COP 3 Reading: Dimensions of Brand Personality

Aaker, J. (1997). Dimensions of Brand Personality. SSRN Electronic Journal.

The Brand Personality Construct:

‘brand personality is defined formally here as the set of human characteristics associated with a brand’ 

‘product-related attributes, which tend to serve a utilitarian function for consumers, brand personality tends to serve a symbolic or self-expressive function (Kelly 1993)’

‘the strategies used by advertisers to imbue a brand with personality traits such as anthropomorphism, personification, and the creation of user imager. Through such techniques, the personality trait associated with a brand, such as those associated with an individual, tend to be relatively enduring and distinct’ 

 ‘greater the congruity between the human characteristics that consistently and distinctively describe an individual’s actual or ideal self and those that describe a brand, the greater the preference for the brand’

‘empirical exploration of this hypothesis has been handicapped by a limited conceptual understanding of the brand personality construct and the psychological mechanism by which it operate’

C:

Although brand personality traits exist and are an effective ways to connect with the consumer limited research is available to determine how successful this approach is as it’s difficult to define certain personality traits in relation to a brand as human personality traits don’t necessarily correspond to a brand exactly, making it difficult to measure the impact of brand personality traits. However there is examples of strong brand personality traits that make companies stand out and remain strongly linked to the consumer actual or ideal self, such as Coca-Cola which is seen as cool, all american which allows the brand to stand out against competitors such as pepsi who may not hold such a strong association with its consumers.  

Antecedent of Brand Personality:

‘human and brand personality traits might share a similar conceptualisation (Epstein 1977), they differ in terms of how they are formed’

‘human personality traits are inferred on the basis of an individual’s behaviour, physical characteristics, attitudes and beliefs, and demographics characteristics (Park 1986)’.

‘Perceptions of brand personality traits can be formed and influenced by any direct or indirect contact that the consumer has with the brand (Plummer 1985)’

‘personality traits come to be associated with a brand in a direct way by the people associate with the brand - such as the brand’s user imagery…employees… endorsors’

‘an indirect way through product related attributed, product category association, brand name, symbol or logo, advertising style, price and distribution channels’

‘brand personality includes demographic characteristics such as gender, age, and class’

‘demographic characterises also inferred directly from the brand’s user imagery, employees, or product endorsors’

C:

Personality traits are formed from direct and indirect contact with the brand based on association and experience.

General Discussion / Summary of Research 

‘consumers perceive that brands have five distinct personality dimensions: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness’

‘brand personality increases consumer preference and usage (Sirgy 1982), evokes emotions in consumers (Biel 1993) and increases levels of trust and loyalty (Fournier 1994).’