Brand Personality

1 = not at all descriptive 5 = very descriptive Trait Adjectives 1Domestic, honest, genuine, cheerful 2Daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date 3Reliable, responsible, dependable, efficient 4Glamorous, pretentious, charming, romantic 5Tough, strong, outdoorsy, rugged

Brand Personality (Aaker, 1997)  “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand”  Brand Personality is an enduring and stable trait  Consumers attribute the same personality traits to products over time and across situations

A way to differentiate brands from competitors

Scale Development (Aaker, 1997)  Study 1: Generated 114 Personality Traits from:  Big Five measures  Participants free listing adjectives that described brand names from a variety of product categories (e.g., jeans, cars, electronics, cologne)  Study 2: participants rated 40 brands on these 114 personality traits.  Factor analysis reduced these 114 traits to 5 brand personality dimensions.

5 Dimensions of Brand Personality DimensionTrait Adjectives SincerityDomestic, honest, genuine, cheerful ExcitementDaring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date CompetenceReliable, responsible, dependable, efficient SophisticationGlamorous, pretentious, charming, romantic RuggednessTough, strong, outdoorsy, rugged Sincerity Excitement Competence Sophistication Ruggedness

Self-Congruity Theory  Self-Congruity Theory (Dolich, 1969): people prefer and buy brands that match their own personality  May be that certain brand personality dimensions match actual personality  Sincerity = Agreeableness  Excitement = Extraversion  Competence = Conscientiousness  May be that other brand personality match ideal personality  Sophistication = upper-class, glamorous, sexy brands (e.g., Mercedes, MAC)  Ruggedness = American ideals of Western, strength, Masculinity (e.g., Harley-Davidson, CoverGirl)

Self-Congruity Theory  Undergraduate participants completed Big Five and Brand Personality measures  Rated their preference for each type of brand personality. Brand PersonalityCharacteristicsConsumer Personality TrustedTrusted, reliable, persevering C, N SociableCreative, friendly, outgoing A,OE ExcitingActive, adventurous, cool E SincereSimple, caringA (Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson, 2009)

Self-Congruity Theory Brand Personality CharacteristicsConsumer Personality Finding Trusted Trusted, reliable, persevering C, N +C +N Sociable Creative, friendly, outgoing A,OE +E +OE ExcitingActive, adventurous, cool E No correlations SincereSimple, caring A No correlations (Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson, 2009)

Self-Congruity Theory: Gender Differences  Preference for Trusted brands:  Women high in C  Men high in N  Preference for Sociable brands  Women high in OE  Men high in E  Preference for Sincere brands  Women low in E (high in Introversion)  Men high in OE (Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson, 2009)

Self-Congruity Theory  Partially Correct  Participants preferred brands (trusted, sociable) that matched their own consumer personality for C, N, and OE.  Gender differences show men and women select brands to express different aspects of their personality.  Suggests that consumers select brands that match their actual personality (Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson, 2009)

Causes of Brand Personality: How can companies manipulate brand personality?  Personality of company’s CEO and employees  Personality of brand endorsers (i.e., celebrities)  Others: logos, price, distribution channel, shapes, colors

How can brands manipulate personality?  Undergraduate students viewed online advertisement for a watch.  Randomly assigned to view ad with watch in one of six color conditions  Then, rated the product along 5 brand personality dimensions Color ConditionPersonality Traits RedDominant, passionate, arousing BlueSubduing, melancholy, contemplative, confident, stable, secure GreenRefreshment, naturalness, tranquility, peacefulness, growth, health, stability, calm, and sincerity PurpleDignified, pompous, mournful, and mystic, wealth, wisdom YellowCheerful, joyous, happy, optimistic, inspiring, sociable, friendly, BlackPowerful, strong, and masterful, sophisticated (Sung & Kim, 2013)

How can brands manipulate personality?  Yellow (cheerful, exciting) conveys Sincerity and Exciting brand personality  Red (passionate, dominant) conveys Competence, Exciting and Ruggedness brand personality  Black (powerful, strong) conveys Competence brand personality  All colors convey Sophisticated brand personality Brand PersonalityHigh level of brand personality Low level of brand personality SincerityYellowBlack ExcitingYellow and RedPurple and Black CompetenceRed and BlackPurple SophisticationNo effect of color RuggednessYellow and RedPurple (Sung & Kim, 2013)

Outcomes of Brand Personality  Match between brand and consumer personality:  More favorable brand attitudes, greater brand trust and affect, greater brand loyalty  Outcomes vary by brand personality dimension  Sincerity and Ruggedness determine brand trust  Excitement and Sophistication determine brand affect  Competence determines both brand trust and affect

A way to differentiate brand from competitors  Penn State Promo Penn State Promo  University of Michigan University of Michigan  Ohio State University Ohio State University  Texas Tech University Texas Tech University  University of Virginia University of Virginia  Columbia University Columbia University