What is Brand Character and why is it important?
Simply put, Brand Character is the root of a brand’s identity. It’s the perception current and potential customers have of a company and where that feeling comes from. Brand character starts in one of three places: the logo, the visual execution, or the interaction. Successful brands lean on one but master two and sometimes all three. Brand character is important because determining where your character comes from is one of the first steps to developing authentic brand identities and stronger relationships with your customers. We’ll look at a few ways well-known brands express their character and go through the pros and cons of each. Hopefully this will help shed some light on your own brand’s character and how to differentiate in the marketplace.
The Logo
The easiest way to express brand character is through the logo. You’ll see this often with food companies (think Burger King) but it exists elsewhere as well. Logos with character easily explain what a company primarily does. If you’d never seen a Burger King before but drove into town and saw their logo, you’d assume you could probably get a burger there. The same can’t be said for a competitor like McDonald’s whose golden arches have nothing to do with food. This isn’t to say Burger King’s logo is better than McDonalds’. McDonald’s has simply emphasized their brand character in other areas, namely, their messaging: fast, available, and convenient.
Other character logos serve the same purpose. One might argue the arrow in FedEx’s logo is a way to show how they move products and packages from here to there. More obvious examples include Little Caesar’s whose mascot is expertly spearing two pies. Chick-fil-a leans into their offerings with a C adorned in chicken features and TiVo’s anthropomorphic icon is quite literally a television.
This can serve companies well if you want to associate your logo with your product as much as possible. The downside of a character logo, however, is it can make it difficult to diversify your offerings in a way your customers will think is genuine. For example, when McCafe came to the States in 2009, it quickly became a cheaper alternative at a ‘fast and convenient’ place you might already be getting breakfast on the go. Conversely, BK Joe has come and gone twice unsuccessfully since 2007 because no one wants to buy gourmet-style coffee from a burger joint.
Character logos can also affect the perception of your brand to potential customers. Petco’s 2020 rebrand cleaned up the typeface and removed the beloved dog/cat icon “Ruff and Mews” that had identified the company for years. While one could argue they’ve fallen susceptible to minimalism, you could just as easily assume they removed the icon to say Petco has products for all pets, not just cats and dogs. After the customer response, Petco has confirmed the icon isn’t gone for good, but the extent to which they’ll use it remains to be seen.
Similarly, Pizza Hut rebranded in 2014 to a pizza sauce inspired swirl in a shift further away from their nostalgia based branding to a more obvious pizza related icon. In this way, Pizza Hut tried to inject more character into their logo but realized it may not be the right fit. Responses were mixed and they’ve since gone back to a logo from what some have called Pizza Hut’s ‘golden era’.
Ultimately, brands that emphasize their character through their logos have chosen to dig into one product or service and do it well. On the other side of the spectrum, some companies have opted for more minimal logos and strong brand identity that allows them to be more flexible in how they represent themselves.
The Visual Execution
Brands that offer a wide variety of goods or services can use a consistent but easily recognizable visual identity to keep all of their products under one umbrella. Ideally, you want to be able to own either a color or basic shape (or both) and plaster it everywhere. Companies like Target, IKEA or Adidas have incredibly minimal logos but use specific colors, elements and geometry across their brands to identify them. Target’s bullseye and ownership of the color red make it easy to spot an ad. The ubiquity with which they use the bullseye in commercials means you can often tell it’s a Target ad well before the wordmark appears at the end. Adidas has done something similar with the three lines from their logo. Seen most often in professional sports jerseys, Adidas’ accents are instantly recognizable in a way other manufacturers’ aren’t.
While some brands will use this technique as a way to create a unified visual ecosystem across multiple services, other brands use this method to carve out space within their specific industry. H&R Block’s logo is an incredibly minimal bright green square but their brand execution uses these elements frequently yet tastefully. Other companies claim a specific color and incorporate it as much as possible. UPS’s company is entirely brown right down to their driver’s socks and many could spot a blue Tiffany bag a mile away.
Claiming a color is an easy way to differentiate yourself early especially as a new brand. By looking at which colors are underrepresented in the industry, you can find a gap and stand out to your customers. Purple, the mattress company, has only been around for a few years but, because they’ve been able to solidify the color purple with their brand, they’ve created a recognizable identity for themselves in a rapidly growing online mattress market.
Obviously every brand must maintain a consistent visual identity to be successful. However, this is easier said than done which makes this technique vulnerable. Without consistency in every facet of the brand, the company looks disjointed at best and gimmicky at worst. A thorough, thoughtful visual execution subtly shows you’re thinking of every aspect and builds trust between you and your customers.
The Customer Interaction
Lastly, brands without a physical product or a more intangible service can show their character through bold or outlandish marketing. Many of you reading this will realize this could be applied to every brand, but for the purpose of this article we’re looking at companies that let their logo and visual execution take a backseat to public perception as a brand value. You’ll see character through interaction most often in products that can be boring or difficult to make attractive (like insurance sales), startups looking to make a splash with memorable ads (Dollar Shave Club, Dropps et al), or as brands try and distance themselves from competitors.
For example, Geico’s logo and branding are basic and straight-forward, but they invest heavily in marketing to create a positive emotional response. Insurance companies are some of the biggest proponents of this style and many of the top agencies have two or three unrelated campaigns running concurrently. The goal here is to humanize the brand and create a more emotional connection with the customer beyond their subjective interaction with the company. Major insurance brands want you to feel like they’re there for you and care even if you never have to file a claim for an accident.
Another benefit of developing character through consumer interaction is the ability to shift away from negative publicity with a new campaign. This varies from company to company and severity of the backlash, but companies that rely on this technique to reach their customers can generally pivot quickly. Bank of America’s Llama campaign had tepid results as apparently no one wants to leave their finances out to pasture. Now, there’s not much evidence the Llama even existed and BoA haven’t tried anything like it since.
Other notable character miscues, like GoDaddy’s initial polarizing campaigns, can give a brand an identity they may not be able to shake for years. It’s important to use this type of branding in an authentic way so the message doesn’t fall flat. Customers won’t necessarily remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel.
Finally, some companies use this type of character branding exceptionally well. Southwest Airlines, for example, are known for their friendly flight attendants, some of whom have gone viral for their upbeat and energetic interactions with passengers. This sends the message to potential customers that flying with Southwest is fun and you should book if you want that experience. The way Southwest has become desirable by differentiating themselves from their competition means they can require travel-goers to use their site specifically to buy tickets.
Determining Your Brand’s Character
Like previously stated, strong brands use one of these techniques and do it well. The best brands use two or all three to create a fully developed brand experience. While the companies in this article have been categorized by how they brand themselves, you’ll notice many of them fall under more than one category. For example, Burger King’s character has historically leaned on the design of their logo, but they’ve since ramped up character through interaction beyond animation by introducing a caricature mascot in 2004. Purple has purple branding and purple mattress components, but they also have creative ads that influence consumer perception even if you never buy a mattress from them.
Understanding where your brand character comes from is important. If decisions are made to move away from a certain brand identity without much reason behind them, it can cause a disconnect with the target audience and can cost potential customers. Recently, we’ve seen a few brands backpedal their techniques as they define and refine their brand character. More long-standing companies like the aforementioned Burger King and Pizza Hut have gone back to more nostalgic icons after realizing the modernized versions didn’t resonate well with their customers. Now they’re leaning more into traditionalism and capitalizing on their longevity. Tropicana experienced similar backlash to a change in their packaging they’ve since reverted. With character rooted in Tropicana’s visual execution, customers recoiled at an unfamiliar design.
More positively, brands like Dollar Shave Club have moved away from one area of character as they grow to focus on another. The original DSC logo had razors in the emblem but most people only remember the hilarious ads the company ran in 2012. With their January 2021 rebrand, Dollar Shave Club has reverted to a simple acronym logo but still kept their warm, chummy character style in ads they’ve had from the beginning. In this way, they’ve moved character out of the logo and into brand consistency while strengthening their consumer interaction in a way their customers feel is true to their brand.
Ultimately, where your brand’s character comes from is determined long before the logo is created. Realizing how you want your customers to perceive your brand starts with the Creative Brief and is an essential step in any brand or rebrand. Before you can determine who you’re talking to, you first need to figure out what to say and how to say it. A strong brand character can help you relate better to your customers for more meaningful interactions and ensure your brand can hold its own against growing competition.
