但与其他要素相比，仍有一些要素被普遍使用。在品牌元素方面，如徽标、名称、包装和符号是最常用的，而字符和叮当声则是最常用的。然而，这并不意味着使用最多的品牌元素对市场上品牌实力的影响比使用较少的品牌更大。相反，营销人员需要在更多和更少使用的品牌元素之间建立平衡，以在市场上创造强大的品牌资产。