Consumer Perception of Brand Personality: An Empirical Evidence from India

The present study empirically measures the Airtel brand personality in India using Aaker’s brand personality measurement framework (1997). The study involved a questionnaire survey measuring five brand personality dimensions, namely, sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. The data were collected from customers using Airtel services; telecom, broadband and DTH. To establish the best fitting measurement model, the first- and second-order confirmatory factor analyses were computed using AMOS. Results revealed that the items under ‘sophistication’ dimension such as feminine, good-looking, glamorous and smooth are not relevant with Airtel brand personality. Thus, the remaining four dimensions, namely, sincerity, excitement, competence and ruggedness were combined to form a higher order construct, namely, Brand Personality. These dimensions were found to be important in Indian context. These results are very useful for managers to understand the symbolic meaning associated with the commercial brands. The results can also be used to develop positioning strategies for Airtel brand, especially with ‘excitement’ and ‘competence’ dimensions.