What is your brand’s personality?

Imagine your brand as a person. If it walked into a room, what would it look like? What would it say and do? 

If you own a luxury goods company, perhaps your brand would be a sophisticated, glamorous fashionista dressed from head to toe in designer labels. If you’re in the adventure travel business, it may be a rugged adventurer who lives for exploring the great outdoors. Or if you run a business consulting firm, perhaps it’s a daring 007-type who’s ready to tackle any challenge with an innovative solution. 

Why you need a brand personality 

While it can be fun to think about your brand as a person, you may be wondering what all this has to do with your business goals.  

Developing a brand personality is part of building a strong brand identity. It guides the brand voice for marketing communications, from social media posts to advertisements. More importantly, it humanizes the brand, helping to create an emotional connection between the brand and consumers. That connection, in turn, builds brand equity and, ultimately, brand value. Remember, the stronger your brand, the more it’s worth. 

Tips for developing a brand personality 

A brand personality describes the brand as if it were a person, but you don’t need to write a long description or bio. Keep it simple and choose two to four adjectives that answer the question: “Who is [Your Brand Name]?” 

Your brand personality should be relevant to your customer, honest and aligned as a representation of your brand, unique and differentiated from competitors, and informed by your brand positioning. Also keep in mind that your brand personality is meant to describe the brand, not your target audience, although there may be some overlap.   

One of the most common brand personality frameworks was created by marketing researcher and behavioral scientist Jennifer Aaker. It identifies five dimensions of brand personality and their corresponding traits:  

1. Sincerity (e.g, down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful) 

2. Excitement (e.g., daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date) 

3. Competence (e.g., reliable, intelligent, successful) 

4. Sophistication (e.g., upper class, charming) 

5. Ruggedness (e.g., outdoorsy, tough) 

You don’t have to use these exact words, but thinking about these five dimensions and how they may relate to your brand is a good place to start.  

When done well and used effectively, a brand personality can make the brand more memorable and relatable to consumers, fostering brand equity and, ultimately, increasing brand value.