What Is Brand Personality, and How Do You Build a Brand Character?

Today, many products and services are offered to people by many different brands. For people to choose a brand and build lasting loyalty to it, brands need to project the right image to their audience. Brands now have personalities and characters, and that is the most important criterion for being chosen.

Building a brand today also means representing the person who will choose it. Brand perception goes beyond the products or services a brand offers; it’s about defining what the brand stands for and whom it speaks to. This is especially true for brands in fields such as technology, textiles and luxury goods, as opposed to fast-moving consumer goods and food.

Besides meeting a need, it means representing a place in society, an idea and sometimes a class. For example, the logos on your clothes can give the person in front of you many clues about your income and outlook on life.

So building a brand means giving it character and shaping everything, from marketing communication to sales strategy, to fit that character.

What Is Brand Personality?

Jennifer A. Aaker defines brand personality as “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand.” Aaker, whose five dimensions of brand personality we cover below, defines it quite broadly as “the whole of the human characteristics related to a brand.”

Brand personality is really about giving a brand a personality and character, just like a person. You define a brand personality using the same adjectives you’d use to describe a person. A brand can be rebellious, warm, passionate or ambitious. What determines all of this is everything that will later represent the brand, from how its products or services are presented to its marketing communication.

When building a brand, creating a brand personality is always the first step. Defining the adjectives and traits of the brand’s personality also determines who will represent it, meaning the people who will buy its products or services, because the brand’s audience will represent the brand. Just as people come together around shared ideas, tastes and hobbies, a brand’s customers will meet on common ground. Creating a brand identity means defining the traits that will bring these people together.

Aaker (1997: 352) examines brand personality in five dimensions. According to Aaker, brand personality consists of competence, sincerity, excitement, sophistication and ruggedness.

Two kinds of influences are discussed in creating brand personalities. The first is product-related characteristics:

• Product category
• Packaging
• Price
• Other product attributes.

The second is non-product-related characteristics that shape brand personality:

• User imagery
• Sponsorships
• Symbol
• User age
• Advertising style
• Country of origin
• Company image
• CEO
• Celebrity endorsement

From these, we can see that brand personality depends both on the products or services produced and on other elements, temporary or not, that make up the brand. By the same token, even the brand’s CEO at a given time can change or steer its personality.

Why Brand Personality Matters

We said that creating a brand personality is one of the first steps in building a brand. One of the key strategies when creating it is to model it on personality traits consumers have or admire. To do this, first define the target audience, then identify what consumers need and want.

Brand personality is also an element businesses can use to position their brand differently from competitors. A well-formed brand personality is the foundation of all the brand’s later sales, marketing and advertising. So what happens next, and why does brand personality matter in the later stages?

Brand personality is what leads people to choose one product among similar ones. Product features and benefits come first, but when we choose between a few very similar products, we’re really choosing a brand, and we make that choice based on brand personality. How much we like or admire a brand depends on how much its personality affects us. We’re drawn to brands close to our own personality or to the personality we aspire to. By owning them and buying their products, we try to become part of that brand.

Brand Personality Examples

Harley Davidson

Few brands in the world represent who their audience is as well as Harley Davidson does. The Harley Davidson brand means similar things to everyone who knows it or has heard of it.

Besides being known by a large part of the world, the brand’s personality also reflects the personality of its owners, and Harley Davidson is the brand people with that personality want to own. Harley is a brand that embraces its customers’ rebellious spirit and takes pride in defying the temper of everyday society. Harley Davidson stands for a strong brand identity, a bold voice and rebellion.

Nike

Nike is a brand that, with its “Just Do It” slogan, inspires all its customers to act and get moving. The competitive athletic heritage of its founders, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, is part of the brand’s DNA, and this winning mindset runs from its staff to its relationship with customers. Like every athlete at the top of their game, Nike has a burning desire to be at the top and stay there.

Nike embodies a coach personality, holding its audience accountable for their successes and failures, and encouraging, guiding and motivating them. “Just Do It” is a call to action, a way of life and a belief that if you want something badly enough, you can achieve it. Nike stands for an effective brand identity, a champion’s voice and winning.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola: when you think of it, consciously or not, “happiness” probably comes to mind. That’s because Coca-Cola has associated itself with this idea by positioning itself in people’s happy moments, such as the holidays. Through its ads and communication, it consistently shows happy, slightly magical qualities that we associate with pleasure. Coca-Cola stands for a radiant, bright brand identity, a joyful voice and happiness.

Mercedes

Mercedes is an aspirational, exclusive brand that sits on a pedestal and encourages customers to earn the right to join its club. Mercedes constantly reminds us that it’s at the top and openly shows that it stands for superiority. Throughout the brand experience, it displays status, wealth and success and gives customers a sense of achievement. Mercedes-Benz stands for a refined brand identity, a clear and direct voice and success.

At Digibus , we provide brand character building for all our clients, because knowing who the brand is shapes all marketing and sales activities.

That’s why the most important question we ask in every introductory meeting is: “If your brand were a person and were in this meeting, what kind of person would it be?”