Imagine your restaurant as a person.
Now describe that person using two or three adjectives. Perhaps this person is successful and accomplished. Maybe they’re thoughtful and family-orientated. Perhaps they are elegant and sophisticated, or care-free and sassy.
Before you even start planning your marketing campaigns, you need to define your brand personality. Why? Because this will help you learn how to speak to your ideal customers.
What is a brand personality?
When a set of human characteristics are attributed to a brand name, this is known as brand personality. Providing a brand with a personality in this way enables potential customers to identify, connect and remember it.
Brand personality is not to be confused with imagery. A successful brand personality isn’t simply visual; it conjures up an emotional response in the mind of the ideal consumer.
How should a business choose its brand personality?
First thing’s first, you need to sit down and define your target audience. Who are your ideal customers? Write some bullet points; draw your dream customer; get creative. You know your business and you know who you want walking through your restaurant doors.
Once you have established this specific customer segment, you can begin to create a consistent set of character traits for your brand; character traits which your target customer base will relate to and enjoy.
When you see a famous brand on television, in a magazine or on your social feed, you probably already associate them with a particular feeling. This is because they have carefully crafted their brand personality in order to shape the way people feel about their product, service or mission. Clever, huh?
Take Coca Cola for example:
They have carefully shaped themselves into a fun, family-orientated brand that people know and love. They’ve carefully selected their brand logo, colours, bottle shape and advertising methods to create a friendly, warm and caring brand that customers associate with a warm and fuzzy feeling. There’s no denying that the Coca Cola brand evokes positive emotions.
Remember, customers are more likely to relate to your brand if they recognise their own characteristics in your brand personality.
The core of brand personality
Here are some adjectives to get you started on bringing your brand to life:
- Unique
- Caring
- Funny
- Trustworthy
- Creative
- Straightforward
- Rebellious
According to the Aaker brand personality model, these characteristics should fit into one of these core dimensions:
Here are some examples of brand personalities and how they fit into the core dimensions:
1. Excitement
Brand personality adjectives: carefree, spirited and youthful
Brand personality example: Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee marketing campaigns are always fun, youthful and exciting, attracting a young audience who like to hang out in their local coffee shop.
Their brand personality evokes a warm glow, just like their hot drinks.
2. Sincerity:
Brand personality adjectives: kindness, thoughtfulness, family-orientated
Brand personality example: McDonalds
McDonalds is the epitome of a family-friendly restaurant, with fun and cheerful advertising that appeals to all ages. Their famous tagline, ‘I’m loving it’ shows off what their brand is all about: enjoying life together and feeling happy (the children’s ‘happy meal’ is also aptly named).
3. Ruggedness:
Brand personality adjectives: rough, tough, outdoorsy, athletic
Brand personality example: The North Face
The North Face’s marketing materials simply scream ruggedness. Everything from the mountain in their logo, their bold and daring colours and powerful language helps them to sculpt an outdoor clothing brand that customers feel they can rely on for their outdoor adventures.
4. Competence:
Brand personality adjectives: reliable, hard-working, secure
Brand personality example: Dyson
All of Dyson’s marketing campaigns throughout the years have portrayed them as a clever and competent brand that customers can count on. The simple imagery and clear and concise language shows them off as a reliable brand that sets them apart from their competitors.
5. Sophisticated:
Brand personality adjectives: Elegant, prestigious, luxurious
Brand personality example: Hilton Hotels
The Hilton Hotels brand is notoriously sophisticated, luxurious and upper class. Their brand has been carefully crafted to attract a particular type of customer and their marketing campaigns are consistent across the globe.
Surely I should be planning my marketing campaigns rather than worrying about brand personality?
Not at all! Before you even start thinking about your marketing campaigns, you need to define your brand personality.
Once your brand personality has been established, it will improve the clarity of your communication with your customers and create consistency across your marketing activities.
Why are brand personalities so important?
Firstly, creating a brand personality helps to differentiate your brand from the competition, due to the unique set of characteristics that your customers will associate with your brand. What makes you different to the restaurant across the street?
Your brand personality will help customers understand what you’re all about, attracting a certain type of consumer who relates to your business and product.
This leads to the customer feeling connected to the brand. When they think about the brand, certain emotions will be evoked, which in turn will create positive associations with the brand, increasing brand loyalty.
When customers find a brand they like, they tend to stick to it. When making a purchase, the most important aspect for the customer is how the purchase makes them feel.
In simple terms, your brand allows you to make a personal connection with your audience, and even make consumer think certain things about your business even before they step through the doors.
Finally, remember to be consistent
Your brand personality should be consistent throughout all of your marketing materials so that customers recognise you straight away when they see you. Therefore, you need to make sure that your logo, colours, fonts, taglines, packaging and marketing strategies all reflect your brand personality.
If you want to be known for something and remembered, and to become a leading brand within the restaurant sector, you need to invent a solid brand personality.
