Brand Personality - 1

Many of the world’s most powerful brands spend a great deal of time for putting personality into their brands. How can a company create personality for its products or for itself? The answer of this question lies in the choice and application of personality values and characteristics. Based on the premise that brands can have personalities in much the same way as humans, brand personality describes brands in terms of human characteristics. Brand personality is seen as a valuable factor in increasing brand engagement and brand attachment, in much the same way as people relate and bind to other people. Much of the work in the area of brand personality is based on translated theories of human personality and using similar measures of personality attributes and factors. Brand personality is defined as “The psychological nature of a particular brand as intended by its sellers, though persons in the marketplace may see the brand otherwise (called brand image). These two perspectives compare to the personalities of individual humans: what we intend or desire, and what others see or believe” in the marketing terms dictionary of American Marketing Association (A.MA.).

The concept of relationship between a person and a brand provides a different perspective on how brand personality can work. Aaker (1996) mentioned about two elements that affect an individual’s relationship with a brand. First one is that there is a relationship between the brand as person and the customer, which is analogous to the relationship between two people. Second element is the brand personality which is the type of person the brand represents (Aaker, 1996). The brand personality adds depth to the relationship.

Human and brand personality differ in terms of how they are formed, although they might share a similar conceptualization. Perceptions of human personality traits are inferred on the basis of an individual’s behavior, physical characteristics, attitudes and beliefs, and demographic characteristics. In contrast, perception of brand personality traits can be formed and influenced by any direct or indirect contact that the customer has with the brand (Aaker, 1997).

After creating a personality for a brand, it will be easier to attract consumers to the brand. As brands grow, as do human relationships, it is the emotional dimension which tends to become dominant in loyalty. Brand personality helps brand to grow by providing them emotional difference and experience.

People’s personalities are determined through their beliefs and values and other personality characteristics they develop. Honesty is an example for a value or belief. And confidence is an example for a characteristic. There are about two hundred words that describe personality characteristics and these can be used in brand personality creation process (Temporal, 1999).