De Chernatony Brand Pyramid
The Brand Pyramid
Leslie de Chernatony · University of Birmingham · 2006
Introduction
From Product Attributes to Brand Personality
Leslie de Chernatony presents the brand pyramid in his book From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation, from which Quest (2019, p. 73) and Rossolatos (2012, p. 29) reproduce it. The pyramid is a way of thinking coherently about the key aspects of developing a new brand, and not just a product: it sets out the steps by which product attributes become consumer benefits, which give rise to emotional rewards, then to values and finally to brand personality traits (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). It borrows from Gutman's means-end theory, in which the attributes of a brand have consequences for consumers that reinforce their values, and arranges these steps as a hierarchy to be worked through in sequence (Quest, 2019, pp. 70, 72–73). The pyramid takes an internal view of the brand, that of the employee or brand manager (Quest, 2019, p. 72). Tangible elements sit on the lower levels and intangible ones, such as emotional rewards and personality traits, higher up (Quest, 2019, p. 73). Rossolatos (2012, pp. 28–29) calls it the brand essence pyramid: seen as a whole, a brand's essence is a pyramid-like structure of attributes, benefits, values and the brand personality as their synthesis.
The Model
Elements
Definitions follow Rossolatos (2012, pp. 27–29), who describes the chain of levels with page references to de Chernatony's book, and Quest (2019, pp. 69–73), who places the pyramid in the means-end tradition. The book itself is not freely accessible, so the profile draws on these two published reproductions; quotes from the book are marked "as cited in". The levels follow the arrows of the figure, from the base upwards.
Five Levels, From the Base Up
01
Attributes
Attributes form the base of the pyramid: the steps it sets out begin with product attributes, which are transformed into consumer benefits (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). Quest counts attributes among the tangible elements that the pyramid relegates to its lower levels (Quest, 2019, pp. 73, 165). De Chernatony suggests building one ladder from attributes up to personality traits for each of the up to three key attributes that make up a brand's core essence (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29).
02
Benefits
On the second level, product attributes have been transformed into consumer benefits, which in turn give rise to emotional rewards (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). In Gutman's means-end theory, whose influence shows in the pyramid's attributes, benefits and values, consumers receive benefits from the consequences of consuming the brand (Quest, 2019, pp. 71, 73).
03
Emotional Rewards
Benefits give rise to emotional rewards, and emotional rewards are in turn transformed into values (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). Quest names emotional rewards and personality traits as examples of the intangible elements that the pyramid places higher up the hierarchy (Quest, 2019, p. 73). Reading a consumer's comments along the pyramid, Quest describes the emotional reward as a "positive sense of well-being" that the benefits create (Quest, 2019, pp. 165–166).
Local cheese: In Quest's interview study of local food brands, a respondent knows that her money "will go to good people that will continue producing good cheese (attribute) that's good for the local community (benefit), healthy (benefit)", and that "when you do it makes you feel good (emotional rewards) that you are doing something for the local community supporting them (instrumental and terminal values)". The terms in brackets are Quest's coding, not the respondent's words. Quest sees in this a hierarchy that borrows from the means-end ladder and de Chernatony's pyramid (Quest, 2019, pp. 163, 166).04
Values
Emotional rewards are transformed into values, which form a framework of values, an "axiological framework" (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). De Chernatony separates core from peripheral values: "A brand's core values are those values that the brand will always uphold, regardless of environmental change, and which will always be a central characteristic of the brand. By contrast, peripheral values are secondary values that are less important to the brand and which can be deleted or augmented" (de Chernatony, 2006, p. 122, as cited in Rossolatos, 2012, p. 28). The core values make up a brand's essence (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 28). In Gutman's means-end theory, values are "desirable end-states of existence" that guide choice (Quest, 2019, p. 71).
05
Personality Traits
At the top, values that are projected onto the brand and recognised in it take the form of brand personality traits, which are reflected in brand image attributes (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 29). The brand personality is projected metaphorically and forms the synthesis of attributes, benefits and values (Rossolatos, 2012, p. 28). De Chernatony explains what the metaphor does: "By using the metaphor of the brand as a personality, manifest sometimes through a celebrity in brand advertisements, customers find it much easier to appreciate the emotional values of the brand" (de Chernatony, 2006, p. 40, as cited in Rossolatos, 2012, p. 27).
Source
- de Chernatony, L. (2006). From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation: The Strategic Process of Growing and Strengthening Brands (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. [Original work. The book is not freely accessible; this profile draws on the other two sources listed here as substitutes.]
- Quest, J. (2019). To Explore the Tangible Attributes Contributing to Brand Meaning: A Study of Local Food Brands [Doctoral thesis, Bournemouth University]. BURO. https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/32730/
- Rossolatos, G. (2012). Applying Structuralist Semiotics to Brand Image Research. The Public Journal of Semiotics, 4(1), 25–82. https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2012.4.8838