Tribal Branding: Know Like Trust Series

This post is the final installment of the 3-part series on how to get customers to feel that they 'know, like and trust' your brand. The series was motivated by the need to create social media management (SMM) strategic content pillars. I think that, if I applied the 3 target behaviors / feelings to top, middle and bottom funnel positions, each one would apply in that order; ie 'know' will apply to the top, 'like' to the middle and 'trust' to the bottom. ... or depending on market needs, like when an unknown brand faces a huge challenge of gaining trust in expertise regarding a high-stakes problem, 'trust' and 'like' may overlap or be swapped within the cycle (of a month or whatever your expected cycle period towards conversion).

Even if your marketing campaigns have been successful in getting many people to know and perhaps even trust your brand, that does not mean that they will necessarily like your brand. You therefore need to connect emotionally, to have an emotional relationship with your market, ie you need to build brand affinity with customers. Afterall, brand affinity transcends brand awareness (which, as illustrated below, is only the first and most commercially beneficial of 4 levels of brand affinity). If developed successfully, brand affinity can motivate evangelism, the highest of the 4 levels. By such a point, customers make favorable purchase decisions based on emotional bonds with your brand. Needless to say, when measuring levels of affinity, the emotional connection is most important.

 

Brand affinity levels	Nature of consumer relationship with the brand
1.brand awareness	Consumer seeks to meet basic needs. Any product that does that meets basic needs will do. Won't go out of their way to get the brand.
2. infatuation	Consumer trusts the brand because the brand adds some value to their life. Consumer feels affection, appreciation or even obsession towards the brand.
3. fidelity	The consumer can truly relate to the brand values*. Consequently, the consumer feels an emotional connection and seeks out your brand specifically.  * Here are examples of core values to which consumers may relate. the style and image provided by a clothing brand very high quality images taken from Apple iPhones
4. evangelism	The consumer believes in your brand to such an extent that they want others to use the brand.

 

For the sake of making this post on the consumer's 'liking' or 'brand affinity' with a brand as clear as possible, I will discuss it in its extreme application; 'tribal branding'. However, recognize that, depending on the brand, tribal branding exists on a continuum. For instance, on one hand, Apple has applied it to the maximum extreme, while un-branded commodities not at all on the opposite extreme and  finally, most other marketed brands fall in the middle with varying levels of moderate tribalism. The majority of brands are in the center because they know that tribalism is hugely profitable but respond with only lukewarm attempts to tribalize consumers by claiming the most recently trending core values (like eco-friendliness). However, their corporate strategizing never quite achieves the same tribalism as Apple. 

Seth Godin's book 'Tribes' explains how to create tribes. Here is a quick breakdown of the take aways from that book along with some of my ideas on corresponding content pillars.

Lesson 1: Connection

Connection is the sine qua non of successful tribalism. Tribes comprise a group of people connected to each other, a leader and an idea. The idea may be based on anything like religion, politics, racial or other basis of marginalization, sports and so on. The communication is critical because back and forth messaging among members intensifies core values and attracts new like-minded members. Essentially, the communication is a catalyst for growth. Needless to say, social media communication makes tribalism easier than ever. In short, to transform any group of people into a tribe, 2 requirements must be met as follows. 

1. a shared interest
2. communication among members

Needless to say, connection is associated with the strategy of growth and tactical content pillars like ''Traction', 'Core Values' and, if you ask members to support each other and or ask qualification questions (about interests) as a pre-requisite to membership, also 'Ask / Participate'.

Lesson 2: Pull Marketing

Because the interest is so niche, the messaging is tailor-made to narrowly attract only the tribe's members (not everyone). It therefore pulls only those who share the tribe's passion. (See Push & Pull marketing). Needless to say, pull marketing is associated with the tactical content pillar like 'Core Values' with very specialized content. One option is to use specific questions from the consumer's perspective as the titles of your posts, ie rather than write generic titles. Social listening tools can help you to generate questions. For instance, rather than write a title as 'product x [your brand name]', write it was 'Is method a-b-c the best way to resolve problem y? -- or -- solutions for problem y'. Either way, establish the details in your brand voice and tone. 

Lesson 3: Leaders are heretics.

Heresy relates to having beliefs that go contrary to norms that are generally accepted in the broader community (like religion, sexual preferences and so on). In other words, they challenge the status quo. Example(s):

• When it was generally felt that computers would not be desirable at home, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple suggested otherwise, likely seeming a little crazy by most who could not imagine his vision. However, Apple's Macintosh computer introduced the world's first home computer and therefore revolutionized the modern world. 

Lesson 4: Tribes are assembled, NOT created.

Godin explains that, before the formation of a tribe, its eventual members, although still disconnected and scattered somewhere in the world, they lay in wait to be connected. At the sight of a catalyst, they will join and do not need to be schooled on the interest.

• Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Black Twitter followers were not trained in a class room. Instead, they suffered for while and eagerly awaited their opportunity to be connected. Consequently, when the opportunity arose, they were eager to join.

Lesson 5: The tribe is not for everyone.

This is where I think many businesses fall short of the full tribal glory. I think this failing is due to lack of authenticity. Tribalism is about true believers with a burning desire to connect with other true believers. Their efforts are not staged through corporate strategy (alone) and so they can become cohesive simply because their intrinsic interest in the cause is sufficiently strong to sustain their focus. In other words, the focus is not about vanity metrics such as likes and views. Rather, they are more interested in drawing their members closer (than growing numbers). Wired Magazine's Kevin Kelly suggested that tribes only need 1,000 true members, ie enough for a core group of passionate, deeply 'heretic' members to sustain them. In short, leaders focus on their tribe, ignoring everyone else. This lesson corresponds with the tactical pillars 'Transparency' (Authenticity), 'Values' and 'Beliefs'. The rules for these pillars will suggest unapologetic specificity in content, brand voice and tone, etc. Some might even encourage exclusivity.

• White supremacist (WS) groups are unapologetic about their zero tolerance policies regarding membership.

As far as possible, managing a corporate tribe should involve having only the right partners, suppliers, employees and so on. 

Lesson 6: Tribes become movements (with the help of leadership)

After membership has reached critical mass, the tribe becomes a movement, ie it can bring about change in the world. Do not take this power lightly. Social media movements have swayed elections. The movement comes into being when the leader does the following.

1. Tell a story (to people who really want to hear). The story highlights the vision for a better future (whatever that means to the tribe).
2. Connect the tribe members to each other and themselves
3. They lead the movement with direction and purpose.
4. They make change occur in ways that no single member could have done alone.

Lesson 7: Leaders use a combination of the & leadership Cs

Leaders all accept their leadership roles and use a combination of the following elements. They

1. challenge the status quo.
2. build a culture
3. are curious  (about the world, how it works and how their vision can work)
4. are or become charismatic to attract and motivate followers
5. facilitate communication among members and themselves
6. commit to the cause
7. facilitate connection among members.

Video (above): Tribes by Seth Godin, Animated Book Summary by YouTuber MentalEFit Book Club.

Video (above): 'How the Dogtown Z-Boys changed skateboarding culture (tribal branding)' by YouTuber Intermark Group. 

The Dogtown Z-Boys was a small group of skateboarders in the early 1970s with an intrinsic interest in skateboarding long before the tribe formed. The earliest skaters were outcasts or 'heretics' by nature. The concept of skateboards was an adaptation of ocean surf boards that were adapted to the land. Their membership was exclusive on the basis of psychological characteristics and unique skating styles that evolved naturally into being from their interaction with each other. For instance, given their ocean surfing background, they did things that other land-only skaters did not, like bring their bodies close to the ground, touch the ground and so on (in other words, an aspect of their 'heresy'). They mastered this style inside of empty swimming pools at homes up for sale during a Californian drought. Craig Stecyk of a local newspaper  (Dogtown Chronicles) assumed the leadership role by publishing the group's symbols, images, core values and ideas. (Keep in mind that this occurred several decades before the internet). This leadership brought together like-minded, otherwise disconnected members and established their culture. They also wore uniforms to demonstrate to the world and themselves their cohesiveness. They even had a physical location where they met each other. Ultimately, the tribe transformed the initially basic trends of skateboarding into its current status as a mainstream extreme sport of skating up smooth vertical surfaces of modern day.

Apple has been able to create a loyal tribe that is willing to wait overnight outside of their doors for new releases, with hopes of paying much more than the competition for their products. In keeping with lesson 1 (regarding a shared interest for being outstanding in graphics and creating a space to encourage easy, direct communication), Apple engages heavily with its market over social media platforms. For instance, its Instagram posts have featured very striking images from customers using their latest iPhone model. Starting from their revolutionary 1984 introduction of home computers for personal use, they go out of their way to establish the idea that the brand is different, in an unapologetically superior way. Their tagline 'Think different' reflects this and is somewhat of a call to action for persons wanting to be seen as an outsider, non-conformist and revolutionary like the brand was in 1984.

TO DO

1. Research and identify your tribe as intimately as possible. To this end, create a target customer profile.

2. Be clear about your unique value proposition / UVP.  The UVP does not need to be only one value. It can be a collection of those values that are most meaningful to your target market.

3. Engage with your tribe, listening closely and responding accordingly.

4. Connect emotionally with your tribe. (This is a must).

5. Create strategic content pillars that incorporate the elements of tribalism. Here is a rough example that incorporates elements of brand tribalism for introducing a new brand whose state of being unknown must overcome sales objections of distrust based on the market not knowing and consequent distrust of the brand's expertise. Notice how the same tactical pillars are applied to each of multiple segment-specific thematic pillar (like plus-sized women's wear, regular-sized women's wear and so on within a single women's line). Those tactical pillars were inspired by the concepts of tribalism and Fastnet's 9 tactiical pillars. 

ToF lead generation  / Objective(s): to be known (through trust, seek qualify members)

• Thematic pillar 1 of .. segments
• Traction
• Value
• Results (Pull title)
• Authority (expertise)
• Social Proof (Pull title)
• Transparency
• Thematic pillar 2 of  .. segments
• same as above (s/a)
• Thematic pillar 3 of  .. segments
• same as above (s/a)

MoF lead nurturing  / Objective(s): to tribalize customer (like, trust)

• Thematic pillar 1 of .. segments
• Value  (Pull title)
• Transparency
• Results (Pull title)
• Heresy  (Pull title)
• Ask / Participate
• Solution
• Thematic pillar 2 of  .. segments
• same as above (s/a)
• Thematic pillar 3 of  .. segments
• same as above (s/a)

BoF lead conversion / Objective(s) to sell and retain customer with trust inspiring content)

• Thematic pillar 1 of .. segments
• Solution  (Pull title)
• Ask / Participate (Community communication)
• Thematic pillar 2 of  .. segments
• same as above (s/a)
• Thematic pillar 3 of  .. segments
• same as above (s/a)

CONTENT RELATED TO BRAND LOVE (TRIBAL BRANDING)

• Know, Like and Trust Series
• Tribalism is an extreme form of lifestyle branding.
• Brand voice and tone
• This article relates to B2C tribal branding / brand affinity. However, B2B brand affinity is also noteworthy. Third party research suggests that that clear top drivers are Trust and customer service. Read third party articles about this topic by Marketing Charts.
• When done correctly, tribalism is able to get customers to make buying decisions based on emotional bonds.
• Emotional branding and marketing.
• Branding: Core values
• Social media content management
• Persuasion technique
• Noteworthy case studies of corporate tribes not include in this post are Tesla, Nike

Lifestyle Branding Strategy

 

Lifestyle branding is a form of brand promotion. Its primary means of resonating with the target audience is to use content that focuses on the audience's perception of a 'perfect' lifestyle. In other words, it is an indirect means of encouraging sales. It can be likened to a slow burn dating approach that promotes building deep emotional connections. So rather than aggressive sales tactics, it uses the desired lifestyle as an emotional trigger to connect deeply with the target audience. The brand seeks to trigger the target's personal lifestyle goals, whatever that looks like, whether literally physical life style or the application of deep shared beliefs. Consequently, the brand (and its products) are only 'embedded' within the broader picture of the lifestyle message. Afterall, when you meet with beloved friends, you chat about things that connect you, not what you want to sell to each other. The ideal is therefore to create a tribal or cultish following of like-minded people. Needless to say, the primary discussion is that emotional hook while sales are a secondary feature of the relationship.

Lifestyle branding is very beneficial for brand awareness (especially as it relates to highlighting brand core values) and loyalty. It may therefore be scheduled more heavily in the social media content management plan when its benefits (like brand awareness or loyalty) are part of current business goals. For other brands, lifestyle branding is always prominent. In other words, the degree of its application can vary on a continuum according to the brand.

At the surface level, 'lifestyle' relates to anything that people like to do with their time, often a specific sport like biking, mountain hiking or yoga or genre like any extreme sport, talking about certain values or even a particular emotion (as with Coco Cola's 'happiness') through time spent with others. This activity is always a passion, almost to the point of addiction. However, consider 'lifestyle' as holistically as possible. This most likely requires customer relationship marketing (CRM). For instance, know if your brand were to be the ideal best friend to its targets and becomes personified, where would it (and the target) go, what do they do there, how they are motivated and so on? Essentially, 'lifestyle' is like the 'culture' of your brand and its community of target customers. Ultimately, your brand should become a clear symbol of the lifestyle.

Uses & Benefits of Lifestyle Branding

Lifestyle branding encourages customers to connect with your brand more emotionally than would have been possible through otherwise only transactional interactions. This is most true when combined with brand storytelling. Brand lifestyles should allow consumers to feel a certain desirable way (quite outside of what product units provide). If the brand can communicate in a way that is and feels very authentic to consumers, the brand are likely to emotionally hook consumers.

Lifestyle branding allows businesses to expand their product mix with an already captive audience. In turn, a more extensive product mix presents more press opportunities (to more demographic groups, content producers, etc) than would have been the case with only a single product. 

Lifestyle branding is an ideal way for a little known or unknown brand to become well known and liked within a limited time.

It even allows brands to appear bigger than they would have appeared otherwise. After all, it gives the brand persona the opportunity to show up at events, be highly visible and connect with more 'friends' than just their often otherwise boring products alone would have allowed. 

Furthermore, the strategy allows brands to differentiate when their products are not very original or special when compaired with direct product type competition. In other words, it is a clever method of brand positioning. The Red Bull case below illustrates this point very well.

Case studies of Lifestyle Branding

Case study: Red Bull. Red Bull offers an energy drink that really is arguably just an overload of sugar and caffeine. Red Bull illustrates how this brand strategy allows a brand whose entire branding pivots around only one product can invent itself into having a larger-than-life brand persona. Red Bull developed its outrageous lifestyle to differentiate itself from any other soda on the market. This was its basis for unique brand positioning whose unique selling / value proposition is as its tagline suggests, a feelgood' emotion of achievement and invincibility. It called itself an energy drink, aligned itself with the word 'extreme' and sought to embody the word in its personality. Consequently, Red Bull became immersed in the lifestyles and culture of extreme sports. As to be expected for such a 'person' with such interests, they consistently appeared at highly niched extreme sports events, often having the logo attached to helmets, rally car hoods and so on. Like a best friend, they support extreme sports athletes in accordance with their tagline that 'Red Bull gives you wings' which essentially means that they support people to push the envelope to do anything. This was genius exploitation of a market gap in that media outlets were not giving extreme sports much attention. In fact, Red Bull even began creating their own events that, in addition to promoting their brand, promoted the sport. Like Coca Cola (another brand whose product's qualities alone are unlikely to win people over) that has the keyword 'happiness' from which it suggests relationships arise, Red Bull's advertising at events promotes the lifestyle of being 'extreme' over the drink's features. Just as a friend with a personality penchant for anything extreme, Red Bull consistently attends and advertises at extreme sports events therewith sealing its brand personality, arguably even moreso than its television advertisements. Like a proud friend, Red Bull gushed the stories of top extreme athletes in a way that truly engaged the audience. Red Bull's events marketing encourages the public to keep talking about the event in a way that the public won't about a mere product. With such a strong brand lifestyle and branding in general, Red Bull has been able to successfully remain a premium priced product which is a far cry from the brew's old life in Thailand gas stations as a working class / low priced alternative to coffee for long distance truck drivers. In other words, lifestyle branding helped to elevate the image of the product to the extent of a premium brand, associated with high end contact points, starting with its first Formula One race driver. Learn more about Red Bull's use of storytelling. (VIDEOS: How Red Bull got wings: A case study for entrepreneurs; Red Bull: The power of an owned media strategy; Building an engaged audience through content. Lessons from Red Bull Media House;). 

 

See Best of Red Bull extreme sports video playlist

Case study: Patagonia. Although Patagonia sells clothing, the brand personality does not simply attempt to sell on its website. Rather, the personality is of someone who loves the great outdoors and has a spiritual connection with nature. All of its processes and operations align with having a neutral impact on the environment and promote the simplistic lifestyle and the enjoyment of nature. When you land on the website's homepage (pictured below in July 2012), the clothing they sell is not center stage. In fact, the 'Read' button that links to an article about the natural phenomenon in which they are currently interested is larger and has more contrast than the links to the clothing. The brand is only secondary to the lifestyle; it is 'embedded' into the portrayal of the lifestyle.

Rather than request email addresses to 'get the next biggest sale discount', the brand speaks like a person, wanting to maintain the discussion of interest.

Case study: LuluLemon. Lululemon sells high quality athleisure (ie athletic clothing that is sufficiently stylish that it can be worn socially as well). LuluLemon is an upscale brand that was able to quickly gain significant popularity in the yoga world among its target market: mostly well-dressed, health conscious people. It is noteworthy because it has stolen market share from the otherwise unbeatable giants like Nike, Adidas and Reebok. The high quality products were therefore sold as a status symbol. In fact, despite its bad press due to faux pas of the founder, the brand continues to remain strong in the minds of consumers who still associate the brand with yoga and wellness. LuluLemon was able to achieve this cult-like following by being consistent and using heavy promotion. Its promotion was done through established industry ambassadors (the present-day equivalents of whom would be social media fitness influencers) like yoga instructors. They collaborated with prominent fitness influencers to promote the idea of being eliked by experts in the field. Their brick and mortar retail outlets also offer free yoga classes and other wellness events for their consumers. Some outlets also feature a cafe that sells only health food. They have a consistent presence on social media, responding to as many customers as possible via social media. They used the storytelling strategy by creating a platform for telling the fascinating personal stories of relatable challenge and triump of sports enthusiasts. Red Bull tells the stories of these athletes performing extreme feats to emotionally resonate with its audience and motivates others to tell their story of doing anything extreme. Their management explained that they wanted to create an environment for their community and to facilitate their goal of pushing more 'health' experience. (Some of the reasons for LuluLemon's success also stem from their taking advantage of emerging trends. The brand aligned with yoga before yoga was commonly practised but beginning to grow in the West.)

 

Methodology: Photography

Vivid pictures that photography offer are among the most effective means of appealing to the target of lifestyle branding, especially since humans can digest and remember imagery much faster than is the case with words. Imagery is therefore useful for enhancing brand awareness.

Tips for lifestyle branding (DOs & DONTs)

• Establish brand attributes. 
• Red Bull attributes include 'revitalize body and mind', 'extreme', 'sports and adventure'.
• Coca Cola attributes include 'happiness'
• Do things outside of the product and core activities that create more humanlike dimensions to the brand. Examples inlclude events, review films the audience loves, etc. Lifestyle brands have some type of viewpoint or sense of activism, purpose, mission.
• Embrace your lifestyle specificity. Truly live your brand persona in your lifestyle without apology. For instance, if your brand resonates with a certain type of music at a certain volume, do not compromise because, like a personality, your brand does not exist to please everyone.
• Communication is extremely important to lifestyle branding. Consequently, get your brand voice right.
• Master the following. 
• the psychographics aspect of your target market profile. Use customer relationship management (CRM)
• lifestyle desires. To streamline this task, consider:
• a keyword like Red Bull's 'extreme', Coco Cola's 'happiness', etc.
• a unique selling proposition (USP) / delivierable like Red Bull's adrenaline rush and sense of achievement.
• how the lifesstyle looks (like a particular type of sport or activity)
• ability to promote the lifestyle
• communication channels like Red Bull's use of the storytelling strategy through high quality content based on stories of extreme sports enthusiasts or like social media of influencers and experts. So the brand is considered loved by the experts). 
• the most suitable psychological associations between the brand and a lifestyle. Your brand should always be a clear symbol of the lifestyle.
• experiences that provide the lifestyle
• means your brand can use to help the target market to experience their desirable lifestyle.
• Create facilitative avenues for interaction among consumers. Encourage consumers to showcase and enjoy the lifestyle. You may also encourage interaction between the target market and the brand. However, it is simply a place for like-minded people to connect as a community. While your brand need not directly interact with consumers, it is necessary for your brand to trigger conversations by providing some type of content. This interaction provides data that can be analyzed qualitatively. 
• LuluLemon encouraged consumers to give design feedback and suggestions. They ensured that consumers participating in such initiatives also felt heard.
• Focus your communication on the lifestyle, rather than your product. However, the product must be able to fit very well within the context of the lifestyle.

CONTENT RELATED TO LIFESTYLE BRANDING

• Tribalism branding is the extreme form of lifestyle branding.
• One key element of success in lifestyle branding is communicating it through brand storytelling.
• Brand awareness
• Lifestyle branding shifts away from transactional to relational interactions with customers. Read more about customer relationship management (CRM).
• Emotional branding (with case studies for happiness, sadness, anger and fear)
• Some other lifestyle brands: 
• Coca Cola
• Frosted Flakes (and their iconic Tony the Tiget), 
• Nike
• How to build a lifestyle brand (Example: singers portraying a lifestyle that matches their music)
• Social media ideal for lifestyle branding
• Instagram (templates included)
• Brand pesonality
• Discussions on lifestyle branding. 'The “Lifestyle Brand” Formula: Authentic Connections and Passion in the Restaurant Industry'
• Abovementioned case studies in other content
• Coca Cola
• Lululemon
• Patagonia
• Red Bull
• Internal links: Red Bull case study;

Brand Personality Building for Competitive Advantage

Previously, I discussed 'branding 101' and a brand's core values which involves the ideals that guide your brand's decision making from within the hidden corners of your brand manager's mind. In contrast however, this post on brand personality relates to what the outside world sees and perceives when it encounters your brand (ie as a consequence of those otherwise hidden core values). Attaching a personality to your brand is a matter of humanizing it. Consequently, a top brand has worldviews, attitudes that become clear by the way it communicates, behaves, presents itself physically or visually, the music that accompanies it and so on. It may even evolve.

In other words, personifying your brand appropriately is a strategy that can trigger an emotional response from your target market to see your brand, to bond with it as they would another human, to seek out a relationship and so on. Ultimately your customers will not simply buy an object. Rather, they will buy into a relationship, knowing that you are a friend that understands his or her needs and to whom he or she can always go whenever a problem arises. So if your product solves their problem, they always come to you. Your product is somewhat secondary. Specifically, it is the tool your give to resolve the immediately identified problem ... which often meets a strong underlying subconscious motivation. 

Essentially, your demonstrations of atunement to their needs and then your personality's delivery on the promise to 'wipe away your customer's proverbial tears' to meet your customer's deepest needs makes your customer feel closer to you.

Products that you market 'come and go' without ending the brand - customer relationship. I often speak not of a 'brand that has a personality' but a persona, ie a virtual person, a humanized emotion-evoking entity with which kindred spirits have a relationship.

What's the Point of Brand Personality?

Any strong personality, whether loved or reviled, is memorable and will have its following of likeminded persons that the brand wants to have around. When the connection is sufficiently strong, others will be able to remember, recognize and even seek out the brand. 

Why do some people repeatedly buy Starbucks coffee or Coco Cola when they can buy the same or similar drinks for much less elsewhere? The answer extends beyond coffee or a nutrition-devoid sugary drink and into the realm of psychological triggers like experience, an associated feeling (albeit manufactured), social image and lifestyle choices that resonate with consumers. Successful brands have shown that these non-product triggers are powerful. 

Furthermore, today's consumers are tired of promotional marketing that masks a sole economic purpose. They are shifting their preference towards brands that have a purpose greater than its financial gain.

How can your brand have a strong personaility?

Emotional marketing suggests decisively aligning your brand with especially one or just a few of the 12 personality archetypes.

The key to doing this successfully is consitency and clarity. Specifically, a well defined brand personality consistently features a specific set of traits at every touchpoint (point of sale displays, email marketing and so on). Consistency makes it easy for the personality to be strong and recognizable. The personality can therefore attract the target and hopefully repel unsuitable segments, gain the market's trust and present itself as the best or among the best buying options much more easily than otherwise. For instance, as with human pesonality, brand personality determines how your brand will communicate (like level of formality), 'dress' (like colors and visual atmospherics), behaves (like causes into which it invests), reacts to events and so on. 

To form a deeper understanding of the concept, consider a country's culture as its personality. On that basis, how would you describe the personality of different countries like the US, UK, France and so on as if they were people? For instance, you might say that the US personality has traits that include open & direct communication about otherwise taboo issues, idealistic, loud and so on. As you can see, the brand personality should NOT be confused with your product because your product is purely the result of a personality type's imagination, as is the case with human personalities and what can be expected of them.

Remember that the ultimate goal of building a brand personality is to encourage consumers to perceive your brand as a friend with whom they want to have a friendship. Your brand's personality should essentially be like that of the friends they know, love, trust and invest in in some way (perhaps regarding spending time, going into business partnership for success, etc).

12 Brand Personality Archetypes 

Each archetype has a set of personality traits. Identify which among the 12 following archetypes your brand relates most. It may help to consider the following 4 key motivation factors into which the archetypes are sometimes grouped. 

As with humans, brands usually have one dominant personality archeype, often accompanied by other secondary ones. Furthermore, archetypes may change in prominence in response to the climate within your industry. For instance, as in the case of Apple in the computer industry, a brand may do well by counteracting the noisy market place by (also) adopting the simple and minimalist style of the archetype named 'innocent'. 

Deepest motivation: Wants to provide structure to the world. 

1. Ruler
   (aka boss, leader, aristocrat, king, politician, role model, manager, administrator). Key motivator(s): control and stability. Motto: "Power is not everything. It is the ONLY thing!". Goal: to create a prosperous successful family or community. Greatest fear: chaos and being overthrown. Weakness: Unable to delegate powers to others. Talents: responsibility and leadership. Other associated ideas: authority, exclusivity, higher status and even intimation by ruling with the use of fearmongering. Very persuasive, glamorous, prestigious. These brands usually feature Hollywood celebrities that can exude an air of refinement. 
• The father Don Vito Corleone in the film 'Godfather'
• Mercedes Benz vehicle brand
• Rolex
• IBM
2. Creator
   (aka artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer, dreamer). Key motivator(s): to create things of enduring value. Motto: "If you can imagine it, it can be done!". Goal: to realize a vision. Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution. Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions. Talents: creativity and imagination. Other associated ideas: They see what others do not. They retain their childhood creative skills that others lose over time. 
• 'Apple' computer brand
• Leggo.
3. Caregiver
   (aka saint, altruist, parent, helper supporter). Key motivator(s): to protect and care for others. Motto: "Love your neighbour as yourself!", "Our actions show we are authentic and care", "I want to listen to and really understand you", "I want to be there for you", "I exist to care for you". Goal: to help others. Greatest fear: ingratitude and selfishness. Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited. Talents: compassion, generosity, empathy. Other associated ideas: service, selflessness. This personality promotes ultimate customer experience (above customer service). Superior customer experience is often a major competitive advantage. Real care may include 247 contact service, 2-way communication channels that are manned by competent representatives, responding to customers' concerns and so on. This personalisity also discourages the idea of of withholding help and welbeing from some people. People and their needs are the main focus of promotional material. Brands with this personality often tackle world problems like war, disease and environmental problems.   
• The Robin Hood character who stole from the wealthy to give to the poor.
• Doctors Without Borders
• UNICEF
• Uber offers superior customer experience by having proactively tackled every conceivable pain point (from safety, tracking to payment issues).
• Jobs related to nursing and caregiving

Deepest motivation: Wants to connect with others

1. Everyman
   (aka good old boy, regular guy, person next door, the realist, working stiff, solid citizen, silent majority). Key motivator(s): belonging, connection with others. Motto: "All men and women are created equal!". Goal: to belong. Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd. Weakness: losing one’s own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships. Talents: realism, empathy, lack of pretense. Other associated ideas: friendly, unpretentious. These brands appeal to the ordinary person who is not in the luxury group. It is often associated with families. I have found that brand personalities that are very strongly aligned with other archetypes that involve consumers being somehow extraordinary like Dove regarding beauty or Nike regrding athletic greatness, tend to align themselves to some extent with this archetype to socially include the average consumer. 
• Ikea whose tagline is 'the Wonderful Everyday'
• KFC 
• Toyota is a brand for 'everyone' and contrasts with Ferrari.
• Home Depot
• McCain is a food brand whose ads feature ordinary families living non-luxurious lives. 'We Are Family' ad.
2. Lover
   (aka partner, spiritualist, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder.). Key motivator(s): endulgence (sensoral, spiritual and otherwise), intimacy (spiritual, familial, romantic, companionable, self-love), and experience. Motto: "You deserve to be pampered", "I treasure you", "You’re the only one!" Goal: to have a closer relationship with who or what really matters like people, pets, work and surroundings they love. Greatest fear: being alone and unloved. Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity. Lacking boundaries; Becoming carried away to the the extent that one is unable to analytically assess his or her circumstances. Talents: appreciation, gratitude, commitment. Other associated ideas: decadent pleasure that focuses on making consumers feel special; ultimate levels of personalization, exclusivity. Exclusivity marketing is likely to work well with this personality type. Products associated with this personality are often very high end in nature. Brands whose products do not relate to amorous intimacy (like perfume and chocolate) often use its allure in advertising anyway. This archetype does not allow for much room for others, ie without risking the losing the relationship. For instance, while Dove can make political issues like Black Lives Matter an integral part of their campaigning without confusing its following, other cosmetic brands (like perfumes) can not. 
• Haagen-Dazs, a high end icecream brand
• high end chocolate brands
• 'Victoria Secret' brand
• fine dining
• pet grooming brands
• The Dodo YouTube channel features stores of loving rescue animals that find loving homes.
• high end experiences like spas
• some cause marketing brands
• High end personal care products like perfumery and cosmetics 
3. Jester
   (aka joker, trickster, comedian). Key motivator(s): pleasure, to live in and fully enjoy the moment. Motto: "YOLO / You only live once / You have only one life to live!", "Don't worry, be happy!". Goal: to lighten up the world, to enjoy oneself. Greatest fear: boredom, appearing boring to others. Weakness: frivolous, wastes time Talents: joie de vivre. Other associated ideas: play, making jokes. The jester suggests living life from the innocent and carefree perspective of a child. As it relates to other competing brands, this archetype does NOT relay messages of market disruption or strong positioning. Brands with this personality usually offer products that are used for simple enjoyment. 
• Oreo  
• 'Old Spice' brand. This brand featured comedic Terry Crews to make several advertisements that were funny in a slapstick way. 

Deepest motivation: Yearns for paradise

1. Sage
   (aka expert, scholar, philosopher, thnker, advisor, academic, researcher, mentor, teacher). Key motivator(s): knowledge, to find truth, to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world. Motto: "There is a lesson in every experience", "The truth will set you free!". Goal: to find truth. Greatest fear: being duped and being ignorant. Weakness: can suffer analysis paralysis. Talents: intelligence and wisdom. Other associated ideas: understanding, one who guides others. This personality always seeks out emerging major trends, studies and materials that can enhance undersanding. This personality is also interested in providing lessons so that those lessons can change lives.
• Ted Talks at the end of which usually provides a lesson.
• Journalist brands; '60 Minutes', 'David Pakman', 'StormCloudsGathering', 'African Diaspora News Channel' and many other YouTuber channels. 
• Google website that answers questions
• Yoda from Star Wars that mentors Luke
2. Innocent
   (aka Utopian, naive, traditionalist, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer). Key motivator(s): to get to a state of safety / bliss / Utopia / perfection. To achieve happiness. Motto: "Life could and should be so simple", "Trust us; we use best practices and best ingredients (an innocent way)", "I could make you really enjoy the present moment", "I transport you into a fairytale life or other parallel universe of bliss", "Freedom to all to be themselves!", "I offer happy endings", "If you do the right things, everything will be OK", "I will share purity and joy in this cynical world". Greatest fear: This personality is so obsessed with doing the 'right' thing so as to prevent something 'bad' (like pollution of natural environment, illness from toxic ingredients, etc). Weakness: boring because of their naive innocence; Live in their own bubble in denial of real challenges and conflict in the world. Strategy: to do the 'right' thing. Talents: faith and optimism. Other associated ideas: transparency in decision making, perceptions through the lens of a child, motivation, safety, harmony, simplicity, authenticity, optimism, wanting things to be as simple as nature intended, trustworthiness, simple product solutions, non-jargon language. Like any other archetype, this one is not a cooie cutter. The same personality manifests in ways that vary slightly according to brand offering. For instance, for personal care products that clean, brands tend to use minimalism and symbols of purity with lots of white space. For food products, brands like McDonalds and Coco Cola tend to portray 'happiness' with bright colors like red and yellow.   
• Dove's brand triggers women and girls to meet the deep subconscious need for high self esteem. Dove encourages them to feel 'beautiful'. The company placed 2 doors at its entrance from which the entering public can select . One is labeled 'average' while the other 'beautiful'. Footage suggests that most women selected the 'average' door. The jarring experience is certainly deeply thought provoking and emotionally triggering. The video transitions and editing feature strong elements of minimalism, white light and purity. (Arguably in an 'everyman' way,) the brand attempts to be all-inclusive by encouraging ordinary women who are not model-types and who come in all shapes, sizes and colors to enter through the 'beautiful' door. The video ends asking the viewing audience "and you, which would you have chosen?"     Dove 'stays in character' at EVERY touch point. For instance and as pictured below, the home page of this cosmetic giant's website does not feature the erstwhile blonde haired, blue eyed standard of beauty. As changes towards more economic and social inclusivity come face ever stronger attempts at re-division along conventional norms, Dove's stance is also embracing qualities of other archetypes like the 'hero' (in ways that are reminiscent of how Nike featured Colin Kappernick) and arguably even the revolutionary 'outlaw'.  
   

          

  
  
• Maria in the movie 'Sound of Music'
• Food and drink brands mostly have 'innocent' personalities, at least as the main personality. They require the consumer's trust. Their brands always exude happiness. Evian water stresses its purity with its snow-covered mountains.
• Personal care products for cleaning stress cleanliness, purity and tidiness. Their websites have a distinctly minimalist look. 
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• Sustainability- and nature- oriented brands
• Fairy tale innocence invites the inner child into fantasy, often using characters. 
• Coco Cola's Santa Claus encourages consumers to enter and live in a happy fairytale bubble.
• Frosted Flakes' ads feature Tony the Tiger, the quintessential motivational friend, encourging young consumers, nicknamed his 'tigers', to bring out the tiger in themselves in their activities. His role is to encourage the bravery and confidence in children to tackle whatever activities they face. So after eating his cereal and sometimes drawing the tiger's stripes on their cheeks, the children's audacity rises so they can perform well. Rather than assume an austere lecturing style, he is one of the children, doing things they want to do. Ultimately, he is a friend they want to have. The brand covers all of its bases in that, it also ensures fussy children know in a reiterated mantra manner that, regarding the taste, the cereal is "not just good, they're GRRReat!". In short, this brand brings happy endings.
• ForestGump feels he can bring love and joy to the world 
• Johnson's. 
3. Wanderer
   (aka pilgrim, explorer). Key motivator(s): freedom. Motto: "Do not hold me back!". Goal: freedom to self actualize through unrestricted exploration, to experience authenticity. Greatest fear: being trapped, conformity (to the rat race and unauthenticity), and inner emptiness. Weakness: aimlessness, becoming a misfit. Talents: autonomy, being true to oneself.
• Intentional tourism
• The classic 'Land Rover'  safari trucks that are build for exploring rough terrain; Indiana Jones' film

Deepest motivation: Wants to make a mark on the world

1. Rebel
   (aka wild person, market disruptor, misfit). Key motivator(s): revolution, revenge. Motto: "Rules are in place to be broken!". Goal: to change what is not working. Greatest fear: to be rendered powerless. Weakness: criminality, dark side. Talents: radical freedom. Other associated ideas: resistant to authority and the norms, rebelliousness, breaks through established cultural and other barriers, gets in trouble with authority figures.
• 'Diesel' clothing company is unapologetically nonconformist and rebellious. True to their unconventional nature, they even created a 'knock-off' of their brand by intentionally mis-spelling their name on the label. The product was authentic however but priced like a knock off. This competed directly with knowck off manufacturers. 
• Apple. Apple revolutionized the way in which society perceived personal computer ownership and use by creating its own segment, a faithful tribe following. Apple's tagline "Think different" is consistent with this dimension of its personality. (It also has a 'creator' personality).
• Julian Assange, Wikileaks 
• Harley Davidson. This brand is a good example of lifestyle branding strategy
2. Hero
   (aka winner, soldier, warrior). This is the most recognizable archetype. Key motivator(s): mastery that can solve a public problem. Motto: "I have the bold solution to your problem", "I will overcome obstacles. Nothing will get me down!" "Where there’s a will, there’s a way!", "Reach your full potential"  "Achieve!", "I will change the world!", "With due effort and dedication, anything is possible!". Goal: to prove his worth. Greatest fear: fearfulness to act. Weakness: arrogance. Continually seeks new battle to tackle. Talents: competence, courage. Other associated ideas: determination, audacity, drive, aggression, triumph in the face of adversity, blood sweat and tears. Products are made to be transformative devices that help people to achieve their full potential and or put them ahead of the pack.
• Ex  Nike when they celebate top athletes. 
• Ex Nike ads also tells its ordinary, non-celebrity member of their market to 'find your greatness'.
• President Barrack Obama's presidential 2008 campaign
• Red Cross
3. Wizard
   (aka Magician, catalyst, inventor, shaman, healer). Key motivator(s): power, desire to realize dreams and to understand how things work. Motto: "I make things happen!". Greatest fear: unplanned negative outcomes. Weakness: manipulating others. Talents: Finding mutually beneficial solutions. Other associated ideas: They are very protective of their secrets. They are regarded with awe by others because of their mysterious work. mystic, desire for and have power. They hold some amount of social power because they do things in a way that others can not understood. Transformation, mystery, enigmatic. Bright colors (like orange) are often used for this brand. I believe that, when this archetype relates to a product or brand that is very new and exciting (like a superfood, cosmeceutical and so on), its magical power can wane over time when or if the novel wears off. In such cases, your plan should be to have another more long lasting archtype.
• New superfoods offer the new promise to transform the health of its consumers. 
• New phytonutrients used in cosmeceuticals that promise to transform physical appearance.
• The 'Disney' brand, 
• Psychics
• Brand Master Academy offers a few examples of how these brands are transformational: Coca Cola (to bring out the happiness of a moment), Disney (to bring imagination to light) and Dysan. 

Other Case Studies of Brand Personalities

 

Brand Personality Building Tips  

• Know your customer's worldviews and attitidues. Afterall, brand personality development is about matching compatible personalities. To this end, use your Customer relationship marketing (CRM) system.
• Ask your target market 
• to identify your brand personality in a touchpont (like product, packaging, correspondence, logo or store front). How consistently did customers identify a personality across touchpoints? (Close-ended questions)
• identify the traits which they (will) like and trust the most. Do or can you fulfil these traits?
• to identify trait(s) that best describe your brand. (Open-ended questions)
• Develop a 'Brand Style Guidelines' manual (aka 'Brand Style Guide' for all parties acting on your brand's behalf. This document specifies the look and feel of the brand like how images are photographed, font styles & sizes, color palettes, tone of voice (funny, serious, etc) and so on. 
• Audit your touchpoints for compliance wth your 'brand style guidelines'. Identify non compliance issues that need to be addressed. 
• An extension of personality is 'voice'. Learn more about brand voices that align with brand personality. Examples include Harley Davidson, an outlaw personality uses a rough voice and even uses expletives.
  
  

Consistency is everything for brand recognizability!

CONTENT RELATED TO BRAND PERSONALITY

• Be clear about your target market's profile or avatar. After all, you are attempting to create a 'friendship' between the personalities of your customer and brand.
• Consider well does your brand personality match your customer / buyer personality type?
• Customer personality types include 'assertives', 'analyticals', 'amiables' and 'expressives'.
• Emotional marketing to emotionally engage your target market.
• LIfestyle branding strategy
• Customer relationship marketing (CRM).
• Branding 101. See where this step fit into the process of brand strategy management.
• Establish the right brand voice that complements your brand personality. Read how to design a winning tagline.
• Brand mascot
• Brand style guidelines