9 Ways Brands Create Personalities You Will Remember And Buy From
What do brand marketers and illusionists like Derren Brown and David Blaine have in common?
Both plant ideas in people’s heads to maneuver their thoughts towards a desired outcome. For illusionists, this could be believing a trick and for brands, it’s often geared towards a sale or brand perceptions.
In one famous trick, British-born illusionist, Derren Brown, managed to guess the song his subject had in his head. In real-time, that’s pretty astonishing. But what Brown later revealed is that everywhere the subject went that day, the same song was playing over and over. So when it came time for him to think of a song, it became the obvious choice.
Brands play similar tricks. Only instead of planting songs, they plant personalities and aspirational thoughts.
The 5 Dimensions of Brand Personality
Kevin Lane Keller, author of Strategic Brand Management, defines brand personality as the “set of human characteristics linked to the brand that consumers hold in memory.”
Brand personalities are created with the aim of something to which the consumer can relate. By consistently living up to a defined set of traits that their target consumer segment enjoys, brands can build loyalty and brand equity within their target market. It’s what makes Absolut Vodka a “cool” and “hip” 25-year-old, whereas a Stoli Vodka is an “intellectual,” “conservative” older man. Despite their similarities as products, Absolut and Stoli both cater to different market segments.
In The Journal of Marketing Research, social psychologist, Jennifer L. Aaker, outlines the five major dimensions associated with different brands:
These various dimensions help brands to define their personality. Each dimension is measured by a standardized set of traits, with each trait being measured on a scale of 1–5, rating how much each trait describes the brand (1 = not at all descriptive, 5 = extremely descriptive).
For example, Coca-Cola is seen as cool and friendly, so may be rated 5 for the Spirited and Cheerful traits. Whereas, Dr Pepper is a bit more unique and contemporary with their branding so may lean more towards the Up-to-date, Imaginative, and Wholesome traits.
Every brand should have a personality and way it wishes to be viewed in the world, as advertising godfather, David Ogilvy once said:
“You now have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.” — David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising (1983)
Successful brands not only have strong personalities, but they have to make us remember them.
How To Plant A Personality In People’s Minds
So, we know it’s incredibly important to create a brand personality. But how do you create personalities people will remember, and more importantly, make them want to buy your product?
Let’s take a look at how 3 uber successful brands accomplish the feat. We’ve broken the process down into 9 easily digestible steps:
- Start with a simple slogan
- Create consistent copy and spread them out
- Let your supporting products speak for your personality
- Demonstrate a strong universal story
- Evolve with the times
- Find the right public personas to represent your brand
- Treasure your timeline
- Use design to reinforce your personality
- Tap into your unique characteristics
Here we go…
TOMS
Brand keywords: Giving, sharing, togetherness
A company whose CEO goes by the official title of “Chief Shoe Giver,” TOMS is a shoe retailer based in California. What’s special about the company is not their shoes, but who receives them.
1. Start with a simple slogan
The first thing you see when you search for TOMS on Google is not how great their shoes are. It’s a simple slogan: The One for One Company.
It’s a great slogan. It’s easy to remember, and before you’ve even gotten to the product page, they’ve already created a sense of camaraderie and togetherness between you and the brand.
Your slogan is as much a part of your brand as your product. It’s essential to spend some time crafting copy that clearly embodies what you stand for. A study by the Journal of Business Research revealed that three factors go into well-liked slogans:
- Creativity of phrasing
- Clarity of message
- Inclusion of a benefit
During the study more than 500 people were asked to recall as many slogans as they could with the top 150 slogans being selected. They were shown in small sets to a large sample of respondents who were asked to indicate how much they liked each one of them. Here are some of the most-liked slogans from the study:
- “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand” (M&M’s)
- “The happiest place on the earth” (Disneyland)
- “Eat fresh” (Subway)
- “Get in the zone” (AutoZone)
Takeaway: Be creative with your slogan and state a benefit clearly.
2. Create consistent copy and spread them out
The copy on its landing page is consistent in supporting the slogan and hero image. Again, there’s nothing here about the actual shoes themselves.
Three elements in particular stand out:
- “How we give”
- “See how your purchases help improve lives”
- “With every product you purchase, TOMS will help a person in need”
All three pieces of copy offer glimpses of different details the customer might be curious about, such as how the shoes are delivered, as well as who they help. Notice the word ‘shoe’ is not mentioned once.
When all the copy on your website point toward one common message, customers can make no mistake about your values. The goal here is to eliminate confusion about your product and personality.
A helpful exercise is to go through all your copy to check if they express the same message. The next step could be making sure the copy is in line with your brand tone. For instance, the copy on TOMS website all points towards the idea of helping others. They are also consistent with TOMS’ friendly brand tone.
Here are a few places you could go through and review the copy to ensure your brand personality shines through:
- Your website
- Your blog
- Your social media profiles’ bio
- The description of your app in the App Store or Play Store (if you sell an app)
Takeaway: Be consistent with your copy.
3. Let your supporting products speak for your personality
When Bloomingdale’s came up wth the Big Brown Bag in 1973, they hit the jackpot. Without spending a penny on an ad campaign, it established itself as a brand that’s both practical and chic, by combining a plain paper bag with stylish font. Everyone was talking about the bags and everyone wanted one.
Today, the tote bag is a popular canvas for many brands to promote their brand personality, TOMS included.
The message on the bag replants the idea that for every pair of shoes you purchase, another pair goes to a child in need.
Takeaway: When you’re coming up with supporting products or swag, carefully consider which copy and design you can implement to maximum effect.
Personality: TOMS is a giving person.
Everywhere you look, you see TOMS giving away shoes. You know that person in your office who’s always giving people cookies? That’s TOMS.
The key here is that TOMS’ actions stem from sincere goodwill. The donation scheme is not a publicity stunt; it’s the solid foundation upon which the whole company rests.
Jack Daniel’s
Brand keywords: Independent, authentic, rebellious
This Tennessee whiskey needs no introduction. For 150 years, it has remained one of the bestselling alcohol brands in the world. What is remarkable about Jack Daniel’s is its unwavering focus on the personality of its founder.
4. Demonstrate a strong, universal story
The whiskey’s origin story is central to the brand’s marketing strategy. Originally sustaining its popularity through word-of-mouth, it ran its first ad in 1955, showing photographs of people working in the distillery. It portrayed the authentic process behind the product in Lynchburg, Tennessee, where Jack Daniel lived and worked his whole life.
On July 4, 2011, the brand ran its As American As campaign, stressing the authenticity of the hard, physical work that went into distilling its whiskey. It created a series of patriotic posters meant to tie the brand to American history, which is invariably linked to independence.
As a man of five-feet-two and the youngest of ten children, Jack is the embodiment of the American Dream. It’s a story that works just as well in 2016 as it did in 1875, so why change it?
Jack Daniel’s story is a great example of what a strong marketing tool a good story can make, sustaining a single brand for over a century. The strength of Jack’s story lies in a popular universal truth, that of a hardworking individual attaining success. It’s a story that never gets old, and a gift for any brand who embraces such a maxim.
Takeaway: Ask yourself if your brand acknowledges a universal story that appeals to people on a deeper level, that will help you make a stronger impact on more people for a longer period of time.
5. Evolve with the times
If people can evolve, so can brands. It’s a simple survival skill, and Jack Daniel’s is no exception.
This year, the brand brought to light an often-ignored part of its history — slavery. Traditionally, the story goes that Jack Daniel learned how to distill whiskey from a Lutheran preacher named Dan Call. Now the brand is telling a slightly different story.
The new story involves Nearis Green, a slave owned by the preacher. Green was presumably the one who taught Jack Daniel the trade while working at his distillery. The story is now included in Jack Daniel’s distillery tours and marketing campaigns.
In the age of social justice, with significant movements such as #BlackLivesMatter, the brand embraced an important piece of its history. If authenticity is the personality it sells, it must also tell the sad truth of American history.
History tends to overlook those who were not in power at the time it was written. With the passage of time, new truths can emerge into light, and Jack Daniel’s made a decision to embrace a detail it has previously not considered as a prominent part of its story.
Takeaway: No matter how solid a story might be, the changing times can demand more of a brand. Are you paying attention to the changing consumer climate, and how are you demonstrating your relevance?
6. Find the right public personas to represent your brand
There’s a long trail of famous men associated with Jack Daniel’s, from distinguished men like Winston Churchill to rock stars like Keith Richards. But the list wouldn’t be complete without Frank Sinatra, who personified the rebel spirit of the whiskey.
A devoted fan of Jack, Sinatra remained faithful even in death, and was buried with a bottle. Long after his passing, the brand still aligns itself with the legendary singer through its Sinatra Select product.
In another unprecedented move, the brand signed an endorsement deal with Tennessee-born R&B singer K. Michelle last year, extending the brand’s trademark qualities of independence and rebel spirit.
As time passes, the public personas who best represent your brand change. The trick is to pick the right people. Celebrity endorsements can be cool for publicity, even increasing sales by as much as 20%, but it can also lead to creating the wrong image for a brand.
In an article written for Ad Age, Dean Crutchfield, Chief Engagement Officer at the brand experience agency, Method, states:
What we search for in celebrities is not so far from what we search for in our friends.
If that is the case, it begs brands the question: What kind of friend does it want to hang out with? In order to answer that question, you must first have a firm grasp on your own personality and how best to project it through a prominent public ally.
Takeaway: Understand your brand personality and collaborate with people who can reinforce your brand personality.
Personality: Jack Daniel’s is an independent spirit.
It’s the kind of person we might associate with the frontier pioneers. Wild, untameable and a rebel at heart. It’s hip, it’s cool, it’s “American.”
Tiffany & Co.
Brand keywords: Timeless, classic, legendary
Since Audrey Hepburn starred in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, it’s easy to think the elegance, grace, and beauty associated with Audrey Hepburn are the focus of the brand. This year, Tiffany & Co. has shown a slightly different strategy.
Their chosen brand personality is an icon who has withstood the ultimate trial — the test of time.
7. Treasure your timeline
If you’re selling timeless style, a long history is the best ally you could ask for. Now in its 179th year, Tiffany & Co. is synonymous with legendary.
In July, Tiffany & Co. launched the Legendary Style campaign, the first of their ads to feature celebrities. The four chosen personalities — Lupita Nyong’o, Christy Turlington Burns, Elle Fanning, and Natalie Westling — range from ages 18 to 47, directly demonstrating the timeless appeal of the brand.
On its website, Tiffany & Co. uses strong words to emphasize its long history:
Legacy, 1837, heritage, went on to redefine, legendary, milestones, timeline
As Warren Buffett famously said: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. With 179 years’ worth of history, Tiffany & Co. has earned the right to brand itself a classic.
Even if you don’t have the advantage of Tiffany & Co.’s timeline, the evolution of a brand is essentially interesting in its storytelling value. Make your timeline a focal point of your brand, whether you own up to past failures or pay tribute to an inspiring founding story. Both actions will ultimately convey a lot about what your brand really stands for.
Takeaway: Use the stories of your company to emphasize your brand personality.
8. Use design to reinforce your personality
Design is one of the key elements of branding. Colors are essential to design and create different responses in humans. Research suggests that colors can have a direct influence on both the likability and personality of a brand. When a certain color connotes a specific brand, it becomes something more. It becomes an icon of its own.
Known as the “Tiffany Blue,” the brand’s robin egg shade is used whenever and wherever it can, most notably on its jewelry boxes and shopping bags. All it takes is one look at the trademarked color to think of Tiffany & Co..
The color is so popular that people want the boxes even without anything in them. When it comes to branding, there’s almost nothing better than an iconic and coveted color, because the response is instant and innate.
If the Apple logo were red, as apples are usually depicted, would it have been as effective a symbol for its slogan, “Think different”?
Takeaway: Think about the various elements of your brand and products such as the colors you use and the user interface of your products. Do they reinforce the personality you want to portray?
9. Tap into your unique characteristics
Tiffany & Co.’s iconic image owes much to the city of its origin. It’s not legendary style from Tallahassee; it’s legendary style from New York City. As a stand-alone personality, New York is a powerful character, a city with a legacy that lends meaning to anyone associated with the place.
Tiffany & Co. takes advantage of that connection, starting with its slogan: New York Since 1837.
Thanks to Truman Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the film adaptation it inspired, the brand became cemented in consumer’s minds as the iconic store on Fifth Avenue. It was the first time the shop was featured in a film, and they were (rightly) grateful for the free publicity.
Jonathan Gabay, the former Creative Head of Saatchi & Saatchi, called New York “probably the world’s greatest branded city”. The Tiffany & Co. website calls its flagship store:
It is simply the most famous store there is. Every cab driver, every New Yorker, every visitor knows where to find Tiffany & Co.
Just as the partnership between Audrey Hepburn and Tiffany & Co. benefits the brand, its relationship with New York adds another layer to its legendary status.
Takeaway: Consider what makes your brand stand out from others and memorable. It could be your company’s founding story, culture, values, or the way you all work.
Personality: Tiffany & Co. is a true legend.
Much like Audrey Hepburn, Tiffany & Co. is a classic and a cut above the rest. Trends come and go, but true style stays.
People don’t identify with products, they identify with personalities. What is evident from the three examples above is that successful brands don’t fabricate personalities from scratch. They focus on their intrinsic characteristics and then build the brand on them.
It’s not something that happens overnight, either. Great branding requires hours of research and years of creative consistency to maintain. The result is a series of subliminal messages weaving a whole matrix of personality.
“The way a company brands itself is everything — it will ultimately decide whether or not a business survives.” — Richard Branson
Figure out which personality your product conveys, and implement it across all copy, design, and campaigns to create a lasting brand. Embrace a timeless universal truth while learning to change with the times. Make yourself unforgettable.
