Jennifer Aaker, Stanford University
Susan Fournier, Harvard University
[ to cite ]:
Jennifer Aaker and Susan Fournier (1995) ,"A Brand As A Character, A Partner and A Person: Three Perspectives on the Question of Brand Personality", in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 22, eds. Frank R. Kardes and Mita Sujan, Advances in Consumer Research Volume 22 : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 391-395.
Advances in Consumer Research Volume 22, 1995 Pages 391-395
A BRAND AS A CHARACTER, A PARTNER AND A PERSON: THREE PERSPECTIVES ON THE QUESTION OF BRAND PERSONALITY
Jennifer Aaker, Stanford University
Susan Fournier, Harvard University
Introduction and Objective of Session
The idea of a brand personality is familiar and accepted by most advertising practitioners (e.g., Plummer 1985) and many marketing academics (e.g., Gardner and Levy 1955). For decades, researchers have argued that brand personality is an important topic of study because it can help to differentiate brands (e.g., Crask and Laskey 1990), develop the emotional aspects of a brand (e.g., Landon 1974) and augment the personal meaning of a brand to the consumer (e.g., Levy 1959). However, although brand personality is intuitively appealing and, as a result, has received considerable academic attention, it has been criticized on a number of dimensions; conceptual, methodological and substantive. First, at the conceptual level, there is still some ambiguity over what a brand personality is. How should it be defined and conceptualized? How (or when) is it different from brand image and/or user imagery? The answers to these questions have important implications for managers and academics interested in understanding the larger questions of why brand personality is important and how brand personality works.
Second, at the methodological level: how is brand personality best measured?
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