Brand Personality & Brand Ambassador – A Distinct Relationship
Friends,
in my last blog, I discussed about creating brand personality based on Aaker
model (1997). After posting the blog, out of the blue, the term Brand
Ambassador started creeping in my mind and I became curious to understand how a
company or organisation selects its brand ambassador to promote and market its product(s)
and or service(s) by using different mediums of communication – Offline &
Online, and whether it requires a detailed exercise to select a brand
ambassador who can do justice to the brand personality, hence this blog.
Every brand, being a distinct personality, has a blend of characteristics that form its unique character based
on Aaker (1997). As per Aaker, there are five different dimensions of a brand
personality (based on “Big Five” dimensions of a human personality), each
divided into a set of traits i.e. Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication
and Ruggedness. Each of the dimensions is meant to work together to create a
generalized scale of traits that a business can use to help determine its
brand’s personality.
Similarly, a brand ambassador humanizes the brand by
exemplifying its corporate identity, showing the target customers that the
corporate has a face. The brand ambassador believes in the brand and what it
represents and thinks about what the brand stands for i.e. corporate’s mission,
vision, and goals. But, when we say that the brand ambassador humanizes the
brand and is the face of the corporate or the organisation then the dimensions of
the brand personality he or she represents must be visible through his or her
overall personality and actions also. It
means that while finalizing someone to be the brand ambassador he / she should outwardly
i.e. physically (appearance, posture), Mentally (thoughts, ethics) and
emotionally (gesture, behaviour) symbolize the brand personality (based on “Big Five” dimensions of a human personality)
than only he or she can justify to be the brand ambassador and can create an
instant connect with brand’s target audience.
As per WIKIPEDIA….The
brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in appearance, demeanor, values and ethics. The
key element of brand ambassadors are their ability to use promotional strategies
that will strengthen the customer-product-service relationship and influence a
large audience to buy and consume more.
While brand identity is the
collection of elements that a company creates to portray an image to its
customer that is physical side
of a brand name, logo,
design, color, font etc. whereas brand
personality refers to the characteristics and emotions customers associate with
a brand that can be felt and experienced while interacting with the brand and in
return creates a loyal customer. So, in my opinion, when the brand
ambassador conveys the brand personality successfully through his or her
actions than it would also reinforce the brand identity.
To conclude; while finalizing
a brand ambassador we should, as far as possible, try to match the overall personality
of the person (to be appointed as brand ambassador) with our brand’s personality so as to create an authentic human
face of the corporate or organisation.
Thank you for reading
the blog.
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Nicely written Sir.
ReplyDeleteWell explained, sir. In this era of short lived choices and frequent introduction of upgrades or new items due to stiff competition, a brand ambassador should preferably have lasting value to restrain costs. Apart from advertisements, profile and conduct of brand ambassador should also be in line with brand values.
ReplyDeleteHighly calculated and calibrated craft based on afriendly acceptance of a brand and it's human face.Great deep diving effort.
ReplyDeleteCommendable effort indeed. Distinction between Brand Ambassador and Brand Personality explained very beautifully.
ReplyDelete