Brand Personality Literature Review

Abstract

In recent years, brand personality is becoming one of the important component for the brand. Brand personality can be described as a soul of the brand (Ramaseshan, & Tsao, 2007). Hence, good brand dimensions are likely to lead the brand to have long-term success (Valette-Florence, Guizani, & Merunka, 2011). This study analysis three factors that may likely to affect brand personality, there are human personality traits, brand attachment, and brand equity.  In this article, it outlines the relationship between the three factors (personality traits, brand attachment, and brand equity) and brand personality, and gives examples of how to choose and apply brand personality in the marketing sectors. This study also highlights the gaps and suggests the further research in this area, in order to give brand manager a better understanding of consumer behavior through studying brand personality.

Introduction

In this era of hyper-competition, organizations are trying to seek ways to improve their products, in order to stand out from mass competitors. Creating a strong personality of the brand to connect with consumers is a priority and may be a key factor leading to success. Marketing researchers believe brand dimension is an efficient way to help consumers distinguishing their brand from other competitors (Sung, & Kim, 2010). However, several of factors such as human personality, brand attachment, and brand equity may associate with and can affect brand personality. It is vital for marketing managers to analysis consumers’ preferences and behaviors to create suitable dimension for a brand (Huang, Mitchell, & Rosenaum‐Elliott, 2012). This literature review will discuss the present findings and determine the gaps from previous researchers to offer suggestions for further researches in this area. This will help further the knowledge on how to create successful brand personality.

Review of Literature

Brand personality definition

In recent years, consumer behavior researchers have increased interest in brand personality, as it is a one important strategy for a brand (Aasker, 1997). According to theorists, brand personality is defined as  ‘the set of human personality traits that are both applicable to and relevant for brands’ (Azoulay, & Kapferer, 2003, pp. 151).  That is, brand dimensions can be described as the ‘soul’ of the brand that derives from marketing communication, and the brand’s traits affects the way a brand behaves or speaks (Ramaseshan, & Tsao, 2007). Organizations are able to communicate and build a connection with their target audiences about the brand more effectively through different brand personalities (Batra, Lehmann, & Singh, 1993).

In order to help evaluating brand personality, Asker (1997) classified five dimensions and 15 facts of brand personality: Sincerity (honesty, wholesomeness, down-to-Earth and cheerfulness); excitement (imagination, spiritedness, daring, and contemporary); competence (reliability, success, and intelligence); sophistication (upper class and charm); and ruggedness (toughness and masculinity). These different dimensions can be applied to the brand to break products in the marketplace (Tan Tsu Wee, 2004), affect consumers’ attitude toward the brand, and enhance the level of brand effect and brand trust (Sung, & Kim, 2010).  

In addition, brand personality can benefit both marketers and consumers. For marketers, a brand’s personality is a component to integrate the image and equity of the brands that can build a bond, and create a unique memory associated with the brand to consumers.  Thus consumers are more likely to keep the brand’s value in their mind (Keller, 1993). Therefore, brand personality can be viewed as an efficient way for marketers to distinguish their brand from competitors to enhance effective marketing (Sung, & Kim, 2010).  On the other hand, the benefit for consumers is that brand personality provides self-expressiveness for people to communicate their personality, looking for the brand images that are connected to their self-concepts (Aaker, 1999; Escalas, & Bettman, 2003).

Human personality traits

Human personality character has a close relationship with brand personality and is likely to affect consumers’ purchase intentions. Human Personality is related to the difference styles of thinking, acting and feeling of an individual that may reflect how people adjust to the environment by combining their thinking and life experience (Huang, Mitchell, & Rosenaum‐Elliott, 2012). Psychologists have classified great amount of human personalities into five broad groups in the Big Five model. The Big-Five framework is a hierarchical model with five factors of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness regarding human characters. This model has been extensively used to measure individuals’ personality traits at the broadest level of abstraction (Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003), and can be used for assessing the personality of brands (Sung, & Kim, 2010). In Aaker’s view (1997), some of the brand personalities may function in much the similar way as the human personality. Three human personality traits (Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness) are analogous three brand dimensions (Excitement, Competence, and Sincerity), whereas the other two brand dimensions (Ruggedness and Sophistication) are not consistent with those of The Big Five framework. Although human beings do not need the personality traits of Ruggedness and Sophistication, the Ruggedness brands (e.g., Levi’s, Marlboro) associate with the aspiration of masculinity and strength. And Sophistication brands (e.g., Merceds, Monet), with their sexy and upper class focus can still catch consumers’ attention (Aasker, 1997).  

In Caprara, Barbaranelli,  & Guido’s (2001), the Big Five framework only have few factors that can describe brand personality, but it is not the same factors used to describe human traits and brand itself. Therefore, The Big Five model cannot accurately reflect the relationship between human personality traits and brand personality. The Big Five model can fully replicate only when it is used to describe brand’s own personality. This aspect can be confirmed by Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson’s study (2009), the Neurotic people tend to purchase the brand with Trust dimension, as they believe the use of Trust brand can help them reduce anxiety. This example shows that this type of human personality character does not exactly match the brand dimension. For the brand marketer, the adjectives they use to describe their brand personality may be changed from one factor to another, depending on the type of the brand. Hence, in order to be consistent with the dimensions of the brand, The Big Five model needs to be revised when applied to brands or products. And Brand managers should also take other factors such as age, gender, and class into considerations during the process of developing brand personality processes (Aasker, 1997). While from Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson’s research (2009), they believe some human personality traits of The Big Five model are related to consumer preferences on particular brand dimensions.  That is, the brand consumer’s preference is more likely to express their actual personality traits. For instance, conscientious persons are more likely to pay attention to Trust brand to reflect their reliable nature. People who are extroverts, friendly, and like to meet new friends, may prefer Sociable brand to reflect their outgoing characteristic (Belk, 1988). Although there are some of The Big Five human traits similar to certain brand dimensions, The Big Five model can be used to determine the personality of their target audiences. But brand managers cannot rely on this measure alone; they should consider other factors that may affect consumer’s attitudes toward the brand.