Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

Brand Personification and Consumer Personality: what is the relationship?
By Mike Bastin, Visiting Professor, China Agriculture University
This paper builds on previous work in the area of brand personality and personification by
investigating any possible relationship between the consumer‘s personality and their perception of brand personification.
The brand personality and personification literature is reviewed in full, revealing little research into the reasons or
causes behind consumer perception of these constructs. The hypothesis here, therefore, is that consumer personality is a
major reason behind any perception of brand personality/personification.
The personality literature was, therefore, also reviewed in full. Given the fact that this is initial research into the
relationship between consumer personality and brand personality/personification, the trait approach was chosen as the
most suitable approach to personality measurement. Furthermore, a Chinese personality trait measurement test,
Qingnian Zhongguo Personality Test (QZPS) was selected, given that Chinese university students were sampled.
A total of 101 Chinese university students took part in this research, all from a well known Chinese university.
A suitable time took place between sampling for personality measurement, using the QZPS scale, and sampling for
brand personification, in an attempt to mask the intention of the research.
Analysis of research findings provide statistically significant evidence that consumer personality does indeed influence
perception of brand personality/ personification. Moreover, certain personality traits appear to carry significantly more
influence than others.
Finally, the paper provides detailed implications for further work in this area and brand building and positioning.
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