Abstract:

Most advertisers in the 90’s no longer look at their brands using only socio-demo- graphic and classic imagery measurement tools. As marketing researchers, we experience more and more their urgent need to understand the very personal relationship that exists between "user" and "brand"; the brand with all its possible expressive values within the marketing-mix components; the user with his rationally and emotionally driven motivations, explicit and implicit emotions. For these purposes we have been developing, during the last seven years, a brand personality modelling system based on personality structure theories which find their origin in clinical psychology. Using this model, we have analysed more than 80 brands within different product fields all over Europe. Our main clients in this field of research, with whom this experience was generated, are internationally organised marketing driven companies. Trying to understand a brand starts with a basic analysis of the brand and the competitive brands within the same product field. Analysis of central values of the product/product field, independent from brands Centra values and personality of the main brands within the product field Understanding the function of each of the main marketing-mix components (packaging, advertising, etc) of these different brands. More and more we are also confronted with marketing practitioners that are looking for brand-extension opportunities for their brands. Not only does a brand-extension analysis include the basic analysis as mentioned above, but also the same analysis for the market segments or product fields and their respective brands into which the mother-brand wants to move. Only after this two- steps-analysis a qualitative estimate of possible success and profound guidance for development of the brand can be given.