Brand Identity - 2

Kapferer (2004) developed the Brand Identity Prism. According to him, brand personality should be just a one key facet of brand identity. Jennifer Aaker (1997) deserves credit for having revitalized the human metaphor for a brand. But merging a number of dimensions of brand identity into brand personality causes conceptual confusion. At this point, Kapferer (2004) recommends revitalising of the original terminology of brand identity as the overall brand descriptor.




Kapferer (2004 described the dimensions of brand identity prism in the following way:

 Physical Facet (Physique) of Brand Identity:
First of all, a brand has specialities and qualities – its physique. Physique is both the brand’s backbone and its tangible added value. The first step in developing a brand is to define its physical aspect: What is it concretely? What does it do? What does it look like?

 Personality of Brand Identity:
The easiest way of creating instant brand personality is to give the brand a spokesperson or a figurehead, whether real or symbolic. In the prism, brand identity is the personality facet of the source. Thus brand personality is described and measured by those human personality traits that are relevant for brands.

 Culture of Brand Identity:
Every brand has its own culture, from which every product derives. Culture means the set of values feeding the brand’s inspiration. The basic principles governing the brand in its outward signs are referred by the cultural facet. Country of origin is a great cultural reservoir for a brand. Some brands represent countries and some are worldwide brands. Brand culture plays an important role in differentiating brands.

 Relationship of Brand Identity:
Brands are often at the crux of transactions and exchanges between people. This is particularly true for both service sector and retail brands. The relationship is crucial for banks, banking brands and services in general. Service is by definition a relationship.

 Customer Reflection of Brand Identity:
A brand will always tend to build a reflection or an image of the buyer or user which it seems to be addressing. Target and reflection often get mixed. Brand’s potential purchasers or users are described by the target. By the way reflecting the customer is not describing the target. The customer should be reflected as he/she wishes to be seen as a result of using a specific brand.

 Consumer Mentalisation (Self Image) of Brand Identity:
A brand speaks to our self image. If reflection is the target’s outward mirror, self image is the target’s own internal mirror.