Brand personality builds marketing impact

Brand personality is a key ingredient in any marketing plan--especially for small businesses that want to grow quickly. Differentiation communicated with personality, including perhaps a bit of humour, attracts attention on a small budget to build brand awareness and preference. 

For example, Jimmy's Iced Coffee is a fast-growing business based in Dorset. Its brand personality shines through all of its marketing, from the logo to the product packaging and beyond.

The packaging shows a tagline ("Keep your chin up") from the first Jimmy's YouTube rap-beat promotional video, which attracted 3.5 million views in a year. It also echoes elements from Jimmy's brand history. Jimmy's has, in fact, expanded distribution by emphasising its brand personality and is now on the shelves of Tesco, Sainsbury and other major UK grocery chains.

What's Jimmy's secret to social media marketing? 'The good thing about online, if you do something offline you should be able to just put it online and show people what you’re doing. It’s not just pack shots of our cartons on Instagram all day long', he tells Management Today.

Take a look at how brand personality is showcased on Jimmy's social media: Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.

Updating the Tata Nano marketing plan

The Tata Nano was launched in India in 2009 under the marketing theme of 'world's cheapest car' with a target market of people (particularly families) who had never owned a car. Its positioning was supported by basic auto features and a low, low base price. Tata's CEO told the Guardian, 'Here in India we see four people travelling by motorbike ... I thought they could travel more safely by car'. Tata was so overwhelmed by orders that it instituted a lottery to select the first buyers.

Now the Nano's marketing plan is being revamped - again - after lower-than-expected sales and reports that the car failed to meet minimum UN auto safety standards. Apparently, many consumers don't want to drive a car with such a low-price image.

The Nano wasn't the only tiny car to fail crash tests, by the way. The other four made-for-India cars that rated zero on a safety scale of 1 to 5 were: Maruti Suzuki Alto 800, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo and Volkswagen Polo. Without air bags, these no-frills autos couldn't pass the crash tests, even though they all meet India's safety guidelines.

Scientist Raghunath Mashelkar, who is on Tata's board of directors, blames poor marketing for the Nano's poor results (and Tata's former CEO agrees). Mashelkar says: 'The Nano is such a great product, it has 86 patents. So, excellence should have been put at the front, and affordability at the back'. In other words, the Nano should have been positioned on the basis of innovation rather than low price.

For the new marketing plan, Tata is positioning its Nano Twist as a car with style and excellent fuel efficiency. The marketing reflects a target market of young couples and features fashion colours and extras such as power steering. Low price is not the primary message. Will the new marketing plan reignite Nano's sales in 2014?

France's regional cola wars

Which is more authentic for Parisians to drink:

                                       Parisgo Cola

or

Paris Cola?

Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are finding French store shelves very crowded these days. Consumers have dozens of other cola choices beyond the two big global brands--each with its own distinctive market area, brand personality, taste and story.

All of these regional colas have a strong connection to a specific area of France, appealing to heritage as much as taste buds. Their marketing budgets are a tiny fraction of the money spent by the global giants, but their customers are loyal and happy to be supporting a local business. Here's a sampling of the brands participating in France's regional cola wars:

• Alpa-Cola
• Auvergnat Cola 
• Beauce Cola
• Breizh Cola
• Britt Cola
• Chtila Cola

Brand Personality Wins for TGI Friday's

Casual dining is a very competitive industry, which is why TGI Friday's is pouring on the personality.

Its all-American atmosphere and menu draw customers, but to encourage frequent repeat visits, the chain embarked on a hiring and training programme that emphasises personality plus. Bartenders who juggle, waiters and waitresses who do magic tricks, and other staff specialities keep customers smiling and satisfied--according to TGI Friday's research.

TGI Friday's UK isn't a super-social brand (it has fewer than 20,000 Facebook likes) but its "We make every visit a party" saying sums up the personality that customers can expect and enjoy when they come for a drink or a meal or both. Best of all, the party changes every time, with different tricks and surprises.