Whether a brand is a product or a company, you as a manager have to decide what personality traits your brand is to have. There are various ways of creating brand personality. One way is to match the brand personality as closely as possible to that of the consumers or to a personality that they like. The process will be
- Define the target audience
- Find out what they need, want and like
- Build a consumer personality profile
- Create the product personality to match that profile
This type of approach is favored by companies such as Levi Strauss, who research their target audience fastidiously. For Levis the result is a master-brand personality that is –
- Original
- Masculine
- Sexy
- Youthful
- Rebellious
- Individual
- Free
- American
A related product brand personality (for a specific customer group) such as Levi’s 501 jeans is –
- Romantic
- Sexually attractive
- Rebellious
- Physical prowess
- Resourceful
- Independent
- Likes being admired
Both profiles appeal mostly to the emotional side of people’s minds – to their feelings and sensory function. This profiling approach aims to reinforce the self-concept of the consumers and their aspirations. The approach is ideal for brands that adopt a market-niche strategy, and can be extremely successful if a market segment has a high degree of global homogeneity, as is the case with Levis.
Adding personality is even more important if the task is to create a corporate as opposed to a product brand, as every encounter with the customer gives the opportunity to put across the brand personality.