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How product personality can influence client preferences

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Product personality influences consumer preference positively. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG

Confectionary brand Tic Tac Kenya last month introduced consumers through its Facebook page to its products’ personalities — Dj, Miss Thang, Sir Singalot, The New Guy, El Nerd and Slick Rick.

Giving products human personalities is designed to trigger a different and higher level of consumer engagement with them.

“Most consumers will buy into this idea because it provides a human aspect to the products. They are inviting customers to buy from its brand because it matches their individual characteristics, which is a selling point,” said Stella Kimani, a brand strategist.

For Tic Tac Kenya, the characteristics of its products seek to communicate to different consumer segments, enabling them to relate to the brand and fostering a closer relationship between them. The El Nerd, for instance, is described as the clever one among his friends, who is the most likely to know about the life cycle of a starfish, whereas Miss Thang always wears her makeup perfectly and has an amazing personality.

The brand even encourages consumers to post comments naming friends of theirs that match the personality of the products; a move that could prompt the named friends to purchase products that are equivalent to their identity.

According to a study conducted by Jan Schoormans from Delft University of Technology on product personality and its influence on consumer preference, published in the Journal of Consumer Marketing, product personality influences consumer preference positively.

“In a two-phase study, respondents first indicated the product personality of 12 product variants and the experienced level of the description provided by the product.

‘‘Later, they indicated their preference for the different stimuli. Then, 10 months later, the same respondents indicated the types of people who prefer this product,” reported Schoormans.

“The results confirmed that there is a significant positive product-personality similarity effect on consumer preference and this influence is independent of the type of people who prefer this product.

‘‘The results show a stronger effect for product-personality on consumer preference than for the type of people who prefer the product.”

Thus, consumers do not need to have the same personality as a product to feel warmer to a product that has a personality. Simply ascribing a product a personality delivers greater consumer commitment.

An example of a company that used this successfully is the confectionary brand M&M. In 2012, it introduced its new product personality Ms Brown, described as an intellectual who socially interacts with heads of state and wears spectacles.

Ms Brown was launched in an advertisement during a Superbowl game in the US and it was ranked the highest in generating conversational return of investment, had the highest initial levels of online engagement, and finished second in continued conversation.

It also tied with Audi and Act of Valor for the highest proportion of positive sentiment in an advertisement, according to a case study by marketers Alana Allred, Nate Matthewson, Arianna Mevs, April Seeley and Krystal Simpson.

READ: Product innovation: Your brand’s best bet to regain lost market leadership

On the other hand, product personality can also have costly negative effects when the product fails in some way, such as by not living up to its advertising claim, or by not functioning as consumers expect.

“Creating product personalities can be a very powerful advertising tool, however; brands need to be aware that when they instill their products with human-like characteristics, any backlash when something goes wrong could be stronger.

‘‘This perception of intentions can be extremely strong – consumers now see the brand as performing badly intentionally and therefore consumers develop more negative sentiments toward the brand,” said Marina Puzakova, lead author in a paper titled, Putting a Human Face on a Product: When Brand Humanisation Goes Wrong.

“Consumers who believe in the stability of personality traits react to product failures more negatively, thus offering a public apology is not enough. For instance, companies that have a humanised brand marketed heavily towards seniors may need to be prepared to generously compensate those consumers if something goes wrong.”

- African Laughter