Is the brand's personality a strategic decision?
Of course, it is.
But it is possibly the most neglected area of brand strategy.
Often, it is not even thought about until the product or service has to be advertised. Or a photoshoot arranged.
Yet the Tone & Style of a brand is rarely thought about till the Advertising has to be created.
Perhaps it is thought about. But by different people and at different times.
Since every marketing service that a brand owner uses has a "Strategy Director", the Product Design Team rarely has the same brand persona in mind as the Packaging Design Team or the Retail Design Team or the Human Resource Team or the Public Relations Team or the Digital Marketing Team or the Customer Relationship Management Team.
More often than not, the brand's personality reflects the founder's persona. Thus Steve Jobs still towers over the Apple brand and Microsoft was initially Bill Gates and Virgin has more of Richard Branson's persona than its own.
That seriously affects the longevity of a brand.
Or, brands evolve a persona over a period of time. As cities do. We all agree that the persona of New York is different from Singapore and different from Tokyo. Yet nobody planned it.
These personas get co-created by the users of the brand. Co-creation of brands has become a 21st Century art form. But how many marketing companies do you know that are actively practicing this skill?
Authors do a much better job than brand planners when it comes to crafting brand personalities that last well beyond the life of the author.
Thus Sherlock Holmes will live for many years more than Arthur Conan Doyle has. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple's characters might be better remembered than Agatha Christie. James Bond has outlasted Ian Fleming. Harry Potter will no doubt inspire more brand loyalty than J K Rowling.
You see, there's one key secret that Authors know that most Brand Architects don't.
To be well-loved, the brand should have an "endearing flaw".
Sherlock Holmes is a drug addict given to bursts of moodiness. Hercule Poirot is brusque to the point of being rude. Superman isn't Superman without having a weakness or an alter ego.
That's the stuff that stories are made of.
And now that we know that storytelling is the best way to use the world's most powerful medium, word-of-mouth, do you know of many examples of brands that had their persona crafted well before the product or service was designed?
We are still stuck in the 20th Century.
When it was believed that Advertising was the only way to grow brands. The truth is there are many more ways to grow brands than just Advertising. Sure Advertising has a role to play. But when it is part of an Integrated Marketing Orchestra the synergistic effect is far more powerful.
But who's doing the conducting?
Or composing the Brand's Raaga?
Who is making sure that the brand is always hitting the right notes at every touchpoint with the consumer?
Brand & Demand | SaaS Marketer | Passionate Royal Enfield Enthusiast | Driving Brand Growth through Community & Innovation
5 年Nice to see Motorcycle brands Making an impact here on LinkedIn,in fact there is a thing or two that Harley and royal Enfield that start-up can use.
Insurtech \ Product Marketing \ Codes \ Critical x Curious
5 年This a good time to read about this. Faced a dilemma of sorts regarding brand characters and personalities, a few days back. While working on the communication of a new product for a client- I was caught between the client's vision of the brand character and the creative team's vision of the brand character. It was only after a good discussion with the brand team and agency team, that we came to a consensus that the character should be complimenting what the consumer expects from that product category.
Unlearn to learn
5 年Raymond story is perhaps one of the most adorable in brand personality case studies...
There's one real estate company here that makes your point. Total Environment.? The product design and the name, for instance, always tell a story. A continuation of the same character. An earthy brick look with vertical gardens outside. Names that sing a tale.? In a world where projects are Hacienda, Elegance, Lexington Avenue, and other such pretentious names, Total Environment uses Pursuit Of Radical Rhapsody, In That Quiet Earth, Windmills Of Your Mind... you get the story. When residents give directions they say 'that total environment building when you turn left from 6th main' - there's no other apartment block that looks like it in the vicinity. Another builder dare not look like a Total Environment in that immediate neighbourhood.?? Having cracked the brand's raaga early, people are now free to play, interpret, and improvise without losing direction. All the better for music and stories.? I don't recall who said something like this, "Great creative needs the discipline of a tight strategy'.?Ken Norman??
E2E Full Stack and Web3 | STEP, IIT Kharagpur | IIM Calcutta Innovation Park
5 年Thanks for writing such a great article. I believe that people don't buy products, they buy stories. Also, word-of-mouth is the best way to "advertise" now, as we have shifted to the Information Age, as compared to the Industrial Age.