Research Article ISSN 2313-4747 (Print); ISSN 2313-4755 (Online) CC-BY-NC 2014, Asian Business Consortium | AJTP Page 13 The Brand Personality: a Key Catalyst of the Consumer-brand Relationship Maryem Trabelsi Assistant Professor, Al Jouf University, Sakakah, SAUDI ARABIA * E-mail for correspondence: meriem.trabelsi55@yahoo.com Received: Jun 12, 2017; Accepted: Jun 27, 2017; Published: Feb 20, 2017 Source of Support: None No Conflict of Interest: Declared ABSTRACT In our post-modern era, the brand is perceived more than a simple means of identification of the producer and a tool of differentiation and distinctiveness. From the consumer’s angle, it is seen as a partner in a deep, affective and long-lasting relationship that reflects his personality, values, social status, ideology, world view to match with this new perception, managers should infuse their brands with distinctive traits that match with the current and potential customers’ needs and identification desire. This research goes in this stream of studies that focus on brand personality and its ability to create, develop and maintain a strong consumer-brand tie. The findings showed that Private Labels’ personality is capabe enough to generate trust and attachment in the Tunisian context. Keywords: brand personality, consumer-brand relationship, brand attachment, brand trust, Private Labels I NTRODUCTION The several social, ideological, economic and political changes that the whole world has known have greatly influenced many domains theoretically and operationally. Marketing is one of those diverse disciplines that were affected by those mutations. In fact, a simple observation of the marketing thought and practice reveals that it was oriented towards a new philosophy deeply grounded on relational aspect that considers the consumer-brand relationship as a continuous and enduring emotional exchange (Aaker, 1997; Fournier, 1998). Therefore, “the ultimate goal of marketing” has become the generation of “an intense bond between the consumer and the brand” (Hiscock 2001, p1). Hence, the personalized and individualized management as well as the one to one marketing appeared to hold all those changes and highlight the consumers’ new brand assessment and perception. Apart from the emergence of those new ways to deal with the customer and allow companies to meet consumers’ evolving needs and desires, many scholars are concentrating their efforts on the search of efficient means to attract new customers, retain them and gain their loyalty. This search is justified by the inability of the classic techniques of attraction based only on the emphasis on the brand’s quality and the utilitarian functions to guarantee the corporations’ prosperity and success (Van Reckom. J., Jacobs. G and Verlegh. P.W.J; 2006). As a matter of fact, today’s customers are no more faithful to a unique reference group that can influence their choices and tastes but they belong at the same time to many groups even having divergent and antagonist values and goals which harden the marketing managers’ responsibility and incite them to find out new ways to intrigue and stimulate the customer’ attention. The focus on an enduring and persistent emotional relationship is the focal point of this new stream of marketing researches. The studies following this vision showed that the customer and the brand are active partners (Fournier, 1998), their bond is a series of reciprocal emotional and values exchange. In fact, the new consumers do not accept anymore a tie that considers them as simple receivers or passive party (Samama, 2003). Moreover, such studies noticed that brands are more than a simple mark of differentiation in a store full of competitive ones as they are considered by postmodern customers as a means of self- expression and identification for which they show respect, trust, attachment and love (Belk, 1988; Brown, 1997; Fournier, 1998; Ambroise, 2006; Albert; Merunka and Valette-Florence,2007) Thus, the customer-brand relationship is henceforth an affective one that must be apprehended and examined from a new angle.