What’s In a Name, If There Isn’t Personality?
By Ernie Chen

Brand focused organizations will leverage and compete on their brand by providing cutting edge brand positioning and brand value propositions to create a strong brand. Huge budgets have been allocated to create distinguished names with logos, trademarks and design packages that represents a company or its’ products, and services. However, many have forgotten that while a name is an identifying designation, the brand name requires a sense of definition and personality.

Traditionally, better known brands in the minds of the consumers would be considered better brands. They were usually better known due to bigger advertising budgets and they would advertise the most. However, bigger brands could only do so with bigger returns through the highest quality of their products and the right pricing. The image that it creates is the “feel good” quality. This is the reason for many purchases; people believe that they are buying quality at an acceptable price and getting it with a feeling of style, accomplishment and recognized status.

Today, brands with personality will have to do more that just creating a “good feeling.” The decision to remain loyal to a brand is based on the brand image and value that comes with the brand that includes price, quality, convenience, availability, satisfaction and service guaranteed. Service is one of the most overused words and undelivered practices in business today. Business has known it for a very long time, promised it in their communication channels yet seem forever inadequate to the task. The face of service, “Customer Service Centers” and “Customer Interaction Centers” is where the customer is supposed to receive their solutions. However, due to lack of focus on the brand promise, the reason for a high level of dissatisfaction can be traced to over promising and under delivering.

The secret in creating brand personality is considering the following:

1) Understand your customer
2) Understand what your customer wants
3) Satisfy your customer
4) Continuously and consistently satisfy your customer
5) Understand the need to remain the same and the need to change
6) Use your market research

What’s in a name if there isn’t personality that creates brand loyalty? Brand loyalty is ultimately building on quality, price, image, and service – the key elements that constitute the value of a brand.

Last updated - 30 November 2004