BRAND PERSONALITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

BRAND PERSONALITY - Essay Example392). The concept of taint personality eludes clear definition. Anandan (2009) provides what is probably the roughly practicable description Simply put, brand personality answers the question What happens when the brand turns into a human being? or What happens when the brand comes alive? (p. 139). Brand personality is also defined as the range of human propertys associated with a brand (Asperin, 2007, p. 49). The concern of marketing practitioners as far as brand marketing is concerned is therefore how to personify a brand. Kumar (2009) tie in brand personality to self-concept, and it is self-expression, rather than emotion, that more significantly develops brand personality (p. 177-178). Brand personality is achieved by associating human characteristics that consumers commonly attribute to a brand. The characteristic may be in terms of demographic attributes (age, gender, status), lifestyle (activities, social class), culture (values, beliefs), and other personality traits. The brand may be associated with celebrities or diachronic figures, and several devices may be exercised such as animism, anthropomorphism, personification, and user imagery (Purkayastha, 2009). A well established brand personality must occupy the following attributes (1) elements of the brands marketing mix are deliberately coordinated (2) personality want is competitively distinctive and desirable and (3) the personality sought is robust and kept consistent oer time and over media (Aaker & Biel, 1993, p. 49). Brand personality influences the choice of consumers by enabling them to express who they are by the brands they use (Asperin, 2007, p. 49). Brand personality can help marketers in (1) the conception and creation of a brand (2) evaluating its perception in the minds of the customer and compare it with what was expected and (3) incorporating prerequisite changes to make the brand more attractive in order to meet the goals of creating lasting consumer satisfaction and loyalty (Purkayastha, 2009). In recent years, brand personality has perplex a topic of interest not only among academic researchers but more especially among marketing managers and strategists. This is evident in a scan of headmaster and academic journals on marketing research and applications. The principal theoretical framework employed in academic literature is the multidimensional framework, first devised by Aaker, and after developed by other researchers to account for market-specific factors and universal, cross-cultural studies. Aakers Brand Personality Framework In applying brand personality constructs, the theoretical paradigm most commonly used is the multi-dimensional framework devised by Aaker, which is considered the prevailing standard. The Aaker framework is accepted as a comprehensive framework that may be generalised over a broad number of product categories (Malik & Naeem, 2012). The Aaker framework underlies the Brand Personality Scale , or BPS, developed by the same author. Based on an extensive issue of American consumers, Aaker derived a framework comprised of five core dimensions and their facets, as follows (Guse, 2011) (1) Sincerity (Domestic, honest, genuine, cheerful) (2) Excitement (Daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date) (3) Competence (Reliable, responsible, dependable, efficient) (4) Sophistication (Glamorous, pretentious, charming, romantic) and (5) Ruggedness (Tough, strong, outdoorsy, rugged). The study of Malik and Naeem (2012), however, called attention to the perception that Aakers framework provides only a crude estimation of brand personality because it transposes human personality traits instead of using the brands themselves. The study also expresses concern that the archetype