Defending Brands: Effects of Alignment of Spokescharacter Personality Traits and Corporate Transgressions on Brand Trust and Attitudes.

Two repeated-measure experiments examine the role of spokes characters in defending consumer perceptions of brand attitude, brand trust, and the willingness to pay a price premium (WPPP) for the brand. Based on the theory of anthropomorphization, the first experiment assesses the moderating role of the alignment between the spokes character personality and negative information. Results show that nonaligned negative information and personality traits offer a stronger defense for the brand. The second experiment extends the first by comparing the role of spokes characters relative to another visual promotion tool, brand logos. Results show that when personality and negative information are not aligned, there are no significant (unfavorable) effects on brand attitude and trust when either spokes characters or logos are used, but the brands are susceptible to unfavorable effects when the negative information is aligned. In addition, the spokes character offers somewhat greater protection for the brand than does the logo when the negative information is aligned.

Anyone with a successful business can be certain of one thing: competitors are looking for opportunities to attack. As a result, defending a business is a critical task for business leaders. Indeed, a good defense is far more important that a good offense. If you fail trying to grow, you will miss your objectives. If you fail defending your business, you can lose everything. Defensive strategy is a brutal business; the objective is to drive competitors into the ground and make off with their ideas. It isn't pretty, but a good defense can be very effective. Here, Calkins shows business leaders how to create and maintain a defensive strategy including: how to understand and get competitive intelligence; how to determine if your brand or company is at risk; how to create a defensive strategy; how to blunt your competitor's efforts - and much more. Every business leader needs to understand how to play defense and this book will teach them how to do it.

Works Cited


Journal of Advertising. Winter2013, Vol. 42 Issue 4, p331-342. 12p. 4 Graphs.