Summary
The theoretical building blocks of the personality approach consist of the three
supporting themes: personality, consumer self, and consumer–self congruence.
Personality describes the basic concept of personality that the personality
approach draws on from the field of human psychology, characterizing the main
personalities that human beings can be categorized according to. The concept of
self describes how consumers consume and choose brands based on their ability to
contribute to their construction and expression of self. The construct of brand–self
congruence describes the process of identification that takes place between the
personality of a brand and the personality of the consumer and establishes that the
greater the congruence between the personality of the brand and the personality of
the consumer the more likely is that brand personality to succeed. The core theme
of the personality approach is brand personality. The framework ‘Dimensions of
brand personality’ developed by Aaker (1997) consists of five dimensions that
brands can be divided according to and an explanation of how these dimensions
can be expressed in the communication of a brand personality by emphasizing
certain traits or behaviours.
Methods and data of the personality approach
The methods and data used in the personality approach vary, depending on what the
focus of the study is. For the research of brand personality, the mainly quantitative
method developed by Aaker (1997) has gained support and has been widely used to
uncover dimensions of brand personality, also across different national cultures.
Archetypical personality- Creator • Hero
- Caregiver • Outlaw
- Ruler • Magician
- Jester • Innocent
- Regular girl/guy • Explorer
- Lover • Sage
A brand imbued with archetypical meaning is believed to enhance the
creation of emotional affinity, which makes way for the rational arguments
for buying a product. In the personality approach archetypical symbols are
the meaning used as the path opener between brands and consumers. Get a
Donna Karan dress and feel like a queen or see the Christmas ads from
Coca-cola and feel the innocence. Archetypes mediate between products
and customer motivation by providing symbolic meaning. Archetypical
meaning hence makes brands come to life and ensures that consumers can
relate to the product or brand on an emotional level.
SourceMark and Pearson (2001)132 Seven brand approaches