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Chapter 4

A BRAND PERSONALITY CONNECTS

A brand that captures your mind gains behavior.A brand that captures your heart gains commitment. —Scott Talgo brand strategist

What is the worst thing you can say about a person? No personality? Who wants to spend time with someone who is so boring they’re described as having no personality? Better to be a jerk; at least then you’re interesting and memorable. Having a personality is equally helpful to brands.

Brand personality can be defined as the set of human characteristics associated with the brand. Psychologists and consumer researchers have shown conclusively that people often can and do treat objects, from pets to plants to brands, as if they were people, even giving them names. When brands are treated as people, perceptions and behavior are affected. In one study, individuals who were asked to think of creative uses for a brick and were exposed subliminally to an Apple logo instead of a IBM logo, generated more unique ideas. In the same study, subjects behaved more honestly after exposed to a Disney Channel logo vs. an E! Channel logo. The behavior difference in each case was attributed to the power of the personality of the brands.¹ Mere exposure to a brand logo prompted individuals to behave in ways consistent to the brand personality.

Not all brands have a personality, or at least a strong, distinctive personality. However, those brands that do have personality have a significant advantage; they are more likely to stand out from the crowd and have a message. Personality is an important dimension of brand equity because, like human personality, it is both differentiating and enduring. Once established, it will provide benefits (or harm) over a long time horizon. Creating or supporting a personality should be part of the brand vision discussion for sure.

BUILDING A BRAND—WHY A BRAND PERSONALITY?

In building a brand, the brand personality construct can help:

Represent and Communicate Functional Benefits

A brand personality can be a vehicle for representing and cueing functional benefits and brand attributes. It can be easier to create a personality that implies a functional benefit than to communicate directly and convincingly that a functional benefit exists. Further, it is harder to attack or copy a personality than a functional benefit, because a personality is based on many elements and usually has been established over time. It is not easily changed. Consider the following examples:

• MetLife, the insurance company, generated a personality represented by the Peanuts characters that provides a warm and humorous dimension to a firm that otherwise would be considered bureaucratic, profit seeking, and impersonal. The personality softens perceptions and makes the aspirational “caring and approachable” dimension come to life.

• The Hallmark-as-person is sincere, sentimental, warm, genuine, wholesome, and ageless as well as competent and imaginative. This personality says much about the Hallmark offerings.

• The Energizer brand, because of its name and its rabbit symbol, is an energetic, upbeat, indefatigable personality who never runs out of energy—just as the battery runs longer than others.

• The Zara personality of being daring, trendy, exciting, spirited, and imaginative affects people’s perceptions of Zara, its stores, and its products.

• Michelin’s strong and dynamic personality, as reflected by the Michelin Man, implies that its tires will have strength and agility.

• Wells Fargo, as represented by the stagecoach, reflects an independent, cowboy type that delivers reliably. Although competitors may actually deliver superior reliability and safety of assets, because of the stagecoach, Wells wins the battle of perceptions.

Provide Energy

A strong brand personality such as that surrounding Mercedes, Porsche, or Jeep can provide energy by adding interest and involvement; it effectively amplifies brand perceptions and experience. Most hotel chains suffer from being undifferentiated and even bland. In contrast, the Joie de Vivre hotel chain created energy with personality-driven hotels around concepts like a neo-deco feel, the rock scene, literary salons of the 1930s, the theater setting, or French Chateau styling. All airlines seem very similar until you consider the energy created by the personality profiles of brands like Singapore, Southwest, and Virgin. Think of the energy surrounding the personality of the AXE brand—the brand as-a-person is obsessed by and successful with attractive women.

Define a Brand Relationship

A brand personality can define a relationship between people. A trustworthy, dependable, conservative personality might be boring, but nonetheless reflect characteristics valued in a financial advisor, a lawn service, or a physician. A personality of a competent leader will be a valued attribute of a CEO or manager. The concept of a relationship between a brand and a person, analogous to that between two people, provides a different perspective on how brand personality might work.² For example, consider the following relationship metaphors:

• An old-fashioned mother—down-to-earth, honest, genuine, reliable, and always-there-for-you such as Campbell’s Soup or Pepto Bismol.

• A well-liked and respected family member—warm, sentimental, and family-oriented, linked to growing up such as Sun-Maid Raisins, Chevrolet, or a local bank.

• A person who you respect as a teacher, minister or business leader—accomplished, talented, and competent as represented by IBM, McKinsey, or the Wall Street Journal.

• A boss who exercises power or a rich relative—pretentious, wealthy, and condescending, perhaps reflecting for some the personality of the Master’s Golf Tournament, Trump Towers, or Lexus (with gold trim).

• A stimulating companion—interesting with incredible stories such as those of the Dos Equis beer spokesperson who was labeled as the most interesting man who, among other things, speaks Spanish in Russian, bowls overhand, and has inside jokes with strangers.

• A companion for an outdoor adventure—athletic, rugged, and outdoorsy personality, such as REI or Eddie Bauer.

• A weekend fun companion—fun, energetic, and social. Pepsi might be better than Coke.

The last three personality descriptors all involve a type of friend relationship. A friend can also be bar buddies (Miller Lite), caring, or just comfortable to be around. Refining the relationship definition, whether it is a friend relationship or another, can help provide clarity and depth.

Guiding Brand-Building Programs

Tactically, the brand personality concept and vocabulary communicates to those who must implement the brand-building effort. Knowing that the brand aspires to be warm and approachable guides every brand association, including its product category, positioning, attributes, use experiences, user imagery, applications, firm values, and so on.

Communication programs, in particular, need guidance. As a practical matter, decisions need to be made about the communication package, including advertising, packaging, promotions, events, customer touchpoints, digital programs, and more. If the brand is specified only in terms of attribute associations, little guidance is provided. To say that TaylorMade golf equipment is of high quality with an innovative design does not give much direction. However, to say that TaylorMade-as-person is a demanding professional conveys much more. A brand personality statement provides depth and texture, making it more feasible to keep the communication effort on strategy.

Help Understand the Customer

The brand personality metaphor can also help a manager gain an in-depth understanding of consumer perceptions of the brand. Instead of asking about attribute perceptions, which can be boring and intrusive, asking people to describe a brand personality is often involving and can result in more accurate and richer insights into feelings and relationships. The arrogant and powerful personality ascribed to Microsoft, for example, provides a deeper understanding about the nature of the relationship between Microsoft and its customers. Or the personality construct might be a better entry into understanding the calmness emotion associated with Celestial Tea than a discussion of attributes.

Exploring what a brand-as-person might say to you can be a good way to uncover emotional response to brands. When this approach was applied to a credit card, one customer segment for which the brand-as-a-person was perceived as being dignified, sophisticated, educated, a world traveler, and confident believed that the card would make very positive supportive comments to them, such as:

“My job is to help you get accepted.”

“You have good taste.”

A second “intimidated” segment for which the credit card brand was perceived as being sophisticated and classy but snobbish, aloof, and condescending believed that the card-as-a-person would make negative comments, such as:

“I’m so well-known and established that I can do what I want.”

“If I were going to dinner, I would not include you in the party.” The two user segments had remarkably similar perceptions of the brand, but the perceived attitude of the brand toward the customer was a big discriminator of the attitude toward the brand.

WHAT BRAND PERSONALITY?

Should brand personality be part of your brand vision? And if so, should it be a core vision element, an important driver of brand differentiation and the customer relationship, or an extended element? Brands like Virgin, Harley-Davidson, Nike, Tiffany, and MUJI have brand personality as a core element. If the brand personality is used to enrich the brand understanding or soften a negative image it would be an extended element. MetLife’s “Peanuts characters” personality, for instance, would be an extended element.

Not all brands should aspire to have a personality, especially as a core vision element. They can and will compete on other dimensions. In fact, the brands that have a brand personality as a core brand vision are in the minority. The use of a brand personality as an extended brand vision element is, however, more common. In any case, the possibility of including a brand personality should be considered explicitly, as it is a good vehicle to make sure the brand vision is complete. In many cases, for example, brand strategists will forget that they could use some sources of brand energy. Asking the brand personality questions can bring such a need to the table.

The specification of what brand personality would help is a key step in the brand vision process. A helpful exercise is to ask customers and employees to describe the brand-as-a-person. The result can provide both insight and guidance. The final judgment about the nature of the desired brand personality will depend on what roles the brand personality will play. Will it be to represent and communicate attributes, to provide energy, to define a relationship, to guide decisions that affect the brand, or to have another defined purpose, such as to soften an association standing in the way of gaining loyalty?

The selection of a brand personality will then have to be implemented. If the implementation process is difficult or awkward, then the brand personality may have to be reviewed. If, however, there are ways to bring the brand personality to life through symbols, a charismatic CEO, an advertising campaign, a sponsorship, or a customer interaction style, then the brand personality may be a winner and may even play an expanded role.

One point of departure is a brand personality scale that was developed in a classic study. Respondents assessed the personality of sixty well-known brands using 114 personality traits. The study findings, that the personality assessments represented fifteen personality traits grouped into five personality factors, provided a base-line feel for the scope of personality dimensions and a starting point when generating an aspirational brand personality.³ The traits were as follows:

• Sincerity—Home Depot, Hallmark, Chevrolet, Schwab

Down-to-Earth—Family-Oriented, Small-Town, Blue Collar, All-American

Honest—Ethical, Thoughtful, Caring

Genuine—Authentic, Ageless, Wholesome, Classic, Old-Fashioned

Friendly—Warm, Happy, Cheerful, Sentimental

• Excitement--Porsche, Absolut, Red Bull, Virgin

Exciting-Daring, Trendy, Off-Beat, Flashy, Provocative

Spirited--Adventurous, Lively, Outgoing, Young

Fun--Surprising, Imaginative, Unique, Humorous, Artistic

Innovative--Aggressive, Up-to-Date, Contemporary, Independent

• Competence—AMEX, CNN, IBM, Toyota

Trustworthy—Careful, Reliable, Hard-Working, Secure, Efficient

Serous—Intelligent, Technical, Competent

Successful—Leader, Confident, Influential

• Sophistication—Tiffany, Four Seasons, Mercedes, Calvin Klein

Upper-Class—Sophisticated, Glamorous, Good-Looking, Confident

Charming—Feminine, Smooth, Sexy, Gentle

• Ruggedness—Levi’s, REI, Harley-Davidson, Jeep

Tough—Strong, Rugged

Outdoorsy—Masculine, Western, Active, Athletic

This set of fifteen traits provides one perspective, but can and should be augmented for nearly any context. For specific product markets some of these may not be relevant and others will emerge. That is especially true in different cultures. When the study was replicated in Japan and Spain, the Ruggedness dimension was not to be found. Instead, a Calmness dimension emerged. In Spain there was also a Passionate dimension.⁴

Like a person brand, an offering brand is not generally described by a single personality dimension. Harley-Davidson, for example, is a macho, America-loving, freedom-seeking person who is willing to break out from confining societal norms of dress and behavior. Patagonia is an environmental activist who is passionate about the outdoors as a participant and protector. Ben &Jerry’s Ice Cream is about environmental activism, giving back to the community, and having fun doing nutty things. Some brands might even have conflicting dimensions, Microsoft, for example, might be perceived as arrogant well as competent. The challenge is to manage that conflict so that the “right” personality dominates perceptions and discussions.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

A personality needs to be created and supported. This effort can be based in part on a visible CEO, brand positioning, attributes, packaging, price, user imagery, sponsorships, the category involved, and much more. Sometimes a personality option will emerge from some brand association like a symbol or sponsorship. If a personality cannot be created with authenticity, then its viability as part of the brand and its image should be reviewed.

THE BOTTOM LINE

A brand personality can help communicate offering attributes, provide energy, define a customer relationship, guide brand-building programs, and shed insight into customer’s attitudes and behavior. Selecting the right personality will depend on the brand image, its vision, and the role that personality will play going forward. Brands that are blessed with a personality have a big edge in terms of gaining and keeping visibility, differentiation, and loyalty, because it is usually difficult and ineffective to copy a personality.