INFLUENCER-BRAND CONGRUENCE: THE EFFECTS OF INFLUENCER-BRAND PERSONALITY MATCHING ON ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

As influencers continue to gain prominence in digital marketing, understanding how their alignment with brand traits affects consumer perceptions becomes crucial. This research examines the impact of congruence between influencer and brand personalities on advertising effectiveness. This research employs a multi-phase methodology, including focus groups and surveys, to evaluate responses from Pakistani consumers to influencer-brand pairings. Key findings reveal that advertisement believability and attitudes toward ads are significantly enhanced when influencer personalities closely align with brand personalities. However, such unity does not significantly influence purchases. This highlights the importance of careful influencer selection based on personality traits to improve advertisement credibility and consumer attitudes, although it may not directly lead to higher purchase rates. The study contributes to the influencer marketing literature by emphasizing the role of personality traits in influencer-brand congruence beyond traditional factors like attractiveness and expertise. These insights hold special significance for marketers who aim to optimize the use of influencers in their advertising campaigns. To further understand the generalizability of these impacts, future study could extend these findings to a wider variety of consumers and product categories.