BY FARAI CHIGORA
In this installment we take it up-close and personal! We take a rush to the bottom and analyse the foundational rank of brand management – the brand personality. When they ‘talk about you’, it’s not about your name being referred to, but rather the wholesale representation of your person. The least a name can do is serving as the identity factor in the Registrars’ filing cabinet.
A name is just like any other brand element that has been espoused in the previous editions. There is need to add a flare to its elements (logos, colours, animations and so forth) that is if we are to consider brand as the competitive vehicle for promise and delivery of a promise to the multiplicity of stakeholders, than merely for its basic function of identity.
Personality from a general human existence in an ecology with various element which all require strategic attention and investment, if the brand is to grow old, yet remaining young in terms of delivering an exceptional experience to its stakeholders.
Brand should be strategically managed as they are a craft of birth, breath, walk and talk. This sums up the personality that our brands reflects as we showcase and try to find attraction in one way or other. It should therefore be noted that the brand personality of any brand is what makes it stand out from the crowd and clutter of millions of such and aid the customer towards the purchase decisions.
Yet as much as it sounds common uptake in practise has been lukewarm. This is a forgotten concept if not neglected yet it is the reason why any prospective customer decides to associate and patronise our products and services in an unforgettable way.
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Towards entrepreneurship for industrialisation, we should think of our respective brands as a living person rather than just a stamp for duty and invoice letterhead. In that regard, we spend huge investments looking for good schools for our children, best facilities in the world for them to fully reach their potential and setting them on a quality life assuring peddle.
Yet, take a casual approach towards building and grooming the entire value system and existence of our home-grown brands. Though it is a tough and demanding task in developing a methodological approach towards understanding your own brand personality.
We should soldier on beyond what we know about ourselves in order to come up with an own understanding of who we are (and what the market perceive us to be)as we brand. As we evolve and position ourselves lets go beyond the overt and tip of the iceberg to psychologically get in touch with the core that defines us.
Brand visioning is the goal of any creation where we get into a sustainable branding mind-set. Hitherto many of our SMEs are muddled in this determination and drive towards personification. As the adage goes, “it takes two to tango”. That is the view of our customers towards our brand personality and what we want them to see.
There has to be an equilibrium (whether agreed or not). It then calls for a symbiotic and relationship focus. As a matter of a 360 degree scrutiny of ourselves personality reflected in the public domain. The Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos once postulated that “your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”. Same with the personality of our brands as we industrialise. People talk about our personality in absentia.
Our entrepreneurs should continuously remember that “kiss goes by favour”. As aforementioned people do not just buy but they associate their personality with whatever they will consume so as to have a real reason to do so. They associate themselves with an experience and lifestyle rather than accidental creations and discordant brands.
We should therefore invest more into our personality, not only to make it positive but to know our niche rather than a helicopter approach (being everything for everyone). If not we will waste our effort and resources investing in those who do not like our association. Brand personality will help to understand those who want to take a hand and travel with us beyond the horizons. We will then create real friends and avoid our enemies as we will not attempt any step into the boundaries.
Excitement as the say about Coca Cola brand personality. Is yours an excitement such that you fly with the same? This brand has walked the talk as we can recall that all exciting moments have been accompanied with a Coca Cola bottle such that Christmas will not be a celebration without a Coke.
If that’s your definition too then join the bandwagon and make the world know. As the equity and growth will come from those who are in a party mood and Tik Tok.Is your construct and DNA as imaginative as Apple? If so, how are you connecting with the world as a tangible brand and all the answers will always come through a determined self-introspect (to know rather than being defensive).
As the personality is identified and defined in its market context then sales will boom (no matter what the given personality there is someone waiting for that kind of a personality).Then there is need for an in-depth scrutiny and corroboration of what the market says about our personality in the craft.
At the same time our enterprises should classify and endorse their brand personality as indexed on the global domain not forgetting that local is lekker. Our thrust is to localise brand craftsmanship (as said in the previous editions) but personality takes a global walk and should be escalated to attach with a worldview.
Those that have been encoded and accepted as universal and born out of psychology and art of existence. In addition to the aforesaid there is a plethora of governing personalities that have defined big brands spanning from those with a silent meaning to gigantic and audaciouscrafts.These are matters of sincerity, competence, sophistication, ruggedness and energetic. Let’s align our brands with these and walk the talk.
It is imperative to appreciate that personality drives fruitful and permanent associations (being a blender of brand elements and an interface of the enterprise).
Therefore, instead of going round the circles let’s gear on the journey of identifying andestablishing personalities that fit and communicate with our target markets as we transcend into industrialisation towards achievement of vision 2030.
Cultural assessment
Our culture speaks of our personality both internally and to the external markets. It then call for our structures to be well placed so as to connect members of the organisation with the systems and any facets of a personality. That is when will reconfigure and define ourselves from a systematically crafted personality (one that the already perceive us to be through action).
Market research and analysis
As much as it might sound too academic and brewing fear, that is the only way to know ourselves better and the reflection we have in all domains. This can be done from our localised experts or as a consultation of those who have led the race before (experience and exposure matters).
Personality measurement indexes
There is a plethora of endorsed personalities by the fathers in the school of thought (like energetic, simplicity, adventurous). These have defined personality big brand like Nike, Apple and so on. Let’s adopt the same as a worldview to fit in all markets through practise.
Streetwise approach
Being part of the communities by having our brand walking there and understanding its followers rather than being in a shell where no one will be able to define and associate.
- Dr Farai Chigora is a businessman and academic. He is the head of Business Science at the Africa University’s College of Business, Peace, Leadership and Governance. His doctoral research focused on business administration (destination marketing and branding major, Ukzn, SA). He can be contacted for feedback at fariechigora@gmail.com, WhatsApp mobile: +263772886871.