Just like people, brands have personality. Some brands are born labelled with a particular personality, usually reflective of the ideas and ideals of the founder proprietor; some brands, again just like people, have a personality which evolves over the years.
When we choose our friends or partners, the personality of the individual is a key determinant in whether the relation develops, lasts or even gets off the ground at all. So it is with customers and their chosen brands. Market research consistently shows what actually seems a fairly obvious truism – customers choose, and generally remain loyal to, brands which either reflect their own personality or which show personality traits which they perceive as desirable or admirable.
Take Apple, for example. It’s cool, creative, young and sexy. Chances are, then, that young, cool creative and sexy people (or at least people who see themselves that way) tend to choose Apple over other electronic IT devices. Waitrose supermarkets are classy, dependable and slightly snobbish. While a Waitrose customer might occasionally go native with a bit of rough like Aldi, they’ll stay mainly true to the brand whose personality reflects their own core values.
What does that mean for my brand?
Brand identity applies no less to small and medium sized companies than to their big brothers. It’s important that your brand is clear about its values and conveys them clearly to its customers and prospective customers. Just as a person without a personality is likely to remain a bit of a social outsider, a brand which fails to develop a readily identifiable personality – the characteristics which customers perceive as defining what the product or brand stands for – will be at an immediate disadvantage in the market place.
But there’s a catch. We’ve all met people who have an opinion of themselves which isn’t necessarily shared by those around them. Having carefully considered the way in which you’d like your brand to be perceived, you’ll have made efforts to try to convey that to your customers. In terms of brand identity, label printing using in-house digital label printers from firms like QuickLabel Systems is one tried and trusted (and cost-effective) way of changing the game in your favour. Now it’s time to find out whether your customers have bought into your self-image. Just like in interpersonal relationships, this can be a painful and chastening experience – especially if you discover that your personality isn’t regarded as you’d like it to be. Nonetheless, it’s a process you need to go through if your brand is to develop and prosper.
What next?
As this recent article in the Guardian newspaper discusses, the trick is to confront the gap between your perception of your brand’s personality and core values, and your customers’ perception of those traits, and do something about it. This may involve changing the view that those customers that you’d like to see as your target market have of you. Equally, though, it might involve repositioning yourself in the market place if, to continue the social analogy, you decide that the people you thought were your friends turn out to be less receptive to your advances than you’d hoped. It might even, in more extreme cases, mean working on your brand’s psyche to change its personality.
It’s worth remembering, though, that unless your brand has a readily identifiable personality which you understand and with which you’re comfortable, your product will be bland and anonymous. And just like with people, products without personality, or recognisable labels, are at an extreme social disadvantage.
About the author: Jane Costorphine is a market research analyst with 20 years’ experience in the food retail sector. She has worked with a number of high profile clients and has published numerous articles and papers on the subject in trade and academic journals. A Geordie by birth, she now lives in Glasgow and juggles work requirements with the rather more stringent demands of a husband and young family.
Key words: Labelling, label printing, digital label printer, brand personality, branding, product placement, marketing, brand development, product labelling.