Brand personality has an important role in clarifying relationships between consumers and brands. Character traits originated from archetypes represent an important set of brand personality characteristics. The use of archetypes is gaining in importance in brand management, since archetypes can be used to define brand essence and what the brand stands for, and thus develops a more authentic relationship with consumers. However, the literature review opens the question of whether companies build their brands using archetypes, and whether they determine brand personality and character based on these archetypes. The thesis, therefore, puts its focus on answering the research question: what the brand character should be like so that consumers would feel personally connected to it. To answer the question, the theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the overview of relevant theoretical contributions and studies on brand identity, image and personality, archetypes, and influences on relationships between consumers and brands. The theoretical part concludes with a model that assumes relevant influences of the perceived brand character on consumers' personal relationships with brands. The empirical study verifies the assumptions based on own quantitative research conducted on four competing retail brands on Slovenian market; the study is conducted on a sample of 185 consumers. The results show that consumers recognise brand character and that all three predicted brand character traits – perceived consistency, uniqueness and congruity with consumer's character – affect personal relationship of consumers with the brand.
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