Relationship Building and Brand Personality

As brands evolve their personality, we tend to interact with them, and form a relationship with them, just as we do with human beings. This relationship can be understood by the attitudes and behaviours the consumers and brands display towards each other. There is a two-wayrelationship here-consumer’s perception and reaction to the brand and brand behavior and reaction to the consumer. The first dimension of consumer’s perception and reaction has been emphasised more by the researchers. But even the second dimension, i.e. brand’s behaviour is equally important.This duality once understood fully helps in developing appropriate brand strategy.

We illustrate this duality by an illustration. A teacher is perceived by a student as competent, caring and well-read individual who lectures effectively. It indicates a positive relationship. However,the perspective changes when we consider what the student thinks the teacher thinks about him. The student’s view is that the teacher regards him as irresponsible and mischievous. Whether the teacher really thinks so is not so important. The relationship depends on the student’s perception of the teacher’s attitude. It becomes an unpleasant relationship for the student, but this may not strike the teacher.

Brand managers may think that the consumers have a pleasant and positive relationship with the brand. But they have to take into account what the consumers think the brand’s thinking is about them. Brand managers should understand the consumer’s perception of the brand as the object of their attitudes, and should also learn about the subjective brand, with its own set of attitudes. This dual perspective is more realistic. The second perspective of the brand attitude is a matter of marketing research.

A dignified and exclusive charge card like American Express conveys to the consumer that I will put you in big league, and will make you recognised. It further conveys that you will be given a red carpet welcome everywhere. An out-of-the reach platinum card may have an intimidating personality and may convey to the consumer that I am too pricey for you to afford me, and you are free to opt for another card if you do not meet the eligibility criteria. Brand personality is the discriminator whereas the consumer segment is homogeneous.This greatly helps in developing the brand.