The meaning of a brand? An archetypal approach

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to analyze customers' perceptions about brand personality in different cultural environments, checking if the archetypal framework of Mark and Pearson (2001) applies to different brands across countries. Design/methodology/approach-The authors measured consumers' perceptions in different cultural contexts through a survey, and received 537 valid questionnaires from Portugal, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, countries that have some similar indicators of cultural proximity. The authors wanted to verify if the words and sentences that respondents related to each brand were coherent with the archetype/brand, and the homogeneity of the results in different cultural contexts. Findings-Empirical evidence shows that there is proximity between the literature review and the associationswords and sentencesthat consumers from different countries make with those brands. This consistency of results is significantly higher for word associations. Originality/value-Regardless of the results, the perceptions of consumers expressed through the selected words were often diverse and heterogeneous among countries. This could possibly indicate insufficient efforts from global brands toward a coherent brand personality/global-archetypal approach. Therefore, managing brand personality deserves more attention and marketers must understand consumer behavior patterns in different markets.

Examination of the Brand Archetypes of the Hungarian Retail Banking Sector and Their Correlations with Consumer Preferences Regarding Banking Products

“…The concept of archetypes of Mark and Pearson ( 2001) is used by marketing managers to connect to consumers' deeper motivations. Based on Mark and Pearson (2001), Purkiss andRoyston-Lee (2010), andHaulwen (2020), Table 1 summarises the brand archetypes used in the research (Djakeli and True, 2017;Haulwen, 2020;Mark and Pearson, 2001;Purkiss and Royston-Lee, 2010;Roberts, 2010;Xara-Brasil et al, 2018). Products are secondary tools in building the desired consumer-brand relationship (Xara-Brasil et al, 2018).…”

“…Based on Mark and Pearson (2001), Purkiss andRoyston-Lee (2010), andHaulwen (2020), Table 1 summarises the brand archetypes used in the research (Djakeli and True, 2017;Haulwen, 2020;Mark and Pearson, 2001;Purkiss and Royston-Lee, 2010;Roberts, 2010;Xara-Brasil et al, 2018). Products are secondary tools in building the desired consumer-brand relationship (Xara-Brasil et al, 2018). The brand-consumer relationship includes the brand identification and product categorisation processes, as well as the sensory, affective, and cognitive experiences (Xara-Brasil et al, 2018).…”

“…Strong brand identities include brand personality development (Xara-Brasil et al, 2018). For a brand to have a strong relationship with consumers, brands need to have a personality (Bruggert, 2011).…”

“…Consumers identify themselves with specific brands; therefore, strong brands mean more than just a product or service. Strong brands are elements of a company's specially designed promises, consumer perceptions, interactions, and experiences that are responsible for building a long-term consumer-brand relationship (Xara-Brasil et al, 2018). Mark and Pearson (2001) developed a framework for clustering each archetype.…”

Vegan stories: revealing archetypes and their moral foundations

“…Findings may also have broader marketing and branding implications, for example, building a brand story around a central archetype, whose actions are underpinned by a strong moral foundation, may result in more persuasive communications that offer a deeper connection with consumers. The need to target consumers based on the archetype they align with has been highlighted in the business community (Food for thought: Brand archetypes and the future of advertising, 2017) and strong evidence is emerging which demonstrates the power of archetypes used in brand stories to persuade and strengthen the brand (Sanders and van Krieken, 2018; Xara-Brasil et al , 2018; Delgado-Ballester and Fernández-Sabiote, 2016). From a macro-marketing perspective, this qualitative research study extends Beverland’s (2016) conceptual paper on barriers and incentives for mainstreaming plant-based diets.…”