Tim Smits & Natalie Van Hemelen Image is everything: personality-image discrepancy and the role of responsibility in the attitudes towards financial banks Tim Smits & Natalie Van Hemelen (credits to student researcher Jules De Bruycker) Key informants in 10 Belgian banks were interviewed about corporate identity, regional-origin focus and the brand attitudes they expected young Flemish adults would have regarding their corporation. Moreover, the recently suggested renewed brand personality measure of Geuens, Dewulf & Weijters (2008) was administered. These results were compared to a sample of student participants that filled in the same questionnaire from a perception perspective. They reported their general attitudes towards the banks, how regional they perceived the banks and how they perceived the banks to score on the renewed brand personality big five (a modification intended to measure image rather than personality). TEN BELGIAN BANKS Key informants in 10 Belgian banks 169 young Flemish adults Measures: Brand personality Expected Brand attitudes Measures: Brand image Brand attitudes Results and Discussion: Brand personality (Geuens et al, 2008) suggests five dimensions (Activity, Responsibility, Aggression, Simplicity, Emotion). When applied as a brand image questionnaire, these dimensions only partially applied to Belgian Banks. A quite consistent brand image scoring was possible on dimensions labeled Responsibility, Activity, Emotion and Simplicity. Eight out of ten banks overestimated the young adults’ attitudes about their bank. Ironically, only the two most positively valued banks (Dexia and KBC) did not overestimate. Young adults’ attitudes about the banks were best predicted, in a regression analysis, by how well they performed on the Responsibility brand image subscale. Local Flemish/Belgian perception of the bank’s brand did little to influence attitudes towards the banks. Contact: tim.smits@sockuleuven.be - @TimSmitsTim