Personality describes the brand’s distinctive character. The fundamental rationale for developing the brand’s personality is to raise its visibility. Every company has a personality, but the challenge is making it valuable in helping define the identity and image of the brand. Many companies are bland, with dull, or vague personalities, whereas others cultivate a strong personality in an effort to highlight differentiation. Many well-known brands have clear personalities as far as customers are concerned, even if those descriptions are relatively simplistic. With an identifiable personality, brands can take on a deeper and more expansive meaning for customers, making them more compelling and even giving them a more human quality. This helps customers relate more directly and personally to brands. Part of Rolex’s appeal is its status and personality as a brand representing class, privilege, and distinction. Its customers have an affinity for these qualities, and associate the brand’s personality with their own sense of identity. For years, Southwest Airlines has cultivated a personality centered around fun. Passengers knew that they were not getting full service, and had to pay extra for virtually everything beyond the price of the ticket, but they willingly accepted this bargain because the fares were lower and the airline went out of its way to make flying quirky and humorous by telling stories, jokes, and reading the safety instructions in unconventional ways. In his book, “Planet Google”, New York Times columnist Randall Stross said “the company enjoys a public image that associates its brand with experimentation and innovation”. For customers, a brand’s personality can help them express their individual identities. Customers find that Apple’s iconoclastic image appeals to their individualistic nature. Luxury customers flock to LVMH’s many different luxury brands because they connote quality, reflect their own exclusive tastes and exude high status. Or consider IKEA, the Swedish home furnishings brand, with its Scandinavian design, colorful and humorous ads, conveying a vibrant and creative personality. Beneath this exterior lies a disciplined operating model, yet its business strengths mesh well with its creative flair. People with an open, engaging and playful attitude (along with superb design sensibilities) would undoubtedly find IKEA inviting. Interestingly, in discovering and refining a brand’s Destiny and its reason to exist, personality helps distinguish one brand from another. We can all name companies we recognize and describe their associate companies. At the same time think about those companies lacking such clarity or definition-most companies are this way. Yet they don’t have to be this way.
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