Chapter 5: Brand Power Tools: Likability, Reinforcement, and Consistency

1 Humor seems to be the one absolute required to achieve likability. See the summary of USA Today and pollster Louis Harris and Associates of eleven thousand adults. Dottie Enrico, "Humorous Touch Resonates with Consumers," USA Today, May 13, 1996.

2 For example, rich media, broadband advertising about services and high-ticket products, seems to generate more likability. See "Rich Media Ads Score High on Banding and Recall, Newsbytes News Network, August 24, 1999.

3 Dennis Smith, "Do Ads Make Kids Want to Buy?" Business Wire, January 25, 1999.

4 Original research conducted in 1990 by Biel and Bridgewater seemed to indicate that customers were twice as likely to be persuaded to purchase by advertisements if they liked them than if they didn't. A. L. Biel and C. A. Bridgewater, "Attributes of Likable Television Commercials," Journal of Advertising Research 30, no. 3 (1990): 38–44. But more recent research from Massey University in New Zealand seems to suggest that when you actually measure to see whether people buy, likability is not necessarily the variable that influences purchase. See Janet Hoek et al., "Likability: A Behavioral Analysis," ANZMAC (2000), http://WWW.ANZMAC2000.com.

5 Tim Ambler points out that Mercedes is viewed by some consumers as being better than Lexus, simply because it has been making quality automobiles for a much longer time. Tim Ambler, "Do Brands Benefit Consumers?" International Journal of Advertising 16 (1997).

6 As quoted in Stuart Ewen, All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1988).

7 The word recognizable is the one used by Bob Tyrell and Tim Westall to describe this phenomenon. They write, "Achieving a distinctive and easily recognizable personality in every aspect of the literal and metaphorical conversation the company has with its customers needs every part of the company to 'live the brand.' An economic and sustainable solution to this has yet to be fully developed." Tyrell and Westall, "The New Service Ethos."

8 For a complete listing of all the Virgin companies, visit the intensely branded Web page: http://www.virgin.com/uk/atoz/.

9 Richard Branson, foreword to Daryl Travis, Emotional Branding (Roseville, Calif.: Prima Venture, 2000).