ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we address contemporary consumer behavior regarding brands-national and imported ones-a topic that, until now, has only been analyzed in very general terms over the past fi ve decades. We begin with a brief discussion of brand awareness and brand preference and review a much-researched model called the consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and consider its application to Cuba in the near future. As the 2010 BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico reveals, brand perceptions can change quickly, even after a decade of rebranding and marketing communication strategies. The main body of the chapter presents fi ndings of a survey of 780 consumers conducted in 2006-the fi rst national brand awareness and preference survey ever released to the general public-and assesses fi ndings about both international and national brands. The fi ndings set the stage for exploring the way in which Cubans express aspects of Cubanness (cubanidad) in their perception of national brands, a topic for the following chapter.
