what is your brand’s personality?

extraordinary brands have personality traits that are core to them and are reflected in everything they do. at one point, marketers took this very literally and there was a proliferation of physical brand personalities to represent each brand. nowadays, many marketers realize and leverage the fact that a brand’s personality can be well communicated through all touch points of the brand. in order to do so, business brands have clearly defined personalities that are consistently expressed in all customer interactions.

similarly, personal brands have personalities. much of who we are by now is god-given or deeply engrained by experience and training. success comes from understanding who we are and aligning ourselves with opportunities where our personality types can flourish. therefore, our personalities should be reflected in our work and in the companies in which we work so that there is an alignment in the rewards and incentives of our job and our personalities.

so what happens if you don’t like your brand’s personality? can it be changed? of course it can. but like most things, it takes resources (time, energy, etc) and a focused effort. your brand can’t go from geeky nerd boy to joe cool over night; it’s not believable. and, if you embark on a journey to redefine some of your personality traits, make sure that you are doing it for the right reason (e.g., you’ve decided you no longer want to be a jerk) and that what you come up with is consistent with the rest of your brandprint.

for more information on brand personality check out rohit bhargava’s podcast

do you know your brand’s personality?

image originally pilfered from mashable