The Brand Attribute Model

2.1.4 Brand Attribute Model

The brand attribute model proposed by Keller (1993, 1998) and Li (2004) divides brand attributes into intrinsic and extrinsic brand attributes. Keller (1993) in the classification of brand attributes distinguished them to price information, packaging or product appearance information, user imagery, and usage imagery. Although package is considered part of the purchase and consumption process, it does not straightforwardly relate to the important ingredients for product performance in most cases. Later, Keller (1998) renamed non-product related attributes to extrinsic brand attributes, and replaced the package factor with brand personality and feeling experience factors. However, feeling experience was not considered

According to Kotler (1993, 1998), user and usage imagery can also be formed indirectly through brand advertising or by some other source of information such as word of mouth. User imagery is the brand imagery associations related to the type of person who uses the brand. Perceptions of a brand’s users may be based on demographic factors for example, sex, age, race and income, or psychographic factors such as attitudes toward career, possessions and social issues (Keller, 1993, 1998). Associations of a typical usage situation may be based on time of day, week and type of activity among other aspects. Consumers’ self-image can be inferred from the brands they use, their attitudes toward different brands and the meanings brands have for them. The perceptions consumers have of themselves influences their brand decisions. Consumers form favourable attitudes toward those products which possess images most similar to the images they either prefer or wish of themselves. Accordingly, they buy those products which match their desired self-image because those products help consumers express themselves (Zinkham& Hong,

Consumers make purchase decisions based on a product’s symbolic meanings and images, which can be used to create and enhance self-image.

According to Graeff, (1997) brands associated images let consumers express who they are, what they are, where they are and how they want to be viewed. A person expects positive reactions from his significant referents, and brand image becomes a symbolic tool for goal accomplishment (Grubb and Hupp, 1968; Grubb and Stern, 1971). A person attempts to communicate to his significant references certain things about himself by using symbolic products. Consumers’ purchase decisions are significantly influenced by social value in that consumers perceive various brand images as either congruent or incongruent with the norms of the reference groups to which they belong or aspire (Grubb and Stern, 1971; Solomon, 1983).

Usage imagery according to Keller, (2003), relates to the brand imagery associations that indicate under what conditions or situations the brand could or should be used. Usage imagery may be based on the time of the day, week, or year, the location (inside or outside the home), or type of activity (Keller, 1998).

2.1.6.3 Brand