Jeep vehicles are seen as representing more than just transportation. They symbolize an adventurous and rugged lifestyle. Jeeps are viewed as capable of traversing any terrain, expressing individuality and freedom. This perception is based on Jeeps' history of use in World War II and their ability to travel across harsh landscapes. Customers seek out the Jeep brand and identity because it aligns with their personality or desired personality of being rugged, outdoorsy, and daring. Brand personality, like human personality, can be described using traits such as those in the "Big Five" model - sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. For Jeep, excitement and ruggedness are particularly prominent traits.

1. Jeep is not just a mere vehicle- it is much more than that. It is an expression of a personal
statement, an experience, a style statement, a symbolic representation of an extrovert, rugged and
adventurous lifestyle and a representation of bold attitudes. When one visualizes a Jeep, one
would think of a strong vehicle that is capable of going anywhere and doing anything- clearly
expressing rugged and outdoorsy individuality and personal freedom. Rugged because of its
outlook and also because of its history- the use of this mighty vehicle in the World War II and
during the post war, and freedom because of its ability to travel across the harshest of the harsh
landscapes and thus the myriads of places that can be explored with this vehicle. It is all the
combination of this that makes the Jeep experience so much 'fun'. One of the many themes of
Jeep commercials is “Have fun out there”. A key value of Jeep is patriotism and the Jeep history.
Ever since their grand entry into the US market, Jeep vehicles captured the attention and
admiration of people everywhere. They served their country in the war in Europe and the Pacific,
and led an amazing life, helping to defeat the Axis powers and bring peace to the world. War
correspondent Ernie Pyle characterized the Jeep vehicle in this way. "It's as faithful as a dog, as
strong as a mule and agile as a goat." All this, had further enhanced the value of a Jeep as a
macho, tough brand.
Jeep cutomers can also express themselves by wearing Jeep clothing. Just like the brand itself,
the clothes represent strong and a nimble taste. 'Wearing Jeep’s garments means not to
compromise when you go straight down your way.' The experience of driving a Jeep, or even the
associations that comes from wearing Jeep clothing is a way of expressing one's own personality.
Thus, consumers seek Jeep as it is a personality that is congruent with his/her own. However,
those may also buy Jeep because it is thier sought-after/aspirational personality. This process
follows from the idea that consumers use a brand's personality to help define both for themselves
and for others, their sense of self.
In this paper, Jeep will be used as an example to explore the concept of Brand Personality and its
dimensions, with references to the video. Brand Personality refers to the 'set of human
characteristics associated with a given brand'. Thus it includes such characteristics such as age,
gender, and socioeconomic class as well as such classic human personality traits such as warmth,
concern and sentimentality. Thus brand personality, like human personality is both distinctive and
enduring. Further, customers often interact with brands as if they were people, especially when the
barnds are attached such meaning products such as clothes or cars. the same vocabulary used to
describe a person, can be used to describe a brand personality. In particular, a brand can be
described by demographics, (age, gender, social class, and race), lifestyle (activities, interests, and
opinions) or human personality traits ( such as extroversion, agreeableness, and dependability).
A recent study developed and tested the Brand Personality Scale (BPS), a compact set of traits
designed to both measure and structure brand personality Five Personality Factors (termed the Big
Five)- Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication and Ruggedness- emerged as the main
factors that can be used to categorize a brand's personality. Each of the Big Five Factors has been
divided into faces to provide texture and descriptive insight regarding the nature and structure of
the Big Five. The fifteen facets are given descriptive names as shown in Appendix I. A video has
been used to disscet the brand personality of Jeep.
The video used to delineate the personality of Jeep demonstrates the different kinds of Jeep that
are moving through the most difficult landscapes, not through the mundane long winding roads,
across mountains and hills and splashing through the water. The 'people' component comes a little
later to show the amount of fun that entails in driving a Jeep. Jeep shows the possibility of taking
the people to places that could have never been imagined otherwise. Crossing the most
outrageous terrains and moving with so much power, takes them to new heights of excitement and
fun. Each turn and motion of the mighty vehicle leads to an adrenaline rush, taking them to places
that have never been explored before, helping to create the 'greatest times' if their lives, that is only
possible through the different sub-brands namely Wrangler, Commander and son, that is, the 'line-
up' of the Master Brand- Jeep. Thus the apt tag line, “Your greatest times, Our greatest line up”.

2. Like a person, a brand can also have a complex personality that ranges across the Big Five. Using
the Brand Personality Scale, Jeep can thus be said to be high on Excitement and Ruggedness. In
case of Excitement, it has emphasized on Daring (being exciting and off-beat), Spirited ( being
lively, outgoing and adventurous) and Up-To-Date (being aggressive). Whereas in case of
Ruggedness, it has emphasized both on Outdoorsy (being masculine, Western, active and athletic)
and Tough ( being rugged, strong and no-nonsense).
Another way of defining a brand personality is through archetypes. Archetypes because if one
studies religions, myths and legends from different cultures and times one will discover that they
contain roughly the same cast of characters. There are distinctive creators, rulers, heroes, virgins,
explorers, lovers and at least one that portrays the common man. It is these characters which are
called the archetypes. The modern archetype theory was launched by Carl Jung. He analyzed and
sorted archetypes, and claimed that they possess cross-cultural communication skills because, he
said, they reflect our collective subconscious. In the archetypes we recognize our own impulses,
needs, fears and desires. Archetypes, according to Jung, are hardwired in us all. All brands can be
categorized into one of the 12 prime archetypes, namely – The Caregiver, The Every Man, The
Lover, The Ruler, The Creator, The Innocent, The Jester, The Rebel, The Magician, The Sage, The
Explorer and The Champion.
Taking Carl Jung's theory into account, Jeep has the archetype of The Explorer. The
Explorer/Seeker/Wanderer leaves the known to discover and explore the unknown. This inner
rugged individual braves loneliness and isolation to seek out new paths. Often oppositional, this
iconoclastic archetype helps us discover our uniqueness, our perspectives, and our callings. Just
like the video portrayed, Jeep leaves the known places, seeks unknown paths and territories to
climb to the top and reach new destinations.
Carl Pearson brings two more dimensions to Carl Jung's archetype-theory.: Order Vs Change and
Self Focused Vs Group Oriented( Appendix-II). Jeep, being The Explorer is on the lower semi-
circle on the right hand side. Jeep focuses more on what is possible to make rather than what
customers think they need or want, and brings about more change.
Just as the perceived personality of a person is affected by nearly everything associated with that
person, including his or her neighborhood, friends, activities, clothes, and maneer of interacting, so
too is a brand personality. Both product related characteristics and Non-Product related
characteristics affect perceptions of a brand personality. Product-related characteristics such as
product category, package, price and attributes, can be primary drivers of a brand personality. The
product category of Jeep as being an off roader vehicle gives it the personality traits of
ruggedness, masculine and tough. Non-Product-Related Characteristics such as Sponsorships,
Age, Advertising Style, Country of origin, Celebrity Endorsers also affect Brand Personality. The
thirty second advertising commercial, i.e. the video clearly represents Jeep to be Rugged,
Outdoorsy, Masucline and Tough as described above. Jeep also does many event sponsorships,
such as Jeep Racing through difficult landscapes, that reinforce its offbeat, aggressive and
adventurous personality. Finally, Jeep is visibly American, a brand that tells the story of the
American soldiers during the World War II.
Companies use Brand Personality because it helps enrich the understanding of people's
perceptions of and attributes toward the brand, contributing to a differentiating brand identity,
guiding the communication effort and creating brand equity. The most important of these is
enhancing Brand Equity- which can be summarized by three models.
The Self-Expression Model:
The premise of this model is that for certain groups of customers, some brands become vehicles to
express part of their self-identity. This self identity can be their actual identity or an ideal self to
which they might aspire. Brands that people like, admire, discuss, buy and use also provide a
vehicle for self expression. In this aspect, buying a Jeep, is an expression of the lifestyle one has
or wishes to have- a rugged, tough, masculine, outdoorsy and adventurous one. In order to be

3. effective, the brand personality needs to be desirable and important enough to matter to the
person using the brand. The person should feel better because of an association with the brand-
thus a person riding a Jeep should feel more masculine, tough and rugged in contrary to using a
Lexus, which makes one feel more upscale and sophistacted and snobbish to a certain extent.
Brand personality effects might be much larger for visible, involving products like cars an clothes.
The Relationship Basis Model:
The concept of a relationship between a brand a person (analogous to that between two people)
provides a different perspective on how brand personality might work. Jeep has the characteristic
traits of Ruggedness: athletic and outdoorsy, compared to that of BMW or Mercedes (Pretentious,
wealthy and condescending). When planning an outing, a friend with outdoorsy interests would be
welcome. The brand personality provides depth, feelings and liking to the relationship. Brand
Equity is also defined as the 'friendship' relationship between the customer and the brand. Fred
Posner of Ayer Worldwide has observed that people live in a world characterized by stress,
alienation and clutter. Noting that people cope by developing escape mechanisms, and meaningful
friendships, Posner suggests that brands can provide these roles by being either an 'aspirational'
or a 'trusted' associate.
In the context of relationship metaphor, the goal is a high brand relationship quality that has seven
dimensions:
1) Behavioral Interdependence : The degree to which the actions of the relationship partners are
intertwined is indicated by the frequency of, importance of, and involvement in the interaction:
 Jeep plays an important part in my life- acting as an escape, and taking me to places I
never have before.
2) Personal Commitment: The partners are committed to each other.
 I feel very loyal to Jeep, and will stay with Jeep through good times and bad.
3) Love and Passion:Intense emotional bonds between partners and the inability to tolerate
separation, reflect love and passion that exists.
 No other brand can take the place of Jeep.
4) Nostalgic Connection: The relationship is based in part of the memory of the good times.
 Jeep reminds me the 'greatest times' that I have had and reminds me of the adventures
and the timeless moments that I have had.
5) Self-concept connection: The partners share common interests, activities and opinions.
 Jeep and I are similar in nature: outdoorsy, active, athletic and adventurous
6) Intimacy: The consumer will achieve intimacy by knowing details about the brand and its use.
 I know a lot about Jeep and the company that makes Jeep; its history and its origin,
7)Partner quality: This dimension reflects the evaluation by one partner of the performance and
attitude of the other, including the evaluation by the consumer of the brand's attitude toward him or
her.
 Jeep treats me like a valued customer offering me great after-sales service, and loyalty
offers and appreciates me.
The Functional Benefit Representation Model:
A brand personality can also play a more indirect role by being a vehicle for representing and
cueing functional benefits and brand attributes. The Jeep personality of a rugged, macho, freedom
seeking person suggests that the product is a powerful liberating machine. The product attributes
would be much less convincing without the personality behind them.
The symbol:
When a visual symbol or image exists that can create and sue the brand personality, the ability of
the personality to reinforce the brand attributes will be greater. The Jeep logo as it stands currently
represents the front of the vehicle. It consists of two circles representing the headlights and vertical
bars representing the grill in the front of the car. The word Jeep runs on top of the logo. The name
Jeep itself is a nostalgia as it reminds people of the tough, powerful machine that facilitated the
courageous soldiers during the war and post war.
Country of Origin:
A country or region of origin can add credibility to an identity. It can also generate a strong
personality that provides not only a quality cue but also an important point of differentiation that can

4. lead to effective marketing and communication programs. Jeep is a visibly American brand that
fought off the enemies during the World War II.