User:GarrisonCalmerDighton/Brand

Brand personality
Brand personality refers to "the set of human personality traits that are both applicable to and relevant for brands." Marketers and consumer researchers often argue that brands can be imbued with human-like characteristics which resonate with potential consumers. Such personality traits can assist marketers to create unique, brands that are differentiated from rival brands. Aaker conceptualized brand personality as consisting of five broad dimensions, namely: sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, and cheerful), excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, and up to date), competence (reliable, intelligent, and successful), sophistication (glamorous, upper class, charming), and ruggedness (outdoorsy and tough). Subsequent research studies have suggested that Aaker's dimensions of brand personality are relatively stable across different industries, market segments and over time. Much of the literature on branding suggests that consumers prefer brands with personalities that are congruent with their own.

Consumers may distinguish the psychological aspect (brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand) of a brand from the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is termed the consumer's brand experience. The brand is often intended to create an emotional response and recognition, leading to potential loyalty and repeat purchases. The brand experience is a brand's action perceived by a person. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the brand image, is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people, consisting of all the information and expectations associated with a product, with a service, or with the companies providing them.

Marketers or product managers that responsible for branding, seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics, which make it special or unique. A brand can, therefore, become one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace. This means that building a strong brand helps to distinguish a product from similar ones and differentiate it from competitors. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management. The orientation of an entire organization towards its brand is called brand orientation. Brand orientation develops in response to market intelligence.

Careful brand management seeks to make products or services relevant and meaningful to a target audience. Marketers tend to treat brands as more than the difference between the actual cost of a product and its selling price; rather brands represent the sum of all valuable qualities of a product to the consumer and are often treated as the total investment in brand building activities including marketing communications.

Consumers may look on branding as an aspect of products or services, as it often serves to denote a certain attractive quality or characteristic (see also brand promise). From the perspective of brand owners, branded products or services can command higher prices. Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no associated branding (such as a generic, store-branded product), potential purchasers may often select the more expensive branded product on the basis of the perceived quality of the brand or on the basis of the reputation of the brand owner.

Brand Mascots
Brand Mascots are a part of a brands personality. Many times a brand mascot is the personification of a brand often integrating a part of their logo. Brands can use their mascots in a variety of ways typically having them act as the voice in digital and print advertisements. One such example of a successful brand mascot is the Duolingo Owl, Duo. Duo was created by the company at its origination and has evolved over time from just a logo to their main form of messaging. Utilizing Duo on TikTok as their spokes mascot has led many other brands to create characters out of elements of their brand iconography on the app. Other mascots that have found success on TikTok are The Empire State Building and Sour Patch Kids mascot. Mascots can go through changes throughout their lifecycle and this is important for them to stay relevant in their market. The Pringles mascot Mr. P has recently gone through a redesign that allows them to be more simplified, but allowing his expressions to change depending on the circumstance. Design week thinks that the most successful mascots are those that tell a story, and the redesign of Mr. P allows him to be utilized in more situations and be able to tell different stories.