Oct 5, 2006 13:14
17 yrs ago
5 viewers *
English term

intimate

Not for points English Marketing Marketing / Market Research
In market research, brands are sometimes “personified”, i.e. assessed as if they were persons. The respondent characterises a brand by indicating to what extent specific (human) characteristics can be attributed to a brand. Such a list of characteristics could include:
generous
individualistic
sensual
old-fashioned
confident

One of the items on my current list is “intimate”, and I wonder how you natives out there would interpret this attribute and whether it makes sense to you at all. If you were a respondent, what would it take for you to tick “applies very well to this brand”?

The context is confectionery, but this question can be applied to any brand, since it's not about the products sold but the emotional perception of the brand.

Many thanks!
Endre

Discussion

Jonathan MacKerron Oct 5, 2006:
intimate relationship with the brand??

Responses

+1
11 mins
Selected

special personal attachment

I'm a woodworker and love tools. Some of them I might call "intimate" in the sense that I feel a special personal attachment to them. I might have had very good results with them or they may be especially well made. I simply "love" them. Here are some tools to which I might attach the word "intimate":

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/
Peer comment(s):

agree Can Altinbay
1 hr
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+1
11 mins

personally, no as it implies a very close relationship with another person.

But wait for other answers.

An intimate relationship (sex).

An intimate friendship
Peer comment(s):

agree Jeanette Phillips : but how about "familiar"? It connotes closeness, but not the sex factor
33 mins
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45 mins

since you asked...

I think I could regard a real object as intimate (as Kim suggested), but not a brand -- unless 'intimate' is to be understood as the opposite of 'distant' or 'aloof'. Howver, that's not the meaning that first comes to mind, so IMO it would have to be explictly stated ('How would you rate the brand on the scale of 'disant -- intimate'?').

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Note added at 46 mins (2006-10-05 14:01:46 GMT)
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