Introduction to Brand

Imagine a person as a brand. She may be around 28 years of age, have

fair features, a small build and be pleasant-looking. These would be
similar to a product's features. When you get to know her a little better,
your relationship may deepen, and you will be able to trust her, enjoy
her company, and even miss her a lot when she is not around. She is fun
to be with and you are strongly attracted to her values and concerns.
These are emotions similar to the associations which people develop
with brand personalities. People, generally, like people. So, if a
personality can be created for a brand, it will be easier to attract
consumers to the brand. As brands grow, as do human relationships, it
is the emotional dimension that tends to become dominant in loyalty.
Personality grows brands by providing the emotional difference and
experience.

Today is the day of consumerism; consumer is the king of market.

Psychological boundaries between the countries are eliminating day by
day. The use of marketing is rapidly increasing in order to cater for the
needs of the consumer on global level in these days duplication of
particular product or service is much easier and it takes little time with
stiff competition existing it is the ‘Brand and its Personality’ which
distinguishes itself from the competitors existing in the market.

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Definition

“A brand is a sellers promise to deliver consistently a specific set of

features, benefits and services to buyers”
- Philip Kotler.

A brand stands for something to customers. The brand is the pattern of

attributes that may be tangible or invisible, rationale, or emotional. The
consumer’s perceived value is directly related to the brand.

Brand is one of the great differentiators, one of the great barriers, to

entry. It is what that makes category leaders or brand leaders, and
makes it difficult for others to compete. Brand also allows an
organization to broaden their products and services. A strong brand
promotes or embodies organizations core values clearly with your
audience. A brand helps to excel the reputation and profile of an
organization; and helps the organization to protect itself from
competitors.

“If you can build powerful brand, you will have a powerful marketing
plan. If you can’t then all the advertising, fancy packaging, sales
promotion and public relation in the world won’t help you achieve
organizational goals.”

- Al Ries & Laura Ries.

A brand is a name or trademark connected with a product or producer.

Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and
the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal
philosophies. It is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished
from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily
communicated and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of the
distinctive product, service, or concept.

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What Makes An Excellent Brand?

A good brand communicates a clear message about what it stands for

and how it differentiates itself from its competitors. An excellent brand
persuades a market that their lives will be better by attaching themselves
to said brand, and without it, their lives would be greatly lacking.
Stemming the market positioning, customers understand and internalize
the brand through its consistent use.

Each touch point within the customers’ experience should seek to

reinforce this same, consistent message. With a well-crafted strategy, a
good brand begins to look more like a belief system, or a cult following
than anything else. It takes on a vibrant life of its own, and customers
will stand behind the brand, adopting its claims and evangelizing it to
others whatever that message maybe (even so much as if what one is
claiming is not necessarily true).

Major national brands (Super Brands) know this and use it to great
effect. Coke has us believing it is ‘The real thing’ and no other poor
excuse for a cola will do. BMW owners believe they have the ‘Ultimate
driving machine’, rather than just another ordinary, German-made
luxury car. These brand promises have grown beyond mere slogans,
they have evolved into living mantras for the company and their
followers, aka: clients, consumers, customers.

Though a brand is oftentimes mistaken as a variety of different things,

it’s important to understand its ambiguous nature. A brand is not simply
the logo, nor the visual identity. A brand is not the product, the service,
the slogan or the advertising campaign. A brand is not even controlled
by the company behind it. Rather, a brand is a collection of perceptions
that reside in the mind of the consumer/customer.

It is the gut feeling a customer has about the company (thus, your
brand). There cannot be direct control over the brand it can only be
supervised. Every interaction the customer has with the Brand or with

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company it influences their perception. The product experience,
customer service, slogans, ads, and even product manuals all contribute
to the customer’s perception of the company, service or product. The
company job is to cultivate, guard, and maintain a strong brand – the
rewards of which are consistently loyal customers and a continual
increase in customer preference.

Essentials of a Good Brand

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Brand means giving an attractive name or symbol to the product by
which it will be identified in the market. Branding is very important in
this age of mass production and distribution of identical products. In the
absence of branding, product cannot be distinguished and quality
cannot be guaranteed. It is necessary due to various reasons such as
availability of identical products in the markets, ever increasing market
competition, growing importance of packaging, advertising and
publicity and need to build brand image in the minds of consumers.

Simplicity

Imperessive Distinctive

Essentials of
Brand
Personalities

Suggestive Stable Life

Pleasant
Association

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 Simplicity: A good brand should be simple, brief and easy to
pronounce. This gives convenience in identifying the product by the
consumer. In addition brevity is an essential feature of a good brand.
Bata, Lux, etc. are good brands as they are simple.

 Distinctive: A good brand should be distinctive. This gives independent

and distinct identity to the product. Consumers should remember it
easily. ‘Gandhi’ a brand.

 Impressive brand: A good brand should be impressive and appealing in

colour and design. This creates quick attention for the product. Brands
become successful or popular due to unique and impressive words used.
Enfield -Bullet.

 Stable life: A good brand should have stable life and should not be
affected by time. It should not become old fashioned or out of date after
one or two years. It should be for long period of time. Hindustan Motors
– Ambassador, Wimco – Ship matchbox.

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 Suggestive: A good brand should be capable of describing the
characteristics of the product. The nature, use and purpose of the
product should be clearly suggested or indicated from the brand itself.
Amul, Nirma.

 Pleasant Association: A good brand creates pleasant association in the

minds of the customers. This develops loyalty among the customers for
the products. Cadbury’s – Dairy milk chocolate.

Brand Personality
Introduction

In practice, the personification of brands has been frequent since

celebrities endorsed brands. The use of a star and of his or her
personality help marketers position their brands, and can even seduce
consumers who would identify themselves with these stars. In other
words consumers could perceive a congruence between their (ideal or
actual) perceived selves and that of the star, hence of the brand.

Endowment may merely give the brand a meaning in the consumers'

eyes Levy. Beyond this specific advertising strategy, it has for long been
recognized that brands could be said to have a personality, as any
person has a personality. In any case, in focus groups or depth
interviewing, consumers have no difficulty answering metaphorical
questions such as: suppose the brand is a person, what kind of person

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would he/she be, with what personality? In fact consumers do perceive
brands as having personality traits.

Recent research has even shown that medical doctors (generalists as well
as specialists) had no difficulty in attributing personality traits to
pharmaceutical brands; more, these traits were actually significantly
correlated to medical prescription. That is why we may think that brand
personality has a role to play in the construction and/or management of
brands.

Since 1997, and the pioneering scale of brand personality proposed by J.

Aaker, a new stream of research is born. This renewed interest for a
rather old concept (brand personality) signals that the metaphor of
brands as persons is held as more and more pertinent at a time when
marketing stresses so much the importance of creating relationships
with brands. Most of the topics are now based on the personality scale
recently developed as first trial to measure the concept in the field of
marketing. Certainly brand personality is a useful concept, but brand
identity has more facets than the personality facet alone.

In this, we argue that one needs to a stricter definition of brand

personality, to avoid the present state of conceptual confusion in
branding research and to allow brand personality to be a rich and most
helpful concept to understand and manage brands. One should recall
that Personality and other concepts used in marketing (such as self, or
values) derive from psychology.

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Meaning and Definition

Brand personality can be defined as "the set of human characteristics

associated with a brand"

-Aaker 1997

Developing brand personality is the crucial factor for brand success as it

helps to differentiate brands, develop the emotional aspects of a brand
and augment the personal meaning of a brand to the consumer. Though
brand image enhancement is indeed a serious challenge to brand
managers, there is little research to support managers in choosing
between alternative strategies.

Since 1997, literature and research on the concept of brand personality is

flourishing, and specific scales have gone widespread use in academic
circles, unchallenged on their validity. Brand personality is certainly a
key facet of a brand identity. However, the current scales of brand

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personality in fact do not measure brand personality but merge
altogether a number of dimensions of brand identity which need to be
kept separate both on theoretical grounds and for practical use. Brand
management theory and practice have nothing to gain from the present
state of unchallenged conceptual confusion.

Advertisers and marketing practitioners have been the first ones to coin
the term brand personality, well before the academics studied and
accepted the concept. As early as 1958, P.Martineau used the word to
refer to the non-material dimensions that make a store special, its
character.
“People choose their brands the same way they choose their friends in
addition to the skills and physical characteristics; they simply like
them as people”.
- S. King
Background

The traditional view is that personality traits

become associated with a brand through
the people who represent it - such as the
typical user of a brand, the company's
employees or CEO, and the brand’s
endorsers. This way to form brand
personality is described as the direct way, because the personality traits of
the people associated with the brand are transferred directly to the
brand. It is based on the notion that human and brand personality traits
share similar conceptualization.

Nevertheless, according to Aaker (1997) brand personality can be

formed in different ways. Perceptions of human personality traits are
inferred on the basis of an individual's behaviour, physical
characteristics, attitudes and beliefs, and demographic characteristics.

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However, perceptions of brand personality traits have a more diverse
origin. They can be formed by not only direct but also indirect contact
that the consumer has with the brand. This means that personality traits
can be associated with a brand through product-related attributes,
product category associations, brand name, symbol or logo, advertising
style, price, and distribution channel.

Thus, there are diverse sources of brand personality and the question is
how marketers can understand and use them to develop desired
personalities for their brands.

The results support the assumption that brand personality dimensions

differ in their nature and come from different sources. The most
important sources of Competence and Sincerity are company-level
sources such as company’s moral values, the CEO and company
employees. Sophistication and Ruggedness seem to be formed to a large
extent by brand symbols such as endorsers, typical brand users, and
brand name and brand logos. Excitement seems to be formed by a blend
of company-level sources (employees), symbols (endorser) and
advertising style.

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Values and Characteristics

People's personalities are determined largely through the values and

beliefs they have, and other personality characteristics they develop. An
example of a value or belief is honesty. Many people believe in being
honest in everything they do and say. An example of a characteristic is
confidence. This is not a belief, but more of behaviour. There are, of
course, many values/beliefs and characteristics that a person may have,
but there are some that are particularly likeable. It is to these likeable
values and characteristics that people are inevitably attracted. Examples
of these include dependability, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability,
friendliness, caring, and fun-loving.

There are about two hundred words that describe personality

characteristics, and these can be used for putting personality into brands.
To illustrate how people think in personality terms when making
judgments about brands, here are the results of consumer research into
how people feel about two companies. When asked the question: "If

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these two companies were people, how would you describe them?" their
replies were:

Company A Company B

Sophisticated Easy going

Arrogant Modest

Efficient Helpful

Self-centred Caring

Distant Approachable

Disinterested Interested

These two companies are competitors in a service industry. If you were

asked which of these two companies you would like to be your friend,
you would probably choose Company B, as did 95% of other
respondents. It is not surprising that the service level of Company B can
be a better experience for customers than that of Company A. It is also
easy to conclude that if consumers consistently experience these
differences between the two companies, then the brand image of
Company B will be much better than that of Company A.

A further point of interest is that people tend to prefer brands that fit in
with their self-concept. Everyone has views about themselves and how
they would like to be seen by others. And they tend to like personalities
that are similar to theirs, or to those whom they admire. Thus, creating
brands with personalities similar to those of a certain group of
consumers will be an effective strategy. The closer the brand personality
is to the consumer personality (or one which they admire or aspire to),
the greater will be the willingness to buy the brand and the deeper the
brand loyalty.

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Sources

When developing a brand personality, brand managers have direct and

indirect sources of brand personality at their disposal to create and
shape the desired brand personality. The direct and indirect sources of
brand personality shape in interplay the full picture of brand personality
and it is important that the behaviour, signal value and symbolic clues
expressed through both the direct and indirect sources of brand
personality are coherent to ensure that the consumers experience,
perceive and evaluate the brand personality as authentic and true to its
own nature.

Sources of Brand
Personality

Direct Sources Indirect Sources

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 Direct Sources of Brand Personality

The set of human characteristics associated with the stereotypical brand

user, company employees, the CEO, brand endorsers. These human
characteristics can be of both a symbolic nature, like sophistication, or
they can have a demographic nature, like age, social class, etc. The direct
sources of brand personality are always ‘person-based’. The founder of
virgin, Richard Branson, advocates new thinking and doing things
differently through all the products inherent with the virgin brand.
Richard Branson is very visible as a CEO of his personality helps
promote a certain Virgin brand personality to consumers.

 Indirect Sources of Brand Personality

All the decisions made about the physical, functional and tangible
aspects that can be experienced by the consumer, like the price, shape
distribution and promotion are the indirect sources of brand personality.
They contribute to the brand personality indirectly by giving the
consumer clues about the brand personality. A company with the strong
brand personality does not need to have a very visible CEO advocating a
certain brand personality, as is the case with the direct sources of brand
personality. Brand personality can also be transferred indirectly from
management to the brand, by choosing different vehicles of
communication. For example, MTV is expressing an exciting brand
personality through its events, sponsorships, website and advertising;
the sources of brand personality are indirect, since a vehicle of
communication is used.

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Creation

Whether a brand is a product or a company, the company has to decide

what personality traits the brand is to have. There are various ways of
creating brand personality. One way is to match the brand personality as
closely as possible to that of the consumers or to a personality that they
like. The process will be

 Define the target audience

 Find out what they need, want and like
 Build a consumer personality profile
 Create the product personality to match that profile

This type of approach is favoured by companies such as Levi Strauss,

who research their target audience fastidiously. For Levis the result is a
master-brand personality that is:

 Original  Rebellious
 Masculine  Individual
 Sexy  Free
 Youthful

A related product brand personality (for a specific customer group) such

 Resourceful
as Levi's 501 jeans is:
 Independent
 Likes being admiredPage | 16
 Romantic
 Sexually attractive
 Rebellious
 Physical prowess

Both profiles appeal mostly to the emotional side of people's minds - to

their feelings and sensory function. This profiling approach aims to
reinforce the self-concept of the consumers and their aspirations. The
approach is ideal for brands that adopt a market-niche strategy, and can
be extremely successful if a market segment has a high degree of global
homogeneity, as is the case with Levis.

Many of the world's most powerful brands spend a great deal of time
putting personality into their brands. It is the personality of a brand that
can appeal to the four functions of a person's mind. For example, people
make judgments about products and companies in personality terms.
They might say, "I don't think that company is very friendly," "I feel
uneasy when I go into that branch," "I just know that salesmen is not
telling the truth about that product," or "That offer doesn't smell right to
me." Their minds work in a personality driven way. Given that this is
true, then how can a company create a personality for its product or for
itself? The answer lies in the choice and application of personality values
and characteristics.

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Creating Brand Personality In Accordance With the Consumer Self
Construct

Level 2
Level 1 Level 3
Uncover the The Level 4
Social & Interaction of Create & Alter
Uncover Internal Individual level Brand personality Brand Personality
Potential with consnumer

Step 1 -Uncover Internal Potential.

Uncover internally what brand personality is viable for the company to

create. The brand personality must be authentic, meaning that the
personality must be in line with what the company is able to deliver and
live up to.

Step 2 -Uncover the Social and Individual Level Of Consumer Self.

Uncover if the brand personality primarily helps consumers express the

individual or social self.

Step 3 -Elaborate The Understanding Of How The Brand Personality

Interacts With Consumer Self.

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Uncover if the brand is used to express the individual self, explore if it is
the actual, ideal or desired self the brand appeals to.

Step 4 - Create and Alter the Brand Personality.

Once the right brand personality appealing to the wanted group and
type of consumer self has been created the brand must be continuously
monitored. Brand personalities evolve and can be altered or diminished
with the personality profiles of stereotypical consumers. This clinical
process of how the brand evolves in interaction with the personality of
different consumer target groups must be closely monitored and
adjusted to make the best of the brand.

These steps can serve as the basic template for creating a suitable brand
personality. The personality traits are a more nuanced description of the
behavioural character traits that must be built into the brand personality
and expressed through all the different sources and modes of
communication that the brand uses to express personality.

Consumer perception of a brand personality are formed and influenced

by all the direct and indirect contacts the consumer has with the brand
or the other users of the brand, also named the sources of brand
personality. The direct sources of brand personality are: the set of
human characteristics associated with the typical user of the brand, the
employees of the company producing the brand; the CEO, or endorsers
of the brand also affect how the consumers ultimately will perceive
brand personality. Personality can also be transferred indirectly to the
brand through the product-related attributes and product category
associations, but also brand communication like brand name, logo, style,
price and distribution channel affect how the brand personality will be
perceived by the consumers.

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 Strategic Brand Personality Analysis

Strategic Brand
Personality
Analysis

Customer
 Trends Competitor
 Brand image/ identity  Existing brand image
Self Analysis
Analysis
 Motivation Analysis
 Strengths, strategies  Brand heritage
 Unmet Needs  Vulnerabilities  Strengths/capabilities
 Organization values

I. Customer Analysis

Customer analysis is the most important factor when a brand

personality is created. The customer is the key factor around which the
successful brand revolves. To know what the customer things about the
product and to make the product a brand there should be a proper
analysis of the customer. It can be done with the following tools of
customer analysis.

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 Trends
It is always necessary to know the trend in the market. The company has
to create the brand personality in the market as per the market psycho. It
is the most difficult step, as it should not suppress the core value of the
brand. Trend in the market helps to get the clear picture of the brand
personality to be created, it acceptability, and to what extent it could
withstand in the competition. Cadburys created the brand personality
with the objective of capturing the complete market segment not limiting
top children’s but covered the entire society. Taking opportunity in the
market that no one else promoted their Brand as they fashioned.

 Motivation
It is the factor that influences the market to as very high extent. People
shell out not for their need but for their image. To have a brand sold, it
requires to be hammered and this happens as and when the market says
about brand. Thus it acts as the motivational factor for the target
audience of the brand.

 Unmet Needs
There are some needs that are hidden that are just the needs of the
perceptional factor. This needs can be satisfied only when the company
has a particular brand personality with the satisfying means. This needs
evolve out of desire to have a branded product and ends with the use of
the product as the desire arouses for the product.

 Segmentation
Brand personality is the unique identity of the product and has the
impact on mind of the market. Segmentation of the market means the
proper distribution of market as per the class of the market taking into
consideration the different kinds of the customer into the market. The

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 brand personality has a core value and this value takes the right
customer for the company.

II. Competitor Analysis

The competitors are the greatest teachers in the market. The cautious
brand always keeps the track about its competitor its rival, its market
defender. For this it is essential to have the impact of the particular
brand personality on the mind of the people. On the basis of

 Brand Image
It is the way in which the brand is looked after in the market. What
response the brand has in comparison with the competitor product.
How the people look over the particular brand when placed over with
the competitor brand. And what’s so unique about the brand so that it
can always be no. 1.

 Strengths
The brand personality is the identity of the product in the market. It can
only maintain it when has a core value and that is unique than the
competitor brand. The strategies used by the competitor should always
be kept in consideration while; the brand is running in the market.

 Vulnerabilities
There are number of behaviors in the market. The way every individual
looks after the product is different. And the way they think about it are
unique. Thus the competitor may take the advantage of particular class
in the market, which has a common way of approach, and may enter in
with some another brand personalities making competition tougher.

III. Self-Analysis

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 The brand has to make its self-analysis on the basis of which it should
evaluate it in the market. To carry out the self-analysis the brand needs
to undergo some steps and understand the following.

 Existing brand Image

Brand has an identity, which prevails, in the market; it is such, which
cannot be washed out in a day. Hence it is very important to once create
the image or position in the market. And once the company do that they
have to just focus on their key factor, which then become the USP of
their brand.

 Brand Heritage
The history of brand that tells about the brand to the market and creates
the separate identity for the brand is known as brand heritage. This is
the most significant story in the process of brand building.

 Strengths
A brand has to know how strong it is. It has to know how far it has to
run in the race. It has to know how to stand in the market. It has to know
its capabilities and the self-study of itself. It has to concentrate on its core
values and to develop something more in it to make it more unique in
the market.

 Organization Values
An organization means a lot for a brand, as the organization builds up a
brand, but the brand represents an organization. Hence the values that
are in the brand directly reflect the values of the organization this creates
the impact on the customer.

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De-mystifying Brand Personality – “It’s All In Customer “

The struggle of every brand is the urgent need to connect with targeted
customers. In a noisy and crowded marketplace – one with competing
images, promotions, and messages – how do great brands break through
and create powerful differentiation and real preference?

Like courtship in a crowded room, brands have a fundamental need to

standout … to be noticed … to demonstrate their in-innermost beliefs …
and to touch customer’s motivations and preferences. If a brand were a
person: How would you get to know me? How would you get to like
me? How might you develop real feelings for me? What would be the
basis of our relationship?

Some brands have charisma. They demonstrate a “persona” that extends

well beyond their brand’s functional benefits. And through that, they are
able to create greater depth and dimension for the brand … one that
connects with customers on multiple levels.

As marketers, often enjoy creative catch phrases to de-scribe marketing

propositions … brand essence, strategic positioning ... and so on.
Likewise, the concept of “brand personality” is found deep within
marketing textbooks … the realm of consultants, professors, and lengthy
whitepapers. Often, however, it is discussed in disassociated terms –
removed from the realities of a brand’s strategic and tactical efforts.

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First of all, every brand’s got it – brand personality that is. Some,
however, evoke feelings … others are bland. The critical difference is
that some brands focus on it, understand it, and exploit it. To them, it is
integral to their brand’s experience, service interactions, and customer
relationships.

Brand personality can’t be conceived as just a marketing tool … invented

through creative genius and embedded in advertising slogans. Rather,
brand personality is a whole-brand, whole-experience, whole-
organization mind-set.

Personality gives a brand dimension and depth. It can breathe life into
inanimate images. It can be the cornerstone for service delivery … and
connecting emotionally with customers. In saying this, one asks:
Is our brand’s “personality” unique and differentiated?
Is it authentic and real?
Does it energize and excite? Does it create value?
Does it strike images in the targeted customer’s mind … ones that
resonate and motivate preference?
Does it bring to life the brand’s promises, products, services, and
experiences?

Some brands have well defined personalities. Starbucks’ is outgoing,

youthful, personable, and friendly … a refreshing escape, freshness,
warmth, and comfort. It is demonstrated through their service
interactions, their packaging, their décor, their product offerings, and
their corporate culture.

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MTV, on the other hand, is a total expression of youth, individuality,
and breaking conventions … a loud shout for independence and
freethinking.

Nike’s personality is unabashed … aggressive and empowering …

somewhat self-important. It is about achievement and winners … a
passion for competitiveness. To contrast this, Cricket Wireless is “every-
man” … comfortable, welcoming, and relaxed.

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 Role of Personality in Revealing a Brand

Recently, a marketing guru wrote of personality as “a brand’s outward

face.” Rather, it is an inner soul. It isn’t a marketing invention, a media
campaign, or a training indoctrination. It is, however, all these things …
and much more.

Great brand personalities are multi-dimensional. As with humans, brand

personality has both depth and multiple facets … and reveals four basic
qualities of the brand.

 Demonstrates a Brand’s Passion and Expertise … Defining

the Brand’s Ultimate Purpose and differentiatingit from the Competitive
Set.

 Creates an Affinity with Targeted Customer Segments …

Touching and Energizing their Motivations.

 Projects the Brand’s Core Values and Beliefs … Describing

How Customers can Expect to be Treated.

 Communicates an Over-Arching Tone, Style, and Attitude

about the Brand’s Experience and Customer Interactions.

Consider brand personality as the “voice” behind a brand’s values … a

brand’s competitive positioning … and a brand’s functional attributes.
Personality communicates and projects these through human traits. It is

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understood and interpreted by the customer – and exists in the
customer’s mind.

Consider Home Depot versus Lowe’s. Home Depot’s personality is

somewhat dishevelled, masculine … yet passionate about home
improvement, gardening, and repair. It’s tool time. Lowe’s, on the other
hand, is highly organized, controlled, con-temporary, slightly snobbish,
and fashionable.

Whereas Home Depot penetrates more against males, Lowe’s indexes

higher with females. Given that women are making more and more
home improvement decisions, Home Depot has a longer-term
personality problem. The brand under-stands this … and has been
trying to adapt their product selection, merchandising, and personality
to address it.

Consider MTV versus CNBC – or IBM (corporate, formal, professional …

somewhat stiff) versus Apple (individualists, artsy, freethinkers, innovative)
versus Microsoft (aggressive, main-stream, arrogant). It’s all about … “how
they speak to us” … “how they touch us.”

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Touch-Points

A brand’s personality – for good or for bad … whether bold and

challenging or bland and forgettable – is the cumulative, customer
experience across all of the brand’s touch points. It is demonstrated
through everything a brand does including product design,
merchandising, décor, signature elements, back-ground sounds, and
even smells. The demonstration of personality across touch points is a
keen strategy for many new, high-growth brands. Likewise, some
undergoing re-vamp and re-birth are also focusing on personality and
touch points.

The new SWISS airlines – the

re-birth of the previous
international carrier – are
developing a distinct
“personality” … Swissness:
prestige, efficiency, reliability, innovation, and a passion for flying. With a
competitive signature of “a new airline with 97 years of experience,”
SWISS has developed a touch-point strategy where identity, imagery,
personality, and service signals are integrated with this distinct
personality to connect with customers.

Like SWISS, innovative brands communicate and demonstrate

personality across the web, at call centres, and through every customer
interaction. It is nurtured and defined via employee selection criteria,
training, empowerment, service standards, and employee celebrations.

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Personality is similarly influenced by the sales team, executive
interaction and the tone of company’s annual report. Building on this,
many brands create unique environments to convey and energize their
personalities.

Virgin Atlantic is a case in point. Their hot red colour communicates an

aggressive, in-your-face, passionate personality. This is further
energized by their use of avant-garde décor. Likewise, Starbucks has
mastermind environmental design to convey their personality.

“Virgin Atlantic creates personality in part through its décor and

surroundings”

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 Personality – Attitude & Tonality

Visual cue play an important role in signalling a brand personality

 JetBlue’s “blue” and their high-fashion, designer uniforms signal a

strong, differentiated personality … a stylish statement that is noticeably
distinct from other economy brands … and run-of-the-mill mainstream
cattle-carriers.

 Just as distinct, Southwest Airlines’ “every-man” personality is evoked

in their warm colours, their employee training, and their customer
service interactions.

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 Cricket Wireless’ “bright, lime green sofa” communicates this brand’s
relaxed, comfortable, residential personality. This “residential” cue
supports the brand’s positioning that cricket can be a replacement for
your home phone.

 Starbucks’ signature music cues a multicultural personality … one that

doesn’t just fade into the background. You hear it … you’re aware of it.
Additionally, their merchandise drives both brand identity and a unique
flair interesting, inviting and personable.

As such, it’s the cumulative impact of all these cues … all these images
… all these interactions that brings a brand’s personality to life.

Some of the most “personality-oriented” brands are dramatic

representations of their founder’s own personality. Herein, Herb
Kelleher, Charles Schwab, Martha Stewart, Steven Jobs, and Richard
Branson … have built powerful brands that are energized by their
personalities.

The Charles Schwab brand’s personality, for example, is all about

“demystifying investing … demonstrating great know-ledge and
expertise.” This clearly builds on Charles Schawb “the man.” As Theresa
Johnston noted recently in Stanford Magazine when talking about the
company’s founder, “Schwab dresses impeccably but projects an easy-going,
approachable personality.” Schwab himself is quoted as saying
“personality is to a man what perfume is to a flower. “This, in essence,
sums-up the opportunity to create depth and dimension through brand
personality.

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Power Building

Brand personality is also playing a powerful role in the introduction and

growth of new brands, as they seek to create noticeable differentiation
and generate trial in crowded market-places.

Victoria’s Secret was an early innovator in

this area. Their provocative personality
played an important role in creating
developer and investor excitement. With
targeted customers, their buzz stimulated interest and motivated trial.
Long-term, personality has enabled this venerable brand to remain fresh
and relevant, whereas others may have come and gone.

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Even in non-experiential segments, brand personality can be a powerful
asset. Target Stores comes to mind. Over the past 5-years, they’ve
focused on building personality – this in an industry where personality,
at best, plays a secondary role.

Target’s personality of “young, trendy, and stylish” contrasts with the

typical perception of dowdy discounting (AKA: Wal-Mart and K-Mart).
Their personality is backed by …

“Quality, trend-right merchandise, unique product designs, and

innovative lifestyle statements.”

As described in Target Corporation’s 2000 annual report, “Tar-get Stores

[growth] is propelled by our ability to protect and enhance our distinct
brand character. We strive to provide our guests with a shopping
experience that is consistently better than, and different from, their
experiences at our competitor’s stores. By offering innovative, well-
designed merchandise, compelling prices, and clean, attractive stores,
we deliver excitement and value.

Even weak brands attempt to make a virtue of

their personality or the lack thereof. UPS – case
in point. Their current marketing thrust creates
personality around “the amazing colour brown.”
What can brown do for you? The objective is to
demonstrate the brand’s personality attributes of
reliability, resourcefulness, and partnership.

Some brands had personality … and lost

their way. The Gap comes to mind. Others,

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like Ford Motor Co., have chosen to re-discover and re-connect on brand
personality.

Chairman Bill Ford’s current brand spots are designed to create a brand
personality that connects the heritage of the Ford family (e.g.:
personality traits of honesty, hard work, toughness, and a passion for
automobiles) with Ford’s current offerings. Bill’s personable, candid tone
– and a montage of historical footage overlaid with contemporary
images – combines to connect with targeted consumers, both current
“brand loyal,” as well as defectors.

Reflections

A brand’s personality must reflect the perceptions, motivations, and

values of its targeted customers. In saying this, personality is in the eye
or mind of the beholder.

For example, loyal users of American Express view the brand’s

personality as sophisticated, dignified, and educated. On the other hand,
those “outside the brand” tend to see American Express as sophisticated,
classy, snobbish, and condescending.

Some brands build personality by well building personalities. MTV, for

example, has focused on creating programming, supporting promotions,
and interactive applications built around real-people that reflect the
brand’s personality. This started with MTV’s early VJ’s … and has
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attained cult-like status with programs like Splits-villa, Roadies, and The
Real World.

Fundamentals

Clearly, brand personality is not a panacea. The basics of sound product

design, quality service, and true market demand are much more
important. But building on these fundamentals, brand personality can
greatly energize and excite – creating value and differentiation. Brand
personality communicates expectations and reinforces decision-making.
At the same time, it can nurture trust and comfort.

“Starbucks creates personality through merchandising”

Strong, proprietary personalities are multi-dimensional. They are

demonstrated and reinforced throughout the brand’s entire experience –
both in front of the customer, as well as behind the scenes. It must be
authentic and deliverable … and driven by conviction and strategic
discipline.

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Does Brand Personality Translate?

Harley-Davidson's brand has always

projected an aura of wildness and
danger.  That aura was established
early on when those most likely to be
driving Harley's were the wild bunch
of society.  Today the aura lingers and
still appeals to something deep in the
psyche of the young professionals who buy most of the brand's
products.  The brand personality is not in the tires or engines or other
tangible features, it is in the raw sound of the Harley that evokes a sense
of outlaw in the most law-abiding rider. 

But how does a company with a distinctive personality in its native

market translate that ineffable charm in a foreign market?  Does

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personality translate?  It does if it finds the right niche and the right
voice in the target foreign market.  It does if it speaks to that niche in a
seamlessly correct accent in a seamlessly correct jargon.  It does if it feels
like the personality is familiar - if there is something about it that closely
resembles its equivalent in the target culture.  Those nuances come about
only when native speakers are used in the development of foreign
market marketing strategies.  The translators need to be native speakers
and trained professionals, who are steeped in the culture and customs of
the target market you are trying to reach.

Some stereotypes themselves are bound up in cultural characteristics

that are not consistent beyond the bounds of their culture of origin.  Is
the "creative type" represented the same way in Spain, for instance, that
it is represented in the USA?  If not getting it wrong could destroy the
effectiveness of an entire marketing campaign.  It pays to work with the
favourite translation services consultancy before one start.
The brand personalities that work best and last longest are those that
emerge from the kinds of real connections that customers make with a
particular product rather than those that are artificially imposed on them
by advertising - which means that brand personality is best developed
by a deep understanding of the relationships customers have with your
brand rather than how various features should affect them.  Those
relationships can be nourished by advertising and marketing but only
real connections can be sustained over time.  And real connections mean
that your messages sound as if they were crafted by native speakers.

Company should distinguish themselves from other translation services

providers by providing a personal service that goes beyond a superficial
understanding of the clients' businesses; that one seek to understand and
develop foreign-language customers' relationship with clients' brands. 
That understanding comes about most easily with clients who allow
participating in their on-going foreign-language marketing development

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efforts.  When that happens, brand personality develops and real
customer relationships begin to happen as naturally as a native speaker
saying, "WOW"

The Importance of Studying Brand Personality across Categories

Not just brands, but products possess characteristic personality,

demonstrated with an illustrative example. Several consequences, which
are important to marketing managers, flow from this thesis.

First, market leaders often need to modify an entire category’s

personality, to make its consumption more attractive to a broader target
market. Thus in recent years Coca-Cola sought to make diet Colas more
appealing to men by making these drinks seem less “feminine,” just as
beer companies have tried to increase consumption by women by
making them seem less “masculine.” Marketers of scotch and cognac
liquors run campaigns to make these drinks seem more “hip/cool” and
less “formal”, while the Milk Board attempts to portray milk
consumption as “adult,” not just for children. Such attempts clearly call
for the systematic, empirical study of the personality of various product
categories.

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Second, a major avenue for revenue growth in companies today is the
extension of their existing brands into new categories, requiring the
systematic study of many candidate categories on “personality” and
“image” dimensions to see which ones best “fit” and “match” the
personality of the brand being extended. Many companies also seek to
leverage their existing brand assets via licensing deals to other
manufacturers in other categories (such as Caterpillar and Harley into
shoes and boots, both made by Wolverine Footwear); or via co-branding
promotions and arrangements (such as Coach with Lexus, or Harley-
Davidson and Eddie Bauer with Ford trucks). In all these cases, the
company that owns the high-equity brand needs to explore which of
many candidate product categories represents the highest-potential
licensing or co-branding opportunities, by studying the personality
characteristics of these categories in depth.

Third, even when the object of study is one particular category, there
are many occasions when a researcher might wish to collect and analyze
the personality data of brands coming from multiple categories. Such
data analysis can often offer substantial strategic insight into the
“meanings” of a particular brand, by showing which brands in other
categories are seen by consumers as being similar to it in a personality
sense. Recently, for instance, an analysis showed that presidential
candidate John Kerry was perceived as similar to Starbucks and
Heineken, while George Bush was seen as similar to brands Dunkin
Donuts and Bud Light. Such cross-category analogies are frequently
used as sources of insight into brand personality Brands from multiple
categories are also often compared and ranked on their personality
strengths and weaknesses, as is done by the well-known Young and
Rubicam Global Brand Asset Valuator, which collects data on brands
from a large number of categories and analyses them jointly. And
research seeking to create a generalizable brand personality

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measurement inventory naturally collects and analyses personality data
on many brands from multiple categories.

In all these cases, any factor analysis of a pooled brand category data
matrix must partial out the “category personality” from the “brand's
personality,” for otherwise it could confuse the two. It could be argued,
of course, that most analyses of brand personality are conducted entirely
within one relevant category, and do not need to utilize data from
several product categories. Even here, however, when these single-
category brand personality data are analysed to assess the differentiation
of one brand from another, and used to help explain differences in brand
preference data, it is important to partial-out those aspects of brand
personality which are category-generic to identify those which are truly
differentiating (“points-of-difference”). It could be argued that the latter
ought to be possibly more predictive of brand preference, if the
“category-generic” aspects are not drivers of final brand choice because
they are common to all brands in that category. It could also be the case,
however, that brands which best capture a category’s mythic “desired”
personality might gain in preference, since their brand personality is
now most “relevant” to consumer choice criteria in that category .

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 Brand Personality - The Relationship Basis Model

Some people may never aspire to have the personality of a competent

leader but would like to have a relationship with one, especially if they
need a banker or a lawyer. A trustworthy, dependable, conservative
personality might be boring but might nonetheless reflect characteristics
valued in a financial advisor, a lawn service, or even a car--consider the
Volvo brand personality. The concept of a relationship between a brand
and a person (analogous to that between two people) provides a
different perspective on how brand personality might work.

To see how the relationship basis model works, consider the personality
types of people with whom you have relationships and the nature of
those relationships. Some of the types might be as follows:

 Down-to-earth, family oriented, genuine, and old-

fashioned (Sincerity):This might describe brands
like Hallmark, Kodak, and even Coke. The
relationship might be similar to one that exists with
a well-liked and respected member of the family.

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 Spirited, young, up-to-date, outgoing
(Excitement): In the soft drink category, Pepsi fits
this mould more than Coke. Especially on a
weekend evening, it might be enjoyable to have a
friend who has these personality characteristics.

 Accomplished, influential, competent

(Competence): Perhaps Hewlett-Packard and
the Wall Street Journal might fit this profile.
Think of a relationship with a person whom
you respect for their accomplishments, such
as a teacher, minister or business leader;
perhaps that is what a relationship between a business computer and its
customer should be like.

 Pretentious, wealthy, condescending

(Sophistication): For some, this would be BMW,
Mercedes, or Lexus (with gold trim) as opposed
to the Mazda Miata or the VW Golf. The
relationship could be similar to one with a
powerful boss or a rich relative.

 Athletic and outdoorsy (Ruggedness):

Nike (versus LA Gear), Marlboro (versus
Virginia Slims), and Wells Fargo (versus

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Bank of America) are examples. When planning an outing, a friend with
outdoorsy interests would be welcome.

Two elements thus affect an individual's relationship with a brand. First,

there is the relationship between the brand-as-person and the customer,
which is analogous to the relationship between two people. Second,
there is the brand personality--that is, the type of person the brand
represents.

The Brand as a Friend

One important relationship for many brands is a friendship link

characterized by trust, dependability, understanding, and caring. A
friend is there for you, treats you with respect, is comfortable, is
someone you like, and is an enjoyable person with whom to spend time.
General Foods defines brand equity as a "liking" or a "friendship"
relationship between the customer and the brand. WordPerfect, a
software company that has always been a leader in customer service,
would rate high on the friendship dimension.

A friend relationship can involve very different brand personalities.

Some friends are fun and irreverent. Others are serious and command
respect. Others are reliable and unpretentious. Still others are just
comfortable to be around. A focus on the friend relationship rather than
the brand personality can allow more scope and flexibility in the
implementation of the brand identity.

Fred Posner of Ayer Worldwide has observed that people live in a world
characterized by stress, alienation, and clutter. Noting that people cope
by developing escape mechanisms and meaningful friendships, Posner
suggests that brands can provide these roles by being either an
"inspirational" or a "trusted" associate. Escape can take the form of
inspirational relationships which provide a social lift or trusting
relationships which provide some expertise or knowledge of a subject in

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which a given person is interested. Posner believes that either
relationship can be the basis for real differentiation and competitive
advantage. He further suggests that the chosen relationship should be
the centrepiece of brand strategy and execution.

Dodge Neon, like Saturn, wants to be considered a friend, but its friend
relationship is a bit different. Aiming at the under-thirty crowd, Neon
brand strategists have adopted a light-hearted tone reminiscent of the
VW Beetle personality. The introductory ads showed a white Dodge
Neon facing directly into the camera with the word "Hi" over the car, as
if the car was talking to the reader. In contrast, the Saturn customer
relationship is quite a bit more serious and adult in nature.

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What If The Brand Spoke To You?

When considering brand personality, the natural tendency is to consider

the brand to be a passive element in the relationship. The focus is upon
consumer perceptions, attitudes, and behaviour toward the brand;
attitudes and perceptions of the brand itself are hidden behind the
closed doors of the organization. Yet the relationship with another
person is deeply affected by not only who that person is but also what
that person thinks of you. Similarly, a brand-customer relationship will
have an active partner at each end, the brand as well as the customer.

Max Blackston of Research International has argued that to understand

brand-customer relationships, it is necessary to consider what a brand
thinks of you. One approach to obtaining this information is to ask what
the brand would say to you if it were a person. The result can be
illuminating. Blackston illustrates this approach with a doctor-patient
example. Consider a doctor who is perceived by all to be professional,
caring, capable, and funny--characteristics that most would like in a
doctor. But what if the doctor also felt you were a boring
hypochondriac? The resulting negative relationship would be impossible
to predict based only upon perceptions of the doctor's personality or
external appearance.

Blackston's approach was used in a research study of a credit card

brand. Customers were divided into two groups based on how they
thought the personified brand would relate to them. For one customer
segment (labeled the "respect" segment), the personified brand was seen

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 as a dignified, sophisticated, educated world traveler who would have a
definite presence in a restaurant. These customers believed that the card
would make supportive comments to them like the following:

 "My job is to help you get accepted."

 "You have good taste."

A second "intimidated" segment, however, described a very different

relationship with the brand. This group's view of the brand personality
was similar to that observed in the respect segment, but had a very
different spin. The credit card was perceived as being sophisticated and
classy but also snobbish and superior. This segment believed that the
personified card would make negative comments such as the following:

 "Are you ready for me, or will you spend more than you can afford?"
 "If you don't like the conditions, get another card."
 "I'm so well-known and established that I can do what I want."
 "If I were going to dinner, I would not include you in the party."

These two user segments had remarkably similar perceptions of the

brand personality especially with respect to its demographic and
socioeconomic characteristics. The two different perceived attitudes of
the credit card toward the customer, however, reflected two very
different relationships with the brand which in turn resulted in very
different levels of brand ownership and usage.

Contexts in which it is often worthwhile to consider what a brand might

say to a customer include those listed below.

Upscale brands with a snobbish spin. Nearly any prestige or badge

brand risks appearing snobbish to some in the target market. This risk is
often much greater for those on the fringe of or just beyond the target
market. In part, this perceived attitude restricted the market for Grey
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Coupon, advertised as the mustard of limousine riders. The brand has
since tried to soften this message in order to expand its market and the
usage rate.

Performance brands talking down to customers. Talking down to

customers is a common danger for performance brands. Consider the
VW ‘Fahrvergnugen’ campaign. The use of the German word provided
some nice associations (especially if one knew German) but risked
implying that the brand looked down on those who did not "get" the
clever symbol and campaign.

Power brands flexing their muscles. A brand that has power over the
marketplace, like Microsoft and Intel in the 1990s or IBM in the past, has
a real advantage as a result of being the industry standard. The risk is
that by promoting this advantage, the brand may be perceived as being
arrogant and willing to smother small, defenceless competitors. One
respondent in a focus group reportedly said that if IBM was a vehicle, it
would be a steamroller and would park in a handicapped space.

Intimidated brands showing their inferiority. A brand might risk

appearing inferior if it tries too hard to be accepted into a more
prestigious competitive grouping. Thus Sears could attempt to associate
itself with trendier retailers and simply come off as being pathetic. The
humorous thrust of the Sears campaign from Young & Rubicam, in
which a woman goes there for a Die Hard battery but ends up buying
great clothes, helps avoid this pitfall.

Any active brand relationship, though, needs to be managed. Sometimes

adding a sense of humour or a symbol can help. In one study for a
cigarette brand, the brand personality profile was a sophisticated
individualist, stylish and corporate but also aging. Further, there was a
segment, most of whom did not use the brand, who saw it as snobbish.
This segment rejected the brand in part because it felt rejected by the

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brand. To combat this problem, the brand kept its upscale imagery but
added, with gentle humour, a sense of irony about its status and prestige
to soften the hard edge of the image.

Toon Branding

Looks like the ad industry can’t have enough of animation. Digital

characters are fast stepping into the realm of corporate brands. Hutch’s
Boy-Girl duo, the claymation Chintamani of ICICI, The toons in All Out
Mosquito repellent ad, as well as the classic Asian paint’s ex-mascot
Gattoo, the Amul girl, the Handyplast Boy, Fido-Dido of 7-Up etc. are
some of the examples of the toons used for marketing the product.
“Most advisers are using animation for top of the mind recall” says
McCann Erickson’s Prasoon Joshi. McCann’s new commercial for Coca-
Cola’s vanilla variant has the model blowing animated, heart-shaped
kisses for the audience.

“Toon illustrations create excitement, and also serve as a memory hook

to pick a particular brand from clutter”. Kellogg’s animated kid and bear
are intertwined in people’s minds. Nike also used “swoosh” logo sign to
bring immediate recall value, while the Claymation characters Of
Amaron, an O&M creative, pick on sleeping politicians to get their value
across. O&M’s Piyush Pandey says his firm encourages the idea of
breaking form. “Creative people have to look at different ways to get
message across, and if that means exploring other forms of art, then
why not?”

HLL’s Annapoorna uses Flintstone like characters to drive its USP.

Industry officials say animation could be used as creative idea to express
a particular value, or it could be a holy image, almost becoming part of
the logo of the brand – like Air India Maharaja or Amul Girl. As
mnemonics flow thick and fast characters get established in the

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consumers mind. However at times they are given a hasty burial. Asian
Paint’s Gattoo was the rage, but the kid was killed after he was linked to
child labour.
First it was retro advertising, and then there was the trend of using real
kids. The ad world’s latest obsession is with animation. Be it Bollywood
actress Mallika Sherawat asking Fido to make her more curvy or
Aishwarya Rai diving into the sea with a Frisbee or, for that matter, an
Animated poodle talking to Rani Mukherjee and her gang of friends in
the Fanta commercial they’ve all got the cool punch with animation.
With a string of animated commercials such as Pepsodent (Bhoot Police).
ICICI Prudential’s Chintamani and Anand Rathi Securities happening in
the past few months, companies across sectors are more willing than
ever before to use animation in their ad films.

The number of animation ad films produced per year in the past five
years has increased at least eight times and feature films like Hum Tum
(had cartoons of Saif Ali Khan And Rani Mukherjee coming in between
the film)are backing the overall trend around animation. “We used to do
three animation ad films a year five years ago, now it’s two every
month,” says, E. Suresh. Creative director. Famous House of Animation,
a division of Famous Studios.

“Animation is no kid stuff anymore. One sees a fair number of youth

and adult targeted content happening in the form of animation in films
and TV shows these days,” says Rahul Welde, general manager, media.
Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Mr. Welde claims to have used animation where it could add to the
creative quotient of the commercial which give something unexpected to
the audience.

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“Gross thinks at time look cute in animation rather than the real thing,
say in case of a fat man, the Chintamani ad was initially a radio jingle.
With Claymation (clay + animation), it broke the clutter and became
likeable in a very non-financial advertising style,” says Abhishekh
Bhatia, director marketing, Prudential Assurance, Malaysia, who was
then involved in launching the campaign from ICICI Prudential.

The contribution to the sales of pension schemes of the group rose 30%
after the campaign. The popularity of cartoons among youngsters- a
gradual transformation over the past few years- Kill Bill, Lion King,
Shrek, Run Lola Run, all of which have cutting edge animation.
Moreover, most of the global award winning campaigns have used
animation extensively, be it Euro RSCG’s Waterboy, Grrr Honda,
Uniliver Tea or Levi’s Mr. Lova Lova.

“However a real character interacting with an animated

character is not a novelty. It is a style and a lot of people
are catching on it but this is not the end of it,” points
Ashish Chakravarty,head creative, Contract Advertising.
There are other viewpoints too. “It’s a nice way of doing
a boring script. But there are scripts that needs
animation to prove the point as in the case of Oye
Bubbly (Pepsi Commercial) last year,” says Anuja
Chauhan, VP and Senior Creative Director at JWT.
Besides the advantage of visual appeal, many complex
issues, such as stunts, can be done away with, with the
use of animation- for instance the stunt in the Lux
Commercial couldn’t be done so perfectly by the real
character (here Aishwarya Rai) vis-à-vis the animated
character. Animation ad also helps keep costs down.
Industry sources say a simple animation ad is less
expensive than an ad with decent production quality that

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costs around Rs. 70-80 Lakh. Animated ones cost around Rs. 30-40lakh
on an average.

Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty is an idea based on a cartoon

character of a small cat that looks kind and
cute, with a button nose, two black dot-yes,
six whiskers, and a ribbon or flower in her
hair. The cat has no mouth, and this
represents a major source of emotional
association for buyers, as they can project
many different feelings into the little cat. The
owner and the cat can be happy, sad, and
thoughtful or any other feeling they want to
be together.

Hello Kitty is actually 25 years old but has perpetual youth. For Japanese
company Sanrio Co, a stationery producer, she has become a major
brand success, multiplying profits in the financial year ended March 31,
1998 by thirteen times-during a recession! Adored by many
demographic segments of the market, Hello Kitty's main target
audience, as expected, is children, but Sanrio says it has now
successfully extended the brand to teenage women from above 20 years.

Hello Kitty has become an icon with global appeal. As the girls, who first
bought her when they were young, grow older, they nostalgically buy
Hello Kitty products as adults. There are Hello Kitty tea sets, toasters,
mobile telephone cases, erasers, motorcycles, mouse pads, spectacles,
and other products. For bedtime, there are Hello Kittypyjamas and bed
sheets. The company apparently adds 600 new products a month to the
15,000 items or so already available. Hello Kitty has taken Asia by storm,

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and has over 40 stores in the U.S. with subsidiaries in Brazil and
Germany.

Financially, the brand has been phenomenally profitable, even during

the recession. Recently the brand has become a target for co-branding,
but in some cases - such as the co-branding exercise with McDonalds in
Singapore - Hello Kitty eclipsed the brand partner, with thousands of
people buying burgers and then throwing them away but keeping the
Hello Kitty promotional items.

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Tiger Balm- An Ordinary Asian Product Becomes an International
Brand

Tiger Balm is an interesting example of a

truly Asian brand that has gained
international recognition. It is a herbal
ointment remedy passed down through
generations, with its origin in the imperial
courts of China, whose warlords and
emperors needed relief from aches, pains, and a variety of other
ailments.

The Aw family were the ones who developed the product and the brand.
Patriarch Aw Chu Kin passed his knowledge of Chinese medicine to his
sons, Boon Par (meaning gentle leopard) and Boon Haw (meaning gentle
tiger). The "Tiger" in the brand name comes from Boon Haw's name.
Boon Haw was also the pioneer marketer of the product. The company
name of Haw Par comes from the last names of both brothers. Tiger
Balm is now an international brand based in Singapore, with sales in
excess of S$100 million. Control of Haw Par and Tiger Balm has passed,
as it inevitably does in such situations, from the family to a large
corporate group. However, the packaging still retains the old
reproduction photographs of the two brothers, with their names in
Chinese and English.

The springing tiger logo, created by Boon Haw, has always been the
trademark of the brand, successful creating a high degree of awareness
and recall in global markets. The packaging - consisting of an official-
looking, imitation paper seal as the cover over the small hexagonal jars
and round cans - has made the product so unique that it stands out

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easily from other international competitors, of which there are many.
Yet, the brand had managed to look modern while retaining its heritage.

To build a brand, a company must also have a quality product and Tiger
Balm scores well in this aspect. The original recipe for the ointment has
been enhanced with additives from Western and Chinese medicines. It
has multi-usage positioning and application - relieving headaches to
muscular sprains and aches; both young and old people use it. It is also
positioned as a sports-injury product, endorsed by sports personalities,
thus giving it a wider customer base.

Tiger Balm has a tremendous heritage following in Asia, and it is now

successfully marketed in over 70 countries worldwide. It has made the
leap from its Asian beginnings as a folk remedy to a truly international
brand.

Brand strengths: tiger symbolism, unique packaging, heritage, multiple

usage created by strong target-user, multi-positioning strategy.

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Conclusion

Brand is the soul of today’s market. It is the brand personality, which

creates impact on the minds of the customer and helps the product to
sustain in the market. It is the personalities associated with the brand
that creates a high impact in the markets and the brand is said to be
successful in the market. To create a successful brand personality it
requires something not full of advertisement but core value of the
product. .

Consumers now define the brand with its personalities and have
increasing control. Companies now have no choice but to adjust to the
new rules of the digital marketplace and the ever growing sophistication
and engagement of the customers. This level of consumer control
increases the need for a strategic brand personality that is strong, well
founded and sufficiently engaging to inspire the customers to be brand
advocates.

The company itself must also align with the brand personality and play
an important role in developing a value-enhancing and mutually
beneficial dialogue with influential consumers.

The right Brand Personality should be true to the product and the
services. It should engage the customer emotionally and should guide
the marketing firm from top to bottom.

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