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