Brand Identity Prism
(Kapferer)

Knowledge Center

An obvious benefit of using a human being for a metaphor for a brand is that it becomes much more easy, especially for non-experts, to understand and discuss what a brand stands for. Consumers easily perceive brands as if they would have personality traits.

What is the Brand Identity Prism?

According to Jean-Noël Kapferer, brand personality should be just one key facet of brand identity.

Jennifer Aaker deserves credit for having revitalized the human metaphor for a brand, but she is causing conceptual confusion by merging a number of dimensions of brand identity into brand personality. Kapferer recommends to revitalize to the original terminology of brand identity as the overall brand descriptor.

Origin of the Brand Identity Prism. History

To understand Kapferer's model it is useful to read a bit of history:

Already in 1958, Martineau used the word "brand personality" to refer to the non-material dimensions that make a shop special: its character.

In the 60s and 70s there was a growing dissatisfaction with equating the product and the brand. A typical example of that was the term "Unique Selling Proposition" or USP from Rosser Reeves.

In 1982, Séguela, a VP of an adverting agency, recommended that all brands be described along three facets:

1. Physical. What does the product do and how well does it perform?
2. Character. Brand personality facet.
3. Style. Operational elements for adverting and communication.

In the late 80s, Ted Bates introduced the term "Unique Selling Personality". As a consequence, in the famous 'copy strategy' - the essential single sheet which summarizes the advertising strategy as related to copy - it became widespread to see a new item to be filled by account executives: brand personality.

Analogously to the use of the term "personality" in psychology, on the research side, the brand identity frameworks always quoted brand personality as a dimension of brand identity - namely those traits of human personality that can be attributed to the brand. Among the other dimensions are:

• Brand inner values (cultural facet)
• Brand relationship facet (its style of behavior, of conduct)
• Brand-reflected consumer facet
• Brand physical facet (its material distinguishing traits)

Book: Jean-Noël Kapferer - The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and Sustaining ...

Forum Forum discussions about Brand Identity. Top-10 Naming Blunders For a Company, Product or Brand Here's a list of errors you should avoid when choosing a name for your brand, product or company: 1. Using your family name. Unless your name is unique and memorable, it contains minimal promotional ... 28   40 comments How to Apply the Kapferer Model to a Brand How to apply the Kapferer model in a practical sense… How will it explain a product (tangible) or a service (intangible)? Example?... 14   1 comments How to Use the Brand Image for Recruiting Employees? Dear all, I need some tips and literature on how you can use the brand image in the selection / recruitment process. I appreciate your reactions.... 6   1 comments Developing an Advertising Campaign It is important to make a creative brief, a Kapferer model and a funnel for the development of an advertising campaign.... 5   Significance of the Brand Identity for Advertising Campaigns What is the significance / importance of Kapferer's model in the development of an advertising campaign?... 5   1 comments 🔥 Functional and Emotional Benefits of Brands It's time to build brands beyond their functionality.Every brand which has succeeded over time has provided two important benefit categories: 1. FUNCTIONAL BRAND BENEFITS: Assurance of quality and qu... 3   Brand Identity Strategy Branding is the discipline of setting apart, distinguishing a company/product from the rest of the world, thereby establishing a brand with specific attributes just like a distinct personality. Key i... 3   Start a new topic about Brand Identity Sign up for free

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Expert Tips Advanced insights about Brand Identity. Here you will find professional advices by experts. Consultancy Tips Teaching Tips Practical Implementation Tips Pitfalls of International / Global Brands Brand Portfolio Management, Brand Valuation Consistent with current trends in globalization, international firms have concentrated their efforts on the development ... How to Build a Brand in China Brand Development, China, Best Practices Based on data about Chinese consumers’ expectations, Paul F. Nunes, Susan A. Piotroski, Lay Lim Teo and R. Michael Mathe... What are Attributes of Strong Brands? Brand Management, Brand Valuation In the article “The Brand Report Card” (Harvard Business Review, January 2000), Kevin Lane Keller argues that the world’... Characteristics of a Good Brand Identity Prism Demands for Brand Identity Prism A well-built Brand Identity Prism typically has the following formal characteristics: 1. There are few words to each f... How to Divest 2nd Tier CPG Brands? Brand Portfolio Management, Freeing up Resources for Main Brands, Brand Valuation On top of the value of each individual brand comes the value of brands combined whith eachother. Bahadur, Landry and Tre... Generic Traits of a Good Brand Brand Management, Checklist A good brand displays nine traits: 1. It drives shareholder value. 2. Top executives support the branding effort, mark... Nationalism and Patriotism in Corporate Brand Communication Strategies Corporate Branding, Corporate Reputation, Corporate Nationality, Corporate Patriotism, Corporate Nationalism Past research in market communication revealed that many consumers prefer to purchase domestic brands because they want ... Why are Brands Often So Similar? Understanding Brand Similarity/Parity Branding, Brand Management, Brand Parity, Brand Similarity, Know Model, Brand Differentiation Despite of the efforts of companies to differentiate their brand from other brands, in many product categories a high le... The Need for Brand Authenticity Branding In an article called "Embrace the Dark Side" in the HBR of Oct 2006, Michael J. Fanuelle says that to be strong, brands ... Generic Implementation Steps of a Global Brand Global Brand Development, Best Practices Firms that want to build global brands should take following 10 steps: 1. Involve the CEO and board to provide top-down... The 22 Laws of Branding (Trout & Ries) Branding, Brand Recognition 1. The Law of Expansion: The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope. Trying to be all things to all peo... Status Brands: The influence of Power-distance Beliefs Branding, Brand Management, Power Distance, Brand Recognition Status brands are brands that can inherently raise the social prestige of its owners within a certain community or socie... Brand Relationship Quality Branding, Brand Management, Brand Differentiation, Brand Relationship A lot of research has been done to consumers’ brand evaluations about brands by examining factors such as brand attitude... Focus Points in City Branding City Branding, Regional Branding, Geographical Branding Although most people are used to products and services marketing, cities are increasingly being used as a marketing tool... Three Dimensions in How Global Brands are Evaluated by Consumers Global Branding, Corporate Reputation, CSR, Globalization Holt et al. (2004) researched how people evaluate and value global brands. They found out that 3 main characteristics ar...

Information Sources Various sources of information regarding Brand Identity. Here you will find powerpoints, videos, news, etc. to use in your own lectures and workshops. Jennifer Aaker on Branding Jennifer Aaker on Branding Jennifer Aaker explains the difference between brand and branding: - "Branding" is just the tip of the iceberg (the mar... Social Media for Organizations Social Media for Business, Online Business Identity, Corporate Reputation, Social Networking for Business This presentation provides interesting information about the usage of social media for businesses. The presentation incl... Brand Stretching and Extension Brand Management, Brand Identity, Global Brand, Meta Brand Presentation that is mainly about Brand Stretching and branding in a Global Context. The presentation includes many exam... Martin's Trust Model: The Trust Matrix Trust, Corporate Reputation, Corporate Branding, Corporate Image An important determinant of the reputation of your brand, company or sector is TRUST. In the financial sector for exampl... Branding Cities: City Branding City Branding, Branding Strategies This presentation is about city branding. It explains how to successfully brand cities. The following sections are inclu... Country Branding: Branding a Country Country Branding, Place Branding This presentation is about branding a country or another geographic location. Next to the outline, there are several cou... Brand Identity Positioning Positioning Brand Positioning by A. Kwanta Panthongprasert, Department of Advertsising, 2010. A clear summary presentation about Br... How Sponsoring Enhances and Supports other Marketing Elements Initial Understanding of the Added Value of Sponsoring Fiona Green explaines that sponsoring is valuable to support and enhance other marketign elemenets such as CRM, PR, adve... Brand Identity and Brand Equity: Nike versus Adidas Brand Management, Branding A presentation by K. Tichá that is a nice practical example of working with Brand Identity and Brand Equity, comparing N... Brand Identity Prism Diagram Brand Management Download and edit this 12manage PowerPoint graphic for limited personal, educational and business use. Republishing in ...

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