Beyond Brand Personality: Building Consumer–Brand Emotional Relationship

Abstract

This research aims to study the relationships between brand personality and commitment towards brands. More specifically, the study objective is to determine whether brand personality is the antecedent of brand love, and then, if brand love has an impact on affective commitment to the brand. The methodology used is purely quantitative involving a sample of 210 respondents who were asked to indicate their perception about brand love, brand personality and emotional commitment towards seven global brands which enjoy string awareness with the target sample: Coca-Cola, Converse, Hello Kitty, Nina Ricci, Nutella, PlayStation and Starbucks. Measurement scales were adopted from the literature related to the concept of brand personality and its subsequent relation with two major emotional factors: love and commitment. Results show significant relationships between the agreeableness dimension of brand personality and brand love. The significance and magnitude of these relationships vary across the brands. Results also demonstrate an impact of brand love on emotional commitment to the brand for the overall research model but not for each brand studied separately. This article has relevant managerial implications since it demonstrates that the nature and the strength of the relationship that consumers hold with brands, is directly affected by brand personality. Thus, the current study will help marketers to understand the need of having agreeable brands when companies thrive to create love and affective commitment to their brands. This can be used in developing positioning strategies for the brands.