Malär, L. Krohmer, H. Hoyer, W. and Nyffenegger, B. (2011). Emotional Brand Attachment and Brand Personality: The Relative Importance of the Actual and the Ideal Self. Journal of Marketing.
Introduction:
‘Unilever’s Dove line has used models who are more average in appearance, presumably corresponding more closely to how the majority of consumers actually see themselves (an ‘actual self’)
‘this approach hit a nerve with many consumers, causing them to form a strong emotional connection with the brand. Thus, the ‘actual self’ seems to be growing in importance to consumers looking for reality and authenticity in marketing’
‘the ‘ideal self’ seems to remain important because many consumers like brands that do not fit within their actual reality but rather represent an aspiration’
Conceptual Framework:
‘consumers use products as a way to define themselves to others and purchase brands with a particular personality to express their self-concept’
‘brand personality can be instrumental in helping consumers express their self-concept and provide a sense of comfort to consumers who have found a brand that ‘fits’ their self-concept’
‘the actual self is based on the perceived reality of oneself’
‘the ideal self is shaped by imagination of ideals and goals related to what a person believes that he or she would like to be or aspire to become’
‘the consumer can achieve self-congruence by consuming a brand with a personality that he or she regards as similar to either their actual or ideal self’
‘actual self-congruence reflects the consumer’s perception of the fit between the actual self and brand’s personality’ who the consumer really is
‘ideal self-congruence is the perceived fit of the brands personality with the consumer’s ideal self’ who the consumer wants to be
‘emotional brand attachment reflects the bond that connects a consumer with a specific brand and involves feelings toward the brand’
‘a consumers level of involvement with an objet, situation, or action si determined by the degree to which s/he perceives that concept to be personally relevant (Celsi and Olson 1998, p211)
‘we define product involvement as the person relevance of the product, which is determined by the extent to which the product is interesting and important to the consumer’
‘when personally relevant knowledge is activated in the memory, a motivational state is created that energises or drives consumers’ cognitive behaviour’
‘involvement resides within the consumer but is influenced by the product’
Hypothesis:
‘self-congruence belongs to a broader class of cognitive-consistency theories that suggest that people strive for consistency in their beliefs and behaviours’
‘consumers are motivated to hold a set of beliefs about themselves that motivate them to act in ways that reinforce their self-concept’
‘self-expansion theory posits that people possess an inherent motivation to incorporate others into their conception of self’
‘the more an entity (brand) is part of a person’s self-definition, the closer is the emotional bond’
‘self-enhancement theory assumes that people are motivated to increase their feelings of personal worth’
‘construal-level theory suggests that the greater a person’s psychological distance from and object or event, the greater the likelihood that he or she will mentally conceptualise this object or event in an abstract was rather than in a concrete way’
‘consumers perceive their actual self as something psychologically close ad their ideal self as something psychologically more distant’
‘psychologically distant things are those not present in an individuals direct experience of reality’
‘an ideal self-view refers to something that takes place further into the future’
‘ideal self is shaped by imagination of ideals and goals related to what an individual believes he or she would like to be, and thus is hypothetical and less likely to occur than a consumer’s actual self’
‘if a consumer perceives a certain level of congruence between the ideal self and the brand, this brand is psychologically more distant than a brand that the consumer perceives to be congruent with his or her actual self’
‘psychological distances and construal levels have an impact on the consumer’s emotional brand attachment because physiological distance and affect are inextricably linked’
Discussion:
p44
‘brands with ideal self-congruence in general were less successful in increasing emotional brand attachment’
‘aspirational branding may still work under certain conditions, specifically when involvement, self-esteem, or public self-consciousness is low’
‘consumers are more likely to form a strong emotional connection with a brand that validates who they are right now than with a brand that promises them help achieving an ideal self’
‘an authentic relationship involves presenting one’s ‘genuine’ self to someone else in a way that creates strong emotions and bonds based on intimacy and trust’
P45
‘when the brand represents something that is out of reach, this need for distancing could result in a decreased emotional brand attachment’
‘product involvement is an important moderator of the relationship between self-congruence and emotional brand attachment’
‘when involvement is high the brand is more personally relevant, and the consumer will elaborate on the connections between the brand and his or her actual self’
‘when involvement is low, consumers are less willing to engage in self-verification through the brand because the underlying product is not important enough’
‘consumers with high self-esteem are attracted to a brand that is congruent wit their actual self because of a self-verification process, which helps consumers feel good about themselves and builds stronger band connections’
‘consumers with low self-esteem, however, would find brands related to the ideal self more attractive because these brands represent an opportunity to make them feel better about themselves by association’
‘social context plays a key role in the development of emotional attachment to a brand’
Summary:
Throughout this essay the importance of actual and ideal self is discussed in relation to a brands connection with the consumer. The essay looks at different ways to build an emotional brand connection with consumers to see if targeting a consumers 'ideal self' is more successful than targeting the consumers 'actual' self. The study determines that both are successful depending on the self-esteem of the consumer as it's difficult to distinguish how different groups of consumers will react. The study suggests that those with high self-esteem will react to products that identify with their actual self as this is more closely related to there reality, whereas those with low self-esteem tend to react to products relating to their ideal self as this get them closer to who they want to be through consumption. Therefore it is difficult to establish which approach would be most beneficial as products that are too far attach to an 'ideal' tend to alienate consumers who feel its too far out of reach.
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