Aaker's Brand Personality Scale Research Articles

Measuring Brand Personality of Footwear Brands in Bangladesh: Application of Aaker’s Brand Personality Scale

As the brand personality serves as a fundamental framework for studies concerning brand equity, brand image, and brand extension, that’s why brand personality is the main focus of this study. The purpose of this study is to measure the users' perceptions of the brand personality (BP) of footwear brands (such as Bata, Apex and Lotto) and to identify the dimensions that exist in the footwear industry in Bangladesh. This study applies Aaker's brand personality scale (BPS) to footwear brands in order to test the extent to which it is applicable to the brands and to investigate the fundamental structure of the brand personality of footwear brands. The data was acquired through the use of a questionnaire survey. A quantitative strategy was utilized to collect the data. For the purpose of the study, a total of 430respondent’s data were collected from different cities of Dhaka, Rajshahi and Rangpur division. In order to investigate the fundamental structure of the BP of footwear brands, descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were carried out. Study finds all the five dimensions (sincerity, excitement, sophistication, competence and ruggedness) of brand personality was extracted though the factor analysis of which ruggedness and sophistication are relatively lower than the others dimension within the realm of footwear industry. It has been found a comprehensive brand personality of footwear products and brand with the impact of all dimension of BPS and model holds a bold factor loading for all items it has. The novelty of the study lies in variable settings and arrangement, study area and context. No other research has been carried out in the context of footwear industry neither in Bangladesh nor elsewhere. There is also no evidence of research has been examined the relationship of brand personality, brand preference and brand loyalty. This study will help the marketer and the marketing practitioner to understand the dimension of brand personality, the impact of each brand personality dimensions and to identify the weaker personality dimensions that need more attention.

The language of marketing hyperbole and consumer perception-The case of Glasgow.

The aim of the study was to explore the potential of a timed word association task to generate detailed insights into the perception of Glasgow city and its people which could inform destination and brand marketing. Destination marketers have a challenge to convey the tourist destination image to attract and satisfy the expectations of its visitors. Yet destination perceptions are often the result of multiple tourist visitor experiences at a location, neglecting the voice of the resident. The extent to which word associations varied by participants' relationship to Glasgow was identified in terms of Aaker's brand personality scale, an extension of personality research on brands and destinations. Surveying of 1,219 UK participants generated a total of 5,993 terms (city; 1,144 unique) and 5,034 terms (people; 944 unique). The value of capturing the perceptions of a destination by its residents is identified. The results showed that the city of Glasgow was often described as cold and busy, while the people were primarily described as friendly and funny. Evidence was found in support of dual-processing theory suggesting word associations based on lived experiences of a city may be generated later (in terms of the order in which the terms were generated) in a word association task, while common linguistic associations (e.g. synonyms, antonyms, hierarchies etc.) tend to be generated earlier in the task. As hypothesised, analyses revealed a significant relationship between several of the Aaker-dimensions of brand personality, and the consumers' relationship to Glasgow, extending marketing research with an empirical approach to identifying differences in the perceived personality of a destination. The study offers a practical, fast, and replicable method for destination marketers to study consumer perception at scale, which is currently not widely utilised in this field. In particular, the use of semantic distance and word embeddings provides a readily available approach to automatically categorise content derived from word associations studies, or indeed, any text-based content. In contrast, financial investment in non-validated branding and destination marketing campaigns appear to be increasingly problematic. Advances were made in testing an approach to interpreting word associations through the lens of linguistic and situated simulation (LASS) theory to provide deeper analysis to both categorise and interpret consumers' perception. Traditional approaches to tourism marketing and destination branding rarely provide such a level of analytical appraisal. The analysis presented in this paper challenges the orthodoxy and validity of investment in brand and destination marketing at a city level and the potential for word association tasks to be used as a valuable alternative method to create more effective destination marketing and branding.

Exploring the brand personalities of Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn

For decades, marketers have applied brand personality to brands and organisations in order to facilitate relationships with consumers. This phenomenon has been studied across different product categories and industries however; it has not been reported for social media brands. Aaker's brand personality scale (BPS), rooted in the big five personality theory, has been the preferred measurement for most studies on brand personality. This research assessed the structure of the BPS across different samples on three social media platforms - Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. The findings indicate that social media brand personalities do not follow the original structure of the BPS.

An empirical comparison of two brand personality scales: Evidence from India

Aaker's (1997) brand personality scale has been widely used to measure the personality of brands. However, studies also show that Aaker's brand personality dimensions are not stable across cultures. In pursuance of this issue, we examine the structure of brand personality dimensions in India. This research presents the results of two studies conducted to develop a brand personality scale in Indian context, and to make an empirical comparison between Indian brand personality scale and Aaker's brand personality scale. Results reveal that brand personality in India can be described in six dimensions: sophistication, excitement, popularity, competence, trendiness and integrity. The findings empirically support the reliability and validity of the scale developed. The results also reveal that Indian brand personality scale is a suitable alternative to Aaker's brand personality scale in Indian context.

Political Brands: Can Parties Be Distinguished by Their Online Brand Personality?

This paper investigates whether five English political parties are differentiating themselves based on the brand personality they are communicating through their websites. The relative brand positions of five English political parties are analyzed using Aaker's brand personality scale. The text from each party website is analyzed using content analysis and a dictionary-based tool. The results are plotted in relation to one another on a correspondence analysis map. We find that the two main dimensions on which parties’ brand personalities differ relate to the trade-offs between communicating competence and communicating sincerity and between communicating sophistication and communicating ruggedness. We find that parties’ brand personalities are distinctive, with the exception of the Green Party, and that the position of one party, the United Kingdom Independence Party, is particularly distinctive. Our research uses Aaker's existing framework for thinking about brand personalities, rather than creating a new framework for politics. By using an existing framework, we are able to use tools developed in other disciplines and show their usefulness for the study of political marketing.

Private label personality: applying brand personality to private label brands

Private label brands (PLBs) are an important facet of the retail offering within the supermarket sector. Although research has focused on the risk factors of private label purchasing, there has been little research that explores the brand management of private labels including the development of a brand personality. In this study, we investigate how the Aaker brand personality scale applies to a PLB available in two different retail chains and examine its effect on customer attitudes towards private label quality. A factor analysis of these brand personality measurement items shows that five dimensions, confidence (a new dimension), sincerity, ruggedness, excitement and competence are relevant for PLBs. Although much of the original Aaker scale was included in the analysis, one factor, sophistication, was not evident. A regression analysis shows that all private label personality dimensions influenced the private label quality measure with the confidence and sincerity dimensions having the greatest impact.

Desirable Traits of the City Brand Personality in the Opinion of Managers for the Promotion of the City Government in Poland

The main aim of this article is to identify the desired features of the brand personality of the city as well as to capture the differences between the cities in terms of the desired personality. To achieve these objectives the J. Aaker's brand personality scale was used and extended. In addition the results of previous studies aimed at adapting the concept of brand personality to the idea of city branding were discussed and verified. The study was based on a survey conducted on a sample of small and medium-sized cities in Poland. Conclusions from the research might be useful in the development of a tool for comparing or testing the efficiency of branding activities of municipal governments.

South Korea's Medical Tourism Destination Brand Personality and the Influence of Personal Values

Adopting Aaker's brand personality scale, this study aimed to determine South Korea's medical tourism destination personality. Based on a survey of US consumers, the results indicate that South Korea's medical tourism destination personality comprised three dimensions: sincerity, competence, and ruggedness. Furthermore, sincerity and competence positively influenced consumers' willingness to travel to South Korea for medical care. This study also found that personal values, in particular excitement, self-respect, sense of belonging, and being well respected, were significant positive predictors of South Korea's medical tourism destination personality. Marketing implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered. This study serves as a starting point for further research on medical tourism destination brand personality.

Destination Brand Personality: An Application to Spanish Tourism

AbstractIn the current economic climate, destinations increasingly attempt to differentiate themselves. Brand personality (BP) is a useful tool for understanding differentiation in terms of identity and image perceptions. The authors are unaware of any prior study that develops and analyses to what extent Jennifer Aaker's BP scale is reliable and valid in destination branding.This paper studies UK visitors to two specific Spanish destinations: Granada and Torremolinos. The study concludes that the BP model is second‐order. The results help to more adequately establish the personality trait dimensions that create favourable evaluations of tourism destinations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Brand Measurement Scales and Underlying Cognitive Dimensions

The aim of this exploratory research is to compare a well-known scale, the Aaker brand personality scale, with an empirical scale based on individuals' relevant attributes, in order to analyse why they can lead to similar brand positioning maps. We provide empirical evidence of how a bias can overwrite the ability of a measurement scale to actually measure its underlying construct. In order to do so, we first find that the two sets of attributes – one derived from the brand personality scale, the other reflecting attributes obtained through a focus group – span common cognitive representations when translated into perceptual maps. We then prove that this outcome is caused by a bias stemming from a more holistic view of the brand, which forces the two cognitive structures towards a common perceptual representation. We conclude discussing the challenges for current theory implicit in our findings, and the implications for managerial practice.

Psychometric comparability of brand personality scale: assessing brand personality matching between sports and corporate sponsors by using the congenerity test

This empirical study examines the psychometric comparability of Aaker's Brand Personality Scale (Aaker, 1997) in sponsorship matching. It employs a structural validation protocol - the congenerity test (Ohanion, 1990) - to investigate the extent to which sports events and sponsors can be psychometrically matched. The results show that sports events and sponsors are comparable only in terms of limited numbers of the dimensions of the a priori scale. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Measurement and Validity of Jennifer Aaker's Brand Personality Scale for Colgate Brand

Brand differentiation is now becoming an important tactic for combating competition in the hostile marketplace. A viable solution for establishing the distinctiveness of a brand is through brand personality. Attaching personalities to brands contributes to a differentiating brand identity, which can make brands more desirable to the consumer. Jennifer Aaker developed a specialized brand personality scale, the five dimensions of the scale being sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. This study focused on measuring the brand personality of Colgate brand and exploring the model validity of Jennifer Aaker's Brand Personality scale. The study indicated that: About 93 per cent of the respondents used toothpaste and toothbrush among the oral care products. About 55 per cent of the respondents used only Colgate brand and about 39 per cent used Close-up and Pepsodent together with Colgate brand. 61 per cent of the respondents who were using only Colgate brand were using the brand for more than three years which indicates that most of the respondents had an understanding about the Colgate brand. Most of the respondents who were using more than one brand have indicated that they switch among the brands once in three months or once in more than six months. About 53 per cent of the respondents have indicated that they prefer Colgate dental cream among Colgate paste brands and 35 per cent Colgate Cibaca top among Colgate toothbrush brands. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that ruggedness, competence, and excitement are the main dimensions of Colgate Brand Personality. This shows that the company should stress more on its functional benefits than the emotional benefits whenever the company introduces a new brand, new ad campaign or any other form of communication with the user. The items—trendy, exciting, and young—under Exciting Dimension are more relevant for the Colgate brand and the items—cool, contemporary and imaginative—are not applicable to the Colgate brand. This will be a major finding for the company and ad agency because they can improve the score in this dimension by concentrating on the creativity and contemporariness of its advertisements and other promotional materials. Also, the items—confident, secure, and hardworking—under Competence Dimension are more relevant for the Colgate Brand and the item—successful—is not applicable to the Colgate brand. This finding will be an eye opener for the company A validity check of the scale using Factor Analysis was carried out which indicates that the number of dimensions of Brand Personality is 13 and that about 10 items of Jennifer Aaker—s Brand Personality scale are not applicable in the Indian situation. The applicability of this scale in the Indian situation was not checked because it required an exploratory study to identify the dimensions of Brand Personality in the Indian situation. Hence, identifying the Indian Brand Personality construct can be undertaken by future researchers.

Corporate‐slogans of corporations operating in Greater China

PurposeThis paper aims to identify between polity similarities and differences of “brand‐personality traits” projected by corporate‐slogans of corporations operating in Greater China (CGCs) to see if Greater China is a cultural unit, and to examine CGC bilingual corporate‐slogans to see if patterns are in evidence and if certain ways of crafting the slogans are more effective.Design/methodology/approachCorporate‐slogans are collected from web sites of major CGCs. The sample is analysed using Aaker's Brand Personality Scale and relevant rhetorical concepts.FindingsThe sample shares more commonalities than differences, suggesting Great China is a cultural unit; and the majority of the slogans are crafted by direct translation and parallel drafting, and the latter is deemed more effective.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a heuristic and hypothesis‐generating study and is entirely based on linguistic data. Studies with an empirical design are required to see if the findings have psychological validity.Practical implicationsIf Greater China is a cultural unit, it should have bearing on corporate‐communication professionals in CGCs in terms of the adoption of corporate‐slogans, corporate names and artefacts related to corporate identity and image.Originality/valueHitherto studies of corporate‐slogans are mostly based on corporations operating in the West. This is the first study of CGC corporate‐slogans that cover four polities that succeeds in identifying patterns in methods of bilingual corporate‐slogan crafting and in “brand‐personality traits” projected by these slogans. The latter indicates that CGCs are operating not simply in a region, but in a cultural region.

Building foreign brand personalities in Russia: the moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism

Based on a survey of Western brands in Russia, three contributions are offered to the literature on international brand-building. First, the Aaker brand personality scale (Aaker 1997) was tested in a Russian context. Important similarities and differences between Western and Russian brand personality perceptions were identified. Second, the results show that brand personalities of Western brands also have an impact on brand attitudes among Russian consumers. Third, and most importantly, it is demonstrated that the effect of Western brand personalities is heavily moderated by consumer ethnocentrism. Specifically, only low-ethnocentric consumers are influenced by foreign brand personalities.

The Brand-Personality Scale

A study of a convenience sample of 247 students at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration measured the extent to which respondents differentiated among the personalities of nine restaurants in three segments (quick service, casual dining, and upscale). The study was based on Jennifer L. Aaker's brand-personality scale, which posits five overall personality dimensions comprising 42 traits. The overall dimensions are competence, sincerity, excitement, sophistication, and ruggedness. Respondents rated each of the nine restaurants on Aaker's 42 traits. On balance, the students did not perceive large differences among the restaurants' overall personalities, although certain restaurants were seen as distinctive on individual dimensions. For instance, McDonald's was seen as being more competent and exciting than either Burger King or Wendy's. Chili's was rated as the most rugged of the three casual-dining restaurants, while TGI Friday's was considered to be more exciting than Chili's or Applebee's. Ironically, the students reported the least personality differentiation among the upscale restaurants (all local establishments), even though the chef's or owner's personality usually informs such restaurants. Overall, upscale restaurants were perceived to be more sophisticated than the casual-dining or QSR outlets, while the casual-dining restaurants were seen as more sincere.