Brand Personality and its Significance

Branding is one of the core competitive factors in the present market conditions. It is an intangible asset for the business which helps in creating a significant impact on consumer perception and demand within the economy (O’Leary, 2017). Branding helps in developing the identity for the product and the company within the economy. Personality on the other hand is a psychological term which differentiates individuals on the basis of personalities and traits. Associating brand with personalities helps in creating specific attributes for brands which influences consumer perception towards the same (Shankar, et.al., 2016). For example Nike’s brand personality as atheletic products has created a unique identity for the business. The consumer decision for athletic products is widely affected by the same.

            Strategic business growth influences companies to enhance its product lines and product mix to generate high sales and demand within the economy. Introduction of products with different personalities tend to confuse consumers for actual brand image. This affects the consumer choices and perception for the brand (McDonagh and Prothero, 2014). For example Woodland has positioned itself as rugged outdoor apparel brand. Introducing high end sophisticated apparels may confuse the consumers and may result in creating a significant gap between brand personality and products.

Hence the study will focus on analysing that what factors affect brand personality and high it affects the consumer buying decision within the market (Chang, Yu and Lu, 2015). The major research issue for the study will to develop an effective base for companies to develop understating about brand personalities to establish a sustainable positioning strategy for the business.

            The current research will provide a base of understating for academic as well research scholars who are researching on this topic. It will develop an in-depth understating about the subject and different aspects associated with brand personality and consumer buying decisions. The research will be helpful for business and market researchers as well because if will focus on the specific issue of brand personality and how it affects consumer decisions. The research will carried out in well structured manner o efficiently attain the research aim and objectives for the analysis.

Research objectives

The aim of the current study is to evaluate the impact of brand personality on consumer buying decision. The aim of the study is to develop an effective understating about the subject and evaluate how the issues may affect actual business process. The objectives to attain the stated aim will be:

• To identify the dimensions of personality for Brand
• To understand the changing perspective of consumer buying decisions
• To evaluate the impact brand personality on consumer decisions
• To examine effective measures to create consumer loyalty through brand personality

The major research questions which will help in efficiently attaining the stated objectives for the study are:

1. What are dimensions of brand personality which affects consumer decisions?
2. How brand personality is associated with consumer buying decisions?
3. How can companies develop consumer loyalty through brand personality strategy?

Research method

            The current study focuses on undertaking an in-depth analysis about brand personality and its impact on consumer decisions. This exploratory research will be undertaken in a well structured manner to attain the stated objectives for the analysis (Bell, 2014). Both primary and secondary research methods will be applied in the study in order to attain a clear and specified result. The aim of the research is to attain reliable results for the study.

Impact of Product line Extension on Brand Personality and Consumer Buying Decision

Desk research: this secondary research analysis will help the study in attaining a significant data on past researches conducted on similar topic. The evaluation will be effective for attaining reliable information. The researcher will attain the secondary data from different sources which includes past researches, books, journal, news articles, magazines, company information and so on (Bolin, 2013). In order to ensure the reliability and authenticity of the data, the researcher will ensure to collect the data from authentic websites and sources only.

Primary research: This research method is effective for attaining the fresh and latest data on the subject. The aim of the current study is to analyse the impact of brand awareness on consumer buying decision. Primary data collection will be done by adopting survey method. For this the researcher will develop a structured questionnaire (Campbell, Loving and Lebel, 2014). This will help in attaining the consumer perception and choices for the evaluation. The research aim is to analyse consumer decision making aspects for brand personality, 75 consumers from malls were approached for survey. Close ended questionnaire on the topic will help in attaining specific and clear outcomes on the subject.

Qualitative research 

            The qualitative research is primarily exploratory research which focuses on attaining opinion, perception and motivation of the people. This research focuses on attaining the data through interviews, focus group, observations etc (Ahmad and Thyagaraj, 2014). The aim of the current study is to analyse the impact of brand awareness on consumer buying decision. As the research issue is broad consumer focused, attaining consumer perception on the topic is essential. Hence qualitative method will be useful for the current analysis.

Quantitative research 

            This is the research method which focuses on attaining the numerical information by applying different statistical tools and techniques in the study. The statistical data in the study helps in attaining the specified and exact result for the analysis. This approach will be effective for the current study as it will help in transforming the attitude, perception and preferences of consumers in accessible numerical format which will be effective to analyse and understand (Junaid and Hussain, 2016).

Hence qualitative approach will be applied by creating a closed ended questionnaire for the survey. The survey results will then be converted in statistical data using descriptive statistics to develop effective understating of the subject. The respondents for the current study will be 75consumers from the mall who are ready to buy from different brands. Random sampling method will be applied to select the respondents which will ensure in minimizing the biasness in the study.

Research Analysis 

            Research analysis is the process of representation the data in structured and well defined manner to develop effective understating from the subject. The present study will use both qualitative and quantitative means of data analysis methods to efficiently represent the research findings. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyse and represent the information. However qualitative measure of thematic analysis will be applied to effectively reflect the understanding on the topic. This method will help in developing themes to link primary and secondary researches to effectively attain the research objectives.

Timelines

The time line for the present study will be as under:

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Predecessors
Market Research	215 days	Fri 28-09-18	Thu 25-07-19
Identification of research issue	15 days	Fri 28-09-18	Thu 18-10-18
Formulating research problem	10 days	Fri 19-10-18	Thu 01-11-18	2
Reviewing literature and past researches	30 days	Fri 02-11-18	Thu 13-12-18	3
Identifying research process	15 days	Fri 14-12-18	Thu 03-01-19	4
Developing questionnaire	15 days	Fri 04-01-19	Thu 24-01-19	5
Developing research proposal	20 days	Fri 25-01-19	Thu 21-02-19	6
Data collection	40 days	Fri 22-02-19	Thu 18-04-19	7
data analysis	30 days	Fri 19-04-19	Thu 30-05-19	8
Developing draft	25 days	Fri 31-05-19	Thu 04-07-19	9
Completion of market research	15 days	Fri 05-07-19	Thu 25-07-19	10

 

1	Literature review	$500
2	Questionnaire and survey	$1000
3	Data Collection	$100
4	Data Analysis	$200
	Total budget	$1800

Confidentiality

            Research ethics and reliability are the crucial aspects of the success of the study. In order to ensure reliable research for the evaluation, research will ensure that the data is secured and stored in secured location. The confidentiality of respondents will be ensured by the researcher (Kim, Lee and Suh, 2015). The personal information of all the respondents will be used only for this specific research and not for any personal and professional advantage of the researcher.  

Ahmad, A. and Thyagaraj, K.S., 2014. Brand personality and brand equity research: Past developments and future directions. IUP Journal of Brand Management, 11(3), p.19.

Bell, J., 2014. Doing Your Research Project: A guide for first-time researchers. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Bolin, J.H., 2014. Hayes, Andrew F., 2013. Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression?Based Approach. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Journal of Educational Measurement, 51(3), pp.335-337.

Campbell, L., Loving, T.J. and Lebel, E.P., 2014. Enhancing transparency of the research process to increase accuracy of findings: A guide for relationship researchers. Personal Relationships, 21(4), pp.531-545.

Chang, Y.T., Yu, H. and Lu, H.P., 2015. Persuasive messages, popularity cohesion, and message diffusion in social media marketing. Journal of Business Research, 68(4), pp.777-782.

Junaid, M. and Hussain, K., 2016. Impact of brand personality, perceived quality and perceived value on brand love; moderating role of emotional stability. Middle East Journal of Management, 3(4), pp.278-293.

Kim, J.W., Lee, F. and Suh, Y.G., 2015 Satisfaction and loyalty from shopping mall experience and brand personality. Services Marketing Quarterly, 36(1), pp.62-76

McDonagh, P. and Prothero, A., 2014. Sustainability marketing research: Past, present and future. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(11-12), pp.1186-1219.

O’Leary, Z., 2017. The essential guide to doing your research project. Sage.

Shankar, V., Kleijnen, M., Ramanathan, S., Rizley, R., Holland, S. and Morrissey, S., 2016. Mobile shopper marketing: Key issues, current insights, and future research avenues. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 34, pp.37-48.