In 2008, one of our professors in the RAND Behavioral Finance Forum, Dr. Meir Statman of Santa Clara University, introduced a ground-breaking concept he called “brand and product personality”. This concept has continued to withstand the passing of time, providing a roadmap on how best to manage and measure brands. Regardless of whether you sell luxury goods, advisory service, recordkeeping, etc., this concept is important in navigating your brand to success. Here is how it works:
Your brand may be a result of a deliberate campaign, or the result of not communicating anything and simply letting the market shape the way it thinks about you or your product.
Every product is paired with a brand giving you a product or brand personality. The product can be a physical widget, a service, AND it can be you. You are selling yourself to someone else every day. Every brand/product pairing has three dimensions:
Utilitarian: What your product or service actually does
Expressive: How the product or service makes others perceive your client because they use your product or service
Emotional: How the product or service makes your client perceive himself because he uses your product or service
To demonstrate brand personality, let’s use the example of Rolex vs. Timex. A new ROLEX DAYTONA MEN’S WATCH retails for $39,000. A new Timex Men’s T44642 Metal Analog and Digital Combo Watch retails for $50. Let’s start the analysis.
Utilitarian: What the product or service actually does
Technically, both products do exactly the same thing. They tell you the relative positions of the earth and sun from where you are standing at any moment. Interestingly, the two watches are considered to be equal in this dimension, so it’s a draw on “utilitarian”. But there has to be a reason why intelligent people will pay 780 times the price to get the same product. Let’s move on to the next level of analysis. How would you complete the question below regarding you and your product/service?
Utilitarian: ___________________(I/my product) does the following things: _____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
Expressive: How the product or service makes others perceive you because you use that product/brand pairing
Here is where the pairings start to depart. If you ask 100 people what attributes they would ascribe to Rolex owners and what attributes they would ascribe to Timex owners you will get two different profiles. But even more important than the results of this survey is what the Rolex owner THINKS the attributes are that people would ascribe to Rolex owners vs. Timex owners. Well, how do ROLEX owners develop that opinion? Lots of ways, but let’s just look at the Rolex website to see what they are really selling and what business they are in. The brochures are dense with images of successful, intelligent, thought-leading, inquisitive, envelope-pushing, international, discerning, wealthy, attractive, healthy, active, physically fit, exclusive, sought-after people.
Are we still talking about knowing the relative positions of the earth and sun from where you are standing at any moment? To some it may be well worth it to have people think all these things about them without having to accomplish more than writing a check for $39,000. Wow, how is that for a fast track to personal success? Looking at the Timex website you will see messaging about low price and product functionality. Next question regarding the expressive dimension:
As a result of my clients being associated with me/my product, people think the following things about my clients:
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
Emotional: How the product or service makes you perceive yourself because you use that product/brand pairing
Having looked at the expressive dimension, it is not hard to imagine what the emotional dimension does for the Rolex owners. They too want to not just think, but BELIEVE they are successful, intelligent, thought-leading, inquisitive, envelope-pushing, international, discerning, wealthy, attractive, healthy, active, physically fit, exclusive, sought-after people. Now let’s see how what you think is the emotional element of your Product and Brand Personality.
As a result of being associated with my product, my clients think the following things about themselves:
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
Having answered all three questions, take a look at your answers. Is your brand or product clear to you and to your clients and prospects? And if so, is it differentiated from your competitors? The point is, your product or service personality is critically important in a commoditized world. Without carefully understanding and managing it, your ability to compete may be diminished significantly. Furthermore, it may place you in the unenviable position of competing strictly on price, which invariable reduces your profit margin.