their own self-concept by consuming brands with a personality matching their
actual self, or they use the symbolic consumption of brand with a certain person-
ality to enhance their self-concept, by consuming brands with a personality that is
congruent with their ideal or desired self. Consumers can, however, also use the
brands as an expression of social self, where the brand is used to position the
consumer according to social or cultural reference groups in society. Using brand
personality to enhance the ideal of desired self is an expression of the aspirations
and dreams of the consumer that the brand can help them fulfil.
126 Seven brand approaches
Box 7.1 Oil of Olay: female consumers’ hopes and dreams
Deep insight into consumer motivation and self-brand relations is crucial
when developing brand personality. In 1985 Joseph Plummer made an
investigation of consumers’ associations with the Oil of Olay brand that
could be used to describe the brand personality of Oil of Olay. The result
was rather surprising and illustrates well how brands can appeal not only to
the actual self of consumers but also to the desired or ideal self of
consumers. Consumers were asked to associate how they would describe
Oil of Olay with other abstract descriptions, apart from it being a lotion.
Consumers associated Oil of Olay with:- An animal: a mink.
- Country: France.
- Occupation: secretary.
- Fabric: silk.
- Magazine: Vogue.
These associations brings to mind a French secretary wearing mink and silk
reading Voguewhile relaxing somewhere on the French Riviera. This
elegant woman uses Oil of Olay every morning and evening to stay beau-
tiful. The stereotypical user of Oil of Olay at the time had a personality far
from the personality consumer associated with the Oil of Olay brand. She
could be described as:- Down-to-earth.
- Practical.
All in all, very different from the personality described as the personality of
Oil of Olay, which was described as more up-scale, exclusive and sophisti-
cated. These differences illustrate very well how some brands in their
communication must address not necessarily the actual self of the stereo-
typical consumer but rather the desired or ideal self.
Adapted fromPlummer (1985)