Why Companies Lose Their Identity- How Great Brands Get It Back
May 8, 2009 · Print This Article
“Personality Not Included” by Rohit Bhargava with a Foreward by Guy Kawasaki book summary
In the new business era of the 21st century, a great brand or product must evoke a dynamic personality in order to attract passionate customers. Although many organizations hide their personality behind layers of packaged messaging and advertising, successful businesses have redefined themselves in the new customer universe.
The faceless corporation doesn’t work anymore. The theory of Personality Not Included is that personality is the answer. Personality is the key, and every element of a business is an element of that business’s brand personality.
Personality is THE macro trend. The three hottest topics in business today are:
- Doing more with social media (blogs, social networks, etc.)
- Using word-of-mouth marketing (the No. 1 source of influence according to just about every international study)
- Interacting more authentically with customers
Personality is the theme that incorporates all of these topics. Every idea presented by Rohit Bhargava uses real life clients to get real results every day.
Ideas like:
- How to better focus on the moments when you already have your customer’s attention and use those moments to demonstrate your brand’s personality.
- Why “accidental spokespeople” may be your brand’s most powerful influencers.
- Ways to use the “UAT filter” (Uniqueness, Authenticity, Talkability) to understand the personality of your organization.
- The three core personality principles that will help you put personality into action.
- How to create your company’s “Marketing Backstory” using technique pioneered by Hollywood screenwriters.
- The three methods of getting attention and the attention paradox.
Hi Wendi
I can relate and why i feel personal style and image development is so valuable in todays market and “creative” economy. Brands are made up of individual brands. Company personalities are made up of individual personalities.
When individuals hide behind suits and armors, companies hide behind suits and armors and vice versa and then its slapped with a huge label called CONSERTIVE (def: restrained in style, opposed to change, favoring traditional views and values) So when i prospect and i ask 10 different people who work for 10 different companies to describe their personal style and i hear, “oh my style is conservative, because the company i work for is conservative.” I’m bored. I want to move on…fast. I’m ready to talk with the business owner who creates a perception of confidence and innovation coupled with shot of sophistication (hey i’m about globalization right now). Any one know what that style looks like?
I don’t have a problem with th word “Conservative.” I have a problem when 10 people describe their style as “Conservative.” No identity, no individuality, no personality, no spark and then they wonder why they are having a hard time selling their services or why they’ve just been laid off: Maybe because their employer never knew who he or she really hired 10 years ago…and it turned out that the recession revealed a clone. Not just one clone, but several clones…and so…she’s let go, replaced by someone with “spirit” and SHE goes back out into the workforce and discovers she needs to reinvent herself…hence personal branding comes in…but she doesn’t see herself as part of the solution to the problem…because its the company that needs to re-brand, not her. Its not her fault that the company is loosing money, so she sticks to her old ways, never taking full responsibility for her actions…and then the cycle continues.
If a company would focus on looking up with its people (bottom up approach, collective, team spirit, we are all in this together) than looking down at its people (top-down approach, boss, do as i say, not as i do) it will fare better. Top down administration no longer works in times like this. Bottom-up approach requires understanding your unique individual brand personality and how it meshes with the team. What good is having five chloeric red personalities on the same team? Imagine that brand culture