Marta Scott (asker) Apr 22, 2009:

Many thanks to you both for your helpful thoughts I had toyed with "brand identity" but having also come across "identité de marque" I had my doubts - although there is no reason they can't both mean the same thing, though this seems less common in French. I agree that French is very enigmatic, but at the same time they do like their specific terms for specific things!
John I'll take a look at that link, it's full of terminology so will be useful I'm sure.
I'm going to leave this question open a bit longer ... just in case!

teo_m Apr 17, 2009:

brand identity i think it is describing the brand identity that the customer is identifying with. Again, French being very enigmatic and idiomatic, I don't think a litteral translation is the right idea. I would look at it as "brand imaging" or even better "brand identity" for a single term in English

John Peterson Apr 16, 2009:

Hard Core Loyals Dear Marta,

Your reply prompted me to have a look again at this - and I came across this term (which might help). It appears in the link below and, obviously, suggests complete loyalty to the brand.

http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~aes02mm/Teaching/Archive/2002... research