STUDYING BRAND TRAITS ELEMENTS IN CASUALWEAR: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Purpose of the study: Brand management is becoming increasingly a complex task in the present competitive world. Thus, in order to overcome such challenges, brand management is required which is personality-directed known as brand personality. Though this concept has gained importance, there is less number of studies conducted with respect to sportswear, where the threat of homogeneity strongly prevails. So, the first purpose in this study is to identify the brand personality dimensions of Sportswear using Aaker’s brand personality scale (1997) whereas the second purpose is to determine whether there are any significant differences in the perception of respondents with respect to these dimensions and finally the third purpose is to determine the extent to which these dimensions influence brand preference. Methodology: The data was collected from 700 college and university students from Indore, based on there popularity and students' strength and was analyzed using factor analysis, independent T-test, ANOVA and step-wise multiple regression techniques. The results indicated that seven brand personality dimensions were extracted for sportswear in Indore named Competence, Excitement, Sophistication, Sincerity, Small-town, Family oriented and Ruggedness. Ruggedness and Excitement dimensions are identified as the best predictors of brand preference for sportswear. Further, it is found that among the various socio-economic variables such as gender, age, and family income, only gender had significant differences with respect to five dimensions. Main Findings: The results also suggested that, among the socio-economic variables considered in the study, gender was the most influential variable than other variables, thereby suggesting the importance of this factor in formulating the promotional policies for the sportswear brands. Applications of this study: it would be helpful for brand managers to especially focus, apart from the common dimensions, on the dimensions specific to their brands to harness competitive advantage. The findings suggest that there is a significant role played by brand personality dimensions in influencing consumers’ preference for sportswear brands. Novelty/Originality of this study: The analysis in respect of the importance of brand personality dimensions in influencing consumers' brand preference shows that two dimensions namely Ruggedness and Excitement significantly influenced consumers’ brand preference of sportswear brands.