Abstract

Advertising is one of the key elements in building a brand personality, which is equally important to the marketer & consumers. Brand personality is distinct, non preemptible enduring and associates the brand with certain values. Brand personality acts a potent brand differentiator and offers sustainable competitive advantage. Advertising by creating or reinforcing brand's personality enhances brand value or equity , which in turn can be leveraged through brand extension. Brand personality also helps brands to gain market share, command price premium and insulates from discounting Brands. Consumers as part of self-defining process, use possessions to describe themselves and also to which group they belong, especially in socially conspicuous product categories such as clothing, automobiles etc.(what is me is related to what I have) Brands make personality statements, users associate a brand with a strong personality. Key advertising elements such as endorser, user imagery, symbols and execution elements contribute to Brand personality.

Introduction
Human beings have a personality, which is essentially a summation of traits. Brand personality can be defined in several ways, with emphasis on emotion, human and tangible aspects of the brand. It can also be defined as sum of the tangible and intangible aspects of the brand. Even for industrial product like steel, SAIL uses emotional connect with 'punch line' there is bit of SAIL in everybody's life. Brand personality, is process of transforming the brand into a person or humanizing the brand. Thus brands can also have characteristics (Ex: Sex, Gender, skills & abilities etc). Marketers deliver the personality using advertising, features, packaging etc. Users and non users differ in perceptions with respect to Brand personality users attach a distinct personality to the brand. Established brands have unique personality which is generally

consistent and may be implicit. Brand personality enables to establish relationship between brand & consumer with emotional content. The degree of proximity between brand and consumer personality, will influence the purchase intension and brand loyalty. Brands need to update personality to stay contemporary and relevant, as target audience personality may change over a period of time, due to changes in cultural, economic, media exposure etc. Brand personality should not be confused with target audience characteristics. Personality may be existing or aspirational. Projective techniques can be used to describe brands. Consumers can be asked to associate the brand, with adjectives (word association, sentence completion etc.) and also can be asked about user image One of the truths of modern business is that there is almost
nothing that your competitors can't duplicate in a matter of weeks or months. The question then becomes, "What competitive edge do I have to offer that cannot be copied by anyone else?" The answer? Your brand. Creating a strong brand identity will build mind share one of the strongest competitive advantages imaginable. As a result, customers will think of your business first when they think of your product category.

Brand- As a Promise
A brand is not an icon, a slogan, or a mission statement. It is a promise- a promise that a company can keep.

Role of advertising in brand building

Role Brands Moods Thumbs up Amul MTV Indiakings Woodlands Mahindra Scorpio Marlboro Ruff & Tuff Sona chandi Chavanprash Britania little hearts

Personality Sensitivity Bravery / daring Humour Wacky Sophistication (upper class) Ruggedness & outdoorsy Ruggedness Ruggedness Bravery Bravery Love & Affection

Brand Liril Lux Dove Bisleri Bajaj Pulsar Yamaha Titan Cinthol Mysore Sandal Medimix

Adjective Freshness & Lime Beauty,softness Softness Safety Power Power Style, elegance Freshness Traditional Traditional

In all of the above brands, advertisement elements such as selection of the endorsers and execution etc., delivered the Brand personality. Using of Film stars for the Lux beauty soap is logical and the attractiveness of celebrity is high. This is critical and leads to credibility. Endorser personality gets transferred to the brand . Thumb up soft drink has distinct personality owing to chivalry based ads, which also communicates about user imagery. The name 'Marlboro' evokes Wild West imagery, thanks to ads and consistency of the marketers in maintaining the same brand personality. Ads for multi utility vehicles like Mahendra scorpio , shows the ruggedness personality.

Nokia Powerful technology brand. 'Nokia' one the world's most valuable brand has distinct personality. The slogans.' We call this human technology', 'only Nokia human technology enables you to get more out of life' and 'connecting people' emphasize human side of technology, thereby resulting in brand personality of trusted friend. It also stands for reliability and quality. The ads also played prominent role in contributing to the distinct personality. The ads of Sprite cool drink primarily positioned on thirst quenching platform, depict the no nonsense type, down to earth personality of cool drink laced with humour & spoof, complimented by distinct shape and colour of the bottle. Endorser The selection of an endorser is critical, as the personality of the endorser can get transferred to the brand. Hathway shirts has acquired strong image owing to presence of sophisticated and mysterious endorser. Marlboro cowboy gave macho image to the brand. Endorser may be real or fictional. Using celebrities as brand endorser has advantages & disadvantages. celebrity enjoys instant recognition & goodwill that can be transferred to the brand. Local celebrities can be used in local / Regional markets Ex. Pavan Kalyan for Pepsi in A.P. Celebrities can also be experts in some situations such as Michael Jordan expert in basketball shoes.

Sachin, Shahrukh Khan and Big 'B' endorse number of brands. Choosing the right celebrity & levering their qualities is important, otherwise celebrity endorsement may end up as futile exercise also involving wastage of money. Sachin stands for style, power play, technique and excellence or performance. Sharukh Khan represents energy & entertainment and style. They cut across all demographic groups and have mass appeal. For 'Boost' Health beverage brand fit with Sachin is excellent. Similarly, King Khan is also played role in the success of 'Santro small car' Rahul Dravid was brand endorser for Max New York life insurance, as he stands for trust, reliability, Which can be transferred to the brand. The same is the case with Steve Waugh endorsing ANP SANMAR Life insurance. 'Exide' has signed the new batting sensation MS Dhoni for his power play and talent. John Abraham is the latest upcoming star, is endorser for brands like Yamaha, Samsung etc., because of his rugged looks, good physique and youthfulness. Endorser stands for certain favorable values of the brand such as performance, style and reliability etc. Personality of the brand and celebrity should complement each other. Reliable celebrity ensures instant awareness, acceptability and positive attitude towards the brand, which is precursor to buying. Endorser Amitabh Bacchan Attributes resilent, professional, charismatic unassuming Sharukh Khan Sachin Rahul Dravid Youth Icon. Stylish, successful (Excellence, determination faith hardwork) Mr. Dependable ,( Reliable, composure Consistency) Virender Sehawag M.S. Dhoni Rani Mukherji Swashbuckling Sheer power play Youthful, enthusiastic,

User Imagery It describes who or what type of person, might use that product / brand. Somebody may identify himself as Mercedes owner or Volvo driver. The recent TVC of Raymond, (playing with puppies) focuses on soft side of man (i.e. caring and loving) and also on subtle aspects of life styles of executives. Here the focus is on emotional aspects rather than on functional attributes). User imagery also communicates about the life style of the user. User imagery results in userdriven image which is transferred to the Brand. Brand personality needs to be updated with change in user imagery and information so that the brand remains contemporary and relevant. The Thumbs up, Marlboro, are classic examples for 'user imagery' contributing to brand personality & success. In fact, some of the brands have become cult brands in which brand personally played prominent role. Kingfisher attained distinct personality as fun, frolic and lively supported by their ads and event sponsorships. Smirnoff attained youthful and innovative personality and all their innovative promotions are in tune with the brand personality. MTV has become coolest brand among the youth as channel, with sensible promotions(MTV youth icon award)and believed in talking to the audience/youth and localization of the content. Tangible aspects of the Brand. Brand's tangible aspects like package and other elements like price are also key elements. Nirma's price & transparent package, Yellow color of the detergent powder, symbolize 'Down to Earth' personality of Nirma. Smell package of Medimix and Mysore Sandal (including soap shape) gives distinct personality to them. Absolute Vodka, transparent liquid and shape of the bottle played key role in brand personality.

Symbols & Logos Symbols can also be used effectively to communicate brand values and characteristics. Mascots may also be part of the logo of a brand. Eicher uses head of the horse in the past, representing power and sturdiness of the Tractor. Eicher now uses galloping horse after diversifying its operations. Goodlands Nerolac uses Guddy tiger, signifying bright lasting colors. Apple computers uses as it represent fun and friendliness. These symbols / mascots have become endearing and shombit Sengupta designed Wipro logo of rainbow colours. LIC used hands of logo where represents safety, UTI has 'Kalash' as it is considered sacred and signals good things. Royal stag brand uses 'Horse' symbolizing naturalness and purity. ITC welcome group has W-Namaste as its logo, which captures the Indian tradition of welcoming the guests. Logos should be

* Unique but easy to recognize * Worth remembering and represent ideas etc. * Look simple and yet capture wider meaning. * Relevant and in tune with the time. Nike represents action, Swoosh symbol represents it. Britannia little hearts uses heart logo' symbolizing love and affection.

Slogans / Punch lines They also reflect Brand personality. Peter England LIC Honest Shirt (sincerity) Try Thy name is LIC (Trust) L & T switch gear Bajaj Inspiring confidence (Competence) Videocon The Indian Multinational (Competence) Van Heusen Bank of Rajasthan The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. Mahindra Scorpio Bank of India Nike Just do it (Motivation, excitement) Slogans enhance brand recall and have strong linkage with brand's essence / key values. Logos support brand names, provide ease in processing visual information lead to brand recall. Logo can be textual, abstract design and may be real. They convey a clear meaning or suggest something about product category / brand / values / features / benefits of the brand. Power Evolved (Sophistication upper class) Dare to Dream (Excitement) Assurance of the leader (Competence) Nothing else will do (Ruggedness) Bank that cares (empathy) Safe & Sure (Trust)

Executional Elements: Semantics of the ad and Big 'B' presence, played prominent role in delivering the Brand essence of Dabur Chyanvanprash highlighting the traditional and natural, effective way to strengthen mind & body. Brand personality plays prominent role in product categories such as alcohol, cigarettes, cool drinks, and perfumes. Brand personality may dominate functional attributes though which are equally important, thereby influencing consumer's preference. It also acts as differentiator in case of Brand parity with respect to brand features. The key differentiating factor between brands such as Coke, Pepsi, Thumps up, Wiilsflake and India Kings is their distinct personality. Consumers have actual and ideal self concept, which has bearing on buying behavior. Self concept is sort of individual perception on his/her characteristics, abilities etc and also what others opinion on him/her is there. The proximity between self image and brand's image, will determine the attitude towards the brand. Consumers see brands and their associates, as means to express.. Marketers through ads try to activate self image / concept of consumer, which may be existing or aspirational through various elements such as Execution, celebrity, logos / symbols etc. Ads work on image congruence and try to influence consumer attitude and preference thus evaluations. The problem arises when brand self image is not in sync with that of consumer and vice-versa. The need arises to determine the brand personality (existing) and change it so as to match with that of consumer self image. For example, Brand which is considered as old, cannot be targeted to young target audience. In case of incongruence, Advertising needs to highlight functional aspects, and emphasize brand image in case of image congruence.

Conclusion: To conclude, the role of advertising in Brand building being potent tool needs to be leveraged to achieve key objectives for existing & new brands. Consistency is also important, failing which dilution of brand personality or absence of it may occur. Other mix elements like distribution, pricing, promotion and packaging (apart from advertising) should support and strengthen brand personality. Refrences: 1. Aaker, David A.; Erich Joachimsthaler (2000). Brand Leadership. New York: The Free Press. 2. Fu, Guoqun, Boy Abunda, and Riliang Qu. "Ownership effects in Consumers Brand Extension Evaluations." Journal of Brand Management 16Jan 2009 221-233. Web.19 Jun 2009. 3. Brands Trademarks and Advertising, Rodney D. Ryder, Lexis Nexis Butterworths. 4. Brand Warfare, David D'alessandro, McGraw Hill, New York, 2001, sss 5. Philip Kotler and Waldemar Pfoertsch, B2B Brand Management, Springer, 2006. 6. Paul Kilburn and Alfred Riachi Co-Branding VS Branding Journal of Marketing, 2006 7. Aaker, D. A. (2004) Brand Portfolio Strategy, New York: Free Press.