Abstract
Two components of brand image are brand association related to brand properties and brand persona which is measured by descriptive words. The purpose of this study is to analyze the brand image of apparel by qualitative approach including natural grouping method suggested by Aaker. For this, face-to-face interviews were carried out in March and April 200l.11 interviewees were respectively asked to classify' pre-selected several tens of apparel brands based on their image differentiation, and then to explain the reason of grouping and to describe resultant brand groups. In this process, many brand image associations and brand persona-descriptive words were collected. 9 types of brand association were identified, and these were summarized as three factors suggested by Keller -attributes, benefits, and attitudes/evaluations. And 3 words which used to refer brand image frequently -dokteukhan (unique), simple, and yeosungseureowoon (feminine)- were interpreted in their meaning. Brand persona-descriptive words implied diverse meaning which were dependent on context.
