Job-Sorting Assignment to Assess Cream Liqueur Brand Image

Abstract

Projective techniques rely on a stimulus to elicit from respondents projections of their beliefs onto other people or objects, thus reflecting their own perceptions, feelings and motivations. In this work, the job-sorting technique, in combination with Aaker’s personality scale, was applied to the study of cream liqueur brand image in Uruguay and Costa Rica. Eight jobs with different levels of intellectual complexity, salary and physical demands were selected. In each of the two countries, three (two imported and one locally made) liqueurs were presented to 90 consumers with similar socio-demographic characteristics. Respondents were told to select the job, profession or occupation (JPO) that best fitted each brand. After JPO selection, respondents were asked to select from a list of 88 personality traits all the words that they considered applicable to each JPO selected. The JPOs associated with the different brands showed no similarity between Uruguayan and Costa Rican respondents, but the personality traits associated with the two imported brands were similar in both countries, supporting the use of JPOs as metaphors in the study of brand images. The brand image of locally made liqueurs was associated with traits that differed clearly from those of the imported brands. These results provide relevant information for the design of marketing strategies.