Brand personality

Attentive. Determined. Driven. Friendly. Serious. We use words like these to describe people. We use the same words in brand consulting to describe brand personalities, because companies are also personalities. The numerous facets of the brand personality can be experienced through the people in the company.

DEVELOP A BRAND PERSONALITY.
In connection with holistic brand identity.

Brand personality is a key aspect of brand development and brand management. The development or adjustment of brand personality is always strategically linked to brand purpose, vision, and mission, to brand values — in short, to the holistic brand identity.

Developing the brand personality

In brand consulting, the development of the brand personality always begins with questions:

If the brand were a person, what would it look like? This involves socio-demographic criteria such as gender, age, social status, etc. Other questions are aimed at the characteristics of a personality.
How would the brand think, feel, and act as a personality? What would it value? How would it like to be perceived by others? Here, it is mainly adjectives that describe a brand personality. To develop the answers to the questions, archetypes or Aaker’s approach can be useful.

Regardless of how we approach brand personality in brand consulting, creating a brand personality is always about ensuring that the personality is authentic. There is no point in describing a brand personality that fits all the expectations of employees, customers, and other market participants! That is not credible. The brand personality grows from the attitude that is already present. It grows from identity, actions, tone of voice, and communication style. It is closely linked to the long-term corporate goals and the sustainable brand strategy.

We usually describe people using three to five key personality traits. For the brand personality, there should be no more. This is simple and straightforward, but also useful in the long run — giving rise to authenticity.

Making the brand personality tangible

The brand personality can be experienced through its visual appearance, its style of speech, its attitude, and its interaction with all relevant stakeholders. However, it can also be experienced through how the company or B2B brand achieves the goals it strives for. And how it solves its corporate mission and activities in its daily work.

In very practical terms, it is about logo, brand color, typography, imagery, and other design elements in digital, interactive, and virtual spaces. It is about how the brand speaks, writes, and sounds. It shows up in the way the brand acts and manages its relationships. When these aspects come together coherently and the B2B brand is permanently accepted by the market as genuine, credible, and reliable, the brand personality makes a lasting contribution to positive corporate development and strong customer loyalty.

In our holistic brand consulting and brand development, we aim to achieve just that for our international industrial and technology clients.