Brand Personality

What is brand personality?

Brand Personality is a set of human
characteristics associated with a
brand
Personality is how the brand behaves
Gender, age, socio-economic class,
psychographic, emotional
characteristics

Some examples
Marlboro is masculine while Virginia
Slims is feminine
IBM is older while Apple is younger
India Today is old-fashioned while
Outlook is trendier
Coke is conforming while Pepsi is
irreverent

About brand personality

Brand Personality, like human personality, is both
distinctive and enduring
Both are built over a period of time

Refers to the outcome of all the consumers

experiences with the brand
In other words, the brands personality is the
weighted average of previous impressions
In consumers mind, these impressions merge to
form an overall concept of what to expect from
brand

More about it
Brand Personality is eagerly searched by
brand strategists and researchers
Differences in responses by different
consumers provide useful insights
For example, users of a product will
perceive a brand different from non-users

In essence

Personality traits are what

the brand will live and die for

Examples
Axe
Seduction, masculinity, inviduality,
unconventionality

Marlboro
Masculinity, freedom, adventure

Levis
Rebellion, sensuality, being cool

Example: Spinz
Young
Modern
Active
Outdoor
Cheerful
Friendly

Life of the Party

Why use brand personality?

Enriches understanding
Helps gain an in-depth understanding of
consumer perceptions of and attitudes
towards the brand
Can provide more insight than is gained
by asking about attribute perceptions
For ex., Microsoft, IBM etc.,

Why use brand personality?

Contributes to a differentiating identity
Can differentiate brands especially where
brands are similar in product attributes
In fact, it can define not only the brand but
the product class context and experience
Mercedes Vs BMW; Clinic Plus Vs
Pantene

Why use brand personality?

Guides the communication effort
Communicates the brand identity with
richness and texture
If the brand is specified only in terms of
attribute associations, very little
meaningful guidance is provided
Is Nike shoes or sports, performance and
attitude?

Why use brand personality?

Creates brand equity
Builds long-term brand equity
Differentiates the brand and makes it
distinct from other competitive offerings
Serves as a powerful relationship device

How to create brand personality?

Personality of a person is affected by

everything associated with him friends,
neighbourhood, activities, clothes etc.,
So too is a brand personality

Product-related characteristics
Product-related characteristics can be primary
drivers of a brand personality
Even the product class can affect personality

Banks, Insurance etc., tend to be Competent,

Serious, Masculine, Older and Upper-class
Athletic shoes tend to be Young, Lively, Rugged,
Outdoorsy, Adventurous etc.,

Product-related characteristics
Product attributes can often affect brand
personality
A light beer would largely be classy,
sophisticated etc.,
A high-priced brand will be considered
wealthy, stylish and perhaps snobbish!

User imagery
Can be powerful driver of personality
because user is already a person and so
conceptualizing the personality is reduced
User Imagery can be people who use the
brand or those portrayed in advertising

Sponsorships
Activities such as events sponsored by the
brand will influence its personality
Ponds sponsoring Feminas Miss India
contest
Budweiser sponsoring the blimp in
American sporting events

Age
How long a brand has been on the market
can affect its personality
New entrants like Apple, Outlook etc., tend
to have younger brand personalities than
IBM, India Today etc.,

Symbol
A symbol can be a powerful influence on
brand personality since it can be
controlled and can have extremely strong
associations
Some examples
Apples bitten apple
Nikes swoosh
MetLifes Peanuts character

The definition of Brand personality can be classified as

Emotion- centered
Human centered
Others

Emotion centered definitions contend that brand

personality is the emotional component of a brand.
These definitions see brand personality as the
emotional link between the consumer and the brand.
If the brand were to become an emotion , what would
it be

Brand

Personality

Maggi Hot and Sweet

Chilli Sauce

Humour

Kama Sutra condom

Sensuality

Sunrise

Compassion

Red and White

Valour

Exide

Peace

Onida

Envy, irritation

Another way of using projective techniques is to identify the brand

with an adjective .
The question would be what adjectives describe the brand
Brand
Adjective
Tata Tea

Vivacious , fresh

VIP luggage

Longlasting, family
member

Palmolive soap

caring

Blue Dart

Relaible

Mountain Dew

fun

Human Centered Definitions :

What happens when this brand becomes a human being.
Thus both emotion centered definitions and human
centered definitions emphasise the intangible aspect
of the concept of brand personality
Definition:

The set of human characteristics associated with a

given brand. Thus it includes such characteristics as
gender, age, socioeconomic class as well as such
classic human personality traits as warmth, concern
and sentimentality.

 e.gVirginia Slims tends to be feminine in

comparison to the masculine Marlboro.

Apple is considered young while IBM

tends to be seen as older( in part because
it has been around longer)
Brand personality like human personality is
both distinctive and enduring . Coke is
considered authentic and real whereas
Pepsi is considered young, spirited and
exciting.

 Brand personality can thus have

demographic characteristics like
Feminine (Sunsilk), Aramusk
(masculine) , old ( Mysore Sandal) and
young (Liril)
Also could have psychographic
characteristics like upper class (Van
Huesen) v/s blue collar ( Nirma)
And sophisticated (Honda city) v/s
rugged (Tata Sumo)

 Personality of Harley Davidson (HD)

bikes
There are 3 core values of HD bikes
1)
The dominant value is personal
freedom, which includes freedom from
confinement (confined in a car or a t home)
and freedom from mainstream values and
social structures.
The Harley Davidson eagle logo is one
symbol of this freedom.

 2)
Second value is patriotism and American
heritage.
3)
Then third value is being macho , inspired in part
by the outlaw bikers in The wild ones , the famed
Marlon Brando movie in 1950s.Expressions of manliness
are like wearing T-SHIRTS Real Men wear Black.
HD bikes are the biggest, heaviest, loudest and thus the
most macho motorcycles in the world. There is an
abundance of black leather, heavy boots, chrome, and
other signals of maleness at Harley Rallies.

 The Harley mottoLive to ride, ride to

live appeals also to non macho
potential buyers.
The owners of Japanese bikes focuses
on functional benefits , whereas the
Harley-Davidson owner is much more
concerned with emotion and selfexpressive benefits.

 Chris Mcrae has divided brand

personalities into six types
1) Ritualistic brands
2) Symbol Brands
3) Heritage brands
4) Exclusive brands
5) Belonging Brands
6) legendary brands

 1) Ritualistic brands:
brands
associated with particular occasions:
for e.g Crackers are associated with
Diwali and Archies greeting cards with
birthdays and anniversary.
Also Britannia Marie is a tea time
brand associated with the ritual of the
consumption.
Titan is for celebration/gift

 2) Symbol Brand :
The logo or the name of the brand
is more important than what it
contains.
Chivas Regal is strongly identified
with the eagle shaped container.
Onida is strongly identified with the
devil

 3) Heritage Brands:
These are the brands that have
pioneer advantage.
Philips has a strong position in the
audio system market because of its
reputation.
Dabur has a strong reputation in
ayurveda

 4) Exclusive Brands:
These are termed loofor Snobbish
brands.
BMW 650 cc bikes, Maybach /Rolls
Royce are meant for an exclusive
clientile in India. Not everyone can
buy them.

 5) Belonging Brands:
Human
Beings are constantly in need of being
socially accepted. Brands which make
the consumer a part of a larger family
are belonging brands.
A Levi Strauss jean puts a youth at par
with youth in the rest of the world.
A Ray-Ban sunglasses means a lot to
the user.

 6) Legendary Brands:
Brands which have a great
deal of history behind them and have
achieved demi-god status are
legendary brands. Coke, Marlboro,
Lifebuoy, Lux.
From the corporate brands- TATA and
Godrej.

To sum up
A brand personality can help a brand in several
ways:
It can provide a vehicle for customers to express their own
identity
A brand personality metaphor helps suggests the kind of
relationship that customer has with brand
Brand personalities serve to represent and cue functional
benefits and product attributes well

Importantly, brand personality is often a sustainable

point of differentiation
Sustainable because it is very difficult to copy a personality