Understanding how consumers relate to brands and what you can do to create lasting connections is more important than ever in the current economy. Through our research and experience we have developed a way to measure brands that is focused on how brands and people relate to each other – what we call Brand Charisma – and its role in driving strong and sustained loyalty.

Brand Charisma is the combination of factors that connect people to brands emotionally and garner fierce loyalty and word of mouth beyond what rational product features and benefits are capable of. In order to reap the benefits of being charismatic, brands must be successful at generating a feeling of commitment to the brand (“I’ll go out of my way to find it”), affinity with the brand (“A brand I feel good associating with”) and a sense of honor for the brand (“It delivers on what it promises”).

And because of the strength of their relationships with consumers, charismatic brands experience continued success in the face of product and service parity and economic downturn.