Brand Personality: I am what I am

“Beauty attracts the eye but personality captures the heart.”

Human beings are predisposed to personify most of the things that they see around them for the sake of better understanding and empathizing. We often attribute human-like traits and characteristics to a brand which in turn gives rise to its personality. Most brands nowadays want to capture the hearts of their customers and not just their minds. Hence, the race for creating a brand personality that piques and captures the interest of maximum customers begins.

What is brand personality?

Brand personality in simple words refers to the association of human characteristics with a brand that the customers can understand and relate to. It can be communicated through the visuals that make up a brand’s identity and through the beliefs and policies of the brand. This communication should be consistent throughout to portray a strong, unchanging personality that the customers can trust.

Brand Managers think of their brand as a person with unique personality traits and devise ways to communicate these traits to the target audiences in order to connect with them on an emotional level. Thus, creating a long-lasting impression and bond.

For instance, if,

Victoria’s Secret were a person, she would be a bold, empowered, and daring woman who catches the eye of all who glace at her. 

Nike would be a young, athletic person with a highly active lifestyle and a cool personality.  

Similarly, Apple would be a young, hip, creative individual whereas Microsoft would be a mature professional with years of experience behind him

Why Brand Personality is Important?

It is imperative to effectively communicate a brand’s personality in the market to set it apart from all the others of its kind. Having a strong brand personality has the following effects on the brand:

Emotional Connection: Brand personality helps develop a meaningful emotional connection between like-minded people who are more sensitive and look beyond the tangible offerings of the brand. This further helps the brand to have effective brand interactions with customer powered marketing strategies like word of mouth marketing, loyalty marketing, etc at its core.

Builds Brand Image: Brand identity and brand personality go hand in hand when it comes to creating and maintaining an image of the brand in the market. 

Product Position: The brand personality helps a brand create an everlasting bond with its customers thus creating a special place for the brand in their hearts and minds which in turn teaches customers how and why should they be using the brand’s products.

Eases Communication: Having a personality makes it easy for the brand to efficiently communicate with the customers as the customers can relate to the traits that they possess with the personality traits that the brand has.

Having a clear and consistent brand personality is crucial for every brand because emotion is what drives decision-making, and that includes purchasing decisions. Branding is not just about the name, logo, or tagline, it involves assigning characteristics and attributes both within and outside the offering to give it an identity and a persona. 

How to build a brand personality?

The process of developing a brand personality requires the brand managers to have a fair understanding of its target customers and draft a personality that resonates with it. This can be built using any of the following ways.

1. JENNIFER AAKER’S BRAND PERSONALITY FRAMEWORK

Jennifer Aaker’s brand personality framework is often preferred by most brand managers. The “Big Five” brand dimensions in this framework describe profiles and characteristics that a brand may have. 

2. BRAND ARCHETYPES FRAMEWORK

Another popular framework used by brand managers is the Brand Archetypes Framework. In branding, the archetypal framework helps us build human-like brand personas. And best brand personas are forged by identifying solidly with one — and only one — core archetype. Companies do best when they are explicit about the archetype that is truest to their values, mission, and vision.

1. Innocent: Positive personality with an optimistic outlook on life.

2. Sage: Seeker of truth, knowledge, and wisdom.

3. Explorer has thirst for discovery and to connect with nature.

4. Outlaw: has the enticement of forbidden fruit.

5. Magician: has dreams that other people see as impossible.

6. Hero: wants to make the world a better place.

7. Lover: Creates intimate moments, inspires love, passion, romance and commitment

8. Jester: is all about having fun and living life in the moment.

9. Everyman: demonstrates the virtues of simply being an ordinary person, just like others.

10. Caregiver: Protects and cares for others, is compassionate, nurturing, and generous.

11. Ruler: knows that the best thing to do to avoid chaos is to take control.

12. Creator: is seen in any endeavor that taps into the human imagination.

CONCLUSION

Brand personality helps in the magnetic connection of the emotional quotient of the purchase decision making process by strategizing on brand loyalty building. The personality of any brand should reflect the personality of its users while maintaining its own individuality and desirability. Thus, announcing to the world, the phrase “I am what I am”.