Brand Personality Mapping (Contd.)

Let me continue from where I left: Aaker’s Five Factor Theory of Brand Personality. As I said, the five factors are:

• Sincerity (Down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful)
• Excitement (Daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date)
• Competence (Reliable, intelligent, successful)
• Sophistication (Upper-class, charming)
• Ruggedness (Outdoorsy, tough)

To illustrate what is meant by these, I will compare the pairs of competing brands belonging to the same product category (for familiarity sake I have chosen brands present in India). While traditionally Aaker uses a five point scale, for the same of simplicity, I will use a 3-level Likert scale. For a positive correlation with the factor, I give a score of 1, a negative one -1 and when not relevant, 0.

Sprite & Mountain Dew (For ease of understanding how I have arrived at these scores, think with reference to Sprite’s ‘Sprite Bujhaye Pyaas, Baaki Sab Bakwas’ ads and Mountain Dew’s ‘Dew Dudes’ ads)

Factor/Sub Factor Sprite Mountain Dew

Sincerity

Down-to-Earth 0 0

Honest 1 0

Wholesome 0 0

Cheerful 1 0

Excitement

Daring 0 1

Spirited 1 1

Imaginative 0 1

Up-to-Date 0 0

Competence

Reliable 0 0

Intelligent 1 0

Successful 0 1

Sophistication

Upper-class 1 1

Charming 1 1

Ruggedness

Outdoorsy 0 1

Tough 0 1

One could thus conclude that while Sprite is a sincere brand, Mountain Dew is about excitement and ruggedness

Bingo & Kurkure (Again, picture Bingo’s ads with those of Kurkure’s Juhi Chawla ones)

Factor/Sub Factor Bingo Kurkure

Sincerity

Down-to-Earth 1 0

Honest 0 1

Wholesome 0 0

Cheerful 0 1

Excitement

Daring 0 0

Spirited 1 1

Imaginative 1 0

Up-to-Date 0 0

Competence

Reliable 0 0

Intelligent -1 0

Successful 0 0

Sophistication

Upper-class -1 1

Charming -1 1

Ruggedness

Outdoorsy 0 0

Tough 0 0

So while Bingo heralds excitement and disdain for sophistication, Kurkure is more about sincerity and sophistication.

Airtel & Vodafone (Picture Airtel’s many celebrity laden ads with, say, BSNL’s ad featuring Deepika Padkone)

Factor/Sub Factor Airtel BSNL

Sincerity

Down-to-Earth 0 1

Honest 1 1

Wholesome 0 0

Cheerful 0 1

Excitement

Daring 0 0

Spirited 1 0

Imaginative 1 0

Up-to-Date 0 0

Competence

Reliable 0 1

Intelligent 1 0

Successful 1 0

Sophistication

Upper-class 1 -1

Charming 1 0

Ruggedness

Outdoorsy 0 1

Tough 1 0

So while Airtel is about excitement, competence and sophistication, BSNL focuses on sincerity and a rural feel.

The brand personality of any brand can be evaluated using Aaker’s Model in this way. An interesting case (which I leave to the readers) would be measuring the brand personality of Raymond Suitings – a brand which over the years has mastered its personality of being sincere, exciting, competent, sophisticated and rugged all at the same time! The Complete Man indeed :).