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Brand Characters Never Get Depressed

We’ve been fielding a lot of calls over the last few weeks from folks wanting to spruce up their brand characters. Since we started our practice many years ago with a focus on brand characters, that definitely got our attention.

Most of the time, brand characters don’t get much respect. Agency creatives often view them as tired or clichéd and marketers worry about how something so old can ever be “relevant.” But brand characters have amazing potential to connect emotionally with an audience, and when economic times are tough they can be like money in the bank. While this ability to connect is commonly accepted on an anecdotal basis, the latest technological/medical breakthroughs offer a scientific hypothesis as to why brand characters are so effective.

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Michigan, using fMRIs to study brain responses, have demonstrated that people’s brains process personality traits differently for humans than they do for brands. Brand personality traits are processed in a portion of the brain that analyzes objects rather than in the portion that typically processes the traits associated with people. “Advertisers should keep in mind that when they use personality terms for a product –reliable, trustworthy, cheerful–consumers are not associating those purely human qualities to the products in question,” said lead author Carolyn Yoon, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Business School. One solution, the study‘s authors note, could be to employ brand characters like Tony the Tiger or Ronald McDonald. Yoon believes that it’s more likely for brand characters to be processed in the “person” regions of the brain, allowing for emotional connections to “stick” to the brand in a way that they would not in the absence of a character.

Of course, the great brands succeed in building a deep emotional relationship with their audience that seems to overcome this apparent brain deficit. But in tough times, it’s a good idea to accept help wherever you can find it–even if the person offering you a hand up is a cartoon. 

So keep your eyes peeled over the coming months to see how many characters reemerge. The tough economic conditions are likely to be a boon for brand characters. If you have a brand character of your own, you might consider dusting it off, sprucing it up and putting it back out there. In these uncertain times, your brand character could be a great hedge against eroding brand equity. In any case, I’d love to know if you are observing the same phenomenon that we are seeing.

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“For B2B businesses, Character is a powerful tool. I have used Character three times in my leader marketing roles, 2x were in B2B businesses. The Character work was the foundation of a transformation in product innovation/commercialization, rebranding, M&A, sales growth, and employee engagement. Character’s work helped us take dead brands and make them relevant again and helped us establish lesser-known brands with high share in a B2B market. What’s so unique is that you don’t create something that the ‘marketing talking heads’ think the company needs, you use the history, culture and DNA that is already part of the company to bring out the true story that is unique to only your brand. The Character team is so special, genuine, and has the perfect mix of creative and business knowledge to lead cross-functional executives through this process. ”
—Melissa Minihan, Head of Digital Commerce & Marketing, Veritiv Corporation

“Character gets to the heart of what good storytelling is all about. They’ve helped Wendy’s focus on what makes us unique, different and special and that’s helped us to get people’s attention, keep their interest and keep the business growing. We compete with much larger brands, but by being overt about how we want to attack those differences, we’ve been able to have a lot of tension and conflict in the story that we are telling. That allows us to keep the story fresh and to fuel it. The more we do that the more positive attention we get as a brand and the more the brand continues to grow, which, in turn, builds our confidence in our storytelling and keeps the courage level high.”

—Kurt  Kane, President U.S. & Chief Commercial Officer, Wendy’s Corporation

“I’ve been through Character’s story framework process four times in my career, and it has always added extraordinary value. It was a central piece of Walmart’s rebranding effort in 2006, as we sought a new articulation of our brand narrative and our purpose. It’s an equally powerful tool for us now, as Walmart defines its place in a rapidly transforming retail environment. And we are currently using it to do the same for Sam’s Club.”

—Tony Rogers, Chief Marketing Officer, Walmart

“Character’s approach to brand building is unlike any other in the business. Jim and his team use the timeless truths of human storytelling to unlock story potential and connect deeply with brand audiences. I’ve worked with Character throughout my career, and my experience with Tabasco was as fascinating, inspiring, and productive as ever. 

Character worked with our team not only to help us re-examine and re-articulate the elemental truths of our iconic global brand but also to develop and apply practical tools that make the brand story framework user-friendly for our entire organization. 

I whole-heartedly recommend Character to any brand marketer who is looking to make intuitive and durable connections with their consumer.”

Lee Susen, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Tabasco / McIlhenny Company