Brand Personality Mapping

Nature of the Marketing Function - Shifting Sands

Many of you would have studied the thought provoking ‘Identity Prism’ of academic Jean-Nol Kapferer as part of your foundational marketing course. This theory has had a deep and profound impact on how companies see the nature of brand building. Ever since he propounded his theory, companies have acknowledged the importance of identity in the building of a brand. Seen from a historical perspective, this market a culmination of shifts in the thinking of business communities – from efforts that were primarily product based, to a strategy based on sales, to one based on markets and finaly one based on brand identity.

Identity, Image & Personality

Often people use the terms brand identity, brand image and brand personality interchangeably. It is not my argument that these are radically different terms, but one has to be aware of the differences between these terms for they in a way affect ones marketing paradigm.

Identity refers to your true inner self - as a company or a brand. To quote Kapferer: “Having an identity means being who you are, following your own, determined, but individual path”. Be who you are. This is the inside-out paradigm of identity.

Closely related is brand image. This refers to ideas evoked in the minds of others (usually a customer/consumer) when they think of the brand in question. To adopt this as your creed means that you would adopt what others think is your identity as your own – an outside-in approach. Thus the paradigm of image is – Be what others think you are.

Brand personality combines these seemingly opposing inside-out and outside-in paradigms to create a new paradigm that while has roots in the identity, is strongly externally focused. It borrows from the identity, accepts favourable parts of image and adds to other images that it seeks. It is: Become who you should be. Why is it relevant? Well, because we, being social animals, choose brands the same way we choose friends – in addition to skills and physical characteristics, we simply like them as people.

If personality is so human a value, shouldn’t we be able to measure brand personality is much the same manner as human personality? Quite a few researchers concur and among them is Jennifer Aaker. Just like the Big Five Personality Traits theory is the most established among behavioural science enthusiasts, Aaker’s Five Factor Theory of Brand Personality has strong following among marketing enthusiasts. These five factors are:

• Sincerity (Down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful)
• Excitement (Daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date)
• Competence (Reliable, intelligent, successful)
• Sophistication (Upper-class, charming)
• Ruggedness (Outdoorsy, tough)

It goes without saying that just like there is no ‘ideal’ personality for a person or for more that matter right or wrong trait, there is no ‘ideal’ brand personality either. For example, a down-to-earth branding will just not suit Kingfisher Airlines, a medicinal pill better not position itself as daring, Navratna Tel cannot possibly carry off being sophisticated while Victoria’s Secret cannot market women’s lingerie as tough.

Innumerable brand personalities can be formed from different combinations of intensity of each of these factors. Depending on the image and identity of the brand and the category in question, one can choose to create a personality by positioning the brand on different levels on each of the factors.

In my next post I will take the example of some old and established products that have recently re-invented their brand personalities on the basis of their internal brand identity and external brand image.