Constructing and comparing digital brand personality profiles across channels : a multi-method investigation

Ghorbani, Mijka and Tonner, Andrea and Tsougkou, Eleni (Lenia) (2024) Constructing and comparing digital brand personality profiles across channels : a multi-method investigation. In: Global Brand Conference 2024, 2024-04-22 - 2024-04-24, Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the projections and perceptions of digital brand personality and their variations across digital channels. In an increasingly digital world, brands are faced with the challenge to create a distinct brand personality alongside the rise of user-generated content and the proliferation of digital touchpoints. Drawing on assemblage theory as an enabling lens, we adopt a multi-method approach to explore how digital brand personality is (co-)constructed between brands, consumers, and digital channels. First, we use an investigative and immersive netnography to map out how digital brand personality is projected and co-created through brand- and user-generated content across five social media platforms. Second, we use in-depth interviews with visual techniques to explore how digital brand personality is perceived and experienced on social media and beyond. Our thematic analysis reveals variations in digital brand personality patterns regarding the five factors mirroring human personality (i.e., Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Openness to Experience). More specifically, we reveal how platform affordances and online brand experiential values of the different channels shape consumer-brand interactions and their subsequent impact on digital brand personality profiles. Furthermore, we identify and categorise the brand-owned and non-brand-owned sources contributing to the (co-)construction of digital brand personality. Thus, we extent knowledge on digital brand personality, first, by mapping out variations of the projected and perceived digital brand personality across channels and highlighting the influence of the channels themselves, and second, by developing a holistic typology of sources of digital brand personality.

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