Lecture 8: Psychology of Brands

Question 1

Why are symbols (including logos) powerful?

Answer 1

• Symbols (including logos) are powerful because:
  o They can be used to represent an infinite number of concepts
  o We perceive them quickly and effortlessly

Question 2

How can a logo be a “double-edged sword”?

Answer 2

o A strong logo can mean that people don’t want it to change
♣ People become very attached to the logo over time (like it and used to it)
♣ E.g. USyd changed its logo in 2010
• Huge protests to the change
• Controversial

Question 3

How can logos be highly important in cultivating brand awareness?

Answer 3

o Activate associations with a particular brand (e.g. an apple logo = the brand ‘Apple’)
o Imbue concepts into the logo

Question 4

What is the effectiveness of using colour dependent on?

Answer 4

• Effectiveness of using colour depends on context
  o E.g. Basic colours in cluttered vs. uncluttered environments
  ♣ Colour stands out more in clutter (doesn’t stand out in uncluttered environments)
  o E.g. When the iPod came out, Apple used white cords to complete with all the MP3 players on the market as they all used black cords (made the Apple cord stand out)

Question 5

What are the two important aspects of names in branding?

Answer 5

• Sound symbolism

- Fluency

Question 6

What is sound symbolism?

Answer 6

o Marketers try to align sounds to their brand/product (e.g. hard vs. soft sounding names)
o Spoken words conjure up images even if the words themselves have no meaning
o Demonstration by Wolfgang Köhler: maluma and takete
♣ Even when talking about nonsensical names (‘maluma’ and ‘takete’), we know which shape that name reflects
• ‘Maluma’ (curvy, smooth shape) and ‘takete’ (hard, pointy, sharp shape)
• Able to match rounded words to rounded shapes and hard words to hard shapes

Question 7

What is fluency?

Answer 7

o The extent to which a name is easy to pronounce

Question 8

What are the 3 properties of fluent words/names?

Answer 8

♣ Short names
♣ Share sounds and letters that are usually a combination in the English language
♣ Have simple letter strings

Question 9

How can word/name fluency confer advantages?

Answer 9

• We evaluate things with fluent names more positively
  o Things that are not mentally taxing (like an unpronounceable name) are more pleasing to us
  o Fluency is like a halo effect – we seem to use fluency as a heuristic to make judgements about stimuli
  ♣ Tend to believe that fluent stimuli are more familiar, more likeable, more famous, more intelligent and more true than similar but less-fluent stimuli

Question 10

The Alter and Oppenheimer (2006), study looking at whether people could predict stock performance using fluency, found what?

Answer 10

o Study 1 (fabricated/fake stock names): Participants expected stocks with fluent names to outperform stocks with disfluent names
o Study 2 (real shares on the NYSE and AMEX): Fluent stocks outperformed disfluent stocks, but only in the short term
♣ Other factors may play a role (e.g. economics) in the long-term
♣ Effect found to not be due to company size (more resources) or industry
o Study 3: Replicated Study 2 (actual stock performance) results using ticker codes

Question 11

What did the Alter and Oppenheimer (2006) look into?

Answer 11

o Studied whether people could predict stock performance using fluency
♣ Familiarity – people don’t want to take unnecessary risks (able to take away inherent risk (using fluency) more likely to invest in fluent stocks

Question 12

Why are logos, colours and names important in branding?

Answer 12

• They provide marketers with multiple routes to increasing brand awareness
  o Exposure effect – Repeated exposure to something can increase people’s liking of it over time
  o Social proof
• When used effectively, they give brands public visibility
  o Provides social proof
  ♣ Seeing other people using and consuming a particular brand (logo seen everywhere), then that provides social proof that it is good (social validation)
• When used effectively (good logo, people using it), the brand advertises itself (e.g. Apple)

Question 13

James (1890) highlighted the link between consumption and the self-concept. What did he say?

Answer 13

o A person is the sum total of the things he/she possesses

Question 14

What components of brands give them symbolic meanings?

Answer 14

o Values/purpose
o Personality
o E.g. Evidence shows that owners can be matched to the cars they own

Question 15

The symbolic quality of brands means that we can use them to do what (in relation to the Self)?

Answer 15

1. Reflect the self (e.g. “I buy a Prius because I see myself as caring about the environment)
2. Signal the self (e.g. “I buy a Prius to show others that I care about the environment)
3. Define the self (e.g. “I care about the environment because I bought a Prius”)
   o These different kinds of Self functions can be satisfied by brands

Question 16

From age 12, what do children understand that brands can do?

Answer 16

• From age 12, children understand that brands can signal something about the self

Question 17

How do 8-year-olds treat brands?

Answer 17

o 8 year-olds treat brands as informational and perceptual cues
♣ Behaviour towards brand is based on how they feel about the brand/product

Question 18

What about a brand’s personality can make people like them?

Answer 18

• People like brands whose personality is congruent with their own (Aaker, 1999)
  o Self-definition

Question 19

What about products or brands can make people avoid them?

Answer 19

• People avoid products or brands that represent undesired identities or groups

Question 20

What are two examples of studies that showed people avoiding products/brands that represented undesired identities or groups?

Answer 20

o E.g. Men avoided steak listed as “ladies cut” but not when it was labelled “chef’s cut” (White & Dahl, 2006)
♣ The men avoided things associated with women
o E.g. Canadians negatively evaluated products that symbolically represent Americans, but not Belgians (White & Dahl, 2006)
♣ Possible that it reflects the competition between the US and Canada

Question 21

What is ‘brand personality’?

Answer 21

The set of anthropomorphised human characteristics associated with a brand

Question 22

Brand personality has relatively stable effects on consumers over time but is influenced by what?

Answer 22

• Relatively stable effects on consumers over time but influenced by context

Question 23

What does brand personality create BETWEEN brands?

Answer 23

• Creates differentiation between brands, even when there are few objective differences
  o Brand personality can be a predictor of what kinds of people will be attracted to certain brands

Question 24

What 3 sources does the personality of a brand come from?

Answer 24

o Marketer (trying to market the brand)
o The users themselves
o The personality of a brand is then subsequently reinforced by the environment

Question 25

What can marketers do when creating or changing the personality of a brand and why?

Answer 25

♣ Can use anthropomorphised characteristics to market the brand
• E.g. Louie the Fly
♣ Marketers will often try to change the brand’s personality for a variety of reasons
• Attempt to make it more marketable to certain demographics

Question 26

What can users themselves do to the personality of a brand?

Answer 26

♣ Personality of the people using the brand can go back into the personality of the brand itself

Question 27

What is the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality (Aaker, 1997)?

Answer 27

5 brand personality factors that correspond to the Big-5 personality factors

1. Sincerity
2. Excitement
3. Competence
4. Sophistication
5. Ruggedness

Question 28

What are the components of the “Sincerity” factor in the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality (Aaker, 1997)?

Answer 28

Sincerity 
o	Down-to-earth
o	Honest
o	Wholesome
o	Cheerful

Question 29

What are the components of the “Excitement” factor in the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality (Aaker, 1997)?

Answer 29

Excitement 
o	Daring
o	Spirited
o	Imaginative
o	Up-to-date

Question 30

What are the components of the “Competence” factor in the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality (Aaker, 1997)?

Answer 30

Competence
o Reliable
o Intelligent
o Successful

Question 31

What are the components of the “Sophistication” factor in the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality (Aaker, 1997)?

Answer 31

Sophistication
o Upper class
o Charming

Question 32

What are the components of the “Ruggedness” factor in the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality (Aaker, 1997)?

Answer 32

Ruggedness
o Outdoorsy
o Tough

Question 33

Which 2 factors of the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality do not map onto any human personality characteristics?

Answer 33

“Sophistication” and “Ruggedness”

Question 34

In the 5-Factor Structure of Brand Personality, factor structure differs based on what?

Answer 34

• Factor structure differs based on countries and their associated cultures

Question 35

What are the 3 Levels of the Self (Brewer & Gardner, 1996)?

Answer 35

o Individual: Self as distinct from others
o Relational: Self in relation to close others
o Collective: Self in relation to group memberships

Question 36

What are the 3 Domains of the Self (Higgins, 1987)?

Answer 36

o Actual self: The way we are
o Ought self: The way we think we should be
o Ideal self: The way we aspire to be

Question 37

How are the different facets of the Self associated with brands?

Answer 37

• Brands can influence, and are influenced by, these different facets of the Self

Question 38

What are “Self-brand connections”?

Answer 38

• The extent to which a consumer has incorporated a brand into their self-concept

Question 39

What should a person’s Self-brand connections indicate ?

Answer 39

o Should indicate consumption choices

Question 40

How are Self-brand connections tested?

Answer 40

o Tested using explicit and implicit measures
♣ Explicit measures: Participants state reasons for brand connection
♣ Implicit measures: Reaction time measure to assess strength of association

Question 41

How are brands related to the fundamental human need to belong?

Answer 41

• We use brands as a way to achieve membership in a group

o Brand communities (e.g. Harley Davidson, Nike)

Question 42

How are brands related to the fundamental human need to be unique (even when belonging)?

Answer 42

• We use brands to differentiate ourselves from other people

o People with a higher need for uniqueness prefer products that are more distinct

Question 43

How can brands satisfy both the need to belong and the need to be unique?

Answer 43

• We can use different choice dimensions to satisfy both needs
• Participants can be assimilated into their in-group on one dimension but differentiated from their in-group on another dimension (Chan et al., 2011)

Question 44

How are brands related to the need for effectance?

Answer 44

• The “IKEA Effect” (Norton et al., 2012)
  o We overvalue self-made products greater attachment to a product we helped make
  o Illustrates the importance of consumer involvement (product becomes a co-creation)