I was asked to do a guest editorial for the local ad blog, the SF Egoist. It's about how we tend to neglect brand character for the sake of message, and what we can learn about character development from fiction writers. If you're interested, you can check it out here.
What about brands that don't have characters? Like Vaseline. Or Advil. What's the story to follow there?
ReplyDeleteAaron
There isn't a story there. Worse, though, is that there's no character either.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think there's character in everything, but it needs to be tapped into. Twenty years ago, people might have said milk has no character. But Goodby changed that. At one point water had no character. But some people prefer Dasani while others prefer Aquafina and others Evian. I think there are a slough of products out there with huge untapped character and stories. And tapping into them could be the difference between knowing them by name, and clumping them in with the rest of their category.
ReplyDeleteSo a character isn't necessarily a person. It's a thing, a person, an idea with motivations, drive, desire. It's got personality. Like vitaminwater for instance. No character, but a voice that all messaging comes from.
ReplyDeleteYeah. We're not talking characters like Tony the Tiger or the Keebler Elves.
ReplyDeleteExactly. It's about brand character. What is the brand's personality? What's its voice? You should understand all of this, just like you'd understand what a character's motivation is if you were writing a novel. But you don't have to have a spokesperson, per se (you might, e.g. Old Spice Guy, but you don't have to). Strong brands have character.
ReplyDeleteuh.. i think what we've all learned here is that all brands should have a mascot/character... especially Vaseline!!
ReplyDelete;)
seriously though.. great article.