Values and Characteristics of Brand Personality

Based on the premise that brands can have personalities in much the same way as humans, Brand Personality describes brands in terms of human characteristics. Brand personality is seen as a valuable factor in increasing brand engagement and brand attachment, in much the same way as people relate and bind to other people. Much of the work in the area of brand personality is based on translated theories of human personality and using similar measures of personality attributes and factors.

Many of the world’s most powerful brands spend a great deal of time putting personality into their brands. It is the personality of a brand that can appeal to the four functions of a person’s mind. For example, people make judgments about products and companies in personality terms. They might say, “I don’t think that company is very friendly,” “I feel uneasy when I go into that branch,” “I just know that salesmen is not telling the truth about that product,” or “That offer doesn’t smell right to me”. Their minds work in a personality driven way. Given that this is true, then how can a company create a personality for its product or for itself? The answer lies in the choice and application of personality values and characteristics.

People’s personalities are determined largely through the values and beliefs they have, and other personality characteristics they develop. An example of a value or belief is honesty. Many people believe in being honest in everything they do and say. An example of a characteristic is confidence. This is not a belief, but more of a behavior. There are, of course, many values/beliefs and characteristics that a person may have, but there are some that are particularly likeable. It is to these likeable values and characteristics that people are inevitably attracted. Examples of these include dependability, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, friendliness, caring, and fun-loving.

There are about two hundred words that describe personality characteristics, and these can be used for putting personality into brands. To illustrate how people think in personality terms when making judgments about brands, here are the results of consumer research into how people feel about two companies. When asked the question – “If these two companies were people, how would you describe them?” their replies were –

These two companies are actually competitors in a service industry. If you were asked which of these two companies you would like to be your friend, you would probably choose Company B, as did 95% of other respondents. It is not surprising that the service level of Company B can be a better experience for customers than that of Company A. It is also easy to conclude that if consumers consistently experience these differences between the two companies, then the brand image of Company B will be much better than that of Company A.

A further point of interest arising out of this research is that people tend to prefer brands that fit in with their self-concept. Everyone has views about themselves and how they would like to be seen by others. And they tend to like personalities that are similar to theirs, or to those whom they admire. Thus, creating brands with personalities similar to those of a certain group of consumers will be an effective strategy. The closer the brand personality is to the consumer personality (or one which they admire or aspire to), the greater will be the willingness to buy the brand and the deeper the brand loyalty.