Correspondence: Colin Campbell, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6. Tel: +1 778 782 7712; Fax: +1 604 2915122; E-mail: colinlcampbell@mac.com

¹is a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. Prior to entering the doctoral programme, she held a number of marketing management positions and was an academic case writer and part-time lecturer in Marketing and Strategy. Her current research focus is corporate governance and social responsibility.

²is a PhD candidate in marketing at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, where he is researching various aspects of advertising. His work has been accepted for publication in journals such as California Management Review, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review and the Journal of the Operational Research Society.

³is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Graduate School of Business, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dahran, Saudi Arabia. His work has been published in Tourism Management, Journal of Brand Management and the Journal of African Business, and his research interests are in online brand management.

⁴PhD, is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Division of Industrial Marketing and eCommerce, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden. She has published her work in journals such as the European Journal of Marketing and Popular Music and Society. She is currently researching the online music industry.

⁵PhD, is Associate Professor of Marketing, Richmond University, London, UK. He has published his work in journals such as Journal of International Marketing, International Journal of Advertising, and Business Horizons. He has also taught in Denmark, the UK, and various parts of Africa.

Received 28 March 2008; Published online 29 April 2008.

Abstract

Through their websites, biotechnology firms communicate information about themselves and their products to other members of their networks. These networks are made up of an array of organisations with which biotechnology firms collaborate on product development projects, and on whom they rely for funding, and/or marketing and production. Therefore, it is important that the information communicated by firms' websites portrays them in the light they wish to be perceived by others. Despite its importance, biotechnology firms, however, do not prioritise branding or the development of a brand personality. By using demonstrated content analysis methodologies, our study shows that biotechnology firms are nonetheless portraying brand personalities online, even if unintentionally. We show that, by using the same methodologies, managers in biotechnology firms can monitor and manage their firms' brand personalities to ensure that the words they communicate online present an appropriate and attractive image of the firm to their communities. We extend previous research in the area of brand personality and show its application in and importance for the biotechnology industry.