Brand Personality
2.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
BRAND PERSONALITY
A brand personality can be defined as the set of human characteristics associated with a given brand. Thus it includes such characteristics as gender, age, and socioeconomic class, as well as such classic personality traits as warmth, concern and sentimentality.
Brand Personality like human personality, is both distinctive and enduring. For example, one analysis found Coke to be considered real and authentic whereas Pepsi was young, spirited and exciting. Further, the personalities of both the brands had endured over time, sometimes in spite of efforts to augment or change them.
The brand personality concept has considerable face validity (brand strategists and researchers are comfortable with it). Respondents in qualitative and quantitative research studies are routinely asked to profile the personalities if brands. Their responses come easily and generally interpretable and consistent across people. Differences between groups (such as nonusers) are often reasonable and provide useful insights. Frequently for example, users will perceive a brand to have a strong personality, whereas nonusers may not: Oral B may be regarded as a serious, competent brand by the former, whereas the latter may regard it as being bland.
Further, customers often interact with brands as if they were people, especially when the brands are attached to such meaningful products as clothes or cars. Even if they do not give their possessions a personal nickname (as many do their cars), it is not uncommon to hear people talk of objects as if they were human: “Sometimes my computer feels better after I let it rest awhile,” or “Sometimes I think my car breaks down just to irritate me.”
MEASURING BRAND PERSONALITY
The same vocabulary used to describe a person can be used to describe a brand personality. In particular, a brand can be described by demographics (age, gender, social class, and race), lifestyle (activities,
2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
BRAND PERSONALITY
A brand personality can be defined as the set of human characteristics associated with a given brand. Thus it includes such characteristics as gender, age, and socioeconomic class, as well as such classic personality traits as warmth, concern and sentimentality.
Brand Personality like human personality, is both distinctive and enduring. For example, one analysis found Coke to be considered real and authentic whereas Pepsi was young, spirited and exciting. Further, the personalities of both the brands had endured over time, sometimes in spite of efforts to augment or change them.
The brand personality concept has considerable face validity (brand strategists and researchers are comfortable with it). Respondents in qualitative and quantitative research studies are routinely asked to profile the personalities if brands. Their responses come easily and generally interpretable and consistent across people. Differences between groups (such as nonusers) are often reasonable and provide useful insights. Frequently for example, users will perceive a brand to have a strong personality, whereas nonusers may not: Oral B may be regarded as a serious, competent brand by the former, whereas the latter may regard it as being bland.
Further, customers often interact with brands as if they were people, especially when the brands are attached to such meaningful products as clothes or cars. Even if they do not give their possessions a personal nickname (as many do their cars), it is not uncommon to hear people talk of objects as if they were human: “Sometimes my computer feels better after I let it rest awhile,” or “Sometimes I think my car breaks down just to irritate me.”
MEASURING BRAND PERSONALITY
The same vocabulary used to describe a person can be used to describe a brand personality. In particular, a brand can be described by demographics (age, gender, social class, and race), lifestyle (activities,