BRAND PERSONALITY AND CONSUMERS AN INSIGHT INTO HOW A BRAND’S PERSONALITY INFLUENCES CONSUMERS.

SO WHAT IS CONSUMER PERSONALITY? “ We define personality as the totality of thoughts, emotions, intentions, tendencies and behaviours that a person exhibits consistently as he or she adapts to the environment “. (Babin, BJ & Harris, 2013) RDG Insights, 2014

WHY IS CONSUMER PERSONALITY SO IMPORTANT? Our personalities and unique to us and only us. We can study particular personality traits as marketers and look at what traits are shared across individual's. By determining these traits it allows us to understand who we are marketing too, how they feel and gives insight into how they could make decisions about purchasing. (Babin, BJ & Harris, 2013) Someecards.com, n.d

RESEARCH INTO CONSUMER PERSONALITY/ TRAITS & CHARACTERISTICS Top traits studies by marketers  Value – what value does our consumer see in things?  Materialism – how important are material goods to our consumer?  Innovativeness – Is our consumer open to new ideas?  Need for cognition – what thought processes does our consumer go through?  Competitiveness - Is our consumer competitive ? (RDG Insights, 2014)

WHAT IS BRAND PERSONALITY? “A brands ability to appeal to consumers through the combination of human characteristics associated with it” (Freling; Crosni; Henards 2010) “The Coca Cola brand and media presence speak to the one truth that is Coke – Happiness. It may be bad for you, but for those who love the product, there is nothing more refreshing than a nice cold Coke in the hot summer sun”. James Watson 2011

DIMENSIONS OF BRAND PERSONALITY There are many dimensions in a brands personality- each will attract a different kind of consumer.  Sincerity  Excitement  Competence  Sophistication  Ruggedness This model based on, Jenifer Aakers, “Dimension of Brand Personality,” Journal of Marketing Research (August 1997);

WHY MUST WE UNDERSTAND? Positive effects of brand personality:  Influence over; consumer preference, usage, brand attitude and cognitive associations  Increase loyalty and trust  Encourages association with a brand and self-expression  Elicits consumer emotion  Stimulates active information processing (Freling; Crosni; Henards 2010)

CONSUMER BRAND RELATIONSHIPS “Consumer-branded relationships can be defined as the psychological bonds between a brand and a consumer “ (Tsai, 2011). The quality of these relationships can be determined by looking at the following:  Love & Passion: Does the consumer have a strong connection to your product?  Self- connection: Is there a link between the consumers’ identity and the brand?  Commitment: is their loyalty there?  Interdependence: does the consumer need the product- is their frequent use?  Intimacy: Is there a desire or a need to be associated with your brand?  Brand Partner Quality: What level of quality is associated with your brand?

OTHER FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR “Consumer lifestyles, psychographics, and demographics are all important variables that highlight differences between consumers”  Lifestyles How consumers live and spend time and money.  Demographics The observable, statistical aspects of populations  Psychographics How we measure a consumers’ attitudes, values, interests, lifestyle and opinions (Ba bin, BJ & Harris, 2013).(Maria Talley, 2014)

SELF- CONCEPT IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR “The terms “Self-concept” refers to the totality of thoughts and feelings that an individual has about him or herself”.  Actual Self : “Who am I?”.  Ideal Self: “Who I would like to be”.  Social Self: “Who do they think I am?”.  Ideal Social Self: “Who I want them to see”.  Possible Self: “Who I could be”  Extended Self: “What I own that makes me who I am” (Babin, BJ & Harris, 2013)

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Consumer and Brand personality is an extremely important factor to be considered for Marketers. Who are our consumers and who are we is vital to know if we want to reach the right target market and send the right messages and overall gain business. WHAT DO CONSUMERS WANT!?

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