Brand Personalities: Creating a Brand Hero
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Building and applying brand personalities is a practice that is rooted in psychology. Most brand personality models are based on personality models for humans, for example: sincere, exciting, rebellious, clever, etc. This is due to the simple fact that people like and relate to other people more than they do companies.
Brands are a lot like people in many ways. There are remarkable and memorable people, and there are also people who are easy to forget. What sort of person do you want your brand to be? Brands with strong personalities often have a more loyal and engaged following than brands that blend into the background. Just like people, there are a variety of personalities that a brand can have.
Creating brand personality examples is a method that we use with our clients to get their creative juices flowing and to get to the heart of what type of "person" they want their brand to be. The stronger the brand personality is, the easier it is to build marketing campaigns around it.
Brands that don't have a strong brand personality aren't relatable and can seem faceless and inaccessible. Modeling a brand after a human characteristic is a surefire way to build a fandom, and speaking of fandoms... as the resident office nerd, I am here today to compare popular brand personalities to famous superheroes!
Wolverine®
Brand Personality Type: Rugged, Rebellious
Wolverine is a classic bad boy with a heart of gold. Ruggedness is a popular brand personality type that appeals to a primarily male audience that sees itself as bold, independent, and certainly not afraid to get their hands dirty.
Brand Examples: Jeep®, Redwing Shoes®
Spider Man®
Brand Personality Type: Exciting, Enjoyable, Original
Peter Parker, otherwise known as Spider Man®, is the youthful, wise-cracking webslinger from Queens, New York. Exciting brand personalities often exude youthfulness and original thinking. It's easy to be jaded in the current consumer culture, but exciting brand personalities break through the fog and appeal to the kid inside us all.
Brand Examples: Lego®, Coca-Cola®
Iron Man®
Brand Personality Type: Creator, Visionary, Futuristic
Tony Stark, the genius behind the Iron Man® suit, is a true visionary, and he definitely has style. The future is an ever-moving target, and brands that have this brand personality need to be agile in order to hit their mark.
Brand Examples: Apple®, Tesla Motors®
Professor-X®
Brand Personality Type: Wisdom, Knowledge, Competence
Professor-X is the brains behind (and the namesake of) the X-Men®. His wisdom guides the team and his inventions help them do their job. He also is a headmaster and teacher, so this guy knows his stuff. Brands with a wise personality are the first place people turn when they need answers.
Brand Examples: Google®, Wikipedia®
Black Panther®
Brand Personality Type: Sophisticated, Influential, Sleek
Black Panther is the leader of Wakanda, one of the world's richest and technologically sophisticated countries. Black Panther uses his wealth and influence for good, and he sure looks good doing it. He has an aura that is sleek and iconic, much like the brand examples listed below. Brands with a sophisticated brand personality are aspirational and aesthetically pleasing.
Brand Examples: BMW®, Rolex®
A strong brand personality sets your brand apart from the competition. It provides a basis for brand positioning and voice, which can make all the difference when competing for the attention of shoppers. You wouldn't want to read about a superhero with a bland personality, so how can you expect your brand to perform well if its personality falls flat? There are many other brand personality types than the ones listed above, but hopefully, these heroic examples will give you a place to start. Excelsior!