Brands are like people, they have personalities or character. Brand character refers to the unique personality traits and values that define a brand's identity. It shapes how consumers perceive and interact with the brand, fostering engagement and emotional connections.
Brand character is a versatile tool used across various aspects of brand strategy and marketing to create a cohesive and compelling brand identity. Here are some ways in which brand character is effectively utilized:
Brand Positioning and Differentiation: Brand character helps establish a distinct identity in the market, making it easier for consumers to differentiate the brand from competitors. For example, brands like Snickers and Kit Kat have clear, both are chocolate candy with very different personalities.
Communications and Messaging: It guides the tone of voice and style used in communications. Whether through advertising, social media, customer service interactions, or packaging, the brand character ensures a consistent and coherent message that resonates with its target audience.
Visual Identity: Brand character influences visual elements such as logos, color palettes, typography, and packaging design. These elements visually communicate the brand's personality and values, reinforcing its character at every touchpoint.
Emotional Connection: By embodying specific traits and values, brand character fosters emotional connections with consumers. This connection goes beyond functional benefits, creating loyalty and advocacy among customers who identify with the brand's personality.
User Experience Design: Brand character informs user experience design by guiding decisions related to website design, app interfaces, packaging, and physical spaces. These design elements are crafted to reflect the brand’s personality and values, creating a cohesive and enjoyable experience for consumers.
Product Development and Innovation: Brand character can guide product development and innovation by aligning new offerings with the brand's established personality. This ensures consistency and relevance in the eyes of consumers.
Brand Extensions and Partnerships: When extending into new markets or forming partnerships, brand character serves as a criterion for evaluating alignment and fit. It helps maintain brand integrity and ensures that new ventures resonate with existing consumers.
Consumer Experience: During crises or challenging situations, brand character provides a framework for response. Brands can leverage their established traits and values to reassure customers, maintain trust, and navigate through difficulties with authenticity.
Internal Culture and Alignment: Internally, brand character guides organizational culture and employee behavior. It aligns teams behind a shared vision and values, fostering a sense of pride and purpose among employees.
Long-Term Strategy and Evolution: While brand character provides consistency, it also allows for evolution over time. Brands can adapt their character to changing market trends, consumer preferences, and strategic objectives while retaining core values and personality traits.
I have seen many Brand Personality statements mostly written by creative agencies. They typically are designed to provide copy style and imagery guidelines. They will have many words to describe look and tone. Sometimes there are too many descriptive words which is confusing and makes it difficult to evaluate whether the designers are hitting the mark.
The rule of thumb for me is typically simplicity. I want to We want to identify The Look, The Tone, and The Feel. Look, tone, and feel can be used to drive differentiation. In developing a Brand Character, I get teams to focus on selecting one word each for Look, Tone, Feel. I have always been a believer that focus drives brilliance. The more focused we can keep everyone who touches design and copy elements, the greater the clarity. The greater the clarity, the greater the design creativity.
There is a lot that goes into choosing the Brand Character words. Most importantly, Brand Character must pay homage to Brand Purpose. Does the Brand Personality support the Brand Purpose?
To support Brand Character, we add Brand Archetypes to the mix. Brand archetyping is a concept used in marketing and branding to assign a specific personality or character to a brand based on well-established human archetypes. These archetypes, originally defined by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, represent fundamental human motivations, behaviors, and characteristics that resonate deeply with people across cultures and time. By aligning a brand with a particular archetype, marketers can create a consistent and relatable brand identity that connects emotionally with their target audience.
The 12 Brand Archetypes, along with brief descriptors, are:
The Innocent - Pure, optimistic, simple, honest
The Everyman/Everywoman - Down-to-earth, realistic, reliable, supportive
The Hero - Courageous, bold, inspirational, triumphant
The Caregiver - Nurturing, compassionate, generous, supportive
The Explorer - Adventurous, independent, pioneering, free-spirited
The Rebel - Disruptive, rebellious, unconventional, iconoclastic
The Lover - Passionate, sensual, romantic, intimate
The Creator - Innovative, imaginative, artistic, inventive
The Jester - Humorous, playful, irreverent, entertaining
The Sage - Wise, knowledgeable, insightful, reflective
The Magician - Visionary, charismatic, transformative, mystical
The Ruler - Descriptors: Authoritative, responsible, commanding, organized
The Brand Archetype must be the persona that can deliver the Brand Purpose against the Strategic Consumer Target while aligning with the Look, Tone, Feel characteristics chosen.
Brand character is integral to shaping the overall consumer experience by influencing perceptions, guiding interactions, and fostering meaningful connections. Bringing together Look, Tone, and Feel together with Brand Archetyping, we can create a engaging overall character to support the Brand Purpose. By strategically defining and consistently embodying its character, a brand can create a distinctive identity that resonates with consumers, drives engagement, and builds long-term loyalty.
About GDJBrands
GDJBrands helps visionary founders and business leaders get the most out of their brands by taking a holistic, tailored, ground-up approach to brand-building. Its founder, Gary De Jesus, excels in Brand Development and Marketing, uniquely incorporating principles of Biological and Cognitive Sciences, and Psychology to build strong brands and fulfill founders' visions. His goal is to make dreams come true.