Designing Brand Personality Using the Power of Archetypes

Bachelor Paper I/II

Submitted by:

Registration no: 0810278850

at Bachelor‘s v Programme

‚Business Consultancy International‘

Marketing and Sales

Supervisor:

Wiener Neustadt, 20.10.2010

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Declaration of Integrity

I hereby confirm,

1. that I have written the essay at hand independently, that I have not used any sources or materials other than those stated, nor availed myself of any unauthorized resources, and

2. that I have not submitted this essay in any form as an examination paper before, neither in this country, nor abroad.

3. that the electronic copy of this essay and the printed version are identical.

Wiener Neustadt,

December 21, 2010

Date Signature

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Abstract in English:

Opposed to the functional advantages of the product, the brand has to distinguish itself from others to be successful. In order to connect to the consumer, vie with the competition and to achieve the strategic goals, the company has to develop an independent identity. This brand identity is almost impossible to copy. The key facet of brand identity is the brand personality (Jansen 2006), a set of human characteristics associated with the brand(Aaker 1997). There is a number of approaches that analyzed the process of creating the brand personality. However, the increasing disappointment with traditional customer research is causing greater tolerance of non-traditional ideas. One of them, reaching into the past, is the theory of archetypes. In this paper I focused on strategies how to design a brand personality for a company. It is concerned with the topic on both theoretical and empirical level. In the introductory part it defines the role of brand personality as a part of the brand identity, researches and compares different theories in brand creation. The main body of this paper analyzes the steps of the setting the relevant archetype and demonstrates the strategy of creating brand personality by means of archetypes. Finally there is a case study as an application of the theoretical part of the paper. The overall goal of my work is to interpret a complex view on the given topic, richly illustrated by examples and applications.

Keywords (at least 3, max. 6):

Brand personality, archetypes, big five dimensions, Gameboard, Jung, Aaker

Abstract in German:

Im Gegensatz zu den funktionalen Vorteilen eines Produktes muss sich die Marke von anderen Marken unterscheiden, um erfolgreich zu sein. Um mit dem Verbraucher in Verbindung zu treten, mit der Konkurrenz zu wetteifern und die strategischen Ziele zu erreichen, muss das Unternehmen eine eigenständige Identität entwickeln. Der Schlüsselaspekt der Markenidentität ist die sogenannte Markenpersönlichkeit (Jansen 2006), eine Gruppe menschlicher Eigenschaften, die mit der Marke verbunden sind (Aaker 1997). Der zunehmende Verdruss über die Ergebnisse der traditionellen Kundenforschung führt jedoch zu einer größeren Toleranz unkonventioneller Ideen. Eine davon ist die ursprüngliche Theorie über die Archetypen. In meiner Bachelorarbeit werde ich mich auf die Strategien konzentrieren, die sich mit der Bildung einer Markenpersönlichkeit für ein Unternehmen befassen. In der Einleitung wird die Rolle der Markenpersönlichkeit als ein Teil der Markenidentität definiert, weiter werden verschiedene Theorien der Markenbildung untersucht und verglichen. Im Hauptteil analysiere ich die Schritte bei der Festlegung des entsprechenden Archetyps und stelle die Strategie der Bildung von Markenpersönlichkeit mittels Archetypen dar. Jeder Schritt in diesem Teil wird anhand eines praktischen Beispiels illustriert. Das Hauptziel meiner Arbeit ist, das vorgegebene Thema in seiner Komplexität darzustellen und mit Beispielen und

Anwendungsmöglichkeiten zu belegen.

Keywords (at least 3, max. 6):

Brand personality, Archetypen, fünf Dimensionen, Gameboard, Jung, Aaker

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING BRAND IDENTITY 2

1.1 BRANDS WITH IDENTITY 2

1.2 BRAND IDENTITY VS. BRAND PERSONALITY 3

2. RESEARCH OF THE BRAND PERSONALITY 4

2.1 ASSESSING AND MEASURING BRAND PERSONALITY 4

2.1.1 Traditional Processes 4

2.1.2 Non-traditional Processes 5

2.2 EXISTING THEORIES FOR CREATING BRAND PERSONALITY 6

2.2.1 The Former Scientific Methodologies and Scepticism 6

2.2.2 Aaker‟s dimensions 6

2.2.3 Jung‟s Behavioural Science 7

3. USE OF ARCHETYPES IN THE BRAND CREATION 8

3.1 DEFINING ARCHETYPES 8

3.1.1 The Definition of Archetypes in the Past 8

3.1.2 The Definition and Use of Jungian psychology today 9

3.2 CATEGORIZATION OF ARCHETYPES 9

3.2.1 Categorization of Archetypes according to the company’s

motivations: 12

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3.2.2 Categorization of Archetypes within Specific Industry Sectors

12

3.2.3 Categorization of Archetypes in different cultures 12

4. STEPS IN CREATING BRAND PERSONALITY 13

4.1 DEFINING THE COMPANY‟S VALUES 13

4.2 SETTING THE BRAND POSITIONING 14

4.3 MATCHING THE VALUES AND POSITIONING WITH ARCHETYPES 15

4.4 ADVERTISING AND EVALUATION ACCORDING TO THE CHOSEN ARCHETYPE 16

5. THE CASE STUDY – PANTENE PRO V 17

6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 19

LIST OF FIGURES 21

LIST OF TABLES 22

BIBLIOGRAPHY 23

APPENDIX 25

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Introduction

Opposed to the functional advantages of the product, the brand has to distinguish

itself from others to be successful. In order to connect to the consumer, vie with the

competition and to achieve the strategic goals, the company has to develop an

independent identity. This brand identity is almost impossible to copy. The key facet of

brand identity is the brand personality (Jansen 2006), a set of human characteristics

associated with the brand(Aaker 1997).

There is a number of approaches that analyzed the process of creating the brand

personality. However, the increasing disappointment with traditional customer

research is causing greater tolerance of non-traditional ideas. One of them, reaching

into the past, is the theory of archetypes.

In this paper I am going to focus on strategies how to design a brand personality for a

company. It is concerned with the topic on both theoretical and empirical level. In the

introductory part it defines the role of brand personality as a part of the brand

identity, researches and compares different theories in brand creation. The main body

of this paper analyzes the individual steps of the setting the relevant archetype and

demonstrates the strategy of creating brand personality by means of archetypes. Each

step in this part is also applied to a practical example.

The overall goal of my work is to interpret a complex view on the given topic, richly

illustrated by examples and applications.

2

1. The Importance of Creating Brand Identity

1.1 Brands with Identity

(Batey 2008) defined brand as a guarantee of a quality and trustworthy promise of

performance, consumer‟s perception and interpretation of a cluster of associated

attributes, benefits and values. Brand has developed into a very valuable marketing

concept over a past few decades.

In order to connect to the consumer, vie with the competition and to achieve strategic

goals, the company has to develop an independent identity for its brand. The

consumer wants to identify with the brand and feels connected with it. Paraphrasing

Kapfrerer in(Jansen 2006), “Having an identity means being who you are, following

your own, determined, but individual path”.

The ability to distinguish itself will increasingly need to come from the brand itself,

because as opposed to the functional advantages of the product, the brand identity is

almost impossible to copy. The brand personality is one of the key facets of brand

identity. (Jansen 2006) Associating the brand with the person, it saves consumers the

effort of the brand quality considerations, claims (Chernatony 2006) in her book. The

value added means no longer what the brand provides, but what it stands for

symbolically. (Riesenbeck and Perrey 2007)

At the turn of the century the concept of „identity‟ was the centre of attention. The

concept of identity connected the „inside-out‟ way of thinking of corporate

communication to the „outside-in‟ of marketing for years the predominant principle in

business. (Cretu and Brodie 2007)

An observation done by (Blanchart 2010) where he states: “A brand is a coherent set

of ideas in your consumer‟s mind. It is a personification of a product, service or even

an entire company.” Now brands are becoming more like people. Like a person, it has

its name, identity, personality and reputation. Furthermore, (Temporal 2010) found

out that the brand strength is highly correlated with the perception of the brand

personality.

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1.2 Brand Identity vs. Brand Personality

What is the difference between brand identity and brand personality? (Jansen 2006)

defined identity as “be who you are” and the personality “become who you should be”.

So, the brand identity represents the active substance of the brand along with its

enduring qualities reflected in a forward looking brand associations. As an outward

expression of the brand, including its name and visual appearance is a fundamental

means of consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand's differentiation from

competitors.

As mentioned above, the brand personality is the attribution of human personality

traits to a brand as a way to achieve differentiation. Usually done through long-term

above-the-line planning and advertising, appropriate packaging and graphics.

Although human and brand personality may share similar conceptualization, they

differ in their formation. The human personality traits are based on individual

behaviour, physical characteristics, attitudes and believes and demography.

The brand personality traits are a readiness to think or act in a similar fashion in

response to a variety of different stimuli or situations. (Schoormans 2009) showed

that consumers prefer products with a personality that fit their own personality:

extrovert consumers prefer extrovert products. Research furthermore has shown that

people can recognize personality traits in products and brands.

A consumer is a seeker of purely utilitarian benefit or a gain. In psychological terms,

(Batey 2008) determined three major elements of a personality.

Elements Drivers In the brand terms

Private personality thoughts, feelings,

ambitions, talents

Overlaps the brand identity

Public personality how I want others to see

me

The external aim

Attributed personality how others see me The nature of the

personality

Table 1: Elements of a Personality, (Batey, 2008)

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2. Research of the Brand Personality

2.1 Assessing and Measuring Brand Personality

2.1.1 Traditional Processes

Marketing professionals had become a bit too much mechanical, using already

standardized accepted rules of brand building and marketing communication.

Marketing itself became a mass produced product, a commodity lacking spirit and

authenticity. The market research on brand personality was limited due to the blur

definition of this concept and consumer preference kept being elusive. (Aaker 1997)

More and more brand experts lacked the some generalizable scale to measure it. From

the traditional efforts to measure and evaluate prevailed by ethnography. This is a

scientific research strategy that studies people, ethnic groups and their material and

spiritual culture. (Aaker 1997) points out that etnography gathers empirical data

through ad hoc techniques, such as checklists, photo-sorts or symbolic.

The focus shifted away from the stereotype marketing mantra: doing and

communicating whatever the consumer wants according to research. Business and

marketing professionals started to pay attention to their own, company‟s and brand‟s

inner values. (Schoormans 2009)

Over the past fifty years the mentality and approach of companies has progressively

evolved in several stages.

Figure 1: Stages of the Base in Brand Personality Design (Schoormans, 2009)

There were two kinds of scales for measuring the bran personality, both relied on the

relationship between human and brand personality. The first was a ad hoc scale and

was of an non-theoretical nature. This means the traits was selected arbitrarily. They

were used only for further researches. The second type was of a more theoretical

nature, based on human personality traits not yet validated for the use of brands.

Therefore those have also a questionable validity. (Aaker and Biel 1993)

Identity

based

Identity based

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2.1.2 Non-traditional Processes

Increasing disappointment with traditional customer research is causing greater

tolerance of non-traditional ideas and making it more acceptable to talk about

archetypes in mainstream business. Growing interest in archetypes signals a

major transformation in marketers‟ attitudes about the misty regions behind the

curtains of consciousness. Everyone is looking for new answers.

With functionality, reliability, convenience, or price no longer sufficing for

differentiation, brands must compete on meaning. The best way to create “emotional

affinity” through meaning is to use archetypal images to fulfil basic human desires or

motivations and evoke deep emotions.1 The narratives and meanings behind

archetypes let customers relate to brands by making brands seem alive.(Pearson and

Mark 2001)

Very common methods for assessing brand personality are currently analogies (by

qualitative depth interviews), drawings or free association.2 A visual tool based

research is one of possible ways how to determine the right brand personality.

(Schoormans 2009) suggests that by visualizing and image presentation of main

personality traits we can avoid deviations in interpretations of the verbal concepts.

Especially compared with verbal language, visual image represents the information

consisting of spatial, non-arbitrary and continuous characteristics.

Gradually, a selected group of applicants chooses the most fitting images to the

associations of the company. The aim is to develop not one, but more personalities for

the brand: valid view on the brand personality of the own brand, on an ideal brand

personality for the brand, on the brand personality of competitors and on the brand

personality as seen by customers.

Next, (Riesenbeck and Perrey 2007) used the Gameboard Model proposed by

McKinsey. It is designed to map the celebrities and the brand portfolios in a certain

category to highlight affinities. (see Figure 2 and further description in the section 4)

1 For the definition of archetypes ,see the section 3.

2 The methods are discussed in more detail in section 4.

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Brand Personality

Sincerity Competence Ruggedness

Down to Earth

Honest

Wholesome

Cheerful

Excitement

Daring

Spirited

Imaginative

Up-to-Date

Reliable

Intelligent

Successful

Outdoorsy

Though

Sophistication

Upper Class

Charming

Table 2: "Big Five" Dimensions and their Facets (Aaker, 1997)

2.2 Existing Theories for Creating Brand Personality

2.2.1 The Former Scientific Methodologies and Scepticism

One of the most famous philosophers Rene Descartes claims in his books, that the

pure mind has no connection to the body. This implies that only when pure mind

operates independently of emotions is the mental output credible. “I think therefore I

am”. But growing stream of research undermines this paradigm. The neurologist

(Damasio 1994) monitored his patients and concluded that brains cannot form models

of self and relationship with self to the world beyond their bodies. He set the base of

the philosophy oppositely:”I am. Therefore I think.”

Cognitive scientists have always argued that the consciousness is the sensation of self.

The philosophy behind this claim is that the immaterial thought in our minds is linked

to the material substance in our bodies – emotionally based consumer thinking.

2.2.2 Aaker’s dimensions

In her research (Aaker 1997) developed a theoretical framework of the brand

personality construct by determining the number and nature of five dimensions. Each

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of the dimensions has its own facets drivers. The main objective was to identify brand

personality dimensions as perceived in consumer minds rather than the individual

differences among responses of people to the brands. framework and the scale are

generalizable across all product categories.

The model was based on the “Big Five” human personality dimensions

(Extraversion/introversion, Agreeableness, Consciousness, Emotional stability and

Culture). Whereas agreeableness and sincerity both innate part of warmth and

acceptance, extroversion and excitement capture the idea of social ability, energy and

activity and conscientiousness and competence both connote dependability,

responsibility and security. According to (Aaker and Biel 1993), her sincerity,

excitement and competence shape human personality, sophistication and ruggedness

indicates to the dimension that individuals want but not necessarily have. This

encapsulates a focus on the upper class, sexy and glamorous.

The model was developed for the American market. However, brands carry cultural

meaning - specific personality traits among cultures. To answer to the cross-cultural

differences (Aaker 1997) redefined her model for Japan and Spain. Further research

was conducted by other researchers, who explored Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,

and Korea. Although, the models all are culturally secific, they all show resemblance to

Aaker‟s five-factor model that is still the most widely used brand personality model on

worldwide scale.

2.2.3 Jung’s Behavioural Science

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist studied dreams. He pioneered the theory of archetypes

in early 90s. Already at that time he found out that some themes recurring in the

dreams of people everywhere – they were universal themes and characters that are

found in myth and legend. His profound observations showed that this inward

experience was essentially the same in all human beings - sharing the same instincts,

the same impulses, conflicts or fears. These themes, in one word archetypes, are

short-cuts to eternal truths.3

“Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is

an act of courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that

constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal conditions of

existence, coupled with the greatest possible freedom of self-determination.”(Jung

1963)

3 For the definition of archetypes, see the section 3.

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In comparison with Aaker, Jungarian theory of archetypes has different perspective on

human behaviour. It based the drivers of customer consumption on universal

predetermined human patterns latent in all human beings. (Heding, Knudtzen, and

Bjerre 2008)

Jung in his work of art (Jung 1963)divided our psyche into three levels:

1. Ego – conscious mind

2. Personal unconscious - subjects that can become conscious, like memories

3. Collective unconscious - psychic inheritance, experiences as species, knowledge

as we were born with

“Archetypes are characteristic patterns that pre-exist in the collective psyche of the

human race that repeat themselves eternally in the psyche of individual human beings

and determine the basic ways that we perceive and function as psychological

beings.”(Jung 1963)

In our brains, they work as dispositions in clusters of dispositional neurons. These

neurons then respond to the given stimuli by creating moods and relationships

towards the stimuli. For example for caring for us (no matter if in real life or simulated

in advertising), we develop the love chemical oxytocin, which uplifts our mood.

Therefore a marketer should perceive the dispositional neurons as the trigger of

predisposed responses to the content of his message. (Wolfe 2003)

On the Jung‟s foundation was based the widely used Meyer Briggs personality

assessment. It uses DRM – Developmental Relationship Marketing, using archetypal

structures that predispose attributes of behaviour. DRM is then most effective when is

based on consumers commonalities, rather than their differences. (Pearson and Mark

2001)

3. Use of Archetypes in the Brand Creation

3.1 Defining Archetypes

3.1.1 The Definition of Archetypes in the Past

An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype:

"'Frankenstein' , 'Dracula' , 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' , the archetypes that have

influenced all subsequent horror stories" (New York Times).

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The original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on

which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.

3.1.2 The Definition and Use of Jungian psychology today

In Jungian psychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived

from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.

“Archetypes are like riverbeds which dry up when the water deserts them, but

which can be found again at any time. Archetype is like an old watercourse

along which the water of life has flowed in this channel, the more likely it is, the

sooner or later the water will return to its old bed.”(Jung 1963)

Archetypes are forms or images of a collective nature worldwide as constituents of

myths and as individual products of unconscious. These are imprinted and hardwired

into our psyches.

A collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought or image, universally

present in individual psyches. Jung divided our psyche into three levels:

1. Ego – conscious mind

2. Personal unconscious - subjects that can become conscious, like memories

3. Collective unconscious - psychic inheritance, experiences as species, knowledge

as we were born with

3.2 Categorization of Archetypes

A detailed theory and definitions according to the Swiss psychologist Mr. Jung and

mentioning the main traits of his 12 archetypes as an important stream in our pop

culture. (Damasio 1994)

The best way to create “emotional affinity” through meaning is to use archetypal

images to fulfil “basic human desires and motivations and [evoke] deep emotions and

yearnings”. (Pearson and Mark 2001) The narratives and meanings behind archetypes

let customers relate to brands by making brands seem alive. The authors list 12

archetypes arranged along 4 groups of motivations. Each archetype fulfils a deep-

seated need:

Motivation Archetypes Drivers

Stability and

Control

Creator Craft something new, non-conformist, self-

expression, endeavored to tap into the human

imagination, led by vision, creating something

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tangible and endurable, give consumers choices,

achieve immortality, innovative in artistic and design

Caregiver One of most powerful archetypes, trusted, an icon of

home, security and continuity, pure natural and

gentle, altruist, moved by compassion, generosity,

and desire to help others, feared of instability, hold

promise of innocence, empathy, communication,

consistency,

Ruler Exerts control, leader, role model, administrator,

knows what‟s good for people, avoids uncontrollable

change, high-status products to enhance power, lays

down the category law, standards, the ideal

behaviour, security and stability in chaotic world

Belonging and

Enjoyment

Jester Has fun, energy, irreverence, mischief, desire for

change, interaction, great brand identification,

impulsive, spontaneous, present, ridicule category

conventions, dismiss of self-important and over-

confident, established brands

Regular

Person

Be fine with self, down to earth, friendly and

supportive brands, unselfish, helpful, gives people a

sense of belonging, or being part of a group,

environment where everyone knows your name

Lover Give/find love, romantic and glamorous, dreamlike,

dashing, chivalrous, sensual, experiences joy, delight

& ecstasy, sex and seduction, idealist, longing for a

better world

Risk and

Mastery

Hero Act courageously, strong, inspirational, motivational

and disciplined, shows what‟s possible if we believe,

represents power, honour, success and victory ,

create innovations that will have a major impact on

the world and can solve a major social problem

Outlaw Breaks the rules, rebel, challenges the convection,

release of pent-up passions, lets us out off the

stream, helps retain values, paves the ways for

revolutionary new attitudes, excitement from being

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“bad”, admired, but powerful and feared.

Magician Affects transformation of idea into material reality,

evokes amazement through intuition, makes

impossible happen, exotic or ancient origin of the

product, dynamic change of the category, highly

innovative

Independence

and

Fulfilment

Innocent Retain/renew faith, feminine, seeking for the good in

life, potential of beauty in all things, spontaneous,

trusting dependent child, nostalgic, tapping into

strongly into the emotions, purity, goodness,

morality, simplicity, straightforward values, seen as

truthful, honest and reliable

Explorer Authentic, pioneer, individual, own values,

challenges to try new, independent, self sufficient,

adventurous, daring, represents self-discovery, life-

altering experiences, trial, promotes new products,

something they believe in

Sage Understand the world, thoughtful, independent

attitude, represents wisdom, asceticism, freedom and

destiny, tells the truth, original, holds own opinion,

need for autonomy, enlightens consumers, provide

expertise or information, or encourage customers to

think.

Table 3:The Hero and the Outlaw, Building Extraordinary Brands through the Power of

Archetypes from Centre for Archetypal Studies and Applications(Pearson and Mark 2001)

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3.2.1 Categorization of Archetypes according to the company’s

motivations:

Company motivation/driver Archetype

Change, Risk Outlaw, magician, jester

Belonging, Care Regular guy, caregiver, lover

Structure Ruler ,hero, creator

Discovery, Knowledge Sage, Explorer, Innocent

Table 4 Categorization of Archetypes according to the Company's Motivation

3.2.2 Categorization of Archetypes within Specific Industry Sectors

Archetypes can be used to understand the dynamics of the category my brand

operates in. Once a deep research done, the variables of the industry sector and its

product categories within become clear. We either apply the archetypes which are

commonly used in the category, or use them as an distinguishing element to the

competition.

One of the great examples of the strategic use of archetypes is politics. Selecting from

twelve archetypes, the respondents in the research chose four equally weighted

character qualities for the ideal leader: Caregiver, Hero, Sage and Regular Guy. A

leader composed from a mixture from these archetypes can provide clarity of vision,

intelligence and analytical competence, while being genuine, practical and empathetic

to the needs of the people.

3.2.3 Categorization of Archetypes in different cultures

The focus will be given especially on comparison of cultures determined by their

nature. The application of archetypes is based on the traits that are predominated in

the specific country. Roughly, we can divide countries according to several areas:

1. Collectivistic vs. Individualistic

2. Past and Present orientation

3. High context vs. Low Context

4. Power distance

For example In collectivistic countries where people value the interdependence,

similarity and conformity, consumers are likely to choose brands similar to their

group-members. On the other hand, in the countries of individualistic culture, in which

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the autonomy, independence and uniqueness in dominant, consumers rather use

brands to express their difference from the group-members.

Overall, this implies that the use of archetypes is independent from the cultures across

the world. The Aaker‟s model of the new “Big Five” dimensions was developed for the

American market. However, brands carry cultural meaning, moreover specific

personality traits among cultures. To answer to the cross-cultural differences Aaker

gradually redefined her model for Japan and Spain. Further research was conducted by

other researchers, who explored various brand personality models for different

Western and Eastern countries. Although, the models all have their cultural specificity,

they all show resemblance to the model on worldwide scale.

4. Steps in Creating Brand Personality

A brand without a personality has no warmth and the consumer will treat it likewise,

no loyalty and high price sensitivity. Therefore the process of creating a strong brand

identity is long approach of searching and finding company‟s values and goals as well

as defining the reason the company offers for its customer to choose it instead of its

competition.

The personality traits are associated in both direct and indirect ways. The former is

done by company‟s employees, the CEO and the brand product endorsers. The letter

implies to the product category associations, product-related attributes, brand name,

advertising style, symbol or logo, price and distribution channel. Going step by step

through the procedure bellow helps us to be consistent in creating a great personality

with a long-lasting effect in sales and customer satisfaction.

4.1 Defining the Company’s Values

I order to create a powerful and long-lasting brand, first we need a strong foundation.

In a corporate terms, the foundation is a set of company‟s values. This means, to

define ways in which all organization‟s member will work together. They include

beliefs about teamwork, commitment to quality, integrity and customer orientation.

When planning them, we should avoid vague statements of intent, rather state

concrete action plans, detailed timing and accomplishment criteria. By doing this we

ensure that the values are shared on both, the corporate and job-specific level, to

make them come alive.

The next step would be outlining the external appearance to the customer – the brand

values – to strengthen and reinforce the effect of corporate values. (Jansen 2006) As

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an example, if the reliability was a corporate value, the brand value could be

dependability.

The company values and the brand personality should be clearly defined, without

using any professional lingo. By simple words create a lively picture of a personality

that is absolutely clear to anyone. Avoiding the strategic words that are too abstract to

manage a brand in daily business we avoid also the strict guidelines that are too

inflexible. The characteristic is to be also multi-dimensional, which means,

concentrating on more traits at the same time, to create more powerful and richer

image in peoples‟ minds.

In case, the corporate and brand values do not match, it might cause confusion among

both, the employees and the customer. Therefore the integration and the transparency

of information among involved people at all levels is required. When developing an

extensive training, is by analyzing the behaviour of employees who have been

identified as performing to very high standard on a particular value.

4.2 Setting the Brand Positioning

Setting the marketing positioning and the brand positioning are close related terms,

but does not mean the same.

As briefly mentioned earlier in section 2, the Gameboard by McKinsey (Riesenbeck and

Perrey 2007)enables to easily identify the brand positioning according to the brand

personality. It lists archetypes describing brands in their entirety, method of multi-

dimensional scaling to map bran personalities and their interdependencies. The

distance between points reflects the degree of similarity of perceived profiles. The

distance from the edge of the Gameboard indicates the degree of uniqueness.

Particularly this Gameboard mirrors the positions of selected brands in German market

alongside with the personalities of contemporary celebrities. The closer the brand to a

certain person, the stronger the brand perceived in terms of this characteristic relative

to companies.

As example: L‟Oreal represents Charm therefore inclines to the personality of the

celebrity of Julia Roberts.

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Figure 2:McKinsey Brand Personality Gameboard Map

Using the Gameboard we specify also the position of our competitors‟ personalities. By

knowing the competitive landscape from this perspective, it makes us easier to

differentiate. On the other hand by the help of Gameboard we determine partnerships

according to their values, resulting in high synergies in both parties.

The model is used mainly:

1. as a first step by mergers, acquisitions and consolidations

2. by designing the brand architecture and umbrella brand management

3. setting dimensions of brand personality

4.3 Matching the Values and Positioning with Archetypes

The positioning of the brand has to be credible an achievable and to embody the brand

promise. Therefore if the positioning is reliable and good manners and honesty, as its

core traits it must also be reflected in appearance and behaviour of the sales team.

Not instead being a wild bunch of spirited passionate fellows.

(Schoormans 2009) showed that consumers prefer products with a personality that fit

their own personality: extrovert consumers prefer extrovert products. Research

furthermore has shown that people can recognize personality traits in products and

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brands. It is probable that due to the abstractness of the brand personality, different

stakeholders have a different interpretation of personality traits might be suboptimal4.

By means of qualitative in-depth interviews, as mentioned in section 2 we aim to

determine the concrete personality traits using archetypes as stereotypes. There is a

number of methods how to achieve this.

1. Analogies – a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a

particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the

target)

2. Drawings – the visual image first appeared in our mind when hearing the brand

in some context

3. Free associations – a stimulation of an associative pattern by a word or the

connection and production of other words in response to a given word, done

spontaneously as a game, creative technique, or in a psychiatric evaluation.

4.4 Advertising and Evaluation according to the Chosen

Archetype

Generally, the advertising are to increase the awareness and promote products by

audio-visual communication. In case of advertising with the use of archetypes, the

main principle is that the thoughts that arise in consumer minds do not rise

consciousness only. They tend to work in the background, shaping the consumer‟s

archetypal reactions to those ads. Those are the stereotypic ways the marketer

expects according to the predetermined behaviour towards the specific

archetype.(Wolfe 2003)

After completing the process the process of the brand personality design, it is

necessary to ask a number of important questions, which help us check, whether the

direction of our approach matched the overall business and marketing strategy. Do our

brand values and personalities „fit‟ with the archetypal values outlined? Is there any

disparity in communication? What is my archetype‟s vice? What does this say about

my brand? What are the other archetypes within the category? The process of

evaluation is one of the most significant steps in creating a meaningful and aligned

brand personality.

4 Not the highest standard or quality.

17

5. The Case Study – Pantene Pro V

5.1 Company background

When P&G bought the brand Pantene, there was no brand in hair care that was bigger

than a 5% share, and the category leader basically changed every three years. After a

complete re-launch of the brand identity, 20% share has been achieved with the

category leadership for 15 years. Now let us take a look into their concept of the

archetypal brand personality strategy.

5.2 Designing the brand personality step by step

The challenge was to go beyond the left brain, the product attributes, to create an

emotional connection with their consumers, based on an breakthrough idea. The

emotional contribution that the brand brings is completely anchored into what the

product does. When Pantene transforms women‟s‟ hair, she feels inspired to turn an

everyday moment into a shining moment.

1. Defining company‟s values

The Pantene‟s values can be characterized as innovation, nature and transformation.

This all should be applied not only to their marketing strategy, but to the principal

corporate motivation that drives employees on each organizational level. Everyone in

the company knows their main objectives: the commitment to help women in their

search for beauty, bring them the true beauty, allow them to be transformed to be

strong and confident as they want to be. (Pantene updated 2010)

2. Setting the positioning

The Pantene shampoos were repositioned from regular hair care products into a set of

professional hair styling treatment. When choosing the archetype, Pantene instead of

following competition in the category by being either Caregiver, Innocent or Lover,

they positioned themselves as Magician. An dynamic transformer of the unimaginable

to the real. They can promise women‟ dreams come true using their products. The use

of this brand personality serves as an effective differentiator. This archetype was

aligned with a strategic target group of young women. They represent the symbol of a

change and are themselves less reluctant to change.

The brand department tried to reconnect the hair to the woman, because a woman

wants beautiful hair as an expression of her own beauty, she doesn‟t want it to have a

life of its own that exists separate from her. She wants it to express who she is.

18

Moreover they separate their portfolio of shampoos into 7 categories so that they can

make each woman happy and confident. The categories: Fine Hair Solutions, Medium-

Thick Hair Solutions, Colour Hair Solutions, Curly Hair Series, Classic Care Solutions,

Restoratives and Nature Fusion.

Here is the new Pantene marketing campaign: “Think your hair is too rough and tough

to tame? Put Pantene Smooth and Strong to the test and your hair will have found its

match. It gently detangles your unruly hair making it smooth and strong so you can be

the boss again! Pantene's nourishing Pro-V shampoo formula with Amino-S, when

used with Pantene Pro-V conditioner helps evenly restructure hair from root to tip

detangling your unruly hair making it strong, silky and noticeably smoother in 10 days

or less! Pantene is the first step to irresistibly smooth hair”. (Pantene updated 2010)

bringing Pantene values to life:

Sense of

well being

Self-

respect

Respect of

others

Friendship,

warmth

Self-belief Enjoyment

of life

Feel good

about self

Innovative

formula

Feel good

about self

Feel good

about self

Good mood On top of

things

Help to

shine among

others

Others

relate to me

better

On top of

things

More

confident

outgoing

Feel healthy Feel

refreshed

More

confident

More time

for other

things

Make a good

impression

Look

good/ look

best

Gives self

confidence

Quick visible

change

Professional

design effect

Feel clean Neat touch Wow effect Easier to

work with

hair

Feel clean

Makes hair

feel clean/

smell nice

Makes hair

soft silky,

weighty

shiny

Immediate

effect

No

residue/

easy rinse

Lathers

hair

quickly

Conditions

hair/

treats hair

Table 5 Hierarchical Value Map for Shampoo Category

3. Advertising in accordance with the brand personality

19

Advertising concentrated mainly on the “wow” hair visuals. Expressing the Magician

archetype is clear and coherent across all advertising vehicles. (see the Figure 4 and

Figure 3). From mass media communication through direct advertising the message

evokes imagery and sophisticated innovation. Use of famous endorsers, such as

One of the key personality promoting tools is the product design. Everyone connects

the brand with the characteristic pearl bottle with new logo including golden hair in it.

Next, the use of endorsers plays an incredible role in the advertising.

6. Conclusion and Recommendations

(Aaker and Biel 1993)authors of Building Strong Brands, say: "One way to be more

efficient in marketing is just to do things right the first time around. It starts with

getting the identity right. If you have a brand identity that works, you‟re just

monumentally efficient.”

This paper attempted to illustrate the importance of how imbuing personality into a

brand can enhance consumer bonding and the interaction between consumer self and

the brand personality. Creating a coherent personality through the wide array of brand

activities is done by ensuring that brand personality is expressed in all the behavior

and communication of the brand. It is necessary to pay a close attention to pioneer

brand users and target consumers, because as described in the chapters of this paper

the brand personality is created through a cyclical interaction between the brand and

consumers.

By analyzing several processes for creating the brand personality I expressed the need

for the new non-traditional ideas in the brand personality research comparing them to

the traditional customer researches. Profoundly I focused on the theory of archetypes

and their application to the brands in different industry sectors and cultures.

The different techniques to discover archetypes and making clear connections between

a key archetypal persona and the preliminary brand- product- or consumer-related

findings can put an entirely new spin on study insights and next steps with these

benefits:

1. Provide revolutionary yet imaginative mean for the creation of a new or the re-

creation of an existing brand‟s personality and essence

2. Introduce and further explore new dimensions of a creative campaign once the

right archetype is established

3. Generate new, breakthrough ideas in unexpected ways by using a comparative

archetypal approach

20

4. Develop and evaluate new products, creative concepts, and strategic marketing

tactics for deeper resonance and motivation

Last but not least, both internal and external variables are manipulated systematically

which requires profound and consistent control and measurement of the brand

personality. The brand personality increases the brand preference and usage, emerges

emotions in consumers and increases trust and loyalty.

Although more and more marketers and scientists are concerned with the issue of the

brand personality, there is still gap in the knowledge and further research needs to be

done. Quite few is known about the attitude formation under conditions of low

motivation ability, or the psychological mechanisms by which brand personality works

across cultures.

- 21 -

List of Figures

Figure 1: Stages of the Base in Brand Personality Design 4

Figure 2:McKinsey Brand Personality Gameboard Map 15

Figure 3: Thailand Pantene Ad 25

Figure 4: Pantene Ad Violistin 26

22

List of Tables

Table 1: Elements of a Personality 3

Table 2: "Big Five" Dimensions and their Facets 6

Table 3:The Hero and the Outlaw, Building Extraordinary Brands through the Power of

Archetypes from Centre for Archetypal Studies and Applications 11

Table 4 Categorization of Archetypes according to the Company's Motivation 12

Table 5 Hierarchical Value Map for Shampoo Category 18

23

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24

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25

Appendix

Typical Pantene ad, promoting

the magician archetype through

the visionary transformation.

The shampoo is endorsed by

Thailand celebrities. Magician

brands are also highly

innovative, and are often related

to a very new, contemporary

product. As you can see, the

visual of the effect of

contemporary new ingredients

and formulas included in the ad.

Tagline: transform your hair in

fourteen days.

Figure 3: Thailand Pantene Ad

26

Figure 4: Pantene Ad Violinist

Another example which promotes the

brands core values. In this case, however,

indirectly: It is a story about a young deaf

violinist with a dream. She wants to

succeed on a music contest, but nobody

believes in her. The ad ends up with

happy end and gives the consumer an

insight from a creative angle about the

shampoo.

The tagline: „You can shine.“