Brand Personality Perceptions Research Articles

Neurotourism Insights: Eye Tracking and Galvanic Analysis of Tourism Destination Brand Logos and AI Visuals

This pioneering study explores the intersection between Neurotourism, defined as the integration of neurosciences in tourism, and the perception of tourism Brand Personality (BP) through the advanced use of psychophysiology techniques, specifically Eye-Tracking (ET) and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). It analyses how tourism destination brand logos/combination marks and images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) influence consumer attention and emotional response. Focusing on the five dimensions of BP proposed by Aaker (1997) - sincerity, excitement, sophistication, competence, and ruggedness - this study highlights significant differences in how men and women process and react to brand values associated with specific cities. Employing a rigorous methodological approach and the application of non-parametric statistical analyses, the findings reveal distinct patterns of visual attention and emotional responses across genders, emphasising the importance of considering BP in the marketing and design of tourism destination brand logos/combination marks. This work not only advances theoretical understanding of tourist consumer behaviour but also offers relevant practical implications for tourism marketing and destination management.

Promotion Hurts Brand Personality and Consumer Responses

This study investigates the impact of promotional offers on consumer perceptions of brand personality and their subsequent behavioral intentions. Research employs a between-subjects design with two conditions: exposure to an advertisement with a promotional offer versus no offer. The results reveal that promotional offers significantly affect perceptions of several brand personality traits, notably reducing the perception of traits such as 'spirited', 'outdoorsy', and 'upper class'. Moreover, the study examines how individual differences in consumer price sensitivity and brand affinity moderate these effects, indicating that the impact of promotional offers varies across different consumer segments. Mediation analyses further demonstrate that the perceived changes in brand personality traits due to promotional offers significantly mediate the relationship between advertising conditions and consumer responses, such as willingness to pay a premium and likelihood of visiting the brand's retail outlets. These findings suggest that promotional offers can alter consumer perceptions of brand personality. This study provides essential insights for marketers on how promotional strategies can be optimized to influence consumer attitudes and behaviors effectively, offering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between promotional offers, brand personality perception, and consumer behavior.

Unveiling the digital persona image: the influence of social media on political candidates’ brand personality and voter behaviour in Kuwait

The research paper examined the interplay between social media, brand personality, and voter behaviour in Kuwait’s unique political environment. The study applied the Aaker model of brand personality to investigate how social media shapes the brand personality of political candidates, how voters perceive this brand personality, and the impact it has on their behaviour. Further, it explored the role of tribal and religious affiliations in shaping the perceived brand personality of candidates and their implications for election campaign strategies. Through a quantitative research design, data was collected from 363 Kuwaiti voters using a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed the significant influence of social media on voter behaviour, as well as the relevance of the Aaker model in the political context of Kuwait. The study uncovered the connection between voter demographics and preferences, highlighting the impact of socio-cultural factors on voter behaviour. The implications drawn from these findings provide valuable insights for election campaign strategies in Kuwait’s digitalised political environment.

Brand building and relationships between marketing communication perceptions and brand personality of the Bangsaen 42 Chonburi Marathon running event

The Bangsaen 42 Chonburi Marathon is the most attended full-marathon event in Thailand and a high-standard running event classified as the World Athletics Elite Label Road Race. The increase in runners reflected the response from both regular and new runners. This mixed methods study aimed to analyze branding processes, marketing communication perceptions, brand personality, and the relationships between perceptions of marketing communication and brand personality. The qualitative approach involved in-depth interviews with three key informants. A quantitative approach was applied to the questionnaire. The sample included 400 runners who participated in this event using nonprobability sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation statistics, with a significance level of 0.05. The results showed three brand-building processes: 1) strategic brand analysis of runners’ needs, organizing marathon running events in Thailand, and self-analysis; 2) brand identity system under the only marathon running event in Thailand with world-class standards under the concept of “The passion of world-class marathon” and brand value of “You will run a full marathon with world-class standard;” 3) brand identity implementation systems through various media to demonstrate sound management. This sample group perceived marketing communication at a moderate level, and the perceptions of brand personality of the marathon met the competence the most. The relationships between marketing communication and perceptions of sincerity were positively correlated, with a correlation coefficient of 0.46 and a statistical significance of 0.05. AcknowledgmentA research grant from the Faculty of Sport Science, Burapha University supports this study.

Do People Perceive Products Differently when Buying for Self Versus for Others? Malleable Brand Personality in Gifting

According to social identity theory, people behave differently in a social context than when they are by themselves because of social identity salience. Like people, brand personality changes depending on situations and context. There is lack of research investigating identity salience within the context of gifting and its subsequent impact on the perceived brand personality of a gift in different gifting situations. This paper proposes that in gifting situations of others, a social identity is activated which leads to change in the perceived brand personality of the same product purchased for self-gifting. Within the Japanese context, the hypothesis states that the excitement of brand personality dimension is more prominent in self-gifting than in gifting others, while competence and sincerity brand personalities are more prominent in gifting others than in self-gifting scenarios. To test these hypotheses, thirty-six brand personality traits (Aaker et al., 2001) of eight brands were evaluated by 251 respondents in Japan. Factor analysis and multiple regression results support the main hypotheses. The paper concludes with managerial implications and future research directions.

The challenge of integrating “intelligent” technologies in luxury shopping contexts: The role of brand personality appeal and consumers’ status consumption orientation

Current opportunities enabled by combining the Internet of Things and the Artificial Intelligence may allow marketers and managers to completely redesign shopping environments by integrating new interactive technologies in shopping environments. However, luxury brands have been typically skeptical to the implementation of technology, because of its conceptual contrast with the ideas of craftsmanship and human touch. To advance knowledge on the potential role of advanced technologies in the context of luxury, this study investigates the effect luxury shopping environment level of intelligence (low vs. high), in the shopping context of a luxury brand, on consumers' perceived personality appeal and, therefore, on their intention to buy. Additionally, this study sheds light on the moderating role of consumers' status consumption orientation, that is a relevant consumer-related characteristic in field of luxury consumption. Results of two experiments, conducted with international participants recruited online, where the level of technological intelligence is manipulated through Voice Assistants (Study 1) and Smart Mirrors (Study 2), show that the high (vs. low) luxury shopping environment's intelligence level positively affects consumers' willingness to buy through the effect of their perceived brand personality appeal. Moreover, this effect is moderated by consumers' status consumption orientation. Theoretical implications are discussed, together with managerial implications useful for effectively manage advanced technologies in luxury shopping environments.

A Computer Vision Methodology to Predict Brand Personality from Image Features

Using the computer vision method, this study proposes an analytical model of visual aesthetics for brand communication and analyzes the effects of visual features (i.e., colors and visual complexity) on brand personality. This study illustrates a four-step procedure correlating computationally coded visual attributes with human ratings of perceived brand personality. This study has important methodological implications for advertising researchers and practitioners.

Investigating the Relationship between Brand Personality, Consumer Personality, and Consumer Satisfaction: An Empirical Research on Chinese Cell Phone Consumers

This study aims to determine the relationships between brand personality, consumer personality, and consumer satisfaction in the cell phone industry in China. This study measured consumers perceived brand personality (competence, traditionalism, excitement, joyfulness, sophistication, and trendiness), their own personality (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism), and consumers satisfaction. Regression analysis was applied to analyze the relationship between brand personality, consumer personality, and consumer satisfaction. Results showed that brand personality competence, traditionalism, excitement were positively influenced by consumer personality conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion, and brand personality joyfulness was negatively influenced by consumer personality neuroticism. Also, results showed that consumer personality conscientiousness has positive influence on consumer satisfaction, whereas openness has a negative influence on consumer satisfaction. Further, consumer satisfaction is positively related to brand personality competence, traditionalism, and joyfulness. Implications and limitations were discussed.

A Study on Measuring Turkey’s Brand Personality Perception and Its Impacts on Destination Image

A Study on Measuring Turkey’s Brand Personality Perception and Its Impacts on Destination Image

The Sound of Music: The Effect of Timbral Sound Quality in Audio Logos on Brand Personality Perception

This research aims to advance the understanding of audio branding by investigating the effect of an understudied auditory attribute, timbre, in the context of brand audio logos. Specifically, the authors propose, and provide evidence in ten studies, that timbral sound quality in audio logos (i.e., roughness/smoothness) informs abstract judgments of brand personality (i.e., ruggedness/sophistication). Study 1 shows that the industry practice of altering instrumentation, and thus timbre, in audio logos can change personality perceptions of even well-known brands. This effect persists when the sound source is kept constant with various instruments (Studies 2a–2d), with a combination of instruments (Study 3), and in the absence of an identifiable sound source (Study 4). The authors test specific acoustic underpinnings of timbral sound quality perceptions (Study 4) and show that the effect on brand personality judgments is counteracted by incongruent sensory information from another modality (Study 5). The results of Study 6 suggest that the influence of timbral sound quality on brand personality perceptions is nonconscious, as consumers are unaware of the extent to which the stimulus affects their judgments. Study 7 shows downstream consequences for purchase intentions. Practical implications, theoretical contributions, and directions for future research are discussed.

The visual naturalness effect: Impact of natural logos on brand personality perception

AbstractA logo is a critical visual element that uniquely identifies a brand and can affect consumers' brand perceptions. Naturalness reflects the degree to which a sign depicts objects from the natural and sensitive world. The logo strategy literature identifies naturalness as a universal and critical design dimension influencing consumers' cognitive, affective and behavioural reactions. In practice, both high and low natural logos are frequently used by brands. However, the current understanding of the effects of logo naturalness is limited. This research thus investigates the influence of natural logos on consumer perceptions of brand personality. The data were collected in four experiments using a set of 10 manipulated logos as stimuli. Our results suggest that high (vs. low) natural logos positively affect the perception of brand sincerity personality and that this effect occurs because high natural logos are easier to process and elicit stronger impressions of authenticity. Moreover, we demonstrate that the positive effect of logo naturalness is enhanced among brands with products made from natural‐made (vs. human‐made) ingredients. These findings therefore suggest that brands should avoid using low natural logos if their sincerity perception is critical or if most of their products contain high levels of natural ingredients. Hence, our results reinforce the visual design and branding theories and offer marketing practitioners actionable insights.

The logo ‘visual thickness effect’: When and why it boosts brand personality

AbstractAlthough the literature suggests that logos impart symbolic meanings via visual elements that influence consumers' early evaluation of brands, few such elements have been studied, with others (e.g., logo thickness) awaiting scholarly investigation. According to the literature, visual thickness seems to influence perception of power and consumers' consequent judgments. This research tests and theorises the influence of the logo visual thickness effect on consumer behaviour. Results of five studies employing more than 4000 MTurk participants and 20 fictitious logos suggest that thick logos boost perception of brand personality mediated by a pronounced perception of brand power. In addition, the logo‐thickness‐induced perception of brand power is negatively moderated by consumers' level of perceived power of the self. Further, the perception of brand power induced by logo thickness is moderated by consumers' level of visuospatial sketchpad, meaning that people with high (vs. low) visuospatial sketchpad can cancel out the extraneous influence of logo thickness while evaluating the underlying brand, once the stimulus magnitude hits the salience threshold. Theoretical and managerial implications are accordingly provided.

The university brand as a factor in attracting applicants

Introduction. Today, the competition in educational market is increasing. A wide range of online courses with a simultaneous tendency decrease the interest of school­children in higher education. This aggravates the competition of universities for the attraction of talented applicants. One of the factors, allowing the university to get an advantage when a student chooses a place of study is a recognisable brand, which includes a certain set of asso­ciations and characteristics perceived by the students, defined as a brand personality.Aim. The present research aims to identify the factors of the brand personality of Rus­sian universities and to develop a brand personality model as a tool for its evaluation.Methodology and research methods. The research was conducted among students and their parents; 414 people took part at different research stages. A free association test was used to determine a set of characteristics describing the brand personality of Russian universities. Using the results, a list of 22 traits describing the university as a “person” was generated through comparative and content analysis. The development of the brand personality model of Russian universities was carried out on the basis of mathematical and statistical methods.Results. The effectiveness of the developed model for assessing the brand personality of Russian universities, which can be used to attract applicants, has been proved using the meth­ods of mathematical statistics. The methodology for assessing brand individuality was adapted on the example of a pedagogical university. This methodology is a tool for assessing brand personality, which allows comparing, and classifying different universities and getting feedback on the university brand perception by potential applicants. The paper shows the difference of traits characterising Russian and foreign universities. The differences between these groups in the perception of brand personality have been highlighted based on the comparison of stu­dents’ and their parents’ brand perception. It is proved that the concept of brand personality can significantly supplement the official measured parameters of university brand success. It is shown that the developed model can be used for communication with applicants, it allows to see the differences of one university from another, translates the values of the university, forms its vision of the target audience.Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study is in the fact that the difference in the applicants' and parents' perceptions of the characteristics of Russian universities in comparison with foreign universities is confirmed. The brand personality model of Russian universities has 20 characteristics united in 4 factors: serious, kind, young, and bright. The developed model allowed the authors to compare and classify universities.Practical significance. The developed model of the brand personality of Russian univer­sities and the adapted methodology of its assessment can be used by universities to obtain feedback, to compare the characteristics of the brand by its developers and features of its perception by the target audience, as well as to compare themselves with competitors. This, in turn, will make it possible to develop marketing strategy for attracting talented applicants.

Exploring the relationship between tourists’ emotional experience, destination personality perception, satisfaction and behavioral intentions

The relationship between tourists? emotional experience and perception of destination brand personality, has not been empirically explored before. Moreover, there is a literature gap in understanding how emotional experience, destination personality, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intentions, interact together in one model. Based on this, the principal aim of this study is to analyze how tourists? emotional experience affects the perception of destination personality traits, as well as how these two constructs relate to tourists? satisfaction and behavioral intentions. In order to explore this, the survey was conducted on a sample of 203 domestic and international tourists, who have visited the city of Novi Sad, while Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to test the hypothesized model. The results confirmed the positive role of emotional experience in shaping destination personality and destination satisfaction. Destination satisfaction and certain personality traits positively predicted behavioral intentions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in the paper.

The influence of sound logo instruments on brand personality perceptions: An investigation of brand ruggedness and sophistication

Marketing relies heavily on auditory information—from background music in commercials to jingles and sound logos. One attribute of auditory information is timbre, which describes the identity of a sound source (an instrument, voices, etc.). Extensive literature investigating effects of timbre outside of marketing contexts shows that different instruments convey different emotions, personalities, and identities, yet marketing literature is silent on consumers’ responses to different instruments in marketing communications. We close this gap by studying the effect of a sound logo’s instrumentation on perceptions of brand personality. Through four studies and three pretests we show that a) the instrument used in a brand’s sound logo influences the brand’s personality perceptions (specifically perceived sophistication and ruggedness); b) these influences are due to visceral and conceptual effects of instrumentation; and c) a sound logo’s instrument is just as influential as a visual logo’s design on brand personality perceptions.

Effects of Logo Design toward Brand Personality Perception: A Study of Logo Elements in Real Estate Business

The topics of logo design perceptions have been examined among academic scholars recently. However, elements of logo as one aspect of logo designs were rarely studied and required to be investigated. This research aimed to measure the effects of logo elements comprising type font, graphic form, and color toward brand personality perceptions, as well as to explore the relationship between business stakeholders and brand personality. In addition, logo design meaning and brand personality traits including sincerity, excitement, security, and up to date were evaluated toward logo elements. Two hundred and sixty-five samples were selected using convenience sampling from employees and residents of Thai property developers. The mix method approach was employed for the data collecting through interviewing and questionnaire survey and analyzed by Chi-square tests. The findings reveal that logo design transfers all-inclusive meaning to viewers, encompassing name, graphic, and color interpretation. Besides, there is a connection between logo elements and perception of brand personality, but in order to obtain one salient dimension of brand personality, exhibiting the whole logo was suggested rather than individual element of logo. Furthermore, brand personality was considered vital among market sharing property industry which personality of sincerity was chiefly perceived when stakeholders appreciate a logo of their real estate brands.

The role of transactionality of mobile branded apps in brand experience and its impact on loyalty

Branded apps are gaining momentum in branding strategies, as they allow proximity to the customers and a great opportunity to engage and retain them. This paper aims to fill in the existing literature gap and investigate the role of transactionality in the effect of branded app experience on brand loyalty. A lab experiment compares fully transactional (i.e., commercial), semi-transactional (i.e., freemium), and non-transactional (free service-oriented) branded apps, while a field study focuses on the impact of a non-transactional branded app. The effect of branded app experience is explained via identification with the brand, satisfaction with the brand, and perceived brand personality. Results show that perceived and actual physical brand experience both improve brand satisfaction, perceived personality, and identification with the brand. Furthermore, the research highlights the importance of identification with the brand to explain the effects of brand experience on brand loyalty. The findings suggest that brand managers should seriously consider creating non-transactional (i.e., non-commercial) branded apps, because they encourage the creation of a stronger identification with the brand, satisfy customers, and increase customer loyalty toward the brand.

Predictors of Brand Equity in the Contemporary Markets

Brand equity development has become a challenge for modern brands. Marketing innovation and changing consumer value perceptions are causing consumers to leapfrog, posing a challenge for brand equity development. The data for this study was collected with random sampling techniques. 450 respondents were considered to collect data on the Likert scale questionnaire. The Partial Least Square (PLS) method of data analysis was used in this study for data analysis. According to the findings of the study, brand personality, customer satisfaction, consumer lifestyle, marketing innovation, and consumer changing value perception all have a significant impact on brand equity. The significant framework of this study is a contribution to the body of knowledge as it describes the significant relationship between different variables critical for brand equity development. Furthermore, this study provides business implications for brands working in Pakistan to improve brand equity with realistic results to influence the consumers for brand equity.

The Influence of Erotic Stimulation on Brand Preference of Male and Female Consumers: From the Perspective of Human Reproductive Motives.

Based on the theory of human reproductive motives, this study discusses how erotic stimulation can help activate male and female consumers’ reproductive motives (i.e., mate-attraction and mate-retention motives), influencing product purchase intention and brand personality perception. Specifically, the results of four experiments reveal that when a man receives erotic stimulation from women, his mate-attraction motive is activated. Consequently, he perceives that the brand personality of his possessions is more rugged, and his preference for products with a rugged brand personality is stronger. Unlike male consumers, when a heterosexual woman in an intimate romantic relationship receives erotic stimulation from other women, her mate-retention motive is activated. As a result, she perceives that the brand personality of her partner’s possessions is sincerer and prefers to purchase products with a sincere brand personality for her partner. This effect will not occur when a product is owned by her male colleague than her partner.

The face of the brand: Spokesperson facial width‐to‐height ratio predicts brand personality judgments

AbstractBrands often employ spokespersons to serve as the face of their organization and spokespersons characteristics can influence consumer behavior. We examined whether a subtle, appearance‐based aspect—facial width‐to‐height ratio (fWHR)—affects brand judgments. Specifically, we demonstrate that high (low) fWHR spokespersons are more effective for rugged (sincere) brands leading to more positive ad evaluations, greater brand liking, and higher purchase intensions. Across four experiments, we used across‐target and within‐individual manipulations of spokesperson fWHR to test our hypotheses and investigate the downstream implications for consumer preferences and purchasing intentions. We find that spokesperson fWHR influenced judgments of spokesperson effectiveness for different kinds of brands (Study 1); spokesperson fWHR impacts a brand's perceived personality (Study 2); and that congruency between spokespersons’ faces and brands’ personalities influence how much consumers like brands, their advertisements, and how willing they are to purchase advertised products (Studies 3–4). This study has implications for marketers and contributes to the brand personality and person perception literatures by demonstrating how subtle variations in spokespersons’ face structure can influence consumer judgments.