EMOTIONAL BRAND ATTACHMENT AND BRAND PERSONALITY: THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE ACTUAL AND THE IDEAL SELF

WHY THIS RESEARCH & ITS USES

 To find how to further strengthen the already existing emotional attachment of the customers towards the brand.  Results of this research would help in finding the authentic approach to branding, which has been recently gaining importance in academia and business practice.

Results of this research would also help in increasing the levels of brand loyalty and brand preference, which in turn increases company financial performance. Explains why consumers are committed to certain brands. Helps in understanding the formation, development and strength of the emotional bond between the consumer and the brand.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
 Actual self - perceived reality of oneself (i.e., Who and what I think I am now)  Ideal self - imagination of ideals and goals (i.e., Like who I would like to be).  Self-congruence - a fit between the consumers self( ideal or actual self) and the brands personality or image.

An actually self-congruent brand reflects who the consumer actually is (this brands personality is like who I really am) An ideally self-congruent brand reflects who the consumer would like to be (this brands personality is like who I would like to be).

OBJECTIVES
 To understand the implications and the relative impact of consumers actual versus ideal self-congruence on emotional brand attachment.  To gain insight into how the effect of actual versus ideal self-congruence on consumers emotional brand attachment varies across different contexts and consumers.

 Product Involvement - a consumers level of

involvement determined by the degree of personal relevance, importance, or interest.  Self-Esteem - refers to a persons overall evaluation of his or her worthiness as a human being.  Public Self-Consciousness - a persons awareness of and concern with his or her self-image and selfappearance in public.

HYPOTHESISES
 H1: Actual self-congruence has a positive effect on emotional brand attachment.  H2: Ideal self-congruence has a positive effect on emotional brand attachment.  H3: Actual self-congruence has a stronger effect on emotional brand attachment than ideal selfcongruence.

 H4a: Product involvement strengthens the relationship between actual self-congruence and emotional brand attachment.  H4b: Product involvement weakens the relationship between ideal self-congruence and emotional brand attachment.  H5a: Self-esteem strengthens the relationship between actual self-congruence with a brand and emotional brand attachment.

 H5b: Self-esteem weakens the relationship between ideal self-congruence and emotional brand attachment.  H6a: Public self-consciousness strengthens the relationship between actual self-congruence and emotional brand attachment.  H6b: Public self-consciousness weakens the relationship between ideal self-congruence and emotional brand attachment.

DATA COLLECTION AND SAMPLE

 Conducted two large scale studies Study 1 - H1-H3 and H4a and H4b Study 2 - H1-H3 and H5a-H6b  The sample consisted of students, employees, and members of various associations.  Procedure E-mail invitations to participate in a survey were sent to 11,093 consumers.

 Email directly linked to Online questionnaire.  Questions like familiarity, experience and knowing the products of different brand are given.  This procedure results in overall response rates of 19.1% (study 1) and 21.4% (study2).  50 most valuable Brands- FMCG , Durable consumer goods, services and retailing.  Emails sent and recorded the specific dates of responses of the individuals.

TOOLS
 Chi Square differentiation  AMOS 17.0

FINDINGS
 The results confirm a strong positive relationship between actual self-congruence and emotional brand attachment which supports H1.  Ideal self-congruence, however, did not have a significant effect on emotional brand attachment. Therefore, H2 is not supported.  Actual self-congruence has a stronger impact on emotional brand attachment than does ideal self-congruence which supports h3.

The results confirmed a positive moderating effect of product involvement on the relationship between actual self-congruence and emotional brand attachment, in support of h4a ( i.e., Actual selfcongruence has a positive effect on emotional brand attachment among low-involvement consumers this effect becomes even stronger among consumers with a high level of product).

 Ideal self- congruence, however, has a significant and positive effect on emotional brand attachment only among consumers with a low level of involvement and no significant effect among high-involvement consumers, in support of H4b.  Results indicate a stronger impact of actual selfcongruence on emotional brand attachment among consumers with a high level of self-esteem compared with consumers with low self-esteem, in support of H5a.

 In support of H6a, actual self-congruence has a weaker positive effect on emotional brand attachment among consumers with low public compared with consumers with a high level of public self-consciousness  Ideal self-congruence, however, has a significant and positive effect on emotional brand attachment only among consumers with low public self-consciousness. This relationship is not significant among consumers high in public self-consciousness, in support of H6b.

CONCLUSION
 Our observation across two studies suggests that consumers are more likely to form a strong emotional connection with a brand that validates who they are right now than with a brand that promises them help achieving an ideal self.  But, it is also found that actual and ideal self-congruence work different in different situations and also varies with different consumers, hence the following implications have been suggested.

IMPLICATIONS
 There are four important issues for managers to consider when trying to increase consumers emotional brand attachment: (1) incorporating consumers selves into branding considerations, (2) focusing on authentic Branding (3) reconsidering aspirational branding, and (4) individualizing their branding efforts.