In a previous article in the Insights section of our website, we had touched upon the two aspects of a consumer’s perception of a brand – the emotional and the rational. These two attributes of a brand add up to the overall brand’s image. The Rational part is more functional and product feature related while the Emotional is deeper and with a more subjective and ‘personified’ bend. This emotional image is what is often termed as the brand’s personality.
Over the years, several experts have given their own definitions of a brand personality, and have also suggested different frameworks for mapping a persona to a brand. Earlier this year, we came across a very commonsensical and relatable definition of brand personality in a blog. The author defined a brand personality as something that “makes your business human in the eyes of your potential customers”. She also went on to elaborate that a brand personality need not be defined only by the tone and content of the voice and visuals of the brand, but even seemingly mundane things like the efficacy of the brand’s customer service policies. A more commonly accepted definition of a brand personality is that it is a “set of human characteristics associated with a brand”. A quick search on the internet will reveal scores of other nuances used in defining a brand personality. However, the one thing that remains uncontested is that the brand personality is a key element in a brand’s overall equity.
Nevertheless, there are hardly any set rules to follow for a successful brand, in its pursuit of creating a stellar brand personality. Let us take the example of an automobile brand like Volvo. Since longer than anyone can remember, their internal values as well as external customer facing messaging has revolved around the twin towers of trust/reliability and quality/performance. In a 2018 interview, the then head of customer experience development at Volvo had explained how they were able to continuously evolve to meet customer expectations, while retaining its core brand personality of good and reliable Swedish design. In the context of this article, what this means is that the Volvo brand personality has remained mostly unchanged over the years, which is a very happy place to be in for any brand.
Staying on in the same automobile sector, let us look at an Indian two wheeler brand Hero Honda which was the world’s biggest manufacturer of two wheelers for around 25 years. This brand was the result of a tie up between the Hero group and the Honda Motor Company. The company enjoyed a clear market leadership in India and also in some of the neighboring countries, prior to the two partners deciding to part ways for various contentious reasons in 2010. In the aftermath, Hero MotoCorp continued its dominance in the domestic market, and also made use of the separation from Honda to spread its footprint to many other countries of the world. If we look at the brand messaging of the 1980s, it will be clear that fuel efficiency and overall affordability were what Hero Honda wanted its buyers to associate with its motorcycles. However, within five years, it had reinvented itself as an aspirational youth brand. Over the years, often coinciding with the launch of different motorcycle models, it continued to make definite shifts in its brand personality. Over the next two decades till 2010, it portrayed itself as fast (CBZ was the first motorcycle to cross the 100 km/h mark, followed five years later by Karizma at 130 km/hr ), premium/aspirational (with the models Passion and later Ambition), before moving on to power (with Hunk and Splendor).
All of these shifts in brand positioning were till the break from Honda. Hero Motocorp made a big splash at London in 2011 with their new logo and color scheme, which tried to highlight a completely different persona for the brand. This time they wanted to highlight their brand as the new face of a resurgent India that was firmly rooted in Indian values, but was ready to take on the world. This journey of more than 25 years from “Fill it, shut it, forget it” to “Hum Mein Hai Hero” (There is a hero within each of us) saw several brand personalities adopted by Hero MotoCorp for a single product category – motorcycles.
How about the brand personalities being dictated by which market the product or service is being sold in? The Coca-Cola brand is an interesting example of a brand messaging being consistent in spite of being marketed and sold in a multitude of countries and continents. In 2011, almost 120 years after the brand Coca-Cola came into existence, an academic paper looked into what are the different brand personalities of fizzy drinks (like Coca-Cola) and bottled waters (like Evian). After analysing data from almost 400 Australian respondents, the paper concluded that excitement was the dominant personality trait of Coca-Cola, followed by sincerity and ruggedness, although the last two didn’t always transfer seamlessly to the drinker. Another emotion most people around the world associate with Coca-Cola is happiness.
Take a look at this Egyptian Coca-Cola advertisement from the same year 2011, which bubbles over with positive sentiments like ‘Make Tomorrow Better‘. Another iconic Coca-Cola advertisement from forty years earlier had underlined how Coca-Cola evokes the same positive sentiments (I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing) around the world. It is difficult to think of another brand which is sold in more than 200 countries, but continues with a very consistent brand messaging everywhere. In fact, Coca-Cola is often cited as an example of why one should not mess with a successful formula.
This disaster played out on its home ground – the United States – thirty five years back. With a view to pull back on the declining market share against its biggest cola rival, Coca-Cola decided to change its 99 year old formula. Although this change was in a product attribute, the attendant marketing blitz also tried to highlight a new persona for the brand. The move backfired horribly, with consumers across the United States pushing back in a very determined fashion. The misadventure lasted only 79 days, and Coca-Cola was forced to go back to its original formula. In a remarkably candid article on their website, Coca-Cola called it the “marketing blunder of the century”. It is no wonder, then, that Coca-Cola has never again attempted to mend something that ain’t broken, by tampering with their successful brand personality around the world.
Staying on the food and beverage business, let us examine another successful name that has stayed ahead of the curve by creating different brand personas in different regions. Since 1938, Nescafe has been popular as the world’s favourite coffee, and the numbers do back up that claim. More than 94 billion cups of Nescafe, the rockstar brand from Nestle, are consumed every year. This translates to an unbelievable 5,500 cups consumed every second! 6 years back, Nescafe finally moved away from a ‘different strokes for different folks’ policy to introduce a unified global branding strategy which it called REDvolution, with a common slogan “It all starts with a Nescafe”.
But they still present different personas in different regions of the world. Let us look at the UK, which has traditionally been a nation of tea drinkers. That is the reason Nescafe has targeted the younger and more affluent beverage consumer in the age group of 20 to 35. They have positioned Nescafe as a youthful and energetic brand , attempting to compete more with the Red Bulls rather than the Tetleys. Their overarching theme in the UK has been ‘coffee to go’. India, on the other hand, has many regions with a long tradition of filter coffee. Nescafe has, therefore, tried to be relevant to all age groups in India with a nuanced messaging that talks of Nescafe being a drink for the family to bond over, as also a social ice breaker, and of course the best thing to start off a productive day with. Nescafe doffed its hat to the traditional ways of drinking coffee in India by introducing Nescafe Sunrise, which had instant coffee and chicory in a 70:30 ratio. This is how Nescafe, in India, has tried to portray its brand personality as a blend of tradition and modernity.
Let us move on next to Greece, which has a very unique coffee drinking tradition. Greeks take their coffee very seriously, and do not like to have coffee ‘on the go’. They usually serve a cup of water along with the coffee, and the coffee is supposed to be enjoyed with small and lingering sips. Greece has the more trendy kafeterias which are often outdoors and frequented more by those below 35. Then there are the kafeneios which are popular with the older generation who often spend hours there. Nescafe introduced Nescafe Frappe in the 1970s, and it offered a delightful alternative to regular coffee, while resonating with Greek coffee enthusiasts. While the traditional outlets for enjoying coffee continued, Nescafe evolved its brand personality to one that is willing to innovate and is adaptable to new alternatives.
The Closing Statements
Brand Personality is just one of the most important elements that determine a brand’s overall image , or how it is seen by the world. A consistent brand personality is usually welcome, but it is not a necessity for a brand to be successful, and does not necessarily guarantee success. Besides, a consistent brand personality is not always an easy objective to achieve, given that consumer preferences vary on numerous other factors. This makes consistency over time and generations, and across different geographies, difficult to hold on to.
One of the most quoted works on brand personality is Dimensions of Brand Personality by Aaker in 1997. She cites 5 dimensions of a brand personality – Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness. All brands would usually have some or most of these personalities, though not necessarily all of them. From the elements of a brand’s personality, the brand must choose which it wants to be consistent about, and more importantly can be consistent about. For the other applicable dimensions, a brand could tweak its personality with the passage of time, or to be relevant in different geographies.
At Relevance, we take the concept of Brand Personality very seriously. Compared to the Rational image of a brand, which is primarily a reflection of product features related beliefs, the brand personality is usually a deeper, subconscious perception with a longer lasting impact. This brand personality can be created as a result of either direct or indirect associations, or both, with the brand. Direct associations could be factors like its dynamic (or otherwise) CEO, or a popular celebrity who endorses the brand, or even the generic perception of its user. Indirect Associations could be the name of the brand itself or its logo, or the tone of brand communication, or even the channels through which it reaches the consumers.
But in the end, there is reason to believe that a consumer searches for a certain ‘congruence’ between the brand personality and his/her self perception, either at an actual level or as an aspirational projection of it. Which is why we put a lot of emphasis in trying to understand the ‘user imagery’ of a brand among its consumers, or even its non-consumers. Using our flagship Relevance TAGS® methodology, we are able to elucidate the brand personality, through spontaneous responses using the consumers’ own words, thereby providing clear, actionable insights for the brands to help in decision making.
About the Author:
Amitabha Das is presently based in Singapore, after having worked for two decades across multiple continents.
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