Brand identification: Building a concept from social identity theory and self congruity theory

The purpose of this paper is to develop the brand identification concept to better understand the relationship between consumers' selves and consumed brands, supported by social identity theory and self congruity theory. This construct is built mainly of three components: personal identity, brand image and social identity. The authors suggest that a brand can establish a strong link with the consumer when her own identity is congruent with the brand image and fits her social identity. Therefore this suggestion adds a new perspective to understanding a possible link between social identity and self congruity theories. Furthermore, antecedents and consequences from brand identification are suggested as a conceptual model. This model offers managerial information about how the brand could be perceived in a specific market. The more congruent the consumer self and the brand image, the better is the brand relevance in the consumer decision process. As a practical contribution, this work highlights how brand identification can assist managers to evaluate their brands in distinct contexts from a consumer perspective and understand how this context adds market advantages for brands. The contribution of this work aims to underscore some directions about how brand identification could be applied as managerial information about consumer perception. Finally, this work suggests a research agenda.