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Personality is me too. Points of view are distinctive.

Some of the basic choices you have to make when doing the – what should be rare but seems to happen whenever a new brand manager comes in- task of defining a brand focus on a choice.

Build the brand on:

Why you exist

What you do

How you are

Where you want to go

All have some level of merit, perhaps with the exception of 'how you are'.

Tone of voice, personality traits are massively important and often overlooked when it come to building communications, but are flimsy to build a brand on.

Because there are not many personality traits to around.

For example, as has been said elsewhere, umpteen agencies like to talk about how they are curious. Not only is this as generic as soft drinks saying they're fizzy, or trainers having cushioning, it doesn't instanty create a picture of why you're better, just how you go about things.

Now consider the teachings of Saint Byron Sharp.

 

Brands don't need to be different, just distinctive. They need to get noticed.

Just Do It wasn't powerful because people thought 'oh they'll empower me' it was utterly fresh and provocative.

As was 'the future's bright' which, I'll wager, the average mobile phone buyer didn't understand, they just liked how it made them feel.

The most reliable way I know to do this is have a point of view on something that matters.

It has to be relevant to product/brand of course, but for example, Guiness and 'Here's to waiting' wasn't successful because it focused on a feature of the experience, it freed up an utterly distinctive point of view on the world and some of the best advertising ever…in a relevant manner.

I guess that means if you have a starting point, it's a mixture of 'why you exist' and 'where you want to be' but personally, a great point of view seems to convey so much more, especially if it starts by relieving some sort of tension in real life you can credibly get involved in.

Anyway.

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3 responses to “Personality is me too. Points of view are distinctive.”

  1. Keton Avatar
    Keton

    Do you think having a point of view works well because so few brands have them? Is it just a very good way to drive distinction for the brand, or do you think their is something inherently more interesting about brands that have a point-of-view rather than base their brands on, say, a benefit?

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  2. northern Avatar
    northern

    That’s a good point about the scarcity of point of view stuff, and I suppose one can never say for sure until all brands has a point of view approach.
    The evidence suggests it isn’t the scarcity though, most buyers of brands can’t actually tell you why what they buy is better, what the benefit is etc, it’s just the one they’re used to.
    That’s different for, say Dyson, but that’s the exception to the rule where, in an oversupplied world, most brands are pretty much the same.
    In addition, we know that folks do’t make decisions rationally, it’s more emotional and about mental shortcuts.
    I reiterate, though, what a brand gets involved with must be distinctive, which should often mean it related to the benefit in some way.
    I liked the way Chrysler stands true luxury (benefit) as the result of hard work
    Honda doesn’t tell us their cars are reliable, but make us notice them by standing for determined progress that leads to the engineering prowess that makes their cars reliable
    Even Jack Daniels which is mostly about the truth of the place it’s made has a subtle and very carefully constructed point of view on modern America v where it’s come from and the anxiety of the modern ‘other directed man’

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  3. Keton Avatar
    Keton

    Sounds like there is a spectrum. On one side you can be overt about your point of view (Honda I think does that, and that Molson stuff here in Canada does that, too), and on the other side your point-of-view can be more of a guiding force or an organizing principle for the brand (Jack Daniels, Malboro, Cosmpolitan Las Vegas, etc.) It lingers in the background of your communications, still giving the sense that you have thought about important things and have taken the time to form an opinion on them, but without really rubbing your opinion in the face of people. Thanks for this. Much to think about.

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