There was a funny routine on Saturday Night Live where Hillary Clinton played a bartender talking to an actress, playing Hillary Clinton. Aside from the benefit of showing Hillary’s human side, it made me think about sitting down and having a meeting with your brand. Who would walk through the door?
Imagine you are at a restaurant and you get to meet your brand, personified. Who is that person that sits with you and do they reflect back to you, the tone, and attitude and values you try to communicate in your brand? We often assume that as brand managers, we are communicating a clear and consistent message about what the brand represents. But would that be the case for you?
A client of mine recently redesigned their packaging to update it. At the core of their brand persona is sustainability and respect for the land. But they ended up with packaging that sent exactly the opposite signal with bright colors and no visual cues about their core message. They skipped writing a brand brief and instead just designed what they thought would sell off of the shelf.
If you have a thoughtful brand with messages about trust, integrity and stability, but you use Jim Carrey as a spokesperson, something is disconnected.
What Person Represents Your Brand Coming to Life?
There is a great little exercise I like to use to help explain this concept. Can you find a well-known person who, if they walked into your office, is the perfect representation of your brand? When big companies hire celebrities to do advertising, you try and find someone who captures the essence of your brand. Even if you aren’t going to spend big bucks for a celebrity endorsement, the exercise helps you home in on who is emblematic of your brand.
In my past life, I was VP Marketing for the Slim Jim brand. We sold a product that was not quite real (all kinds of odds & ends for ingredients) and yet had a bold and zesty taste. In fact, it had a snap to it that came from the lactic acid and spices. We used Macho Man Randy Savage, a professional wrestler to represent the brand in PR, ads and on the packaging. Like a Slim Jim, Randy was not real, nor was professional wrestling. He was the perfect celebrity to help communicate our story.
If your brand is smart, creative but a little crazy, maybe Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) would represent your product.
If your brand cares about the environment, is focused on preserving wildlife and animals and is a calming voice, maybe Jane Goodall would be the personification of your brand.
If your brand has a reputation and legacy of always being about high energy, risk-taking and fearless, your brand representative might be Robbie Knievel, the son of legendary daredevil Evil Knievel.
Finding the right person who represents your brand can help guide your marketing activities. It focuses your energy and gives you an easy shorthand. Does your marketing tactic align with your celebrity?
Who would you pick to be that representative of your brand?
Need help finding finding the right celebrity to represent your brand to help keep you aligned? Snap into a phone call.
