Brands Are Personalities – Erickson Media
Brands Are Personalities
THIS is what branding is about
We in the media have two constituencies when it comes to branding concerns: Our own brand, and the brand of those businesses we help to market.
And while there are some, these days, who say branding is over-blown, before you totally close your mind, you might want to buy and read, The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes, by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson.
Here’s the important take-away for you…
Consumers evaluate brands through human personality traits, whether or not the marketer has imputed human traits to the brand.
The human brain unconsciously makes anthropomorphic readings of products as part of its work to make sense of what it is processing.
Slow down, and read that sentence again.
According to cognitive scientists, 95% of the mental activity that goes into forming our perceptions, thoughts, and decisions takes place outside of consciousness.
So, what do most marketers and market researchers focus on? The 5% zone.
Remember the question the cop asked the robber, “So why do you rob banks?”
Or, to mix metaphors, It’s hard to catch fish if you never drop your line into the lake.
A Duke University study found that brands, somewhat unique among proper nouns, are processed primarily in the emotional, sensuous right brain — not the list-making, analytical left.
At the moment of decision, brand loyalty depends upon emotional arousal.
And according to the authors of this study, that is why Pepsi will never displace Coke.
As with humans we come into contact with daily, we will reject those brands that lack attractive and consistent personality characteristics.
How are you branding your station, your company to reach the 95% target area?
How are you helping your clients do the same?