The Power of Leveraging a Personality – Brett Knutson

“It’s nice to put a face to the name”. We’ve all heard that phrase before. While it’s typically used when referring to finally meeting a person you’ve heard a lot about, it can also be applied to marketing. In today’s competitive market, giving your brand a personality is the best way to stand out.

Monopolize founder and serial entrepreneur Brett Knutson breaks it down: “People can’t relate to inanimate things. But they can relate to a person,” he says. Take a look at prominent brand mascots like The Geico Gecko, Progressive’s Flo, or The Pillsbury Doughboy. “All these brands have figured out that leveraging a personality over time is more relatable and makes their brand more memorable than just a logo,” explains Knutson.

Even charities understand the resonating power of personalities. “If you look at the world’s most successful charities, the campaigns that work best are the ones where instead of reporting some big number and some big problem, they personalize it by sharing the story of one human being” he says. “That individual’s story is what makes people take action and support the cause.”

This is why it pays to associate your brand with a face or character:

It Establishes An Identity

By giving your brand a character with human traits, you can associate those traits with your brand. It’ll be easier to make it clear to customers what your brand stands for, and you’ll be able to attract customers who relate to those traits.

It Makes You Memorable

Studies have proven that the human brain can recognize faces better than names. And if your company or service is something relatively unexciting like insurance, adding a quirky character to the mix will help your brand stand out from the crowd.

You’ll Gain Customer’s Trust

Customers are far more likely to trust a person than a company. By imbuing your company with human-like traits, it’ll be easier to gain and maintain customers, especially if they are able to connect with or relate to your brand’s character.

So don’t settle for a boring logo that will just blend into the sea of thousands of forgettable brands. Pick a face, create a character, choose a personality – your customers will remember you for it.

If you’re interested in learning more about Brett and his company, be sure to follow him @knutson or visit his website.