Functional and symbolic positioned personal brands in the electronic dance music industry.
Master Thesis
MSc in Business Administration Marketing Track
University of Amsterdam Faculty of Business and Economics
Student: Stephan Kardol Student number: 10871713 First supervisor: Jorge Labadie Second supervisor: Roger Pruppers Final version
This document is written by Student Stephan Kardol who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.
The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.
Abstract
This study investigates the role of functional and symbolic associations on brand evaluations in the positioning of a personal brand in the electronic dance music industry. Music comes in many different types and styles that can be grouped in all kind of different genres. The characteristics of artists differ in every music genre and every music genre attracts a different kind of audience. Therefore this research will be limited to only one music genre. An experiment is conducted measuring customer’s brand evaluations and personal brand extension evaluations of various artists situated in the electronic dance music genre.
The results of this study indicate that the role of functional associations in positioning a personal brand in the electronic music industry are more prominent compared to symbolic associations. Hence artists who have positioned their personal brands with functional associations are more likely to achieve positive brand evaluations. However no significant results were found in the evaluation of the extensions for the functional and symbolic positioned artists. Furthermore it is imperative for artists to acquire a strong personal brand. Artists with a high personal brand presence score are more likely to achieve positive brand evaluations and personal brand extension evaluations in comparison to artists with a low personal brand presence score. Artists that scored higher on a certain midpoint value on the variable brand awareness and higher on a certain midpoint value on the variable amount of associations that came to the respondents mind when thinking of a particular artist, were grouped as artists with a high personal brand presence score and vice versa.
1. INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1RESEARCH QUESTION ... 3
1.2SUB QUESTIONS ... 3
1.3DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ... 3
1.4CONTRIBUTION ... 4
1.5STRUCTURE ... 5
2. BRANDING AND POSITIONING ... 6
2.1BRANDING ... 6
2.2POSITIONING ... 9
2.3BRAND EXTENSIONS ... 12
3. PERSONAL BRANDING IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ... 14
3.1PERSONAL BRANDING ... 14
3.2POSITIONING PERSONAL BRANDS ... 17
3.3PERSONAL BRANDS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ... 19
3.4POSITIONING OF PERSONAL BRANDS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ... 20
3.5PERSONAL BRAND EXTENSIONS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ... 21
4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 22 5. METHODOLOGY ... 28 5.1FIRST PRE-TEST ... 28 5.2SECOND PRE-TEST ... 30 5.3RESULTS PRE-TESTS ... 30 5.4MAIN STUDY ... 34 5.5MEASUREMENT ... 35 5.5.1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES ... 35 5.5.2DEPENDENT VARIABLES ... 36 5.5.3CONTROL VARIABLE ... 38 6. RESULTS ... 39 6.1RELIABILITY CHECK ... 39 6.2MANIPULATION CHECKS ... 40
6.2.1PERSONAL BRAND CONCEPT ... 40
6.2.2PERSONAL BRAND PRESENCE SCORE ... 44
6.2HYPOTHESIS TESTING ... 48
7. DISCUSSION ... 56
7.1PERSONAL BRAND PRESENCE SCORE AND BRAND EVALUATIONS ... 56
7.2PERSONAL BRAND CONCEPT AND BRAND EVALUATIONS ... 57
7.3PERSONAL BRAND PRESENCE SCORE AND EVALUATION OF PERSONAL BRAND EXTENSIONS ... 58
7.4EVALUATION OF THE LINE EXTENSION, CATEGORY EXTENSION AND PERSONAL BRAND CONCEPT ... 59
8. CONCLUSION ... 61
8.1CONCLUSION ... 61
8.2LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ... 62
REFERENCES ... 64
APPENDIX ... 71
1. Introduction
One of the most notable artists of the recent years is Martin Garrix. After producing the world hit “Animals” his career skyrocketed. At an age of 18 he has already flown all over the world and he is the fastest growing DJ in the electronic dance music scene. It seems that prior to the Internet people would favor various artists because they enjoyed the music these artists would make. There were hardly any ways in which artists could communicate with the public, so virtually the only information known to the public was who the artists were and which songs they produced. The associations people had concerning artists would mainly be based on functional associations regarding their music due to the lack of an easy and accessible way to communicate their image to the public. However nowadays it seems that by the arrival of the Internet and especially social media there has been a shift in the reasons people favor certain artists. It is not surprising that Martin Garrix is so popular under the teenagers because it looks like he is selling a teenage dream to the young kids by showing video clips with private jets, screaming girls and big parties. It seems that besides the functional associations of solely the music also symbolic associations have started to play a role in the associative networks in the minds of the customers regarding the artists in the music industry.
Since the arrival of the Internet the music industry has changed dramatically. There is a radical shift in the production, distribution and consumption of music because of unauthorized consumer peer-to-peer file trading. This transition from tangible music products to digital has affected many artists in the music industry. For this reason Fee (2010) states that personal branding has become a crucial aspect for an
artist’s success in the current music market. ‘Successful personal branding entails managing perceptions effectively and controlling and influencing how others perceive you and think of you’ (Rampersad, 2008, p.34). Besides because of the declining sales many artists nowadays are launching and endorsing their businesses to leverage and extend their personal brands. More and more musicians are developing products and services by using their own personal brand names.
This paper will especially focus on the electronic dance music. Besides that the electronic dance music genre is one of the biggest music genres, it is also one of the fastest growing music genres. In 2014 electronic dance music turned into a 6.2 billion dollars music industry. This increase in popularity for dance music has resulted in an escalation of youngsters wanting to become a DJ (Test, 2015). In this market of clear oversaturation with declining sales it has become extremely important for artists to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Besides, since the arrival of the Internet the positioning of personal brands of artists in the music industry has probably changed the balance of the functional and symbolic associations in the associative networks of the customers. Therefore it is particularly interesting to examine customer’s brand evaluations on functional positioned artists and symbolic positioned artists by analysing the differences between the positioning strategies. Furthermore, since artists are launching and endorsing their businesses to leverage and extend their personal brands it is interesting to examine the customer’s attitudes towards personal brand extensions of functional and symbolic positioned personal brands. Besides this paper will also examine the influence of high and low personal brand presence scores of artists on the customer’s brand evaluations.
To this date no research has examined the role of functional and symbolic associations on personal brands. Therefore it would be interesting to examine the role of functional and symbolic associations when positioning personal brands.
1.1 Research question
What is the role of functional and symbolic associations on brand evaluations and personal brand extension evaluations in the positioning of a personal brand in the electronic dance music industry?
1.2 Sub questions
- Is a high or a low personal brand presence score of an artist more likely to build positive brand evaluations?
- Are the brand evaluations more positive for personal brands of artists that score high functional associations or symbolic associations?
- Are the evaluations of the personal brand extensions higher for personal brands of artists that score high on functional association or on symbolic associations?
1.3 Delimitations of the study
This thesis will examine the role of functional and symbolic associations in positioning personal brands in the electronic dance music industry. By investigating the brand evaluations of functional and symbolic positioned personal brands of artists, this research will try to explain how artists in the electronic dance music industry can best position their personal brands in order to build brand resonance. This thesis will not examine if functional and symbolic brand concepts can adequately be distinguished in the minds of customers and if functional and symbolic associations are merely two ends of a continuum since Bhat & Reddy (1998) have examined this
matter and came to the conclusion that brands can have both functional and symbolic associations in the mind of the customers since these are distinct concepts in the customers mind.
1.4 Contribution
Theoretical
This research will contribute to the existing knowledge concerning personal brands. It will add to our understanding of positioning personal brands in the music industry. According to the customer based brand equity model brand resonance can be build by means of functional and symbolic associations. By examining the role of the functional and symbolic associations when positioning personal brands, the means to reach brand resonance can be scrutinized. Furthermore by exploring the role of personal brand presence scores on brand evaluations we can examine the severity of having a strong or weak personal brand in the electronic music industry.
Managerial
For managers of artists and artists themselves this research gives insight into how to best position the personal brand in the minds of the customers. By examining the role of the functional and symbolic associations in the electronic dance music managers will know the role and importance of these associations in order to create positive brand evaluations. Especially since the declining sales and fierce competition in this music industry it is important for artists to differentiate themselves from the competition. Furthermore by examining the evaluations of personal brand extension of functional and symbolic positioned personal brands, artists will know how to best position their personal brands if they want to extend their personal brands with brand extensions.
1.5 Structure
This thesis consists out of eight chapters. The first chapter contains the introduction and presents the problem statement, which results into the research question. Thereafter chapter two and three will review the literature concerning branding and personal brands. Subsequently in chapter four the hypotheses will be formulated and the theoretical framework will be presented. Next, the methodology will be described in chapter five followed by the results in chapter six. Finally a discussion will be presented in chapter seven by linking the results to the existing literature and ending with a conclusion in chapter eight.
2. Branding and positioning
2.1 Branding
Branding is all about providing an identity and building a distinct image for a product or service by differentiating from competitors. Branding creates mental structures within the consumer’s minds to help them organize their knowledge about products and services. It clarifies their decision-making and it provides value to the firm. The evaluations of consumers concerning identical products may be different due to the way they are branded. Through marketing programs and past experiences consumers learn about a brand and find out which brands satisfy their needs and which do not. Consumers lives are becoming more complicated, time-starved and rushed therefore the ability of brand’s to simplify the customers decision making process and reduce the risk has become invaluable (Kotler & Keller, 2012).
According to Kotler & Keller (2009, p.151), branding is ‘endowing products or services with the power of the brand’. Kotler (1988, p.463) defines a brand as ‘a name, term, sign, symbol or design or combination of them, which is intended to identify the goods of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors’. Brands identify the source of the product or service and allow the customers to give accountability for the brands performance to the company and or the distributors responsible for the brand (Kotler & Keller, 2012). The main role of branding is to create a meaningful difference in the customers mind regarding to the products and services. These differences are often related to attributes and benefits of the products and services. Brands are much more than just names or logos they represents all the associations, perceptions and feeling that customers have of a product or service. The meaning that brands give to products is the basis for building a customer relationship.
Customer-based brand equity is conceptualized from the perspective of the individual consumer. Keller (1993, p.2) describes customer-based brand equity as ‘the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand’. Psychologists have conceptualized a model of memory called the associative network model. This associative network contains a network of nodes and links. A node represents stored information and links are the connections between the nodes that vary in strength. Brand knowledge is conceptualized as a network of nodes, which are all linked to each other in a network of associations in the long-term consumer memory. Keller (1993) built a framework for brand knowledge called the dimensions of brand knowledge.
Figure 1. Dimensions of brand knowledge Source: Keller 1993, p.7
Brand knowledge consists out of brand awareness and brand image. Brand awareness is the ability of customers to identify the brand under different conditions and exists of brand recognition and brand recall. The easier a customer can identify the brand the stronger the brand node exists in the customer’s memory. Brand recognition is the consumer’s ability to discriminate the brand as having seen or heard before. Brand recall is the ability of consumers to correctly generate the brand from
memory. Brand image consists of the perceptions the customer holds about the brand defined by the associations in the customers mind.
‘Brand associations are the other informational nodes linked to the brand node in memory and contain the meaning of the brand for consumers. These brand associations can be divided into three categories of increasing scope: attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes can be product related or non-product related; price, user/usage imagery, brand personality, feelings and experiences (Henderson and Iacobucci & Calder, 1998). Benefits are the personal values consumers attach to the product or service attributes. Benefits can be functional, experiential and symbolic. Attitudes consist of the consumer’s evaluations of the brand or personal brand and these are the basis for consumer behaviour and purchase intentions.
Customer-based brand equity occurs when a customer is aware of the brand and holds some favourable, strong and unique brand associations in memory’ (Keller, 1993, p.3). The favourability of brand associations depends on how favourable the consumers evaluate the association. The strength of an association depends on how the information enters the consumer’s memory and how it is maintained as part of the brand image. When a brand has unique brand associations, than the brand has a sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors and gives consumers a reason to buy (Keller, 1993).
Branding is used to educate the target audience by describing what the product is, what the product or service does and why the consumers should care and respond in a positive way, commonly by purchasing or consuming the product. Branding can be applied in every situation where a consumer has a choice; a physical good, store, place, organization, idea and a person can all be branded (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Branding was initially product based as in the fast moving consumer goods industry,
however the branding concept has expanded in the last few years and has included non-conventional brands (Butterfield, 2003). Besides the fast moving consumer goods industry where branding is a key factor to the success of products, it is well practiced in the service industry, in the field of corporate communications and amongst individuals defined as personal branding. The public‘s interest in people as brands is continually growing (Bendisch, Larsen & Trueman, 2007).
2.2 Positioning
Keller (2001) designed a customer-based brand equity model (CBBE model), which builds further on the brand knowledge model and lays out what brand equity is and how it should be build, measured and managed. According to this model the power of a brand resides in the minds of the customers and can be used to position a brand in the minds of the customers. In the CBBE model Keller describes four phases to build brand resonance. Keller (2001, p.18) defines brand resonance as ‘the nature of the relationship customers have with the brand and whether they feel in synch with the brand’. All the four phases can be linked to the Keller (1993) framework of brand knowledge.
Establish the proper brand identity
In this phase brand salience is created. This concept is related to brand awareness and consists of depth and breadth. Depth refers to brand recall or brand recognition and breadth is the range of consumption and purchase situations in which the product comes to mind.
Create the appropriate brand meaning
In the second phase a brand meaning has to be established in the customers mind through linking tangible and intangible associations with the brand. Brand meaning can be established through functional, performance related associations that meet the customer’s functional related considerations and symbolic, imagery related associations that deal with the extrinsic properties of the product or service. Performance and imagery are related to the brand image attribute associations of a brand. These associations can be established by means of a customer’s own experience with the brand or through some source of information such as advertising or word of mouth.
Elicit the right brand responses
In the third phase customer’s responses are evoked in reaction to the brand identity and brand meaning. The brand responses can be divided into brand judgments, personal opinions about a brand and brand feelings, emotional reactions to a brand. Judgments and feelings are related to the attitudes the consumers have towards the brand which are part of the brand image building.
Forge appropriate brand relationships with customers
In the final phase brand loyalty is built in the mind of the consumer by creating a relationship and a level of personal identification with the brand. Brand resonance consists of behavioural loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community and active
engagement.
‘Brand associations are important to practitioners for a variety of reasons. First of all they help consumer’s process and retrieve information and can help differentiate or position the brand. Secondly if the associations are positive they will create beneficial attitudes and feelings and provide a reason to buy. Finally brand associations may be exploited to create effective brand extensions. Overall the selection, creation, and maintenance of brand associations are among the most important steps in the management of brand equity’ (Till et al, 2011, p.93). ‘Building a strong brand is to ensure customers have the right types of experiences with products and services and their accompanying marketing programs so the desired thoughts, feelings, images, perceptions, and attitudes become linked to the brand’ (keller, 2001, p.2).
Brand positioning is all about placing a product or service and image in a clear and concrete way in the target consumer’s mind. If a brand is well positioned the marketing strategy is easier determined and directed to maximize the benefits from the consumer’s consumption (Saunders, 2011). Besides a strong positioning of the brand clarifies the brand‘s meaning, identifies the specific goals the brand offers the consumer and demonstrates its uniqueness compared to its competition. Brand positioning is long-term orientation and looks at the present as well at the future so that the brand has room to improve and grow. That is why brands must find a balance between analysing what the brand is and what the brand is projected to become (Kotler & Keller, 2012). While positioning a brand, the brand must strategically be placed in a category or niche. The brand identity has to be congruent with the category or niche to achieve the desired image that the brand wants to place in the customers mind in order to achieve a strong competitive advantage.
2.3 Brand extensions
As was stated before, brand associations are important to practitioners for a variety of reasons. One of them is that brand associations may be exploited to create effective brand extensions. Aaker and Keller (1990) refer to brand extensions as the use of an established brand name for the introduction of new products or services. Through brand extensions, associations of the parent brand are transferred to the extended brand or product (Nan, 2006). To reduce the risk of new product failure, marketers extend brands to take advantage of the brand knowledge. The image of the parent brand can be enhanced by the use of brand extensions. There are two types of brand extensions, line extensions and category extensions. Brand extensions that introduce a new product in an existing product category are line extensions. Line extensions are used when marketers want to target group a new group of consumers in a new market segment in the existing product class (Aaker & Keller, 1990). Brand extensions that introduce a new product in a new product category are category extensions.
The success of leveraging brand equity through brand extensions depends on the favorable and unique associations, which the customers hold in mind of the parent brand. These favorable and unique associations facilitate the formation of the brand equity that can be created through the positive beliefs and favorable attitude towards the brand extension (Aaker & Keller, 1990). The favorable and unique associations in the minds of the customers should be retained in order to perceive the brand extension as different from competitors and relevant (Keller et al, 2012).
Park et al. (1991) conducted a study in order to examine a number of important issues related to brand extensions of functional and prestige brands. They were able to show that consumer’s reaction to functional extensions of functional
brands was more favourable than their reaction to prestige extensions of functional brands. In the same study consumers also displayed a more positive reaction to prestige extensions of prestige brands than to functional extensions of prestige brands. According to Park et al. (1991) the success of extensions depends on how consumers react to the perceived fit between the brand and the extension. Perceived fit consists of product feature similarity and brand concept consistency. Brand concept consistency is defined as a brand extension that sticks to the same concept. Product feature similarity is defined as similarities between the new product and the products already associated with the brand. Both factors are an important aspect for assessing the degree of fit, however concept consistency has a bigger effect on the prestigious brands than on the functional brands with the result that the prestigious brands have a greater extending potential than functional brands have. In this study the authors assumed that brand concepts could be functional or prestigious, not symbolic. Furthermore the results are not generalizable in the sense that the data is only tested for two brands, one of each category.
3. Personal branding in the music industry
3.1 Personal branding
Tom Peters invented personal branding in 1997. In his FastCompany article he said ‘we are CEO’s of our own company. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You’ (Peters, 1997, p.83). ‘Personal branding is a strategic process, it is about intentionally taking control of how others perceive you and managing those perceptions strategically to help you achieve your goals’ (Montoya & Vandehey, 2002, p.3). A key assertion in personal branding is that we all have a personal brand regardless of age, position or business. Peters (1999) calls this ‘a sign of distinction’. However most people do not realize this and do nothing to manage their personal brand strategically, effectively or consistently. Your personal brand influences many situations in your live. For instance it determines how credible people see you, your ideas and your opinions, if you are considered to be hired, if you get opportunities offered and the amount that people will pay you for your services. Every celebrity has a personal brand. However that does not mean that all the celebrities manage their personal brands, nor does it mean that to manage your personal brand you have to become a celebrity (Montoya & Vandehey, 2002).
According to Labrecque (2010) personal branding has become increasingly popular in the digital age and was considered to be a way for celebrities and politicians to market themselves, especially by using the Internet and social media. However through the use of online tools everyone nowadays has the power to be their own brand and to market their personal brand to the whole world. By the arrival of the digital age and web 2.0 personal branding has become more important. Through social media applications such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace it has become virtually impossible to keep anyone away from creating a personal brand,
voluntary or not. People may often unknowingly participate in the act of marketing, even thought they are not trained in the discipline of marketing. Through social interaction and personal style people unintentionally lend themselves to the marketing of individuals (Khedher, 2014).
A person’s main job is to be his or her own marketer (Labrecque, 2010; Shepherd, 2005). Not everyone manages his or her own personal brand. Although some people hire others to do it for them, the best branding work comes if individuals do it themselves. The reason for this is that if people do not manage their own personal brand someone else will and ‘the chances are that their brand description won’t be quite what you have in mind’ (Kaputa, 2005, p.8). ‘Personal branding represents a self-centred and highly individualistic approach to self-marketing’. (Shepherd 2010, p.10)”
Personal branding is a concept, which shares roots with personal selling because these concepts focus on personal marketing, image building, selling, packaging, outward appearances, promoting yourself and becoming famous. The latter can turn into an ego trip and these people could be perceived as egocentric and selfish (Rampersad, 2008). The concept of personal branding exists of more than just marketing and promoting yourself. ‘Your personal brand is the synthesis of all the expectations, images, and perceptions it creates in the minds of others when they see or hear your name. Your personal brand should be authentic, reflect your true character and be built on your values, strengths, uniqueness and genius. If you are branded in this organic, authentic and holistic way, your personal brand will be strong, clear, complete and valuable to others’ (Rampersad, 2008, p.34)
According to personal branding advocates (Montoya & Vandehey 2003; Peters, 1999: Roffler, 2002) the personal branding process resembles the product
branding process. This is especially noticeable in the brand identity building process. The focus here is on the unique and distinctive attributes associated with the product, company or in this case a person (Hillgren & Connor, 2011). Arruda (2002) describes three stages in the brand building process consisting of extract, express and exude. In the first stage the individual has to discover and identify their key attributes: ‘a unique promise or value’ by looking at themselves. In the second stage a personal brand statement is constructed around their attributes. Finally a strategy is created to make the brand visible to the world. Roffler (2002, p.5) summarizes this process as: ”Branding for people is about finding your ‘big idea’, the core you, and putting it out in the universe to fulfil itself.”
Goldsmith (2009) developed four stages for individuals to pass through in order to build their own believable personal brand. The first stage is about defining and formulating a personal ambition. Here individual’s dreams are identified and self-awareness is developed. People look at who they are, what they stand for, what makes them unique, different and special and what their values are. In this stage people assess their personal vision, mission and key roles and make these visible for the public. The second stage is about defining and formulating your personal brand. This is a statement that involves your ambition brand objectives, specialty, service-dominant attribute and domain. So it entails an authentic personal brand promise of yourself, which you can use as the focal point of your actions and behavior. In the third stage people develop a well-balanced action plan in which their ambition is translated and transformed into measurable and manageable personal objectives. The final stage is about implementing the personal brand and afterwards constantly maintaining it. If you do not make your personal brand reality then your personal brand has no value.
Furthermore according to Khedher (2014) the personal branding process involves three stages. In the first phase people create a brand identity by differentiating themselves while fitting the expectations of a specific target market. In the second stage the personal brand is positioned by developing an active communication of the brand identity by managing behavior, communication and symbolism. Finally to fulfill personal and professional objectives the brand’s image is evaluated.
3.2 Positioning personal brands
‘According to the writings of Boatwright, Cagan, Kapur, and Saltiel (2009) the theory of personal brands is an extension of that brand theory, in which a person or personality is the focus of the brand rather than a product or service’ (Saunders 2011, p.12). So if a brand represents a product, service or a person, they all can be conceptualized in the same way by manner of a brand’s attributes, values, benefits and personality. Montoya & Vandehey (2002) define a personal brand as all the associations that come to mind when thinking of a particular person and stands for all the values, abilities and actions that represent that person. This definition is similar to that of Kottler (1988, p.463) as mentioned earlier: a brand is a ‘a name, term, sign, symbol or design or combination of them, which is intended to identify the goods of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. So personal brands can be treated the same way as products or services and it is assumed that it too would portray the theoretical dimensions of Customer-based brand equity (Eusebius, 2014). ‘Individuals use brand positioning to highlight their positive attributes that are of value to their target audience while at the same time differentiating themselves from other individuals in the marketplace’ (Hitchings, 2014, p.12). People can only differentiate themselves from other individuals through
individuality and that can be based on one attribute or a combination of different attributes. However, attributes must be noticeable for the target audience (Bendisch, 2010). The benefits that set each personal brand apart from other individuals are called points of difference. These associations are strong, favorable and unique in the minds of the customers. The points of parity are the associations that are shared with competitors. These associations are strong and favorable but not unique and must be met in order for consumers to perceive you as legitimate and as a credible player (Keller et al, 2002). A brand identity is built upon an individual’s definition of him or herself, the purpose of their brand influences their definition of their brand. ‘The image of the person is determined from the attitudes, habits, and characteristics that others perceive based on the abilities, emotions, and actions of the person using the personal brand’ (Saunders 2011, p.13).
So positioning of a personal brand is used to differentiate a person from his competitors, to build a competitive advantage in the mind of the consumers and ultimately build brand equity. This brand equity adds value to the person and enhances the consumer’s expectations and perceptions of the person (Bendisch, Larsen & Trueman, 2007) ‘So similar to a commercial brand, a personal brand effectively communicates your distinct value and sets you apart from your competitors. Your brand is effective when it becomes the means through which people seek your knowledge, expertise and talent’ In other words, it is the unique promise of the value for which you are known. (Morton, 2012, p.70)
3.3 Personal brands in the music industry
From the perspective of big record labels the music industry is in a complete chaos. There are numerous new artists who are trying to get noticed in the mainstream market, however the music industry is currently growing more than it has ever before. Because of the arrival of the Internet, people nowadays can communicate, connect, distribute and access information, which has dramatically changed the music industry. There is a radical shift in the production, distribution and consumption of music because of unauthorized consumer peer-to-peer file trading.
However, the Internet has provided for a growth of opportunities in the distribution of products and self-promotion but also for a more intense competition for attention. Besides the music listeners who are turning to the Internet to find their music, labels and executives are following suit and are exploring the Internet to find new talent. Prior to the Internet the connectivity and communication with fans was dependent on traditional media and music tours. Nowadays artists can build their own fanbase without any backup of major record labels providing them financial support or resources. Record labels are progressively more attracted to artists who have shown their capability to create their own success. However in the contemporary days artists have established their music careers without any support of major labels. This phenomenon has emerged because of the inexpensive and advanced recording equipment, but especially by the ease in the online spread of word of mouth. Even though if artists advance by means of independent labels or major labels, artists will never be created from scratch anymore. Being backed by consumer support is a new requirement (SunEagle, 2010).
3.4 Positioning of personal brands in the music industry
People have divided opinions about branding in the music industry. According to some people branding of music productizes the artists by affecting the artists authenticity and it takes away the focus from their music. According to these people artists should focus on functional associations instead of symbolic associations. However other people say that it is impossible for artists to succeed without branding because ‘branding makes the product which is to be sold. Moreover, it creates the image of the artist and defines the artist’ (Sekki, 2012, p.6). Because the music business has changed, people nowadays have an abundance of music to choose from and that is why they expect to receive more than just music. ‘A common view is that an artist equals a brand, artists do not only receive attention for their music but also for their clothing, whom they associate with, what kind of vehicles they drive and what drinks and food they consume (Sekki, 2012, p.9). That is why sponsorships and endorsement deals often occur. According to Sekki (2012) people are looking for value, artists nowadays need to have some featured attributes otherwise customers won’t buy it. So these people think artists should focus more on the symbolic associations when positioning their personal brand. However Sekki (2012) has never empirically tested his beliefs.
It seems as that the Internet has caused for a shift in the positioning of personal brands in the music industry. Prior to the Internet artists could not communicate their personal brands that easily. The associations people would have concerning artists were mainly functional associations regarding their music. However nowadays it is far easier for artists to communicate their personal brands and consumers want to receive more than just music. It seems that besides the functional associations of solely the music also symbolic associations have started to
play a role in the associative networks in the minds of the customers regarding their artists in the music industry.
3.5 Personal brand extensions in the music industry
Many artists nowadays are launching and endorsing their businesses to leverage and extend their personal brands. Not only producers see the power of music artists but also artists themselves are recognizing the persuasive power of their own brands names. More and more musicians are developing products and services by using their own personal brand name. ‘It is no longer about brands extending into different categories and using celebrity endorsement as an effective marketing and promotional tool. Rather about artists using their names as brands and extending themselves into completely new categories (Borucka, 2013). Personal brand extensions usually start by the support of an already existing brand in the market and linking that brand to the personal brand of a music artist. ‘It looks like every artist needs to develop his or her own brand in order to really exist on the market. It seems that musicians cannot just be performers anymore and that there is a strong pressure for them to become entrepreneurs in their own right’ (Borucka, 2013). The name of an artist is one of the most important assets. It comprises the reputation that the artist builds around his personal brand and it is a reference point for consumers to identify the artists they appreciate.
4. Theoretical framework
Customers evaluate personal brands according to their judgments and feelings and formulate a certain attitude towards the brand. This is based upon the strong, favorable and unique associations in the minds of customers relating to the personal brand. The personal brand evaluations of customers can be measured according to their attitude towards the personal brand, their purchase intentions and behavioral loyalty.
As mentioned before people have divided opinions about branding in the music industry. According to some people branding of music productizes the artists by affecting the artists authenticity and by taking away the focus from their music. However other people say that it is impossible for artists to succeed without branding because ‘branding makes the product which is to be sold. Moreover, it creates the image of the artist and defines the artist’ (Sekki, 2012, p.6).
Firstly the brand evaluations of consumers on high and low personal brand presence scores of artists in the music industry have to be explored. Personal brand presence score is a self-construal in which artists that score higher on a certain midpoint value on brand awareness and higher on a certain midpoint value on the amount of associations that come to the respondents mind when thinking of a particular artist, are grouped as artists with a high personal brand presence score and vice versa. ‘Personal branding is a strategic process, it is about intentionally taking control of how others perceive you and managing those perceptions strategically to help you achieve your goals’ (Montoya & Vandehey, 2002, p.3). So by having a personal brand, artists can intentionally take control of how others perceive them and influence the brand evaluations. Besides a personal brand increases brand awareness and (potential) customers can know what to expect from the artists. Therefore we
expect that when an artist has a high personal brand presence score the brand evaluation scores are higher than when an artist has a low personal brand presence score.
H1: When a personal brand presence score of an artist is high, brand evaluation scores are higher compared to when a personal brand presence score is low.
According to the customer-based brand equity model personal brands create brand meaning through the use of functional and symbolic associations. The functional associations are performance related associations that meet the customer’s functional related considerations. The symbolic associations are imagery related associations that deal with the extrinsic properties of the personal brand (e.g. reputation, personality and values).
A functional oriented artist will position their personal brand with functional associations in the minds of the customers. However a symbolic oriented artist will position their personal brands with functional and symbolic associations in the minds of the customers. According to Sekki (2012) the music business has changed and people have an abundance of music to choose from and that is why they expect to receive more than just music. They are looking for the added value. Symbolic associations can deliver this added value. Therefore the attitude towards personal brands of artists will be more positive for personal brands that score high on symbolic associations than on functional associations.
Furthermore Gresham & Shimp (1985) found a strong relationship between attitude towards the brand and purchase intentions. In later studies Goldsmith et al.
(2000); Yi (1990) and Phelps & Hoy (1996) found that attitude towards the brand has a positive and significant effect on purchase intentions. So based on the argument of Sekki (2012) that consumers expect to receive more than just music and symbolic positioned artists can deliver this added value and based on the arguments of Goldsmith et al. (2000); Yi (1990) and Phelps & Hoy (1996) that attitude towards the brand plays a positive and significant role in affecting the consumers purchase intentions and the purchase intentions towards personal brands of artists will be more favorable for symbolic positioned artists.
According to Uncles et al., (2003) attitudinal loyalty is described by attitudes. Pritchard (1991) stated that attitudinal loyalty refers to the intentions and preferences of consumers to repurchase and recommend the brand. It is important for an artist that their consumers have favorable attitudes towards their personal brand because it makes consumers committed (Baldinger & Rubinson, 1996), which is linked to their attitudinal loyalty. So attitude towards the brand and purchase intentions are positive and significant related to attitudinal loyalty.
The brand evaluations will be measured according to the attitude towards the personal brand, purchase intentions and attitudinal loyalty. Since it is expected that all these variables will be more positive for personal brands that score higher on symbolic associations than on functional associations it is also expected that the brand evaluations towards personal brands of artists in the electronic music industry will be more positive for personal brands that score higher on symbolic associations than on functional associations.
H2: Brand evaluations towards personal brands of artists in the electronic music industry will be more positive for personal brands that score high on symbolic associations than on functional associations.
Based on the argument of Montoya & Vandehey (2002) that personal branding is about taking control of how others perceive you and thereby influencing the brand evaluations of customers it is expected that artists with a high personal brand presence score will have higher brand evaluations in comparison to artists with a low personal brand presence score. Symbolic oriented artist will position their personal brands with functional and symbolic associations in the minds of the customers. So these artists will have more associations in comparison to functional oriented artists and therefore it could be easier for the artists to influence the brand evaluations of the customers. So it is expected that the difference in brand evaluations between functional and symbolic positioned personal brands of artists, is larger for artists with a high personal brand presence score, than it is for artists with a low personal brand presence score
H3: The difference in brand evaluations between functional and symbolic positioned personal brands of artists, is larger for artists with a high personal brand presence score, than it is for artists with a low personal brand presence score.
The evaluations of brand extensions are important for two reasons. According to Aaker and Keller (1990) and Boush and Loken (1991) evaluations of brand extensions are important for the prediction of the success of the extension and for the core brand success. Furthermore if consumers positively evaluate extensions of personal brands this will further develop brand equity (Pitta and Katsanis, 1995). The
evaluations of personal brand extensions of consumer’s on high and low scoring personal brands have to be explored. The success of leveraging brand equity through brand extensions depends on the favorable and unique associations, which the customers hold in mind of the parent brand. These favorable and unique associations facilitate the formation of the brand equity that can be created through the positive beliefs and favorable attitudes towards the brand extensions (Aaker & Keller, 1990). Personal branding is all about intentionally taking control of how others perceive you. So by having a strong personal brand, artists can intentionally take control of how others perceive them and influence the brand extension evaluations. Therefore we expect that when a personal brand presence score is high the evaluation of the personal brand extension will be higher compared to when a personal brand presence score is low.
H4a: When a personal brand presence score is high the evaluation of the line extension is higher compared to when a personal brand presence score is low.
H4b: When a personal brand presence score is high the evaluation of the category extension is higher compared to when a personal brand presence score is low.
According to Park et al. (1991) the success of extensions depends on how consumers react to the perceived fit between the brand and the extensions. Perceived fit consists of product feature similarity and brand concept consistency. Both factors are an important aspect for assessing the degree of fit, however concept consistency has a bigger effect on the prestige brand than on the functional brand with the result
that prestigious brands have a greater extending potential than functional brands have. Currently no research has been done examining the extension potential of personal brands regarding to functional positioned personal brands and symbolic positioned personal brands. Therefore this relation will be further examined and we will proceed on the findings of Park et al (1991) predicting that the evaluation of the extension is higher for symbolic positioned personal brands compared to functional positioned personal brands. Line extensions and category extensions will both be examined resulting in the following hypothesis.
H5a: Evaluations of the line extension is higher for personal brands of artists in the electronic music industry that score high on symbolic associations rather than on functional associations.
H5b: Evaluations of the category extension is higher for personal brands of artists in the electronic music industry that score high on symbolic associations rather than on functional associations.
5. Methodology
This thesis contains an exploratory study in which the role of functional and symbolic associations of personal brands of artists on brand evaluations is examined. Hereby personal brand presence scores will be taken into account. The customer’s evaluations of the various artists are at the focal point of this study. These evaluations will be compared for functional positioned artists, symbolic positioned artists, artists with a high personal brand presence score and artists with a low personal brand presence score. Therefore firstly various artists have to be examined to find artists that fit each profile.
5.1 First Pre-test
The purpose of the first pre-test is to identify whether the artists have a high personal brand presence score or a low personal brand presence score. Twelve artists were presented, six who were thought to have a high personal brand presence score and six of them who were thought of having a low personal brand presence score. This was based on a small test were six respondents were asked to group the artists into these two groups. The artists used in the first pre-test can be found in table 1. To measure the personal brand presence scores of the artists, the brand awareness of each artist was measured and the amount of associations the respondents could think of regarding each artist. Every artist that scored a ‘four’ or higher was perceived scoring high on brand awareness and every artist scoring lower than a four was perceived as scoring low on brand awareness. Furthermore the respondents were asked to describe the amount of associations that came to mind when thinking of the particular artist in question. People group objects and events into categories. They do this based on similarity and resemblance. In these categories all kind of information is stored about
their elements, which includes the knowledge of the element features, relationships between them, expectations about members of categories and positively and negatively evaluated information concerning the members (Sheng & Pang, 2009). On average every respondent should be able to think of two associations regarding the artists, for instance DJ and electronic dance music. Therefore every artist that scored more than two associations was perceived as scoring high on the amount of associations and every artist that scored less than two associations was perceived as scoring low on the amount of associations.
Every artist that scored high on brand awareness and high on the amount of associations was perceived as scoring high on personal brand presence score. Every artist that scored low on brand awareness and low on the amount of associations was perceived as scoring low on personal brand presence score.
Finally the respondent’s music genre interest was measured on a seven-point Likert scale. Every respondent that indicated a ‘four’ or higher, indicating that electronic music is important to them, was perceived as interested in the music genre and therefore useful for the experiment.
Table 1. Expectations of the positioning of the associations and personal brand presence scores of the artists
Positioned as functional Positioned as symbolic
High personal brand presence score • Bakermat • Arjuna Schiks • Joris Voorn • Daft Punk • Deadmau5 • Martin Garrix
Low personal brand presence score • Michael Mayer • Nicky Romero • Max Cooper • Confettiman • Delicatesse • Girls love DJ’s
5.2 Second Pre-test
In the second pre-test the focus was to identify whether the chosen artists scored higher on functional associations or on symbolic associations. Twelve artists were presented, six artists of whom were thought to be functional positioned by scoring higher on the functional associations and six artists of who were thought to be symbolic positioned by scoring higher on the symbolic associations. The artists used in the second pre-test can be found in table 1. To measure the personal brand concept four questions were asked. Two questions were used to measure the functional associations and two questions were used to measure the symbolic associations of each artist.
Finally the respondent’s music genre interest was measured on a seven-point Likert scale. Every respondent that indicated a ‘four’ or higher, indicating that electronic music is important to them, was perceived as interested in the music genre and therefore useful for the experiment.
5.3 Results Pre-tests
Twenty-four respondents participated in the pre-tests, however three respondents dropped out during the survey. From the twenty-one respondents one indicated a score lower than four for music genre involvement finally resulting in twenty respondents.
Bakermat, Arjuna Schiks, Joris Voorn, Daft Punk and Deadmau5 were perceived as scoring high on personal brand presence score, because the results showed an average of four or more relating to the questions of brand awareness and the average of the number of associations of the respondents regarding these artists was more than two. Micheal Mayer, Confettiman, Delicatesse and Girls love DJ's
were perceived as having a low personal brand presence score because the results showed an average of less than four relating to the questions of brand awareness and the average of the number of associations of the respondents regarding these artists was less than two.
Table 2. Results of the pre-tests
Positioned as functional Positioned as symbolic
High personal brand presence score • Arjuna Schiks • Joris Voorn • Bakermat • Daft Punk • Deadmau5
Low personal brand presence score
• Michael Mayer • Delicatesse
• Confettiman • Girls love DJ’s
Bakermat, Daftpunk, deadmau5, Confettiman and Girls Love DJ’s were perceived as being positioned as symbolic based on their average means of more than four relating to the questions measuring the symbolic associations. Arjuna Schiks Joris Voorn, Micheal Mayer and Delicatesse were perceived as being positioned as functional based on their average means of more than four relating to the questions measuring the functional associations. For the artists who were not mentioned in table 2, the mean values were not significantly different from the midpoint values.
A one-sample t-test was conducted on the variables of brand awareness, functional associations, symbolic associations and amount of associations per artist, to test if the mean values were significantly different from the midpoint value four. However for the question relating to the amount of associations considering the artist in question, a mid point value of two was used. Since the average amount of
associations for an artist in the music industry would be two. The alpha level was set at p < 0. 05. The p-values were divided by two because the test was two tailed.
Finally a paired sample t-test was conducted to measure if the functional associations were significantly higher than the symbolic associations for the functional positioned artists and vice versa for the symbolic positioned artists. The alpha level was set at p < 0. 05. Table 3. shows the artists that were picked for the experiment. The artists were picked based on all significant results of the one-sample t-test (table 4.) and the paired sample t-test (table 5.) However as can be seen in table 4 their is only one insignificant result for the questions measuring the functional associations of Deadmau5. This will not cause any problems in the main experiment, because, as mentioned earlier, symbolic oriented artists will position their personal brands with functional and symbolic associations in the minds of the customers. The only requirements for the symbolic positioned artists (Deadmau5 in this case) is that the questions measuring the symbolic associations is significantly above four and that there is a significant difference between the functional associations and symbolic associations. Since Deadmau5 meets these requirements he will be used in the experiment.
Table 3. Artists picked for the experiment
Functional positioned Symbolic positioned
Personal brand presence score high
Joris Voorn Deadmau5
Personal brand presence score low
Table 4. Results one sample t-test
Joris Voorn
Personal brand presence score Mean Std. Dev t Sig. (2-tailed)
Brand awareness 5.013 1.296 3.493 0.001
Amount of Associations 2.60 0.754 3.559 0.001
Personal brand concept
Symbolic 2.90 1.419 -3.465 0.002
Functional 5.98 0.866 10.203 0.000
Deadmau5
Personal brand presence score Mean Std. Dev t Sig. (2-tailed)
Brand awareness Amount of Associations
5.313 1.355 4.333 0.000 3.05 1.050 4.472 0.000
Personal brand concept
Symbolic 6.025 1.00 9.000 0.000
Functional 4.250 1.372 0.815 0.213
Michael Mayer
Personal brand presence score Mean Std. Dev t Sig. (2-tailed)
Brand awareness 2.34 1.643 -4.525 0.000
Amount of Associations 0.90 1.294 -3.803 0.001
Personal brand concept
Symbolic 2.850 1.027 -5.006 0.000
Girls love DJ’s
Personal brand presence score Mean Std. Dev t Sig. (2-tailed)
Brand awareness 2.69 1.439 -4.078 0.001
Amount of Associations 1.15 1.089 -3.489 0.001
Personal brand concept
Symbolic Functional
5.20 1,207 4,445 0.000 2,73 1,163 -4,899 0.000
Table 5. Results paired sample t-test
Mean Std. Dev t Sig. (2-tailed)
Functional - Symbolic Joris Voorn 3.08 1.901 7.235 0.000
Symbolic - Functional Deadmau5 1.86 1.860 4.268 0.000
Functional - Symbolic Michael Mayer 1.95 2.253 3.871 0.001
Symbolic - Functional Girls love DJ’s 2.00 1.781 6.216 0.000
5.4 Main study
This research used a two (personal brand concept: symbolic and functional) x two (personal brand presence score: low and high) within-subjects research design. In a within-subjects research design every respondent is exposed to every condition. So there was only one survey, which was filled in by every respondent. Every participant had to evaluate each artist based on several questions. The same questions were used for each artist. The first half of the questions were questions related to the brand evaluations of the customers towards the artists, the second half related to the questions concerning the personal brand extensions. Two hypothetical situations were
presented. For the line extension the following sentence was presented: ‘imagine that all of the following artists would extend their personal brand by introducing a new headphone brand under their own name. Please keep the headphone brand extension in mind when answering the following three questions’. Furthermore for the category extension the following sentence was presented: ‘now imagine that all of the following artists would extend their personal brand by introducing a new energy drink brand under their own names. Please keep the energy drink brand extension in mind when answering the following three questions’.
It was necessary to control for music genre involvement. If participants are not interested in electronic dance music it will be difficult for them to evaluate the various artists since they would probably hardly know any of the artists. Therefore every respondent that indicated a score lower than four for music genre involvement was removed from the data set.
5.5 Measurement
5.5.1 independent variables
The personal brand concept measured both the functional associations and the
symbolic associations regarding each of the artists.
To measure the functional associations two questions were adopted from Keller (1993) and Bhat & Reddy (1998). In both questions respondents had to indicate on a seven-point likert scale, with ‘one’ strongly disagree and ‘seven’ strongly agree, if the artists had positioned themselves as functional and when they think of the artist they think of their music.
To measure the symbolic associations two questions were adopted from Keller (1993) and Bhat & Reddy (1998). In both questions respondents had to indicate on a
seven-point likert scale, with ‘one’ strongly disagree and ‘seven’ strongly agree, if the artists had positioned themselves as symbolic and when they think of the artists they think of their image.
To measure the personal brand presence score of each artist, brand awareness was measured and the amount of associations that came to mind regarding each of the artists.
Keller (1993) defines brands awareness as the likelihood that a brand name will come to a consumer’s mind and the ease with which it does. The scale was adopted by Buil, Chernatony & Martinez (2008). The scale consisted out of four items measured on a seven-point Likert scale, with ‘one’ strongly disagree and ‘seven’ strongly agree, based on four questions regarding how aware the respondents are of the artists, how familiar the respondents are with the artists, if they have an opinion regarding the artists and if they have ever heard of the artists.
To measure the amount of associations that came to mind regarding each of the artists, the respondents were asked to indicate how many associations came to mind.
5.5.2 Dependent variables
The brand evaluations were measured according to attitude towards the personal brand, purchase intentions and attitudinal loyalty.
Mitchell and Olson (1981) define the first dependent variable: attitude
towards the personal brand as ‘an individual’s internal evaluation of the personal
brand’. It was adopted by Cronley et al. (1999) and measured how favorable or unfavorable the attitudes of thee respondents were towards the given artists. The scale consisted out of three items measured on a seven-point Likert scale, with ‘one’
strongly disagree and ‘seven’ strongly agree. The respondents had to indicate if they liked the artist, if they found the artist good and if they found the artist pleasant.
Purchase intentions are an individuals conscious plan to make an effort to
purchase a brand’ (Spears & Singh, 2004). According to Ajzen (1991) purchase intentions are a pretty good indicator of actual purchase behaviour. Taylor and Baker’s (1994) scale consisted out of one item measured on a seven-point Likert scale, with ‘one’ do not intend to buy and ‘seven’ definitely intend to buy. However since nearly no one ever purchases music anymore but streams it from Internet sites and applications, like Spotify for instance, this scale was altered. Still measured on a seven-point Likert scale with ‘one’ strongly disagree and ‘seven’ strongly agree, respondents were asked if they intended to listen to the artists.
According to Bennet and Rundle-Thiele (2002) attitudinal loyalty is measured by defining the tendency to be loyal towards an individual. It was adopted by Dick & Basu (1994). The scale consisted out of four items measured on a seven-point Likert scale, with ‘one’ strongly disagree and ‘seven’ strongly agree, based on four questions measuring how much the respondents feel committed to the artist, if they habitually listen to the music of the artist, if they would recommend the artist to others and if they have positive feelings and beliefs about the artist. If customers posses attitudinal loyalty towards the artist, they are more likely to stay with the artist.
Evaluation of the personal brand extension was measured according to six
questions. Three questions regarding the line extension and the same three questions regarding the category extension. The questions were adopted by Park, Milberg and Lawson (1991) who researched how consumers evaluate brand extensions. The three questions were measured on a seven-point Likert scale, if the respondents will probably try the personal brand extension of the artist, how positive the respondents
are towards the brand extension and how favorable the respondent’s attitude is towards the personal brand extension.
5.5.3 Control variable
After measuring the four dependent variables, music genre involvement was measured as a control variable, used by Dens and De Pelsmacker (2010). This control variable was measured based on a seven-point semantic differential scale. One question was asked relating to genre, which asked how important electronic music is to them with ‘one’ strongly disagree and ‘seven’ strongly agree.
6. Results
Using a survey, which was created in Qualtrics, collected the data for the main study. The link to the online questionnaire was distributed via social networks. 50 respondents participated in the experiment, however eight respondents did not fill in the whole questionnaire. Of the remaining 42 respondents seven respondents filled a score of lower than four for the question relating to music genre involvement. Finally resulting in a total of 35 respondents analysed in this study. All respondents were between 20 – 30 years old. The age distribution is presented in table 5.
Age Frequency Percentage
20 1 2.9 21 1 2.9 22 4 11.4 23 5 14.3 24 10 28.6 25 12 34.3 27 1 2.9 30 1 2.9 Total 35 100
Table 5. Age distribution
6.1 Reliability check
The independent and dependent variables were measured by a number of items. A reliability analysis was conducted to measure the internal consistency of the items. This is indicated by the Cronbach’s Alpha for each construct and can be found in the Appendix. Cronbach’s Alpha’s that are between 0.60 and 0.80 provide for a
