Abstract:

Brand personality is an important concept taught to most university students on consumer behavior-related subjects. Firstly, the concept is usually introduced from a conceptual point of view, and secondly, different measuring scales of brand personality are explained to the students. In both cases, no universal agreement has been reached in previous literature. It is possible to find many varied definitions as well as different measurement scales for brand personality. In addition, some of the most widely accepted definitions and measures need to be updated and adapted to each specific sector and consumer group. Consumers influence how brand personality is perceived, and millennials are an attractive segment of consumers to be considered. Putting students in the place of developing a scale for measuring brand personality could be helpful for them to understand the complexity, fragmentation, and lack of unanimity around this issue.

A practical exercise was proposed to a group of International Business Degree students to identify important attributes reflecting brand personality in the clothing industry. After the first stage of brainstorming, 65 attributes are proposed for measuring brand personality in the clothing sector. In the second stage of scale refinement, 49 students rate the importance of the 65 attributes. Finally, according to the student's scores, a scale of 22 items is proposed to measure the perception of brand personality among millennials consumers in the clothing industry:
(i) affordability,
(ii) brand image,
(iii) comfort,
(iv) customer service,
(v) daily use,
(vi) design,
(vii) inclusiveness,
(viii) durability,
(ix) ethics,
(x) fabric,
(xi) fashionability,
(xii) well-fitting,
(xiii) functionality,
(xiv) originality,
(xv) practicality,
(xvi) size suitability,
(xvii) style,
(xviii)sustainability,
(xix) trendiness,
(xx) trust,
(xxi) updated
(xxii) website ease of use.

Recent advertisements of 12 different fashion brands were watched: Adidas, Berska, H&M, Hugo Boss, Jack & Jones, Louis Vuitton, Levis, Mango, Nike, Primark, Tommy Hilfiger, and Zara. The selected brands were the most time spontaneously proposed by the different student working groups. After each viewing, all the students completed a digital survey including the 22 items brand personality scale proposed.

Through this participative task, the students develop the following market research capabilities:
(I) to generate customer-targeted scales through brainstorming,
(II) to design a digital survey to collect answers,
(III) to analyze big data and refine, reduce and organize data hierarchically and,
(IV) to extract managerial implications for brands.

From a managerial perspective, this attribute identification has critical implications for clothing companies. On the one hand, brands will learn how to satisfy millennials through their products. On the other hand, the brand will obtain valuable feedback to effectively communicate brand positioning and personality to millennials.

Keywords:

Brand personality, clothing industry, scale development, millennials fashion interests.