‘Spicing’ up the brand personality

First of all you must be authentic. Companies with an original story like The Body Shop for example gain a lot of popularity with the customers! Authenticity lays hand in hand with searching your right identity, you have to keep your personality consistent! Techniques that help companies in their searching for identity are car, animal or celebrity analogy. When you finally defined your identity you have to show your engagement, your motivation! Combine this element with an entertainment factor like a website, free products,... and the public will know your name right away! And last but not least you have to draw attention to enough versatility in your activities, expand your brand personality’s horizons!

                                                        Authenticism in your personality

So it’s very vital to know your brand personality perfectly. It’s a reality check: Maybe you’re satisfied about your personality today and tomorrow it’s completely wrong, you have to keep in mind what you want to become, not what you are. And once you succeeded to define your personality, this success will be spread in every department of your company!     

Laura Goeminne                                                                                   

http://blog.ogilvypr.com/2010/08/spicing-up-the-brand-personality/

http://thefinancialbrand.com/14053/bank-credit-union-branding-personality-attributes/

Car analogy: Are you conservative, traditional and a little dated?
Or are you practical, affordable and family oriented?

Brand personality is not a traditional economical subject, you can’t define and illustrate it with graphs, percentage rates and spreadsheets. It’s all about people’s emotions and feelings, companies have to understand the underlying emotional associations! But still there are a few essentials every businessman has to know...

Superdry, an exclusive fashion style.

Few years ago nobody in Europe ever heard about the brand Superdry, now it is official that this fashion label is one of the fastest-growing fashion labels in the world! Sales managers said that the sales increased 68% over the past three months. How is it possible to make such a jump to extreme popularity in such little time?

The brand worked a lot on his image of an exclusive brand which sells casual clothing  for women and men who want quality. Another element of the brand’s concept is that both woman and man departments aren’t separated in different shops but are centralised in one shop. Superdry gave a boost to their personality letting celebrities wear their clothes on parties. They also differentiate from other brands with their vibrant colour choices, various sizes and a trendy, fresh appearance. The combination of this large variety of clothes and various accessories are also part of their strategy! And the final touch to their concept is the introduction of an online shopping facility to satisfy all the cutomers in the world!

Superdry is succeeded to make their brand innovative , people come back after a visit from one of the(not that numerous) stores for the unique shopping experience the brand gives to them!

Laura Goeminne

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/10/superdry-supergroup-sales-rise

http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Superdry---An-Exculsive-Fashion-Style-/1408754

Coca-Cola Vs Pepsi: the war returned

Coca-Cola Vs Pepsi : the war returned

“The Cola Wars” is the name that has been given to the wars between the two soft drinks manufacturers Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Like all companies, especially for direct concurrents, they both wanted to be the best. To accomplish this, they attacked each other with advertisements on television and marketing campaigns in the ’70 and ’80.

But now after all these years, there’s again a fight with as objective the sugar-free products ‘Coke Zero’ and ‘Pepsi Max’. After a campaign of Pepsi, Coca Cola attacked back and declared their long-term strategy: they’ll make healthier drinks and show enthusiasm for sustainable products just as Pepsi. But the war will probably just stay in America; in the Benelux the manufacturers just want to show the strongest features of their brand. Negative advertisement may be effective in the US but not in the Benelux; here you’ll have to invent a campaign where you’ll let the own power of the product talk.

This is a clear example of two companies who want to rule over the world and who’re having each the same brand personality worldwide but are using other tricks in each country to accomplish this.

Michiel De Witte

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola-oorlog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola_Wars

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2680/Economie/article/detail/1011876/2010/07/27/Oorlog-tussen-Pepsi-en-Coca-Cola-laait-weer-op.dhtml

What is brand personality ?

Most of the previous blog posts are descriptions of the unique personalities of some well-known brands. After analyzing these examples, I noticed that brand personality is something very abstract. A lot of researchers tried to define brand personality by using their own interpretation of the concept. Result?  A large range of inconsistent definitions.

My previous posts were more or less based on the definition of Aaker. She believes  that brand personality represents the set of human characteristics associated with a brand.  With this definition, Aaker has developed a scale which allows you to describe and measure the personality of a brand in five core dimensions: Sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. 

However, some researcher do not approve of this definition and scale. They believe a stricter definition is necessary, otherwise “brand personality” will be used to indicate any non-physical attribute associated with a brand while intellectual abilities, gender, social class, etc... should not be included. They are convinced that these qualities are not applicable  and relevant to brands.

Conclusion? Finding the perfect definition of brand personality is probably impossible, there will always be someone that will criticize the used approach.  But I challenge you...

Vienna Deschrijver

https://studies2.hec.fr/jahia/webdav/site/hec/shared/sites/azoulay/acces_anonyme/JBM_AA_JNK.pdf

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3151897

Childhood determines your brand preferences

Childhood determines your brand preferences

The aim of a company is to sell as many products as possible. For achieving this, they’re appealing to e.g. advertising for promoting their products and to show what the company looks like. But what if research shows us that this doesn’t change the consumers’ attitude?

Researchers from the universities of Tilburg and Chicago discovered, after a two-year (2006-2008) study on the behavior of American citizens, that the consumers are still buying products they’ve been using in their youth. They’ve found a remarkable notification: there are several local relations in consumption, despite of the fact that you can find all the products in every region. When people move to another region, they’ll buy products that they can find there but they’ll still buy some local products from their home region. Off course this will change trough the years but not as fast as you’ll think, only after 20 years people will change half of its consumption habits. 

The fact that people are staying loyal to the products from their youth is a piece of evidence that a brand that enters the market first has more advantages despite of the brand personality.

http://www.marketingonline.nl/nieuws/bericht/je-jeugd-bepaalt-merkvoorkeur/

Michiel De Witte 

CONVERSE

Converse, the shoe company that invented the famous Chuck Taylor All-Stars is still successful after more than 100 years.  One of the reasons for this enduring success is undoubtedly the strong and unique brand personality. 

John Hoke, the vice president of the company assumes that youngsters don’t want to be just someone that represents the brand, he is convinced that they are looking for a brand that allows them to be who they are or who they want to be. This statement matches perfectly with the personality of Converse: optimistic and bold. A personality that inspires consumers to be creative and original.

In a society  where almost every brand puts a mark on consumers from the moment they wear/use the brand, I think it is nice to know that there’s at least one brand that gives the consumers the opportunity to wear/use the brand like they want to!   


Vienna Deschrijver


E.E. Cummings once wrote :  “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

My conclusion?  Converse is fighting with us.

http://www.teenink.com/opinion/pop_culture_trends/article/115791/Converse-Shoes-Will-the-love-go-on/

http://www.zimbio.com/100+Most+Influential+People+in+Fashion/articles/233/Fashion+Influential+41+Chuck+Taylor



Love Your BODY(shop)

Who doesn’t know The Body Shop? But do we know who started this ‘natural’ brand way before it  was fashionable TO BE green?

The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick. She started with a little store in Littlehampton. She and her little company became known by creating a certain brand personality that said 100% natural, environmentally friendly, social activism,…

In the beginning she made her statement by for example re-using the packaging of the shampoos, the bath foams,…  People would buy shampoo  and when the bottle was empty they would come back to refill

But now in 2010 the company is huge, it’s worldwide, it’s well-known, it’s part of the L’Oréal corporate group. Their values are way bigger ;they support Greenpeace, Defend Human Rights, Support Community Trade and so on.

All this is very impressive… The company is huge, has great sales rates and has incredible values, if all brands were like that the world would be a better place!

Eloïse Lecluyse

source:
http://www.thebodyshop-usa.com/beauty/values?cm_re=Tyra_FallSkinCare2-_-Navigation-_-values
Wikpedia

Lego, building it’s way up to the future

Lego, building it’s way up to the future

Nowadays, Lego is the fourth biggest player on the toy market worldwide. However, in Belgium, it’s even bigger: sales have doubled in the last 5 years! It’s hard to believe, that almost 6 years ago The Lego Company actually thought of closing down.

Lego lost their identity throughout the years and they only way of retrieving it was with a new strategy. After examining the problem, it wasn’t so hard to find out what was going wrong: they should listen more to their target audience (=young children) for the design of their products. This makes sense. After all, they’re the ones who’re playing with Lego.

Also, they were looking for some new dynamics in product design. They wanted toys like in ‘the good old days’: timeless and technical. Luckily for them, not everything changed. Throughout the years, they hadn’t lost their original idea; which made them go worldwide: their striving for innovation, and that’s a good thing.

In conclusion, Lego isn’t dead at all. By updating classic games as well as inventing new ones (such as recently ‘Creationary’), Lego succeeded in her attempt of introducing the famous squared building blocks into the 21st century. Even today, kids are still convinced that Lego is exciting and fun, which was their aim all along.

Michiel De Witte

A united world?

We  all know Benetton as a brand that likes to shock instead of taking the lead with special designs for their clothes. But what shocks the most at this moment is that the brand isn’t that popular anymore.

Why? I think it’s because of the changing brand personality. When people buy clothes of a certain brand, they want to feel united with the brand, the brand has to make them feel individual. It seems to me that Benetton isn’t  able anymore to fulfill this need.

At this moment of time the marketers and designers of Benetton are confused. They don’t know what their target consumers want. They weren’t able to stagnate the great sales figures. They figured that it’s not possible to keep on stretching the shock…

Now the management has to come up with something new, something that makes the consumers feel attracted to the brand and something that makes them feel individual again. I’m very excited and curious about the way it will turn out. Maybe next season we all want to wear Benetton again!!

source: United Colors of Benettn :case Study part 3 buyer & maret evaluation
Eloïse Lecluyse

What Ben and Jerry’s Can Teach Professional Marketers About Branding?

Ben and Jerry’s, founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield with just the information of a $5 correspondence course in ice cream making, is known as one of the most popular ice cream companies of the world. What secret do they have to make this ice cream so desirable?  Each rational mind would say: ‘No, don’t buy it, it’s too expensive!’, but you must have it anyway. Why? Brand personality.

The 2 founders managed getting around all those business strategies by infusing their own personality to make this brand authentic. The unique story behind this succes differentiate Ben and Jerry’s from other multinationals like Häagen-Dazs. Another secret is the fact of having fun while you start up your bussiness. The names of their ice       creams are fun, the facility is painted in fun colors and their website is full of games. Another important point is that an entrepreneur must not forget to

.

 take action regularly and stay up-to-date with the newest trends and technologies. Ben and Jerry’s  strive for a climate neutral and fairtrade image.

It’s clear that building your brand requires the right story behind your activities. With the upcoming of the social media and larger transparency obligations it’s not done to fake your identity! But we all know that Ben and Jerry’s succeeded in this job!

Peace, love and ice cream,

Laura Goeminne

How to find the perfect celebrity match....

As I already said, brand personality is the personification of a brand. Unfortunately, it is not easy to give human characteristics to something abstract like a brand. That is why a lot of brands search for a famous person with the same traits as the brand to become “the face” of the brand. Finding the right celebrity to represent the brand personality can result in growing brand awareness and better financial results.  Research has proven that one in four people buy a product because a celebrity is promoting it. Millward Brown and his research agency  acknowledge the many advantages of celebrity endorsement. That is why they’ve developed a study tool called “Cebra” (celebrity+brand) to help brands find their perfect celebrity match faster, easier and with less risks. The “search engine” is based on consumer opinions, which means it reflects what consumers think about celebrities.  In this way, the risk of misunderstanding the reputation/image of a celebrity is minimized. Although this technique seems to be very promising, a lot of people wonder if a tool can help a brand choose the most fitting star for their strategy...  


Vienna Deschrijver

Source : http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/in-depth-analysis/cover-stories/finding-the-perfect-match/3011731.article

Starbucks drops identikit stores

You are waiting at the airport, to kill time you will search for some food and booze. The destination: Starbucks. When you ask Belgians or Americans their opinion about Starbucks, nobody will complain, but their succes is inhibitted by one enormeous groupe, the English.

As a result, the coffee-chain has decided to change their decade-long policy where they start identikit stores all over the world. Actually,  the fundamentals of this company are perfectly puzzled out, small shops at busy places where people with not much time buy a quick drink or a sandwich. But the very fast increase of this brand resulted in a boring brand personality that included millions of homogeneous shops. The answer was simple: no uniforme furniture anymore and out will go with those boring colours beige and green! Instead, they will introduce bold colours, second-hand furniture and a local touch! The managing directors only want to sell the basic coffees and something locally relevant for each area in the UK that attracts the customers immediately!

Starbucks underlines that this change in personality  will be a long-term process, it is necessary that they achieve a deeper connection with the customers by those changes, especially in the UK. In Belgium there is for the moment no criticism on their brand personality, but for how long?

Laura Goeminne

Source : http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/starbucks-chief-admits-our-shops-are-all-wrong-1789418.html

Belgian beer in the US, it’s a way for success!

Belgian beer in the US, it’s a way for success!

Belgium is, as we all know, very famous for chocolate but also for his beer; and now after many efforts to export the Belgian top beers, it finally pays off in the states, where a dream came true for our brewers. But what makes Belgian beer so different from those on the American market? Well, our beers are more than just a beer because it gives the consumer a special feeling when he drinks it. They experience it as top class: each type of beer tells a story because of the authenticity. At first, the local American wasn’t familiar with our fruit beers, but now thanks to the advertising and a local distributor, they just love it instead of e.g. wine. Belgian beer became so popular thanks to the marketing, which made it a higher ranked product than in it’s home country. Moreover, they’re building some ‘Belgian Beer Cafés’ to support the growth and the reputation. What was first a niche market grew now up to an important outlet, it felt exclusive: everyone wants to taste it and be a part of it.

Source : http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=3S2UTHV8

Michiel De Witte

Gap goes back in the box ...

Gap’s attempt to “pimp up” its brand personality by changing the logo has come to nothing due to the reaction of the public. Brand personality is nothing but assigning specific human characteristics to a brand. These characteristics can be expressed through individuals representing the brand, advertising, packaging,… but also through the logo for instance. This means that when Gap changes the logo, in a way, the brand personality would change too.  That’s why Gap received a lot of criticism from its costumers after the introduction of the new logo. The costumers feel passionate about the original logo, they recognize themselves in the personality it represents. Gap simply betrayed their passion and their relationship with the brand while changing the logo. Luckily, the high street retailer solved the problem quickly by scrapping the new logo and bringing the old blue box logo back. The company learned from its mistake and will handle differently in the future.

Vienna Deschrijver

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/12/gap-logo-redesign

Lanvin To Design An Exclusive Collection For H&M!

Proceeded by Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, Stella McCartney in 2006, Victor and Rolf (with Madonna) in 2007, Jimmy Choo in 2008 and Sonia Rykiel in 2009, Lanvin now has the honour to design the new fashion line for H&M in 2010.

Lanvin’s breaktrough

Jeanne Lanvin started her career in 1909. She and her colleagues became one of the oldest designer houses in Paris. It all started with Jeanne who was making clothes for her daughter Marie-Blanche de Polignac. Her daughter was noticed by wealthy women who wanted their daughters to wear the same clothes. And in no time Jeanne was designing clothes for mothers and daughters. That is how she became well known.

Lanvin’s collaboration with H and M

With  Lanvin’s artistic director Alber Elbaz, and menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver, H&M is going luxury. The collection represents a lot of strapless dresses in extravagant cloths, pumps, jackets for men and women. In one sentence : A must for all fashion victims among us. The collection was revealed to the world on November 2 through a film that you can see on this blog. Within 2 weeks from now we can go and buy the Lanvin collection! I can’t wait!! You?

Eloïse Lecluyse

Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NqxL4uwqHE&feature=fvst

Source:

http://www.lanvin.com/#/prehome

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Lanvin

http://www.hm.com/gb/press/pressreleases/__prfashion.nhtml?pressreleaseid=1081

A&F Finally in our little country!!

Good news for all die-hard Abercrombie fans among us.
The very first Abercrombie and Fitch store will soon be opened in our capital city.

But what is your opinion about this?

If you don’t know A&F you certainly should continue reading this message, one goal of A&F is to give a sporty but still elegant and classy image. People buying this brand are usually young, looking for comfort in their clothing, and still want to look fashionable and sporty. Isn’t this what most people want when wearing clothes? That’s why A&F has captured the heart of millions of youngsters all over the world.

But I don’t think that this is the main reason for the success of Abercrombie. It seems to me that the key to success of A&F was and still IS the concept of their stores. There is not much I can say about this, I think everyone has to experience that in his or her own way.There is one thing I can assure you:there are a lot of CUTE guys with no shirt and there is GREAT music!

Eloïse Lecluyse

Sources:

http://www.popularabercrombie.com/

http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category1_11203_10901_12266_-1_12203

http://www.viget.com/inspire/brand-personality/

http://www.abercrombie.com/anf/lifestyles/html/film.html