It’s a simple question, but nailing down exactly what you want your brand to represent is challenging for many businesses. If you’re struggling to define your brand, a brand persona exercise can come in handy.
If your brand were a person, who would it be?
The Energizer Bunny. Mr. Clean. Ronald McDonald. These iconic mascots have all helped establish their brands in pop culture, but have also given the public some traits to grasp onto: the Energizer Bunny just won’t stop and has a long battery life; Mr. Clean is a hard worker, cleaning so you don’t have to; Ronald McDonald cares..
Companies choose to create a mascot because the personality they bring helps set the company apart from their competitors and allows the public to form an emotional bond with their brand.
While a mascot may not be in your future, think about how you connect different personalities to different companies.
A fantastic example of bringing brand personalities to life is the “Get a Mac” ad campaign that ran several years back with John Hodgman and Justin Long acting personifying PC and Mac.
Find Your Personality
Ready to bring your brand to life? List a few personality traits that describe your brand. For instance is your brand: smart, friendly and helpful?
If you are saying to yourself: come on, doesn’t every brand want to smart, friendly and helpful? Well no, actually. The middle finger project comes with a disclaimer:
The Dumb and Dumber movies aren’t exactly playing up the smart angle, but the franchise has brought in over $400 million.
Some brands play up exclusivity, some brands emphasis performance and still other brands aren’t afraid of getting political and aim for a very targeted audience.
Your brand can have very distinct personality traits, if you aren’t afraid to show them.
Why does your brand persona matter?
In a nutshell, a brand persona allows you tie your marketing and branding campaigns together.
Brand personas are great things to use for a new brand when you are trying to find your footing. If you have an image of your brand as a person, you can ask yourself, would my brand say or do this?
They also come in handy as your company begins to scale and your team grows. You can avoid any friction and competing voices on your marketing campaigns if you have a designated personality and code of conduct that your brand will follow.
Brand personas serve different purposes for different companies. Sometimes it’s simply helpful to go through the exercise of defining the elements of a brand persona, and therefore the brand. Other companies really get behind their persona, going so far as to develop hobbies, or even friends and families to accompany their “person.”
Taking the time to create a brand persona simply gives you another tool in your marketing toolbox. As always, Social Light is here to help if you need it!