Once upon a time intrinsic, tangible assets were the only source of strength. This applied equally to people, products and services. It was the golden era of the USP, of unique features, where a soap could become world famous for floating on water, the sound of a clock ticking underlined the magic of the “world’s best car” and
the sound of a motorcycle exhaust exemplified an entire way of life (so much so that the manufacturer tried to patent it!).
However Bob Dylan put it best when he said:
Come gather ‘round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’.
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| Rupin Jayal |
The “waters” in this case are the rapidly rising waters of complexity and, paradoxically, parity. People are being besieged by a multitude of stimuli, and products and services are increasingly using technology to provide ever finer shades of differentiation. The resultant complexity makes it even harder for most people to actually understand the differences between competing brands. Logic and rationality are like steps in a blizzard—supposedly providing you direction, but rapidly obscured by change and parity at every turn. Times truly “are a-changin”.
So how do we actually choose between brands and promises? Think of a party. How do you remember people? By their demographics? By statistics? By ethnicity? By DNA? Usually most of us remember that “loud talkative guy” or “that joker” or that “sexy” person or that really “sharp” guy. And those that do not blip in any way are forgotten, so that even when they meet you next time you look vaguely embarrassed trying to remember who they actually are.
The answer lies in personality. Possibly one of the most iconic examples of the power of personality was the Volkswagen Beetle. Its unique shape was used to create a personality of lovable quirkiness. It wasn’t just the advertising that did this. Hollywood celebrated and reinforced it by the movies it made starring this car. Owners underlined it with the quirky paint jobs and the seventies’ flower iconography. It could be said that its personality made it much more than just a car. It represented an entire generation.
Perhaps one of the most visible cases of the power of personality is that of the colas. Most people would not be able to differentiate between the two most popular colas in a blind test. In fact, in the US it was comprehensively proved that taste was the last thing that really made the difference. What did make the difference was what each cola stood for—the personality of the brand. In service brands too, there are brands that some people are more comfortable with or trust more. When asked for specifics, few are able to provide more than some anecdotal reasons. Yet the way the brand presents itself to people makes them either more or less prone to using it. Some people aspire for the rebellious image of Harley Davidson, while for others that is exactly what puts them off. Just like in the social world, the personality of the brand increasingly defines who will prefer it and who will not. It is also becoming a key differentiator in a world of increasing functional and technological parity and complexity.
Personality does not emerge from advertising alone, but that could be an important channel of communicating it. It comes from every point of interface with people. In the case of service brands, actual physical interface powerfully supersedes mass media communication. What you will think of a bank that advertises itself as a “friendly” bank but when you go to it you are met with an unfriendly cashier? Or an airline that prides itself on its professional efficiency but the hostess keeps stumbling when making announcements. Or an automobile brand that is based on a “value for everyone” platform but the first vehicle it launches costs over Rs 1.5 million and is positioned in a niche.
Personality is built with every action that a brand takes and each moment of interaction is a moment of truth that helps to build it. There was a time when a particular cola brand was the standard bearer for irreverent youth in India. Today when it increasingly appears to be clever rather than irreverent, with communication that seems to try too hard, can it still be differentiated strongly enough to actually drive preference for it? Especially when there are so many brands today that actually behave in an irreverent way—through showing the elderly behaving like teenagers (Pfizer), celebrating stains rather than fighting them (Surf), making a fool of the boss when you have the security of another job (naukri.com), using a cow as a proof of efficacy (Orbit), or making the brand ambassador the butt of a joke (Motorola). When irreverence increasingly becomes ubiquitous and the erstwhile icon of irreverence resorts to merely being clever, what will happen to its core audience?
A carefully nurtured personality can create a brand icon. Many of the most resilient brands transcend features, facts and rationality and make a direct connection with the emotional mind. There are many sports car brands. Many are technically very sophisticated, flamboyant and highly innovative. Few, if any, have actually built themselves into being one of the most profitable companies in the industry on the back of a single iconic design. Is it the most aerodynamic? Is the design the most cutting-edge? Is it the most beautiful or aesthetically attractive? Who knows! In the case of Porsche, it is an iconic shape that represents the core of what teh brand stands for. In fact, in the past, Porsche had introduced entirely different models, yet none of them endured and all were discontinued. Today every model is inspired by the iconic 911, even the controversial Cayenne. Why? Because the shape reflects the personality of Porsche and that is its greatest differentiator. It says that here is a brand that places function over form, absolutely. How it performs is paramount, not how it looks, or what technology it uses or what it may or may not say about you. Not even how quickly it travels in a straight line. It is about a company and cars that celebrate the fact that they are compact, feisty, agile and stubbornly independent minded. They are not distracted by current fads and fashion. They do not follow trends for the sake of them. And “We are independent. We are the world’s most profitable car maker”. (© 2008 Porsche Cars Great Britain Limited)
What are the imperatives to building a strongly differentiating personality?
The first is to define the brand’s position as distinctly as possible. Generalities such as “consumer delight,” “leadership” and “most preferred” no longer define brands. They actually serve to make them even more anonymous. The most important role for brand positioning is that it must be divisive. Some people will react positively, but those you choose not to address should not react negatively. The personality then should add “flesh and blood” to this sharply defined positioning. And the personality too must be divisive. Words such as “friendly,” “attractive,” “charismatic,” “warm,” “interesting,” “youthful,” etc., are excellent in not creating a personality at all. Create a pen portrait of who your brand truly is. In a world of anthropomorphic brands, engineering quirks and characteristics that make your brand truly individualistic will ensure that it stands apart from the grey mass of its competition.
Define, in the sharpest possible terms, how this unique personality will be experienced by the people you are seeking to attract at every point of interaction—whether the brand is a product or a service. The personality must be made tangible. “Southwest Airlines sacrifices traditional airline services for stripped-down cheap flights. But Southwest is an airline with a personality—it recruits staff primarily for their sense of humor. The resultant on-board impromptu routines and passenger interactions are not always to everyone’s taste (when delayed on the tarmac, a flight attendant threw a roll of toilet paper down the aisle, keeping hold of one end, offering a $150 coupon to the first passenger who could count the number of sheets between the attendant and the end of the toilet roll), but enough people love the break with bland airline service to make Southwest the most consistently profitable US airline of the 1990s.” (Eating the Big Fish – Adam Morgan)
Most importantly, this definition of your brand’s personality must not be the last line of a voluminous branding document, but the heart of your brand.
The author is Director-Strategic Planning at M&C Saatchi.
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written by Gucci outlet, July 03, 2010
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