Brand Assessment

Research in Progress | October 2022

Introduction

This Brand Personality Evaluator is an assessment that helps brands capture the perception of its personality by their target group. The BP evaluator is based on rigorous academic research, mainly on the published work of Aaker (1997) which has been adapted based on more recent findings by a multitude of reputable researchers in psychology and marketing. The presentation of an analyzed brand's personality characteristics is plain and clear - and provides an excellent basis for further brand and advertising strategy development.

What does the Brand Personality Evaluator measure?

The Brand Personality Evaluator measures the perception of a brand personality of an individually composed consumer panel on forty items. Those forty items are concentrated to four dimensions to portray the evaluated brand personality clearly and explicitly. Brand personality as known to consumers The BP evaluator allows to capture the personality of a brand as the brand is perceived by the panel. e.g., by consulting the panel about their perception of the brand as they know it. Impact of brand campaigns on brand personality A/B evaluations allow to assess a brand's personality before and after a brand campaign is conducted to identify changes and developments. Longitudinal evaluations assess a brand's personality over time. Impact of branding items on brand personality By presenting the panel specific branding materials, e.g. a potential new claim or a particular design of an advertising campaign, we can assess if these campaigns result in the brand perception intended. Again, A/B evaluations allow to measure changes of brand perception by the target group.

˄ Potential celebrity endorsement campaign featuring Justin Timberlake. How would such a campaign impact Omega's brand personality as perceived by watch enthusiasts?

Result Presentation

The forty defined attributes describing a brand's personality which the panel is asked to assess are summarized into the four dimensions Excitement, Sincerity, Competence, and Sophistication. These four dimensions have been proven to be valid concepts to depict a brand's personality. Values of individual attributes loading on these dimensions may also be presented to detail nuances of the brand's personality. Cronbach's alphas are calculated and provided for each dimension to evaluate the levels of internal reliability of the scale.

Methodology

The characteristics (items) and scales (dimensions) as well as the questionnaire itself are based on rigorous research conducted by leading researchers in branding and psychology. Most importantly to mention is the seminal work on brand personality by Jennifer Aaker, published in Journal of Marketing Research. Moreover, findings of later studies are included that investigate different cultural contexts, use different panels, further detailing the concept of brand personality, or come to different conclusions. Most relevant studies for the development of the Brand Personality Evaluator:

Aaker, J. L. (1997). Dimensions of Brand Personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34(3), 347–356.

Austin, Jon. R. , Judy A. Siguaw & Anna S. Mattila (2003) A re-examination of the generalizability of the Aaker brand personality measurement framework, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 11:2, 77-92.

Davies, G., José I. Rojas-Méndez, Susan Whelan, Melisa Mete, Theresa Loo, (2018). Brand Personality: Theory and Dimensionality, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 27 Issue: 2, pp.115-127. Davies, Gary, Chun, R., da Silva, R. et al. (2001). The Personification Metaphor as a Measurement Approach for Corporate Reputation. Corp Reputation Rev, 4, 113–127.

Eisend, Martin and Stokburger-Sauer, Nicola (2013). Measurement Characteristics of Aaker’s Brand Personality Dimensions: Lessons to be Learned from Human Personality Research. Psychology & Marketing. Vol. 30(11): 950–958. Geuens, Maggie, Bert Weijters, Kristof De Wulf (2009). A New Measure of Brand Personality. International Journal of Research in Marketing, Volume 26, Issue 2, 97-107. Kaplan, Melike, Oznur Yurt, Burcu Guneri, Kemal Kurtulus, (2010). Branding Places: Applying Brand Personality Concept to Cities. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 44 Issue: 9/10, 286-1304. Rojas-Méndez, J., Erenchun-Podlech, I. & Silva-Olave, E. (2004). The Ford Brand Personality in Chile. Corp Reputation Rev 7, 232–251.