Got to Get You Into My L ife: Do Brand Personalities Rub O ff On Consumers?

1. Got to Get You Into My Life: Do Brand Personalities Rub Off On Consumers? By Jacob Bradburn Ji Kyung Park & Deborah Roedder John

2. Question/Hypothesis • Brand personality key part of brand image • Can be constructed to construe human qualities • Do brands personalities “rub off” on consumer? • Do consumers perceive themselves as having brand’s personality after using brand? • Proposed that brand’s personalities rub off on some consumers but not others • Depends on consumers self theory, or lay theory of their personal qualities

3. Types of Self Theories • Entity Theory • Believe personal qualities are fixed, cannot improve/grow/change with effort • Incremental theory • Believe personal qualities malleable, can improve with effort • People have tendency to favor one or other • Effect how they approach challenges and self enhancement • Can be changed by presenting opposing data

4. Basic Findings • Significant difference between people with different self theories for brand effects • Entity- • Use brands to signal positive qualities • Effects how perceive self after use (adopt traits) • Incremental • No effect on how perceive self ***Four Studies done

5. Study 1 • Women approached at mall to carry Victoria Secret bag or control around 1 hr. • Very public use of item • Measured personality traits associated with VC before and after (Glamorous, Feminine, Good-looking) • Resulted in positive effect on self perception for entity theorists for traits, no effect for incrementalists • No effect on traits not associated with VC

7. Study 2 • Participants used MIT embossed pen or control for 6 weeks • Long Term Use of item • Measured personality traits associated with MIT before and after 6 weeks (Intelligent, Technical, Hardworking, Leader) • Increased for entity, No change for incremental

9. Study 3 • Participant used VC bag and control for treasure hunt • Personality traits associated with VC tested before/after • Again, increased with entity theorists, no change in incrementalists • Effect still present in semi-private environment • Also given articles that promoted entity or incremental theory • Made predictions for behavior consistent with article

11. Study 4 • Participants given math problems and negative feedback (Threat to self image) • Three conditions (Opportunity to use MIT pen, no opportunity, control) • Given self perception test • Entity- Used MIT pen, less damage to self perception in variables than if normal pen used • Incremental- Not affected by pen, recovered from threatened self no matter pen used

13. Study 4 • Entity use pen to recover from threat, while Incremental have internal skills and resources to deal with threats not available to entity theorists • Incremental better able to cope with negative self views • Shows effect prominent in private setting

14. Conclusions • Brand personalities rub off on consumers, but only if maintain a entity lay theory of personalities • Entity used brand to signal positive qualities and boost self assessment • Only for characteristics associated with the brand • Can change persons theory of personality • Does not matter setting of product use (Public vs Private) or time frame (Long vs Short term) • Incremental theorists better able to cope with threat to self beliefs, Holding entity theory detrimental to recovering from threats