Brand Identity Essay

In 1960, the American Marketing Association defined a brand as “a name, term, design, symbol, (or a combination of them), intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from competitors” (American Marketing Association, 1960 cited by Maurya and Mishra, 2012). Modern academics have since evolved and expanded this definition to include “a product, service or organisation, considered in combination with its name, its identity and its reputation” (Anholt, 2007, pg. 4). Regardless of its academic or practical definition, marketers and researchers agree that branding is a multifaceted concept defined by the consumer. A brand embodies the attributes of its products and develops its own unique

As a result, several scales have emerged in recent years to quantify and measure what constitutes a brand identity. In her research on brand personality, Aaker (1997) constructed a five-dimensional framework to measure why specific personality traits were attributed to brands. Her study invited participants to carefully rate 37 brands from various categories based on 114 unique personality traits. Her research demonstrated that each core dimension correlates to a specific trait, facet or adjective in simple terms, associated with the brand. (1) Sincerity is characterised as down-to-earth, honest, wholesome and cheerful, (2) excitement is described as daring, spirited, imaginative and up-to-date, (3) competence reflected characteristics such as reliable, intelligent and successful, (4) sophistication is described as upper-class and charming, and finally (5) ruggedness with traits such as outdoorsy and tough. An exciting brand, such as Nike for example, might be described as spirited, daring or up-to-date, which reflects its product offering in the mind of the consumer and thus defines its brand personality.

“Brand personality forms just a small part of the overall brand construct” (Azoulay and Kapferer, 2003). Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism (figure 1) describes brand identity as an amalgamation of six different facets which form the foundation of the brand. Each facet describes what makes a brand different or distinctive to the consumer or person targeted and often determines its overall