Recently, Mitt Romney made headline news by saying, “Corporations are people”.
From a marketing stand point, there is a lot of truth to this statement. Brand are people. Or at least they should be treated as such.
I think the best example of this principle is the well known Apple vs. PC advertisements.
Obviously, the mac guy is dressed down, really chill and laid back. While the PC guy is nerdy, dressed in a suit and made to look foolish. What Apple is doing is representing their brand through a person.
This is more than just a spokesperson, although that is similar to what we’re talking about. In the Apple example, those two people are literally representing Apple and Mircrosoft.
We can learn a lot from this in trying to think of what our Brands would look like if they were transformed into people. Let’s take for example the retailer store Target. What would Target look like if it their brand was transformed into a person?
How would you respond with the following questions:
- Gender?
- Age?
- How would they dress?
- How would they act?
- Would the be funny or serious?
- Laid back or professional
- What type of family would they have?
- Do they come from money?
- Do you want to be around them?
- Do you find them obnoxious?
People don’t always stay the same either. People change over years. They become more mature and adapt to their surroundings. Sometimes people are really funny and goof around, and sometimes they can be really personable and serious.
Brands should be treated the same way. We need to start treating our brands as if they are individual, living breathing people. They have personalities, thoughts, concerns, interests and fears. The best brands have figured this out, and if businesses don’t apply these principals then their brands will be sterile, fake and customers will be unable to identify with them.
So run a test on your brand and try to figure out what they would be like if they become a person.
UPDATE: Just read this article from my Google Feed. It’s talking about this exact same principle and it’s worth a gander. Check it out – I Am The Brand
