Abstract
The brand of organizations (i.e., our associations linked to organizations) promoting more physical activity (PA) may predict important PA variables. The Brand Equity Pyramid (Keller, 2003), a theory which describes the process of brand development (i.e., salience, beliefs, judgements and feelings, and relationship), may predict development of a PA-promotion brand. Relationship with the brand may also predict important determinants such as intentions to be more physically active. One objective of this study was to examine brand development of ParticipACTION--a Canadian not-for-profit organization that promotes PA. A secondary objective was to investigate whether relationship with the brand can predict intentions to be more physically active. A nationally representative sample of Canadian adults who were aware of ParticipACTION (n=1,191) completed an online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to verify the factor structure and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test relationships between variables. CFA revealed the hypothesized five-factor solution with good model fit, RMSEA=.065, GFI=.964 (factor loadings=.57-.94). SEM, RMSEA=.078, GFI=.945, also confirmed the hypothesized relationships between variables. Salience predicted beliefs (p<.001, standardized beta=.39), beliefs predicted judgements and feelings (p<.001, standardized beta=.40), judgements and feelings predicted relationship (p<.001, standardized beta=.59), and relationship predicted intentions (p<.001, standardized beta=.31). Although this study used a non-experimental design, it provides the first evidence that the Brand Equity Pyramid can explain brand development in this domain, and that the Brand Equity Pyramid can predict important PA determinants such as intentions.
