Web sites as Personalities and Playgrounds: Their Effects on Brand Image

Authors: Jennifer Chang Coupland, Jayesh R. Tekchandaney, Arvind Rangaswamy, Timothy W. Simpson

This paper investigates the customer’s brand experience in the context of online product customization. We posit that on the web, brand image is tied to the brand experience, which includes: (1) the personality characteristics of the Web site, and (2) the extent to which interactions at the Web site parallel a playground experience. Two exploratory studies utilizing observations and interviews of online users assessed the validity of our conceptualization. Drawing from research in “social response” (e.g., Reeves & Nass, 1996), we find that customers readily translate Web site design elements into personality characteristics. We also find that, during online product customization, feelings of “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) parallel the elements of good play (Norén-Björn, 1982). Finally, our results suggest that there are notable differences between goal-oriented (hunting) and process-oriented (gathering) users in their conceptualizations of personality and play. The paper concludes with some suggestions for how to design Web sites to convey the desired brand image.