Brand personality used to be a box-ticking exercise. Write a style guide, nail down your tone of voice, maybe throw in some personality traits like "friendly" or "professional" – and you're done. Well, not anymore. The sheer complexity of modern brand building has turned what was once a straightforward concept into something far more challenging.
Like most things in marketing, we've overcomplicated it. And yet, somehow, we still haven't quite cracked it. Just ask any CMO trying to maintain brand consistency while juggling global markets, digital platforms, and AI interactions. It's enough to make you miss those simpler days – except they were never really that simple, were they?
I’ve heard it said by a CMO that "Brand personality isn't just about how you look – it's about who you are". Sure, we all nod along to statements like this. But actually making it work? That's where things get interesting. Or frustrating. Usually both.
Back when Jennifer Aaker first introduced her brand personality framework, it felt like we'd finally cracked the code. Brands could be sincere like Dove, exciting like Tesla, or sophisticated like Hermès. Simple enough, right? But today's landscape has made those neat categories feel almost quaint. They're still useful – but they're just the beginning of the story.
The Australian market shows exactly why traditional approaches aren't enough anymore. Here's a place where consumers can spot marketing fluff faster than you can say "authentic engagement." Where a hardware store's sausage sizzle has more brand impact than most million-dollar campaigns. Bunnings didn't focus-group their way into making weekend barbecues a cultural institution – they just let their personality evolve naturally with their community.
And that's the thing about modern brand personality: it's not just about what you project, it's about what you allow to happen organically. McDonald's gets this. Their global brand stays consistent, but they've learned to let local markets breathe. In Australia, they talk about supporting local farmers while keeping their global personality intact. It works because it's genuine, not because it ticked all the boxes in a brand guidelines document.
Geography makes everything more complex. A brand voice that kills in St Kilda might bomb in Surfers Paradise. Scale that up globally, and you've got yourself a real puzzle. Add in digital platforms, where your brand personality has to work across everything from customer service chatbots to TikTok trends, and things get even messier.
Speaking of chatbots – there's a special circle of brand personality hell reserved for AI interactions gone wrong. Some brands, like Sephora, manage to make their digital interactions feel natural and on-brand. Others end up creating experiences that feel about as personal as a automated phone menu from 1995. The difference isn't in the technology – it's in understanding that brand personality needs to feel human, even when it's being delivered by machines.
But how do you measure something like that? Analytics can tell you about sentiment and engagement, but they can't capture those magical moments when your brand connects with people in unexpected ways. Who could have predicted that a that a hardware store's weekend sausage sizzle would build more brand loyalty than any loyalty program?
Environmental consciousness is another curve ball for brand personality. It's not enough to just claim you care about sustainability anymore – just ask Patagonia, who've built their entire brand around environmental activism. But it's not about copying their approach. It's about finding your own authentic way to engage with issues that matter to your audience.
The real challenge for CMOs isn't just adapting to all these changes – it's doing it while keeping your brand's core personality intact. Think of it like raising a child: you want them to grow and adapt to the world around them, but you also want them to stay true to who they are.
The brands that get it right understand that personality isn't something you can completely control. It's something you nurture. Something you guide. Something you let evolve naturally while keeping your core values intact.
Our Brand Agency has seen how the brands that embrace this more human approach to personality create deeper connections with their audiences. Perfection isn't the goal – authenticity is.
In the end, maybe we need to stop trying to perfect brand personality and start trying to make it more human instead. Because the most successful brands aren't the ones with the most rigid guidelines or the most consistent messaging – they're the ones that know who they are and aren't afraid to show it.
Even if that means embracing a weekend sausage sizzle as part of your brand story.