REFINING YOUR

BRAND PERSONALITY
By David Freeman
Copyright 2006 by David Freeman

(310) 394-0361
freeman@dfreeman.com
www.beyondstructure.com
www.freemangames.com

David Freeman is the creator of “Emotioneering”™, a codified system of techniques

for making advertising, entertainment, art, and all communications more emotionally
rich and involving. David has applied these techniques to several fields. He helps
refine the “brand personalities” of products and services (more about this at the end
of this article). He teaches “Beyond Structure,” the most popular screenwriting
workshop in Los Angeles (also offered in New York, London, and elsewhere). He’s
also the author of “Creating Emotion in Games,” and is actively involved in making
video games emotionally immersive, so that they evoke a breadth and depth of
emotions in game players. David’s talks on applied Emotioneering make him a
sought-after speaker around the world. Please check out the above websites for
additional information.

The following article is an in-depth look at some of the techniques of Emotioneering in

its application to branding.

The right “brand personality” should be true to your product and service; it should
engage customers emotionally; and it should guide your marketing from top to
bottom.

Starbucks, Nike, Apple, and Amazon do it. Do you?

Here are some tools that might help.

The easiest way to understand the concepts and techniques covered in this article is
by examining their usefulness in character creation, and then later show how these
techniques are applicable to personas (types of consumer profiles/personalities) and
marketing. This chapter will follow that format.

-1-
Character Diamonds™
A realistic character is a sandwich; a series of 7 layers. Each layer represents a
different aspect of the character. One of these layers in particular has tremendous
relevance in thinking about or creating personas.

This layer is the Character Diamond™, which combines the 3, 4, or sometimes 5

traits that govern a character’s personality. I call it a “Diamond” because 4 is the
average number of core personality traits possessed by a major character in a film.

Each corner of the Diamond represents a major trait in the character's personality,
and each trait helps shape how the character sees the world, speaks, thinks, and
acts.

For instance, let’s say a character is (1) charming, (2) anxious, (3) driven, and
(4) highly committed to his friends and family. These traits would be the corners of
his Character Diamond.

(As mentioned above, some Diamonds have 3 or 5 traits instead of 4.)

For some characters, their personalities are spread evenly among their traits. But
other characters might have a dominant trait that eclipses all the others. Although
he obviously possesses other traits, Darth Vader's creepy evilness is by far his most
dominant.

Let’s examine a character from "American Beauty." Teenager Ricky Fitts (Wes
Bentley) is in love with Jane Burnham (Thora Birch), daughter of Lester Burnham
(Kevin Spacey), the main character.

Ricky's character diamond looks like this:

• Aesthetic/spiritual. At one point, Ricky talks about a plastic bag dancing

around him in the wind. It made him realize there's a benevolent life force
behind and in all things. He's also is keenly aware of beauty and discusses it
several times.

-2-
 • Depressed/apathetic Ricky became depressed and apathetic after his
father put him in a mental institution and had him drugged for two years as a
punishment for being disobedient. He's fascinated by death. He talks about it
regularly, and videotapes a dead bird. He offers no resistance when his
father beats him. Ricky is apathetic; he rarely touches Jane, his girlfriend.
He prefers to look at life, and often even at her, through the detached lens of
a video camera.

• Direct/Unflinching. Ricky stares at people with whom he interacts; nothing

makes him flinch.

• Irresponsible. He smokes a lot of dope and deals it as well.

These four traits of Ricky’s determine how he views people and events around him,
and govern his decisions and interactions.

As often happens in a film, some (but not all) of Ricky’s traits change by the end.
His depression lifts a bit as he becomes angry and rebellious enough to break free
of his father’s control. And, in doing so, his irresponsibility begins to be replaced
with a more engaged and responsible attitude.

Masks

Sometimes Character Diamond traits reveal apparent contradictions. Ricky’s

spiritual enlightenment seems in opposition to his irresponsibility. We can
understand this in terms of what I call a “Mask.”

A Mask is a phony trait -- a false self that fools others and sometimes even the
character himself. It’s something he presents to the world around him. It is a
defense or coping mechanism; it helps him handle the world.

Thus, Ricky really does believe he's spiritually evolved. At first we in the audience
see him the same way, until the contradictions in his character become evident.

In actuality, his spiritual insights are truly a fundamental part of who he is -- but they,
and his purported enlightened, are also used as a Mask -- a phony personality -- that
cover his depression and irresponsibility.

Some Masks are totally phony (like an apparently happy “class clown” who’s actually
quite depressed); while others, like Ricky’s, contain a degree of truth about the
person.

-3-
Addressing a Buyer's Mask
White kids are the biggest consumers of rap music. A suburban white kid may wear
the Mask of an urban black kid.

In the video games business, a top selling game in late 2004, Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas, allows gamers to role-play as a young urban black man in trouble with the
law. White kids bought the game in record numbers -- it really spoke to them. (Or at
least it spoke to their Mask -- the person they saw themselves as, like Ricky Fitts
seeing himself as enlightened.)

When marketing to your customers' personas, your advertising and marketing must
understand, and potentially address, any Masks they might wear.

We can loosely categorize Masks into three categories, although in truth there are
many more.

1. Masks which are totally false. In “American Beauty,” Carolyn Burham (Annette
Bening) is the perfect housewife whose life is totally together -- or at least, that’s
her Mask. A scene where she slaps herself repeatedly, calling herself stupid,
reveals the falseness of her Mask.

2. Masks which have some degree of truth. Ricky Fitts does have some spiritual
insights, even if his supposed enlightenment is false. Thus there can be a
gradation as to how true or false a Mask is. (It has to be at least partially false
to be a Mask.) The suburban white kid playing a black convict in a video game
might feel some genuine alienation and anger which helps him identify with the
game character.

3. Masks which represent a person’s aspirations. A TV ad may show a teen with

an ipod dancing with wild abandon. The teen who buys the ipod may be as shy
as a rabbit, but aspires to be wild and free.

Masks are a Coping or Defense Mechanism

A person wouldn’t clutch onto a Mask -- a phony personality or a piece of one -- if he

or she loved who they already are.

Aspirations vs. Emotional Solutions

Not all brands that represent aspirations address Masks.

Not long ago, the country of Turkey ran a series commercials inviting tourists, and
painted a picture of Turkey as a land of enchantment.

-4-
A person could see the commercial, decide that their life has been a little boring
lately, and head for Turkey. They aspire to bring a little enchantment into their life.

This is an aspiration, but not an Emotional Solution.

But sometimes a person turns to a brand as an effort to handle an emotional fear,

limitation, block, wound, pain, shame or insecurity.

For instance, my 14-year-old nephew became obsessed with Axe body spray,
convinced he needed it if he was to be attractive to girls. Without it, he couldn’t
conceive that any girl would find him desirable.

He purchased the product because he thought it would help him change; he thought
it would handle and emotional fear, limitation, block, wound, pain, shame or
insecurity.

Other Ways Reaching Consumers Emotionally

There are several dozen ways of reaching a consumer emotionally other than
triggering an aspiration, or suggesting that a product or service offers an Emotional
Solution.

However, I’ll opt to save a discussion of other ways of connecting emotionally with a
consumer for a future article.

Aspiration was singled out because it can often be confused with an Emotional
Solution, and therefore a clarification was necessary.

One thing all methods have in common, though, is that they address one or more
personas. Therefore, understanding the Character Diamonds, Masks, and
Emotional Solutions becomes important, for these are the building blocks of persona
creation.

Moral Questions about Emotional Solutions

Of course, this line of thinking goes over to the dark side of the force when
advertisers try hard to instill arbitrary insecurities in people, and then offer their
products as solutions. To be honest, this practice doesn’t bother me excessively,
since it more or less keeps people buying things, which in turn keeps the economy
going and therefore allows people to live. But one might as well call a spade a
spade.

But certainly not all advertising relies on this approach. BMW’s marketing
sometimes plays to people’s insecurities and pain, but it doesn’t (1) try to aggravate
these insecurities, nor does it (2) by any means rely on this as a primary marketing
focus.

-5-
BMW, Personas, and Masks
From an online news report:

Feb. 12, 1006 -- BMW AG's U.S. sales will likely increase in 2006, surpassing
the record they set last year, the German auto maker's top North American
executive said.

Tom Purves, chairman and CEO of BMW's North American division, wouldn't
give a target Saturday for sales this year but said 2006 started well and he
expects that momentum to continue. BMW's U.S. sales in January were up
12 percent compared with January 2005.

BMW sold 307,020 vehicles in the United States last year, up 4 percent from
2004 despite an overall decrease in luxury vehicle sales. BMW got a boost
from the revamped 3-series sedan and the Mini brand.

The above statistics are just that, statistics; they’re not a story. They don’t say why
these statistics occurred.

Obviously, a few big factors are BMW quality, user satisfaction, and resale value.
Another factor is marketing.

California, and Los Angeles in specific, is a huge sales hub for BMW. A tremendous
amount of advertising dollars are spent in L.A.

The full picture is actually a little more complicated. I’ll analyze the Persona
(Character Diamond) that BMW is selling to. Then we’ll see what’s real and what’s a
Mask in this Persona.

I’ll make this analysis from screenshots taken from BMW’s website. While no one
screenshot gives the full Character Diamond of the buyer’s persona, if we put a few
together and we get the familiar BMW ad campaign.

We’re told that BMW is the “Ultimate Driving Machine.” Obviously, then, if you drive
it you’re the ultimate driver.

What is the Character Diamond of the ultimate driver?

-6-
1. The person likes recognition for flourishing economically and for being
important (another word for powerful) -- or at least likes recognition for being
upwardly mobile and important. (If not to be seen as important, why else would he
want to “look good”?)

-7-
2. Again we see the trait of power introduced. This is its own trait, for it is not the
same as trait (1): wanting recognition (status).

3. Yet another trait is added to the Character Diamond: the person goes his own
way in the world; he’s not a follower. He’s “free”.

-8-
4. The person is fun; he’s got a sense of adventure. (To be honest, the adventure
aspect of fun is played up more in BMW’s TV ads, especially for the Z4 and
Roadster, then in these web ads.)

And so we have the Character Diamond of the persona BMW is marketing toward:

1. He likes recognition and status; he wants people to see he’s important.

2. He’s powerful.

3. He goes his own way in the world. He’s free.

4. He’s got a fun sense of adventure.

It’s no surprise that BMW teamed up with James Bond in “Tomorrow Never Dies.”
The above Character Diamond is almost identical to Bond’s.

-9-
What’s Right with this Approach
It helps sells a lot of cars!

What’s Strange about this Approach

Why would someone who goes their own way in the world care about status, or how
they’re seen by others?

The answer: BMW is marketing to a person’s Mask -- or Masks.

A person who wants status or recognition might have a Mask of “caring nothing
about the opinions of others.”

By marketing to both the real trait and the Mask, BMW gets two arrows in the
bulls-eye.

Other Masks Addressed by BMW Marketing

How powerful is the buyer? Some buyers might have power; some might not but
aspire to have it. For some this trait might be, to a greater or lesser degree, a Mask.

How free and adventurous is the person? Again, this trait might be, to a greater or
lesser degree, a Mask.

Or the buyer could be turning to BMW as an Emotional Solution.

The guy who buys into a Z4 ad with a driver on an enthralling and even dangerous
road adventure might, in truth, spend most of his time slogging through rush hour
traffic at 30 mph.

Similarly, think of how many SUV commercials show the driver climbing mountains
and plowing through mud and streams. Yet you’d be amazed at how many SUVs in
L.A. are rarely covered with mud. These SUVs have were marketed to a person’s
Mask.

These vehicles might address a corner of the buyer’s Character Diamond; they
might address a buyer’s Mask; or they might offer an Emotional Solution. Each
buyer is different.

But not so different that buyers can’t be categorized into personas. Obviously,
several different personas might be attracted to the same brand. This will be
addressed a little later in this article.

-10-
Products themselves can have Character Diamonds -- a variety of traits -- and
employ other techniques to enrich a consumer’s bond with a brand (such as those
techniques which give the brand emotional “depth’). Thoroughly exploring how this
is done, and how a marketer syncs up the Character Diamond of a product with the
Character Diamond of a persona (consumer) exceeds the scope of this article.

Marketing and Designing to Multiple Personas

The real challenge occurs when your marketing (and product) must appeal to
several personas, as is usually the case.

An example of this challenge being handled well was in the marketing of

“Spider-Man 2.” One billboard ad was targeted at men. It showed Spider-Man
(a.k.a. Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire) alone atop a building, taking on New
York City which seems to engulf him, was targeted at men. The billboard for
women showed Spiderman’s face seen from the side, with the face of Mary Jane
(Kirsten Dunst) right beside his.

But it’s not always easy to make a brand appeal to several quite different personas.

When a brand tries to appeal to too many personas, then it can loose all identity.
IBM, a few years ago, was trying to, on one hand, advertise itself as the solution to
all critical corporate IT needs. At the same time, they were advertising their
Thinkpad with TV ads featuring an anti-establishment 20-something slacker. One
brand could not sustain two personas this divergent. IBM wisely abandoned those
particular Thinkpad commercials.

BMW too sometimes has a difficult time addressing the multiple personas of its
buyers. The computer touch-screen “I-Drive,” which controls many functions in the
car, appeals to the Character Diamond (persona) of some BMW buyers.

However, a guy or woman who wants the car primarily for status may have little
interest in cutting edge computer technology. That may not be part of his/her
Character Diamond. For him or her, the I-Drive would not be a buying incentive, and
could conceivably be a mitigating factor in a purchase.

-11-
No matter how BMW
tries to avert this
problem, it persists, at
least among some
American drivers. Let’s
look at how BMW
attempts to address
two divergent personas
in a the ad on the right.

I’d bet that if we were

to focus-test it, we’d
find that this ad isn’t
resonating emotionally.
And if that’s true, then
It’s the IBM problem
revisited.

Avoiding a Condescending Attitude in Marketing:

The Importance of Empathy
We can see that much of BMW advertising is targeted at the person who wants
recognition for being important or powerful.

Present this to a copyrighter and that copyrighter could easily end up feeling
cynically distant from this persona. It’s unlikely to bring out inspired copy, or even
inspired marketing ideas.

Without empathizing with your customers, it’s hard to engage them emotionally, just
as it’s hard to engage someone in a rich conversation if you don’t have some
empathy for him or her.

An easy way to create empathy is to remember that your customers, obviously, are
as emotionally complex as you are. Their struggles to forge good lives possess
nobility and importance. Retaining this attitude on your part will generate empathy.

Behind every Mask or Emotional Solution is some kind of emotional fear, limitation,
block, wound, pain, shame or insecurity., and that’s why it’s so easy to empathize
with people who have a Mask or who seek Emotional Solutions. Let’s take those
white kids who bought “Grand Theft Auto”:

-12-
Many teens feel angry and stifled; they feel they’re ready to make their mark in the
world, but don’t know how to do so, nor will anyone give them permission. A Black
ex-convict (who might have been framed) is a perfect symbol of their feeling like
excluded outsiders.

It’s easy to empathize with these teens. Can you remember sometimes having
similar feelings yourself when you were younger?

Returning to our example of the BMW owner -- let’s look at the persona's second
Character Diamond trait: he wants recognition.

What does this mean to our persona? What kind of recognition does he seek? Why
does he want to be seen as important? No matter the reason, we can probably
empathize with him.

For example, he (or she) might be:

• A person who truly is powerful. For him, the emphasis on power and in BMW
ads isn't a Mask. His business success depends on others treating him as
powerful and he needs all the public symbols he can muster as a form of
personal branding.

• A person who is important (powerful) but doesn't feel important. The BMW
symbol of power, in his eyes and the eyes of other, is a reminder of who he is.

• A person who isn't powerful but aspires to be. The BMW symbolizes his
professional ambition and may symbolize how he'd like to remold his
personality.

• A person who will likely never be powerful. The BMW helps him see himself
as powerful. It plays to his Mask.

There’s one thing all four of these types of people have in common: it’s easy to feel
empathy with each one. Can you find something in each of them with which you can
understand, appreciate, and relate to -- and perhaps with which you can even
identify?

That feeling of compassion, respect, and relationship isn’t the intrusion of an

emotion that bars your judgment. Quite the contrary, for it’s how you’ll be able, as
you address the personals of your customers in your marketing, to make them feel
appreciated and understood.

David Freeman
(310) 394-0361
freeman@dfreeman.com

-13-
 “REFINING YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY”

A Workshop by David Freeman

(310) 394-0361
freeman@dfreeman.com

Not long ago, CBS Radio flew in senior executives, 30 program directors, and other
key personnel for David’s 6-hour “Refining Your Brand Personality” Workshop.

The focus was “Jack FM,” a sassy radio music format used by CBS stations around
the U.S. and Canada.

As the workshop title suggests, David helped CBS refine, define, and focus the
complex Jack FM Character Diamond. David then led the participants through very
focused brainstorming exercises to help them see precisely how they could convey
the Jack FM Character Diamond to their listeners. David, renowned for his
lightening-quick creativity, contributed many ideas as well.

Since then, the ratings of the most popular JACK FM stations (like LA) have climbed,
and those that were floundering have been revitalized.

The workshop was electric, the results fantastic. CBS is actively employing what
was learned and developed in that workshop.

The word quickly spread, and ABC Radio decided not to miss out. In a few weeks
David will be doing the same thing for a group their stations.

Would the brand personality of your product or service benefit from David’s help, his
tools, his creativity, and his infusion of insight?

If so, email him at freeman@dfreeman.com or call him at (310) 394-0361.

-14-
David teaching 200 people at Universal Pictures.

-15-