Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 2,0, University of Applied Sciences Essen, language: English, abstract: On the one hand, brands can increase a company’s value significantly or even represent the company itself. On the other hand, consumers want to take over the image of a brand and identify themselves with the characteristics carried by the brand. This goes along with the need of having branded goods as a mark of status and belonging. Therefore, companies need to focus on strengthening their brand image and brand equity in order to succeed on the market and diversify themselves from their competitors. However, the question is, are the efforts in creating a strong brand image and high brand equity justified when thinking about the impact on the consumer? Why are so many companies focusing on image instead of paying attention to the quality of their products? And why do so many companies spent money on sponsoring sports teams instead of investing in the improvement of their product’s characteristics or developing new innovative products? In order to get into the topic, this case study will have a look at Puma as a concrete example of how branding affects a company. The intention of this case study is to point out how Puma achieved the way from a shoe manufacturer to a well-known lifestyle brand by looking at the creation of a brand image on the one hand and an increase in brand equity on the other hand. - Does a positive brand image have an influence on a company’s turnover? - Does a high brand equity influence a company’s economic development or does a positive development of a company increase its brand equity? - Do brands have an effect on consumer’s buying behaviour?