A STUDY ON MODELING THE BRAND PERSONALITY AND TESTING THE PERSONALITY CONGRUENCE BETWEEN AUTOMOBILE BRANDS AND THEIR CONSUMERS IN INDIA

Brand Personality, which is defined as the personality attributes associated with the brands, forms the core of the symbolic benefits associated with the brands. Marketers use the personality attributes of a brand to obtain a differential position in the minds of the consumers. Although theoretical studies have illustrated the construction of brand personality, and also identified important constructing factors of brand personality, empirical validation of the theories and the constructing components was not done. Identification of the relative importance of the constructing components across different brands was also not empirically identified. Moreover, although much is said about the importance of the personality congruence between brands and their consumers, a little significant contribution is observed to measure personality congruence. In this research work, an attempt has been made to create a model of brand personality, under the light of previous theoretical studies in the field. A methodology is also developed to empirically justify the relevance of the theoretical construct. The relative importance of the constructing components of both brand and consumers’ personality is also measured across different brands of automobiles in Indian market. A methodology is also developed to empirically measure the personality congruence between brands and their consumers across different demographic segment and across different levels of brand personality constructing components