A mixed method approach to understanding brand personality

Purpose - This paper aims to use a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approach to exploring product personality. It also aims to focus on the personality dimensions of two retails stores (Target and Wal-Mart) and two athletic brands (Adidas and Nike). While personality has been investigated in marketing settings, the focus has been limited to using quantitative scales. This approach has the potential of leaving out rich details of personality not captured by the scale, thereby offering little helpful information for advertising copy writers. While qualitative approaches may lack the formal test of hypotheses, they afford rich narrative that adds important insights about the products and practical help for advertising development. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on a concurrent, two-studies design where qualitative and quantitative data are both collected and analyzed separately (concurrently or sequentially). A survey is used to measure the personality dimensions based on Aaker's five personality dimensions. In addition, various personality dimensions are explored using in-depth, one-to-one interviews; grounded theory framework; and QDA software that is especially suitable for text analysis. Findings - The findings reveal lack of convergence in personality dimensions. While full convergence is not expected due to method and sample characteristics, the findings revealed important dimensions that appeared only in either the qualitative or quantitative analysis. For example, the attributes of competence, sophistication, and ruggedness failed to emerge in the qualitative analyses. Research limitations/implications - Caution is advised in extrapolating the results beyond the issues investigated in the study. Practical implications - The findings help marketers in formulating effective product design, positioning, and promotion strategies. Originality/value - Most of the research on the subject of personality has been designed around Aaker's five dimensions of personality. There has been some variation to the instrument to capture dimensions such as nurturance, and integrity, ruggedness, and sophistication. However, there is a void in qualitative research that is oriented towards discovering (rather than testing) the dimensions of personality. This paper uses qualitative research methodology, specifically a grounded theory framework, to discover the personality of products, and to compare these outcomes with Aaker's fivedimensional scale.