Building Brand Personality

For Luxury / High-end Cultural & Creative Businesses

- Excerpt -

Dr. Klaus Heine

Toolkit for the Development of Brand Personality

Basic Decisions

What Type of Brand Personality would you like to Develop?

Person-based Ghost Soul-based Role Model-based

Creating a person brand, which is Transferring the free-floating Morphing and evolving
personified by a corporeal ghost-soul of another human several role models,
person (e.g. the brands founder being to the brand (e.g. Cadillac, corporeal or fictional,
or artistic director) the founder of Detroit) into a brand personality

Source: Heine, K., Crener-Ricard, S., Atwal, G., and Phan, M. (2017) Personality-driven Luxury Brand Management. Journal of Brand Management, forthcoming.

www.upmarkit.com Toolkit for the Development of Brand Personality K. Heine 2

Brand Personality Descriptors
Building Brand Personality means Describing who your Brand is.
Imagine your Brand as a Person

What is her/his lifestyle? Are there any well-

What hobbies known people who are
does she/he have? similar to her/him?
How does she/he
look like? What type of person is
Does she/he have any exceptional she/he? Is she/he open-
skills or talents? minded or conservative?

What people are influencing What are her/his life goals?

her/him? What are her/his Does she/he strive for some
social roles? higher purpose?
How old is she/he? What does she/he
What is her/his education? consider important
Where does she/he live? when shopping?

Source: Heine, K., Crener-Ricard, S., Atwal, G., and Phan, M. (2017) Personality-driven Luxury Brand Management. Journal of Brand Management; Picture: Taigi/Shutterstock.

www.upmarkit.com Toolkit for the Development of Brand Personality K. Heine 3

Brand Personality Descriptors
How can you describe your Brand Personality?
Overview about the Determinants of Brand Personality

Lifestyles Personality Archetypes

& Role Models
Physical
Characteristics,
Abilities & Talents Personality Traits

Social Roles &

Reference Groups Personal Values

Socio-
Needs & Motives
Demographics

Source: Heine, K., Crener-Ricard, S., Atwal, G., and Phan, M. (2017) Personality-driven Luxury Brand Management. Journal of Brand Management; Picture: Taigi/Shutterstock.

www.upmarkit.com Toolkit for the Development of Brand Personality K. Heine 4

Brand Personality Descriptors

Brand Personality Descriptors

Lifestyles Personality Archetypes

& Role Models
Physical
Characteristics,
Abilities & Talents Personality Traits

Social Roles &

Reference Groups Personal Values

Socio-
Needs & Motives
Demographics

Source: Heine, K., Crener-Ricard, S., Atwal, G., and Phan, M. (2017) Personality-driven Luxury Brand Management. Journal of Brand Management; Picture: Taigi/Shutterstock.

www.upmarkit.com Toolkit for the Development of Brand Personality K. Heine 5

Brand Personality Traits

Big Five Dimensions of Luxury Brand Personality

Dimensions of
Luxury Brand Personality

Tradition Modesty Elitism Eccentricity Sensuality

Desire for Desire for the Need for social Non-conformity Need for
preservation accumulation comparison and with social achievement or
or change and display of distinction from norms and for pleasure of
of societal wealth other people expectations the senses
traditions and
culture

Traditional Modern Modest Demanding Approachable Elitist Decent Eccentric Tough Sensual

Source: Heine, K., Crener-Ricard, S., Atwal, G., and Phan, M. (2017) Personality-driven Luxury Brand Management. Journal of Brand Management.

www.upmarkit.com Toolkit for the Development of Brand Personality K. Heine 6

Brand Personality Traits
Another Option to Profile the Personality of your Brand:
The Brand Personality Profile of Missoni
Applies Applies Rather Rather Applies Applies
fully applies applies fully
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
Tradition

Traditional Modern

Modesty

Modest Demanding

Elitism

Approachable Elitist

Eccentricity

Decent Eccentric

Sensuality

Tough Sensual

Drag and drop the circles so that they illustrate the score of your brand.
Source: Heine, K., Crener-Ricard, S., Atwal, G., and Phan, M. (2017) Personality-driven Luxury Brand Management. Journal of Brand Management, forthcoming.

www.upmarkit.com Toolkit for the Development of Brand Personality K. Heine 7

 More information about the complete
version of this toolkit...
www.upmarkit.com/toolkit-for-building-brand-
personality
www.upmarkit.com/publications

Publisher: Upmarkit O, Tallinn

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Picture: Taigi/Shutterstock