Dynamics of Brand Personality

BRANDRefers to symbols such as name, logo, slogan, design etc.

Customer experience represented by collection of images & ideas.

Brand PersonalityExpression of the core values &

characteristics of a brand with emphasis on human personality traits e.g. friendly, intelligent, innovative

Process of transforming brand into a person or humanizing the brand.

Acts as brand differentiator &offers sustainable competitive advantage

EXAMPLES Brands having charisma extends well beyond

their brand’s functional benefits

ORIGINHathaway, the manufacturer of brand of

shirts, hired Ogilvy’s agency in 1951.

David Ogilvy created most successful & widely recognized brand personalities.

campaign showed the model in a series of situations in which he would have liked to find myself

BENEFITSHelps to identify the brand attitude &

various dimensions of the personality .

Focus of Brand messages is on critical drivers that reflect the brand’s personality and distinguish it from competitors.

Helps to create greater depth and dimension for the brand

Analysis of the fit between the use of celebrities and the brand’s personality to differentiate between right and wrong.

Management of the brand’s international personality and monitoring of valuable cross-cultural personality traits.

Understanding which dimensions result in preference, differentiation, trust and loyalty.

WHAT PERSONALITY REVEALS ABOUT A BRAND Demonstrates a Brand’s Passion,

Expertise & ultimate purpose

Touches & energies the motivation of the targeted Customer Segments

Projects the Brand’s Core Values and Beliefs

Describes how customer’s can expect to be treated.

Brand Personality is the “voice” behind Brand’s :

• Values• Functional Attributes • Competitive Positioning

IBM vs. vs. Corporate Formal Professional

Microsoft

Aggressive

Main-stream

Arrogant

AppleIndividualistsFreethinkersInnovative

Environmental Design A brand is demonstrated through everything be:

product design, merchandising, décor, signature elements, background sounds & even smells.

Hot color communicates an aggressive, passionate personality

POWER BUILDING Plays role in introduction & growth of new

brands to create noticeable differentiation

•Young, trendy, stylish

•Provide better & different shopping experience

•compelling prices & clean-attractive stores

REFLECTIONS The perceptions, motivations, and values

of its targeted customers must be reflected.

American Express •Sophisticated

• Dignified

•Educated

CREATING BRAND PERSONALITY 1) Define the target audience 2) Find out what they need, want and like 3) Build a consumer personality profile 4) Create the product personality to match

that profile

E.g: Levi Strauss masculine youthful rebellious

individualfree American

STRATEGIES TO CREATE BRAND PERSONALITY

Values and Characteristics of Brand Personality:

Tend to prefer brands that fit in with their self-concept.

Like personalities that are similar to theirs, or to those whom they admire.

Company A Company B

Sophisticated Easy going

Arrogant Modest

Efficient Helpful

Self-centered Caring

Distant Approachable

Disinterested Interested

STRATEGIESMaking the Customer Connection:

Communicate the brand’s personality Create the connection between customer and

product Give customers what they expect Keep promises

INDIAN SCENARIO INPUT: personality that the marketer wishes

to attach to his brand.TAKE-AWAY: impression of that personality

which actually enters the target consumer’s head.

In March 1989, several students at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC), conducted small-scale surveys on the personalities of various brands, as part of their course on Advertising Management.

SURVEY – INSTANT COFFEE

Nescafe was compared to Gold Cafe-both 100% pure instant coffees, both heavily advertised and both premium-priced.

Mr. Nescafeyoung man belonging

to the Upper middle Class

educated and professionally qualified

ambitious and ‘wants to go places’

of high caliber and full of self-confidence

outgoing character

Mr. Gold caféolder person, possibly

graying at the temples and excluding sophistication

achieved much in terms of prestige within his organization as also financial standing

nurse higher ambitions learnt to control his

emotions sophistication is expressed

in his finer tastes

Symbols & Logos Logos should be:

Unique but easy to recognizeWorth remembering and represent ideas etc.Look simple and yet capture wider meaning.Relevant and in tune with the time.

Slogans / Punch Lines Enhance brand recall Have strong linkage with brand's essence

/ key values Convey a clear meaning or suggest

something about product category / brand / values / features / benefits of the brandPeter England - Honest Shirt (sincerity) Bank of Rajasthan - Dare to Dream

(Excitement)Mahindra Scorpio - Nothing else will do

(Ruggedness)

Tangible aspects of the Brand Package Price

Nirma Medimix

Attitude & Tonality

Cricket Wireless’ “bright, lime green sofa” communicates this brand’s relaxed, comfortable, residential personality. This “residential” cue supports the brand’s positioning that Cricket can be a replacement for your home phone.

Starbucks’ signature music cues a multicultural personality. You hear it … you’re aware of it. Additionally, their merchandise drives both brand identity and a unique flair – interesting, inviting and personable.

Southwest Airlines’ “every-man” personality is evoked in their warm colors, their employee training, and their customer service interactions.

ADVERTISING IN CREATING BRAND PERSONALITY

Helps brands to gain market share, command price premium

Key advertising elements:EndorserUser imagerySymbolsExecution elements

Endorser

Celebrity enjoys instant recognition & goodwill that can be transferred to the brand.

Personality of the brand and celebrity should complement each other. Eg. Sachin stands for style, power play, technique and excellence or performance and so best for Boost.

Reliable celebrity ensures instant awareness, acceptability and positive attitude towards the brand, which is precursor to buying.

Indian celebrity can connect foreign brand with the Indian consumer with great effect. Eg. Big ' B' as brand  Ambassador for Reid & Taylor

Endorser                       AttributesAmitabh Bacchan      -  Resilent, professional, charismatic,

unassumingSachin                    -  Excellence, determination faith hard workRahul Dravid             -  Reliable, consistencyM.S. Dhoni               -  Sheer power playRani Mukherji            -  Youthful, enthusiastic

User Imagery

Who or what type of person, might use that product / brand. Raymond’s ad (playing with puppies) focuses on soft side of man (i.e. caring and loving)

Communicates about the life style of the user. It results in user-driven image which is transferred to the Brand. Brand personality needs to be updated with change in user imagery and information so that the brand remains contemporary and relevant.

Executional ElementsConsist of elements like layout, colour etc (in print

ads) and visual appeal, music

Intelligent and creative ads deliver brand personality.

Brand personality plays prominent role in product categories such as alcohol, cool drinks, and perfumes

Also acts as differentiator in case of Brand parity with respect to brand features.

Consumers have actual and ideal self concept, which has bearing on buying behavior. Self concept is sort of individual perception on his/her characteristics, abilities etc and also what others opinion on him/her is there. 

CONCEPTWhat a company is and how it presents itself to the

consumer are defined by its corporate brand personality. It is a form of brand personality specific to a corporate brand.

Procter & Gamble

Corporate brands will typically have a set of personality traits that is broader and differently composed than the set of personality traits for each product brand owned.

Can be defined in terms of the human characteristics or traits of the employees of a corporation as a whole.

CORPORATE BRAND PERSONALITY TRAITS

Reflects the values, actions, and words of all employees of the corporation.

These dimensions reflect three distinct sets of personality traits that can guide employees in the organisation and influence how the company will be viewed by others.

“Body”

“Heart” “Mind”

Collaborative

Compassionate

DisciplinedAgile

Passionate

Creative

“Body”

“Heart” “Mind”

The company must be passionate about serving its customers and competing in the market and must have compassion for employees, stakeholders, and members of the communities in which it operates.

A successful company must be creative in its approach to serving its customers and winning in the market, while also adopting a disciplined approach that ensures appropriate and consistent actions across the organisation.

The successful company must possess the agility to profitably react to changes in the market and also employ a collaborative approach that ensures it works well together inside and outside the company toward common goals.