Читать книгу Master the Brand Called YOU: The Proven Leadership Personal Branding System to Help You Earn More, Do More and Be More At Work - Brenda Bence - Страница 14

Great brands are like people. They have a personality and a character all their own. To demonstrate what I mean, pause for a moment, look around you, and find two doorways that you can see from where you are. In the first doorway, imagine that Mercedes Benz—the brand—is standing there as a person. What kind of person would the Mercedes Benz brand be? Is it a man or a woman? What profession does this person have? What is this person wearing? What is the income level of this person—low, medium, or high? What is his or her favorite pastime?

Now, look at the second doorway, and imagine that Ferrari—the brand—is standing there as a person. What kind of person would the Ferrari brand be? Is it a man or a woman? What profession does this person have? How is this person dressed—more formally or more casually than Mercedes Benz? What is the income level of this person—higher or lower? What is his or her favorite pastime?

Compare the answers to both sets of questions. If you’re like most people, your answers will be quite different. Even though Mercedes Benz and Ferrari are both high-end luxury cars that can get you from one place to another, the brand images of Mercedes Benz and Ferrari are not the same. That’s because you perceive, think, and feel differently about these two brands. Those perceptions, thoughts, and feelings have been carefully created in your mind by smart marketers who understand the art and the science of branding.

That’s right. Branding, whether of a product or a person, is both an art and a science. On the one hand, brands appeal to your logic—you think rationally about them—so, this is where the science comes in. But branding is also an art because brands appeal to your emotions—how you feel about them.