Designing Brand Personality Using the Power of Archetypes ...

Designing Brand Personality Using
the Power of Archetypes
Bachelor Paper I/II
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Registration no: 0810278850
at
Bachelor‘s v Programme
‚Business Consultancy International‘
Marketing and Sales
Supervisor:
Wiener Neustadt, 20.10.2010

Declaration of Integrity
I hereby confirm,
1. that I have written the essay at hand independently, that I have not
used any sources or materials other than those stated, nor availed
myself of any unauthorized resources, and
2. that I have not submitted this essay in any form as an examination
paper before, neither in this country, nor abroad.
3. that the electronic copy of this essay and the printed version are
identical.
Wiener Neustadt,
December 21, 2010
Date
Signature
- I -

Abstract in English:
Opposed to the functional advantages of the product, the brand has to distinguish
itself from others to be successful. In order to connect to the consumer, vie with the
competition and to achieve the strategic goals, the company has to develop an
independent identity. This brand identity is almost impossible to copy. The key facet of
brand identity is the brand personality (Jansen 2006), a set of human characteristics
associated with the brand(Aaker 1997).
There is a number of approaches that analyzed the process of creating the brand
personality. However, the increasing disappointment with traditional customer
research is causing greater tolerance of non-traditional ideas. One of them, reaching
into the past, is the theory of archetypes.
In this paper I focused on strategies how to design a brand personality for a company.
It is concerned with the topic on both theoretical and empirical level. In the
introductory part it defines the role of brand personality as a part of the brand
identity, researches and compares different theories in brand creation. The main body
of this paper analyzes the steps of the setting the relevant archetype and
demonstrates the strategy of creating brand personality by means of archetypes.
Finally there is a case study as an application of the theoretical part of the paper.
The overall goal of my work is to interpret a complex view on the given topic, richly
illustrated by examples and applications.
Keywords (at least 3, max. 6):
Brand personality, archetypes, big five dimensions, Gameboard, Jung, Aaker
Abstract in German:
Im Gegensatz zu den funktionalen Vorteilen eines Produktes muss sich die
Marke von anderen Marken unterscheiden, um erfolgreich zu sein. Um mit dem
Verbraucher in Verbindung zu treten, mit der Konkurrenz zu wetteifern und
die strategischen Ziele zu erreichen, muss das Unternehmen eine
eigenständige Identität entwickeln. Der Schlüsselaspekt der Markenidentität ist
die sogenannte Markenpersönlichkeit (Jansen 2006), eine Gruppe menschlicher
Eigenschaften, die mit der Marke verbunden sind (Aaker 1997).
Der zunehmende Verdruss über die Ergebnisse der traditionellen Kundenforschung
führt jedoch zu einer größeren Toleranz unkonventioneller Ideen. Eine davon ist die
ursprüngliche Theorie über die Archetypen.
In meiner Bachelorarbeit werde ich mich auf die Strategien konzentrieren,
die sich mit der Bildung einer Markenpersönlichkeit für ein Unternehmen
befassen. In der Einleitung wird die Rolle der Markenpersönlichkeit als ein Teil der
Markenidentität definiert, weiter werden verschiedene Theorien der Markenbildung
untersucht und verglichen. Im Hauptteil analysiere ich die Schritte bei der Festlegung
des entsprechenden Archetyps und stelle die Strategie der Bildung von
Markenpersönlichkeit mittels Archetypen dar. Jeder Schritt in diesem Teil wird anhand
eines praktischen Beispiels illustriert. Das Hauptziel meiner Arbeit ist, das
vorgegebene Thema in seiner Komplexität darzustellen und mit Beispielen und
Anwendungsmöglichkeiten zu belegen.
Keywords (at least 3, max. 6):
Brand personality, Archetypen, fünf Dimensionen, Gameboard, Jung, Aaker
- II -

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
1. THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING BRAND IDENTITY 2
1.1 BRANDS WITH IDENTITY 2
1.2 BRAND IDENTITY VS. BRAND PERSONALITY 3
2. RESEARCH OF THE BRAND PERSONALITY 4
2.1 ASSESSING AND MEASURING BRAND PERSONALITY 4
2.1.1 Traditional Processes 4
2.1.2 Non-traditional Processes 5
2.2 EXISTING THEORIES FOR CREATING BRAND PERSONALITY 6
2.2.1 The Former Scientific Methodologies and Scepticism 6
2.2.2 Aaker‟s dimensions 6
2.2.3 Jung‟s Behavioural Science 7
3. USE OF ARCHETYPES IN THE BRAND CREATION 8
3.1 DEFINING ARCHETYPES 8
3.1.1 The Definition of Archetypes in the Past 8
3.1.2 The Definition and Use of Jungian psychology today 9
3.2 CATEGORIZATION OF ARCHETYPES 9
3.2.1 Categorization of Archetypes according to the company’s
motivations: 12
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3.2.2 Categorization of Archetypes within Specific Industry Sectors
12
3.2.3 Categorization of Archetypes in different cultures 12
4. STEPS IN CREATING BRAND PERSONALITY 13
4.1 DEFINING THE COMPANY‟S VALUES 13
4.2 SETTING THE BRAND POSITIONING 14
4.3 MATCHING THE VALUES AND POSITIONING WITH ARCHETYPES 15
4.4 ADVERTISING AND EVALUATION ACCORDING TO THE CHOSEN ARCHETYPE 16
5. THE CASE STUDY – PANTENE PRO V 17
6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 19
LIST OF FIGURES 21
LIST OF TABLES 22
BIBLIOGRAPHY 23
APPENDIX 25
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Introduction
Opposed to the functional advantages of the product, the brand has to distinguish
itself from others to be successful. In order to connect to the consumer, vie with the
competition and to achieve the strategic goals, the company has to develop an
independent identity. This brand identity is almost impossible to copy. The key facet of
brand identity is the brand personality (Jansen 2006), a set of human characteristics
associated with the brand(Aaker 1997).
There is a number of approaches that analyzed the process of creating the brand
personality. However, the increasing disappointment with traditional customer
research is causing greater tolerance of non-traditional ideas. One of them, reaching
into the past, is the theory of archetypes.
In this paper I am going to focus on strategies how to design a brand personality for a
company. It is concerned with the topic on both theoretical and empirical level. In the
introductory part it defines the role of brand personality as a part of the brand
identity, researches and compares different theories in brand creation. The main body
of this paper analyzes the individual steps of the setting the relevant archetype and
demonstrates the strategy of creating brand personality by means of archetypes. Each
step in this part is also applied to a practical example.
The overall goal of my work is to interpret a complex view on the given topic, richly
illustrated by examples and applications.
1

1. The Importance of Creating Brand Identity
1.1 Brands with Identity
(Batey 2008) defined brand as a guarantee of a quality and trustworthy promise of
performance, consumer‟s perception and interpretation of a cluster of associated
attributes, benefits and values. Brand has developed into a very valuable marketing
concept over a past few decades.
In order to connect to the consumer, vie with the competition and to achieve strategic
goals, the company has to develop an independent identity for its brand. The
consumer wants to identify with the brand and feels connected with it. Paraphrasing
Kapfrerer in(Jansen 2006), “Having an identity means being who you are, following
your own, determined, but individual path”.
The ability to distinguish itself will increasingly need to come from the brand itself,
because as opposed to the functional advantages of the product, the brand identity is
almost impossible to copy. The brand personality is one of the key facets of brand
identity. (Jansen 2006) Associating the brand with the person, it saves consumers the
effort of the brand quality considerations, claims (Chernatony 2006) in her book. The
value added means no longer what the brand provides, but what it stands for
symbolically. (Riesenbeck and Perrey 2007)
At the turn of the century the concept of „identity‟ was the centre of attention. The
concept of identity connected the „inside-out‟ way of thinking of corporate
communication to the „outside-in‟ of marketing for years the predominant principle in
business. (Cretu and Brodie 2007)
An observation done by (Blanchart 2010) where he states: “A brand is a coherent set
of ideas in your consumer‟s mind. It is a personification of a product, service or even
an entire company.” Now brands are becoming more like people. Like a person, it has
its name, identity, personality and reputation. Furthermore, (Temporal 2010) found
out that the brand strength is highly correlated with the perception of the brand
personality.
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1.2 Brand Identity vs. Brand Personality
What is the difference between brand identity and brand personality? (Jansen 2006)
defined identity as “be who you are” and the personality “become who you should be”.
So, the brand identity represents the active substance of the brand along with its
enduring qualities reflected in a forward looking brand associations. As an outward
expression of the brand, including its name and visual appearance is a fundamental
means of consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand's differentiation from
competitors.
As mentioned above, the brand personality is the attribution of human personality
traits to a brand as a way to achieve differentiation. Usually done through long-term
above-the-line planning and advertising, appropriate packaging and graphics.
Although human and brand personality may share similar conceptualization, they
differ in their formation. The human personality traits are based on individual
behaviour, physical characteristics, attitudes and believes and demography.
The brand personality traits are a readiness to think or act in a similar fashion in
response to a variety of different stimuli or situations. (Schoormans 2009) showed
that consumers prefer products with a personality that fit their own personality:
extrovert consumers prefer extrovert products. Research furthermore has shown that
people can recognize personality traits in products and brands.
A consumer is a seeker of purely utilitarian benefit or a gain. In psychological terms,
(Batey 2008) determined three major elements of a personality.
Elements Drivers In the brand terms
Private personality
Public personality
thoughts, feelings,
ambitions, talents
how I want others to see
me
Overlaps the brand identity
The external aim
Attributed personality how others see me The nature of the
Table 1: Elements of a Personality, (Batey, 2008)
personality
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2. Research of the Brand Personality
2.1 Assessing and Measuring Brand Personality
2.1.1 Traditional Processes
Marketing professionals had become a bit too much mechanical, using already
standardized accepted rules of brand building and marketing communication.
Marketing itself became a mass produced product, a commodity lacking spirit and
authenticity. The market research on brand personality was limited due to the blur
definition of this concept and consumer preference kept being elusive. (Aaker 1997)
More and more brand experts lacked the some generalizable scale to measure it. From
the traditional efforts to measure and evaluate prevailed by ethnography. This is a
scientific research strategy that studies people, ethnic groups and their material and
spiritual culture. (Aaker 1997) points out that etnography gathers empirical data
through ad hoc techniques, such as checklists, photo-sorts or symbolic.
The focus shifted away from the stereotype marketing mantra: doing and
communicating whatever the consumer wants according to research. Business and
marketing professionals started to pay attention to their own, company‟s and brand‟s
inner values. (Schoormans 2009)
Over the past fifty years the mentality and approach of companies has progressively
evolved in several stages.
Identity
based
Figure 1: Stages of the Base in Brand Personality Design (Schoormans, 2009)
There were two kinds of scales for measuring the bran personality, both relied on the
relationship between human and brand personality. The first was a ad hoc scale and
was of an non-theoretical nature. This means the traits was selected arbitrarily. They
were used only for further researches. The second type was of a more theoretical
nature, based on human personality traits not yet validated for the use of brands.
Therefore those have also a questionable validity. (Aaker and Biel 1993)
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2.1.2 Non-traditional Processes
Increasing disappointment with traditional customer research is causing greater
tolerance of non-traditional ideas and making it more acceptable to talk about
archetypes in mainstream business. Growing interest in archetypes signals a
major transformation in marketers‟ attitudes about the misty regions behind the
curtains of consciousness. Everyone is looking for new answers.
With functionality, reliability, convenience, or price no longer sufficing for
differentiation, brands must compete on meaning. The best way to create “emotional
affinity” through meaning is to use archetypal images to fulfil basic human desires or
motivations and evoke deep emotions. 1 The narratives and meanings behind
archetypes let customers relate to brands by making brands seem alive.(Pearson and
Mark 2001)
Very common methods for assessing brand personality are currently analogies (by
qualitative depth interviews), drawings or free association. 2 A visual tool based
research is one of possible ways how to determine the right brand personality.
(Schoormans 2009) suggests that by visualizing and image presentation of main
personality traits we can avoid deviations in interpretations of the verbal concepts.
Especially compared with verbal language, visual image represents the information
consisting of spatial, non-arbitrary and continuous characteristics.
Gradually, a selected group of applicants chooses the most fitting images to the
associations of the company. The aim is to develop not one, but more personalities for
the brand: valid view on the brand personality of the own brand, on an ideal brand
personality for the brand, on the brand personality of competitors and on the brand
personality as seen by customers.
Next, (Riesenbeck and Perrey 2007) used the Gameboard Model proposed by
McKinsey. It is designed to map the celebrities and the brand portfolios in a certain
category to highlight affinities. (see Figure 2 and further description in the section 4)
1 For the definition of archetypes ,see the section 3.
2 The methods are discussed in more detail in section 4.
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2.2 Existing Theories for Creating Brand Personality
2.2.1 The Former Scientific Methodologies and Scepticism
One of the most famous philosophers Rene Descartes claims in his books, that the
pure mind has no connection to the body. This implies that only when pure mind
operates independently of emotions is the mental output credible. “I think therefore I
am”. But growing stream of research undermines this paradigm. The neurologist
(Damasio 1994) monitored his patients and concluded that brains cannot form models
of self and relationship with self to the world beyond their bodies. He set the base of
the philosophy oppositely:”I am. Therefore I think.”
Cognitive scientists have always argued that the consciousness is the sensation of self.
The philosophy behind this claim is that the immaterial thought in our minds is linked
to the material substance in our bodies – emotionally based consumer thinking.
2.2.2 Aaker’s dimensions
In her research (Aaker 1997) developed a theoretical framework of the brand
personality construct by determining the number and nature of five dimensions. Each
Brand
Personality
Sincerity Excitement Competence Sophistication Ruggedness
Down to Earth
Daring
Reliable
Upper Class
Outdoorsy
Honest
Spirited
Intelligent
Charming
Though
Wholesome
Imaginative
Successful
Cheerful
Up-to-Date
Table 2: "Big Five" Dimensions and their Facets (Aaker, 1997)
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of the dimensions has its own facets drivers. The main objective was to identify brand
personality dimensions as perceived in consumer minds rather than the individual
differences among responses of people to the brands. framework and the scale are
generalizable across all product categories.
The model was based on the “Big Five” human personality dimensions
(Extraversion/introversion, Agreeableness, Consciousness, Emotional stability and
Culture). Whereas agreeableness and sincerity both innate part of warmth and
acceptance, extroversion and excitement capture the idea of social ability, energy and
activity and conscientiousness and competence both connote dependability,
responsibility and security. According to (Aaker and Biel 1993), her sincerity,
excitement and competence shape human personality, sophistication and ruggedness
indicates to the dimension that individuals want but not necessarily have. This
encapsulates a focus on the upper class, sexy and glamorous.
The model was developed for the American market. However, brands carry cultural
meaning - specific personality traits among cultures. To answer to the cross-cultural
differences (Aaker 1997) redefined her model for Japan and Spain. Further research
was conducted by other researchers, who explored Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,
and Korea. Although, the models all are culturally secific, they all show resemblance to
Aaker‟s five-factor model that is still the most widely used brand personality model on
worldwide scale.
2.2.3 Jung’s Behavioural Science
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist studied dreams. He pioneered the theory of archetypes
in early 90s. Already at that time he found out that some themes recurring in the
dreams of people everywhere – they were universal themes and characters that are
found in myth and legend. His profound observations showed that this inward
experience was essentially the same in all human beings - sharing the same instincts,
the same impulses, conflicts or fears. These themes, in one word archetypes, are
short-cuts to eternal truths. 3
“Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is
an act of courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that
constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal conditions of
existence, coupled with the greatest possible freedom of self-determination.”(Jung
1963)
3 For the definition of archetypes, see the section 3.
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In comparison with Aaker, Jungarian theory of archetypes has different perspective on
human behaviour. It based the drivers of customer consumption on universal
predetermined human patterns latent in all human beings. (Heding, Knudtzen, and
Bjerre 2008)
Jung in his work of art (Jung 1963)divided our psyche into three levels:
1. Ego – conscious mind
2. Personal unconscious - subjects that can become conscious, like memories
3. Collective unconscious - psychic inheritance, experiences as species, knowledge
as we were born with
“Archetypes are characteristic patterns that pre-exist in the collective psyche of the
human race that repeat themselves eternally in the psyche of individual human beings
and determine the basic ways that we perceive and function as psychological
beings.”(Jung 1963)
In our brains, they work as dispositions in clusters of dispositional neurons. These
neurons then respond to the given stimuli by creating moods and relationships
towards the stimuli. For example for caring for us (no matter if in real life or simulated
in advertising), we develop the love chemical oxytocin, which uplifts our mood.
Therefore a marketer should perceive the dispositional neurons as the trigger of
predisposed responses to the content of his message. (Wolfe 2003)
On the Jung‟s foundation was based the widely used Meyer Briggs personality
assessment. It uses DRM – Developmental Relationship Marketing, using archetypal
structures that predispose attributes of behaviour. DRM is then most effective when is
based on consumers commonalities, rather than their differences. (Pearson and Mark
2001)
3. Use of Archetypes in the Brand Creation
3.1 Defining Archetypes
3.1.1 The Definition of Archetypes in the Past
An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype:
"'Frankenstein' , 'Dracula' , 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' , the archetypes that have
influenced all subsequent horror stories" (New York Times).
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The original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on
which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
3.1.2 The Definition and Use of Jungian psychology today
In Jungian psychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived
from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.
“Archetypes are like riverbeds which dry up when the water deserts them, but
which can be found again at any time. Archetype is like an old watercourse
along which the water of life has flowed in this channel, the more likely it is, the
sooner or later the water will return to its old bed.”(Jung 1963)
Archetypes are forms or images of a collective nature worldwide as constituents of
myths and as individual products of unconscious. These are imprinted and hardwired
into our psyches.
A collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought or image, universally
present in individual psyches. Jung divided our psyche into three levels:
1. Ego – conscious mind
2. Personal unconscious - subjects that can become conscious, like memories
3. Collective unconscious - psychic inheritance, experiences as species, knowledge
as we were born with
3.2 Categorization of Archetypes
A detailed theory and definitions according to the Swiss psychologist Mr. Jung and
mentioning the main traits of his 12 archetypes as an important stream in our pop
culture. (Damasio 1994)
The best way to create “emotional affinity” through meaning is to use archetypal
images to fulfil “basic human desires and motivations and [evoke] deep emotions and
yearnings”. (Pearson and Mark 2001) The narratives and meanings behind archetypes
let customers relate to brands by making brands seem alive. The authors list 12
archetypes arranged along 4 groups of motivations. Each archetype fulfils a deepseated
need:
Motivation Archetypes Drivers
Stability and
Control
Creator Craft something new, non-conformist, selfexpression,
endeavored to tap into the human
imagination, led by vision, creating something
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tangible and endurable, give consumers choices,
achieve immortality, innovative in artistic and design
Belonging and
Enjoyment
Risk and
Mastery
Caregiver
Ruler
Jester
Regular
Person
Lover
Hero
Outlaw
One of most powerful archetypes, trusted, an icon of
home, security and continuity, pure natural and
gentle, altruist, moved by compassion, generosity,
and desire to help others, feared of instability, hold
promise of innocence, empathy, communication,
consistency,
Exerts control, leader, role model, administrator,
knows what‟s good for people, avoids uncontrollable
change, high-status products to enhance power, lays
down the category law, standards, the ideal
behaviour, security and stability in chaotic world
Has fun, energy, irreverence, mischief, desire for
change, interaction, great brand identification,
impulsive, spontaneous, present, ridicule category
conventions, dismiss of self-important and overconfident,
established brands
Be fine with self, down to earth, friendly and
supportive brands, unselfish, helpful, gives people a
sense of belonging, or being part of a group,
environment where everyone knows your name
Give/find love, romantic and glamorous, dreamlike,
dashing, chivalrous, sensual, experiences joy, delight
& ecstasy, sex and seduction, idealist, longing for a
better world
Act courageously, strong, inspirational, motivational
and disciplined, shows what‟s possible if we believe,
represents power, honour, success and victory ,
create innovations that will have a major impact on
the world and can solve a major social problem
Breaks the rules, rebel, challenges the convection,
release of pent-up passions, lets us out off the
stream, helps retain values, paves the ways for
revolutionary new attitudes, excitement from being
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“bad”, admired, but powerful and feared.
Independence
and
Fulfilment
Magician
Innocent
Affects transformation of idea into material reality,
evokes amazement through intuition, makes
impossible happen, exotic or ancient origin of the
product, dynamic change of the category, highly
innovative
Retain/renew faith, feminine, seeking for the good in
life, potential of beauty in all things, spontaneous,
trusting dependent child, nostalgic, tapping into
strongly into the emotions, purity, goodness,
morality, simplicity, straightforward values, seen as
truthful, honest and reliable
Explorer Authentic, pioneer, individual, own values,
challenges to try new, independent, self sufficient,
adventurous, daring, represents self-discovery, lifealtering
experiences, trial, promotes new products,
something they believe in
Sage Understand the world, thoughtful, independent
attitude, represents wisdom, asceticism, freedom and
destiny, tells the truth, original, holds own opinion,
need for autonomy, enlightens consumers, provide
expertise or information, or encourage customers to
think.
Table 3:The Hero and the Outlaw, Building Extraordinary Brands through the Power of
Archetypes from Centre for Archetypal Studies and Applications(Pearson and Mark 2001)
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3.2.1 Categorization of Archetypes according to the company’s
motivations:
Company motivation/driver
Change, Risk
Belonging, Care
Structure
Discovery, Knowledge
Archetype
Outlaw, magician, jester
Regular guy, caregiver, lover
Ruler ,hero, creator
Sage, Explorer, Innocent
Table 4 Categorization of Archetypes according to the Company's Motivation
3.2.2 Categorization of Archetypes within Specific Industry Sectors
Archetypes can be used to understand the dynamics of the category my brand
operates in. Once a deep research done, the variables of the industry sector and its
product categories within become clear. We either apply the archetypes which are
commonly used in the category, or use them as an distinguishing element to the
competition.
One of the great examples of the strategic use of archetypes is politics. Selecting from
twelve archetypes, the respondents in the research chose four equally weighted
character qualities for the ideal leader: Caregiver, Hero, Sage and Regular Guy. A
leader composed from a mixture from these archetypes can provide clarity of vision,
intelligence and analytical competence, while being genuine, practical and empathetic
to the needs of the people.
3.2.3 Categorization of Archetypes in different cultures
The focus will be given especially on comparison of cultures determined by their
nature. The application of archetypes is based on the traits that are predominated in
the specific country. Roughly, we can divide countries according to several areas:
1. Collectivistic vs. Individualistic
2. Past and Present orientation
3. High context vs. Low Context
4. Power distance
For example In collectivistic countries where people value the interdependence,
similarity and conformity, consumers are likely to choose brands similar to their
group-members. On the other hand, in the countries of individualistic culture, in which
12

the autonomy, independence and uniqueness in dominant, consumers rather use
brands to express their difference from the group-members.
Overall, this implies that the use of archetypes is independent from the cultures across
the world. The Aaker‟s model of the new “Big Five” dimensions was developed for the
American market. However, brands carry cultural meaning, moreover specific
personality traits among cultures. To answer to the cross-cultural differences Aaker
gradually redefined her model for Japan and Spain. Further research was conducted by
other researchers, who explored various brand personality models for different
Western and Eastern countries. Although, the models all have their cultural specificity,
they all show resemblance to the model on worldwide scale.
4. Steps in Creating Brand Personality
A brand without a personality has no warmth and the consumer will treat it likewise,
no loyalty and high price sensitivity. Therefore the process of creating a strong brand
identity is long approach of searching and finding company‟s values and goals as well
as defining the reason the company offers for its customer to choose it instead of its
competition.
The personality traits are associated in both direct and indirect ways. The former is
done by company‟s employees, the CEO and the brand product endorsers. The letter
implies to the product category associations, product-related attributes, brand name,
advertising style, symbol or logo, price and distribution channel. Going step by step
through the procedure bellow helps us to be consistent in creating a great personality
with a long-lasting effect in sales and customer satisfaction.
4.1 Defining the Company’s Values
I order to create a powerful and long-lasting brand, first we need a strong foundation.
In a corporate terms, the foundation is a set of company‟s values. This means, to
define ways in which all organization‟s member will work together. They include
beliefs about teamwork, commitment to quality, integrity and customer orientation.
When planning them, we should avoid vague statements of intent, rather state
concrete action plans, detailed timing and accomplishment criteria. By doing this we
ensure that the values are shared on both, the corporate and job-specific level, to
make them come alive.
The next step would be outlining the external appearance to the customer – the brand
values – to strengthen and reinforce the effect of corporate values. (Jansen 2006) As
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an example, if the reliability was a corporate value, the brand value could be
dependability.
The company values and the brand personality should be clearly defined, without
using any professional lingo. By simple words create a lively picture of a personality
that is absolutely clear to anyone. Avoiding the strategic words that are too abstract to
manage a brand in daily business we avoid also the strict guidelines that are too
inflexible. The characteristic is to be also multi-dimensional, which means,
concentrating on more traits at the same time, to create more powerful and richer
image in peoples‟ minds.
In case, the corporate and brand values do not match, it might cause confusion among
both, the employees and the customer. Therefore the integration and the transparency
of information among involved people at all levels is required. When developing an
extensive training, is by analyzing the behaviour of employees who have been
identified as performing to very high standard on a particular value.
4.2 Setting the Brand Positioning
Setting the marketing positioning and the brand positioning are close related terms,
but does not mean the same.
As briefly mentioned earlier in section 2, the Gameboard by McKinsey (Riesenbeck and
Perrey 2007)enables to easily identify the brand positioning according to the brand
personality. It lists archetypes describing brands in their entirety, method of multidimensional
scaling to map bran personalities and their interdependencies. The
distance between points reflects the degree of similarity of perceived profiles. The
distance from the edge of the Gameboard indicates the degree of uniqueness.
Particularly this Gameboard mirrors the positions of selected brands in German market
alongside with the personalities of contemporary celebrities. The closer the brand to a
certain person, the stronger the brand perceived in terms of this characteristic relative
to companies.
As example: L‟Oreal represents Charm therefore inclines to the personality of the
celebrity of Julia Roberts.
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Figure 2:McKinsey Brand Personality Gameboard Map
Using the Gameboard we specify also the position of our competitors‟ personalities. By
knowing the competitive landscape from this perspective, it makes us easier to
differentiate. On the other hand by the help of Gameboard we determine partnerships
according to their values, resulting in high synergies in both parties.
The model is used mainly:
1. as a first step by mergers, acquisitions and consolidations
2. by designing the brand architecture and umbrella brand management
3. setting dimensions of brand personality
4.3 Matching the Values and Positioning with Archetypes
The positioning of the brand has to be credible an achievable and to embody the brand
promise. Therefore if the positioning is reliable and good manners and honesty, as its
core traits it must also be reflected in appearance and behaviour of the sales team.
Not instead being a wild bunch of spirited passionate fellows.
(Schoormans 2009) showed that consumers prefer products with a personality that fit
their own personality: extrovert consumers prefer extrovert products. Research
furthermore has shown that people can recognize personality traits in products and
15

ands. It is probable that due to the abstractness of the brand personality, different
stakeholders have a different interpretation of personality traits might be suboptimal 4 .
By means of qualitative in-depth interviews, as mentioned in section 2 we aim to
determine the concrete personality traits using archetypes as stereotypes. There is a
number of methods how to achieve this.
1. Analogies – a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a
particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the
target)
2. Drawings – the visual image first appeared in our mind when hearing the brand
in some context
3. Free associations – a stimulation of an associative pattern by a word or the
connection and production of other words in response to a given word, done
spontaneously as a game, creative technique, or in a psychiatric evaluation.
4.4 Advertising and Evaluation according to the Chosen
Archetype
Generally, the advertising are to increase the awareness and promote products by
audio-visual communication. In case of advertising with the use of archetypes, the
main principle is that the thoughts that arise in consumer minds do not rise
consciousness only. They tend to work in the background, shaping the consumer‟s
archetypal reactions to those ads. Those are the stereotypic ways the marketer
expects according to the predetermined behaviour towards the specific
archetype.(Wolfe 2003)
After completing the process the process of the brand personality design, it is
necessary to ask a number of important questions, which help us check, whether the
direction of our approach matched the overall business and marketing strategy. Do our
brand values and personalities „fit‟ with the archetypal values outlined? Is there any
disparity in communication? What is my archetype‟s vice? What does this say about
my brand? What are the other archetypes within the category? The process of
evaluation is one of the most significant steps in creating a meaningful and aligned
brand personality.
4 Not the highest standard or quality.
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5. The Case Study – Pantene Pro V
5.1 Company background
When P&G bought the brand Pantene, there was no brand in hair care that was bigger
than a 5% share, and the category leader basically changed every three years. After a
complete re-launch of the brand identity, 20% share has been achieved with the
category leadership for 15 years. Now let us take a look into their concept of the
archetypal brand personality strategy.
5.2 Designing the brand personality step by step
The challenge was to go beyond the left brain, the product attributes, to create an
emotional connection with their consumers, based on an breakthrough idea. The
emotional contribution that the brand brings is completely anchored into what the
product does. When Pantene transforms women‟s‟ hair, she feels inspired to turn an
everyday moment into a shining moment.
1. Defining company‟s values
The Pantene‟s values can be characterized as innovation, nature and transformation.
This all should be applied not only to their marketing strategy, but to the principal
corporate motivation that drives employees on each organizational level. Everyone in
the company knows their main objectives: the commitment to help women in their
search for beauty, bring them the true beauty, allow them to be transformed to be
strong and confident as they want to be. (Pantene updated 2010)
2. Setting the positioning
The Pantene shampoos were repositioned from regular hair care products into a set of
professional hair styling treatment. When choosing the archetype, Pantene instead of
following competition in the category by being either Caregiver, Innocent or Lover,
they positioned themselves as Magician. An dynamic transformer of the unimaginable
to the real. They can promise women‟ dreams come true using their products. The use
of this brand personality serves as an effective differentiator. This archetype was
aligned with a strategic target group of young women. They represent the symbol of a
change and are themselves less reluctant to change.
The brand department tried to reconnect the hair to the woman, because a woman
wants beautiful hair as an expression of her own beauty, she doesn‟t want it to have a
life of its own that exists separate from her. She wants it to express who she is.
17

Moreover they separate their portfolio of shampoos into 7 categories so that they can
make each woman happy and confident. The categories: Fine Hair Solutions, Medium-
Thick Hair Solutions, Colour Hair Solutions, Curly Hair Series, Classic Care Solutions,
Restoratives and Nature Fusion.
Here is the new Pantene marketing campaign: “Think your hair is too rough and tough
to tame? Put Pantene Smooth and Strong to the test and your hair will have found its
match. It gently detangles your unruly hair making it smooth and strong so you can be
the boss again! Pantene's nourishing Pro-V shampoo formula with Amino-S, when
used with Pantene Pro-V conditioner helps evenly restructure hair from root to tip
detangling your unruly hair making it strong, silky and noticeably smoother in 10 days
or less! Pantene is the first step to irresistibly smooth hair”. (Pantene updated 2010)
bringing Pantene values to life:
Sense of
Self-
Respect of
Friendship,
Self-belief
Enjoyment
well being
respect
others
warmth
of life
Feel good
Innovative
Feel good
Feel good
about self
formula
about self
about self
Good mood
On top of
Help to
Others
On top of
things
shine among
relate to me
things
others
better
More
Feel healthy
Feel
More
More time
Make a good
confident
refreshed
confident
for other
impression
outgoing
things
Look
Gives self
Quick visible
Professional
good/ look
confidence
change
design effect
best
Feel clean Neat touch Wow effect Easier to
work with
hair
Feel clean
Makes hair
Makes hair
Immediate
No
Lathers
Conditions
feel clean/
soft silky,
effect
residue/
hair
hair/
smell nice
weighty
easy rinse
quickly
treats hair
shiny
Table 5 Hierarchical Value Map for Shampoo Category
3. Advertising in accordance with the brand personality
18

Advertising concentrated mainly on the “wow” hair visuals. Expressing the Magician
archetype is clear and coherent across all advertising vehicles. (see the Figure 4 and
Figure 3). From mass media communication through direct advertising the message
evokes imagery and sophisticated innovation. Use of famous endorsers, such as
One of the key personality promoting tools is the product design. Everyone connects
the brand with the characteristic pearl bottle with new logo including golden hair in it.
Next, the use of endorsers plays an incredible role in the advertising.
6. Conclusion and Recommendations
(Aaker and Biel 1993)authors of Building Strong Brands, say: "One way to be more
efficient in marketing is just to do things right the first time around. It starts with
getting the identity right. If you have a brand identity that works, you‟re just
monumentally efficient.”
This paper attempted to illustrate the importance of how imbuing personality into a
brand can enhance consumer bonding and the interaction between consumer self and
the brand personality. Creating a coherent personality through the wide array of brand
activities is done by ensuring that brand personality is expressed in all the behavior
and communication of the brand. It is necessary to pay a close attention to pioneer
brand users and target consumers, because as described in the chapters of this paper
the brand personality is created through a cyclical interaction between the brand and
consumers.
By analyzing several processes for creating the brand personality I expressed the need
for the new non-traditional ideas in the brand personality research comparing them to
the traditional customer researches. Profoundly I focused on the theory of archetypes
and their application to the brands in different industry sectors and cultures.
The different techniques to discover archetypes and making clear connections between
a key archetypal persona and the preliminary brand- product- or consumer-related
findings can put an entirely new spin on study insights and next steps with these
benefits:
1. Provide revolutionary yet imaginative mean for the creation of a new or the recreation
of an existing brand‟s personality and essence
2. Introduce and further explore new dimensions of a creative campaign once the
right archetype is established
3. Generate new, breakthrough ideas in unexpected ways by using a comparative
archetypal approach
19

4. Develop and evaluate new products, creative concepts, and strategic marketing
tactics for deeper resonance and motivation
Last but not least, both internal and external variables are manipulated systematically
which requires profound and consistent control and measurement of the brand
personality. The brand personality increases the brand preference and usage, emerges
emotions in consumers and increases trust and loyalty.
Although more and more marketers and scientists are concerned with the issue of the
brand personality, there is still gap in the knowledge and further research needs to be
done. Quite few is known about the attitude formation under conditions of low
motivation ability, or the psychological mechanisms by which brand personality works
across cultures.
20

List of Figures
Figure 1: Stages of the Base in Brand Personality Design 4
Figure 2:McKinsey Brand Personality Gameboard Map 15
Figure 3: Thailand Pantene Ad 25
Figure 4: Pantene Ad Violistin 26
- 21 -

List of Tables
Table 1: Elements of a Personality 3
Table 2: "Big Five" Dimensions and their Facets 6
Table 3:The Hero and the Outlaw, Building Extraordinary Brands through the Power of
Archetypes from Centre for Archetypal Studies and Applications 11
Table 4 Categorization of Archetypes according to the Company's Motivation 12
Table 5 Hierarchical Value Map for Shampoo Category 18
22

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24

Appendix
Typical Pantene ad, promoting
the magician archetype through
the visionary transformation.
The shampoo is endorsed by
Thailand celebrities. Magician
brands are also highly
innovative, and are often related
to a very new, contemporary
product. As you can see, the
visual of the effect of
contemporary new ingredients
and formulas included in the ad.
Tagline: transform your hair in
fourteen days.
Figure 3: Thailand Pantene Ad
25

Another example which promotes the
brands core values. In this case, however,
indirectly: It is a story about a young deaf
violinist with a dream. She wants to
succeed on a music contest, but nobody
believes in her. The ad ends up with
happy end and gives the consumer an
insight from a creative angle about the
shampoo.
The tagline: „You can shine.“
Figure 4: Pantene Ad Violinist
26