Freeman Refining Your Brand Personality

8/8/2019 Freeman Refining Your Brand Personality

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1. The person likes recognition for flourishing economically and for beingimportant (another word for powerful) -- or at least likes recognition for beingupwardly mobile and important. (If not to be seen as important, why else would hewant to look good?)


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2. Again we see the trait of power introduced. This is its own trait, for it is not thesame as trait (1): wanting recognition (status).

3. Yet another trait is added to the Character Diamond: the person goes his ownway in the world ; hes not a follower. Hes free.


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4. The person is fun; hes got a sense of adventure . (To be honest, the adventureaspect of fun is played up more in BMWs TV ads, especially for the Z4 andRoadster, then in these web ads.)

And so we have the Character Diamond of the persona BMW is marketing toward:

1. He likes recognition and status; he wants people to see hes important.

2. Hes powerful.

3. He goes his own way in the world. Hes free.

4. Hes got a fun sense of adventure.

Its no surprise that BMW teamed up with James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies.The above Character Diamond is almost identical to Bonds.


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Whats Right with this Approach

It helps sells a lot of cars!

Whats Strange about this Approach

Why would someone who goes their own way in the world care about status, or how theyre seen by others?

The answer: BMW is marketing to a persons Mask -- or Masks.

A person who wants status or recognition might have a Mask of caring nothingabout the opinions of others.

By marketing to both the real trait and the Mask, BMW gets two arrows in thebulls-eye.

Other Masks Addressed by BMW Marketing

How powerful is the buyer? Some buyers might have power; some might not butaspire to have it. For some this trait might be, to a greater or lesser degree, a Mask.

How free and adventurous is the person? Again, this trait might be, to a greater or lesser degree, a Mask.

Or the buyer could be turning to BMW as an Emotional Solution.

The guy who buys into a Z4 ad with a driver on an enthralling and even dangerousroad adventure might, in truth, spend most of his time slogging through rush hour traffic at 30 mph.

Similarly, think of how many SUV commercials show the driver climbing mountainsand plowing through mud and streams. Yet youd be amazed at how many SUVs inL.A. are rarely covered with mud. These SUVs have were marketed to a personsMask.

These vehicles might address a corner of the buyers Character Diamond; they

might address a buyers Mask; or they might offer an Emotional Solution. Eachbuyer is different.

But not so different that buyers cant be categorized into personas. Obviously,several different personas might be attracted to the same brand. This will beaddressed a little later in this article.


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Products themselves can have Character Diamonds -- a variety of traits -- andemploy other techniques to enrich a consumers bond with a brand (such as thosetechniques which give the brand emotional depth). Thoroughly exploring how thisis done, and how a marketer syncs up the Character Diamond of a product with theCharacter Diamond of a persona (consumer) exceeds the scope of this article.

Marketing and Designing to Multiple Personas

The real challenge occurs when your marketing (and product) must appeal toseveral personas, as is usually the case.

An example of this challenge being handled well was in the marketing of Spider-Man 2. One billboard ad was targeted at men. It showed Spider-Man(a.k.a. Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire) alone atop a building, taking on NewYork City which seems to engulf him, was targeted at men. The billboard for women showed Spidermans face seen from the side, with the face of Mary Jane(Kirsten Dunst) right beside his.

But its not always easy to make a brand appeal to several quite different personas.

When a brand tries to appeal to too many personas, then it can loose all identity.IBM, a few years ago, was trying to, on one hand, advertise itself as the solution toall critical corporate IT needs. At the same time, they were advertising their Thinkpad with TV ads featuring an anti-establishment 20-something slacker. Onebrand could not sustain two personas this divergent. IBM wisely abandoned thoseparticular Thinkpad commercials.

BMW too sometimes has a difficult time addressing the multiple personas of itsbuyers. The computer touch-screen I-Drive, which controls many functions in thecar, appeals to the Character Diamond (persona) of some BMW buyers.

However, a guy or woman who wants the car primarily for status may have littleinterest in cutting edge computer technology. That may not be part of his/her Character Diamond. For him or her, the I-Drive would not be a buying incentive, andcould conceivably be a mitigating factor in a purchase.


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No matter how BMWtries to avert thisproblem, it persists, atleast among someAmerican drivers. Letslook at how BMW

attempts to addresstwo divergent personasin a the ad on the right.

Id bet that if we wereto focus-test it, wedfind that this ad isntresonating emotionally.And if thats true, thenIts the IBM problemrevisited.

Avoiding a Condescending Attitude in Marketing:The Importance of Empathy

We can see that much of BMW advertising is targeted at the person who wantsrecognition for being important or powerful.

Present this to a copyrighter and that copyrighter could easily end up feelingcynically distant from this persona. Its unlikely to bring out inspired copy, or eveninspired marketing ideas.

Without empathizing with your customers, its hard to engage them emotionally, justas its hard to engage someone in a rich conversation if you dont have someempathy for him or her.

An easy way to create empathy is to remember that your customers, obviously, areas emotionally complex as you are. Their struggles to forge good lives possessnobility and importance. Retaining this attitude on your part will generate empathy .

Behind every Mask or Emotional Solution is some kind of emotional fear, limitation,block, wound, pain, shame or insecurity., and thats why its so easy to empathizewith people who have a Mask or who seek Emotional Solutions. Lets take thosewhite kids who bought Grand Theft Auto:


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Many teens feel angry and stifled; they feel theyre ready to make their mark in theworld, but dont know how to do so, nor will anyone give them permission. A Blackex-convict (who might have been framed) is a perfect symbol of their feeling likeexcluded outsiders.

Its easy to empathize with these teens. Can you remember sometimes having

similar feelings yourself when you were younger?Returning to our example of the BMW owner -- lets look at the persona's secondCharacter Diamond trait: he wants recognition.

What does this mean to our persona? What kind of recognition does he seek? Whydoes he want to be seen as important? No matter the reason, we can probablyempathize with him.

For example, he (or she) might be:

A person who truly is powerful. For him, the emphasis on power and in BMWads isn't a Mask. His business success depends on others treating him aspowerful and he needs all the public symbols he can muster as a form of personal branding.

A person who is important (powerful) but doesn't feel important. The BMWsymbol of power, in his eyes and the eyes of other, is a reminder of who he is.

A person who isn't powerful but aspires to be. The BMW symbolizes hisprofessional ambition and may symbolize how he'd like to remold hispersonality.

A person who will likely never be powerful. The BMW helps him see himself as powerful. It plays to his Mask.

Theres one thing all four of these types of people have in common: its easy to feelempathy with each one. Can you find something in each of them with which you canunderstand, appreciate, and relate to -- and perhaps with which you can evenidentify?

That feeling of compassion, respect, and relationship isnt the intrusion of anemotion that bars your judgment. Quite the contrary, for its how youll be able, asyou address the personals of your customers in your marketing, to make them feelappreciated and understood.

David Freeman(310) [email protected]


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REFINING YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY

A Workshop by David Freeman

(310) [email protected]

Not long ago, CBS Radio flew in senior executives, 30 program directors, and other key personnel for Davids 6-hour Refining Your Brand Personality Workshop.

The focus was Jack FM, a sassy radio music format used by CBS stations aroundthe U.S. and Canada.

As the workshop title suggests, David helped CBS refine, define, and focus thecomplex Jack FM Character Diamond. David then led the participants through veryfocused brainstorming exercises to help them see precisely how they could conveythe Jack FM Character Diamond to their listeners. David, renowned for hislightening-quick creativity, contributed many ideas as well.

Since then, the ratings of the most popular JACK FM stations (like LA) have climbed,and those that were floundering have been revitalized.

The workshop was electric, the results fantastic. CBS is actively employing whatwas learned and developed in that workshop.

The word quickly spread, and ABC Radio decided not to miss out. In a few weeksDavid will be doing the same thing for a group their stations.

Would the brand personality of your product or service benefit from Davids help, histools, his creativity, and his infusion of insight?

If so, email him at [email protected] or call him at (310) 394-0361.


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David teaching 200 people at Universal Pictures.

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Freeman Refining Your Brand Personality