MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER

Multiple Personality Disorder??
Personality is a very fundamental element of the human make-up, and each one of us, as individual constituents of a mass population, is clearly distinguished by our unique identities. When a person loses grip on his identity, psychological issues definitely set in, which attendantly have adverse impact on their perception of life as well as behavioral disposition. This consequently has negative implications on how they’re perceived by society and other individuals.
There’s no doubt that a good number of our product/service offerings are struggling with the problem of identity as far as our brands are concerned in these climes. More often than not , we endeavor to say too much – about ourselves, about what we stand for, about our offering e.t.c in grossly limited communication space and within ridiculously short time frames – A case of aspiring to be “all things to all men”, one might say.
Again, as marketers/marketing communicators, we encounter this conflict of whether to focus on product sales in the short term or to devote precious resources towards a pain-staking, apparently not-immediately-rewarding brand positioning and building process in the longer term. A fundamental truth we must realize, however, is that a company’s (or product’s or service’s brand) is derived from the value that it offers to not only consumer’s but the entirety of its target publics –the consumer, of course remains king, but then a host of other stakeholders also do exist!
Of course, the realization that bills have got to be paid is paramount on the entrepreneur’s objectives…..which necessitates that the marketer’s carefully conceived marketing campaign must instantly set the cash register ringing with dispatch.
We however need to take some crucial considerations into cognizance. This leads us again, at this juncture to underscore the holistic definition of what a brand is. It encapsulates the roles that particular offering plays in its stakeholders lives, the values it represents and stands for.
The brand image refers to the comprehensive verbal, visual and digital display of the brand (which, of course comprises of vital elements such as the logo, colours, type-faces and other iconography) and the challenge all brands have to constantly surmount is that these must necessarily provide a consistent appearance that resonates with the target community and they can identify and connect with these elements.
The Value proposition is a foundational element that is constantly subjected to testing and evaluation and must be periodically measured and refined.
Brand Presence is also another very integral factor. Where does your brand meet its target consumer? It is essentially imperative that the brand be represented in advertising/communication media that reflect the essence of its personality, whether in consumer or Business-to-Business contexts.
A brand’s identity is the framework on which all other variables rest. The identity informs the outlook of the entire brand construct. It guides the brand iconography, copy and communication tone, ad layouts, campaign look and feel e.t.c.
The possession of a strong identity is without doubt an important asset for a brand and will become increasingly important in the future. it is however ironic that the need to have a strong identity and the attendant nurturing of same is ignored in almost every discussion on branding. Moreover, we notice that in practice a relatively large number of brands change their identity in order to "reconnect" with the consumer, howbeit often without success. What then usually happens as a consequence is that the consumer does not recognize its brand anymore, simply because the brand has embarked on a volte-face and changed its identity! It’s consumer simply does not know what the brand stands for and as a consequence of this he has difficulties to trust the brand. And trust, as we all know, is the basis for every relationship
Truth is, Once a brand is struggling with identity issues, all other elements are no doubt resting on a shaky foundation.
It is not contestable that archetypes play pivotal roles in cultural identity. It is therefore rather unfortunate to realize that very few brand/marketing strategists have made the integral connection between brands and archetypes - or at least worked to incorporate the notion of archetypes in their operational brand-building methodology.
One realization is that Brands are complex, abstract and difficult to pin down. However, in endeavoring to define them, it appears we oftentimes forget this. With techniques such as brand pyramids and a thousand and one other varied, complex ‘proprietary tools’ of different orientation ,we attempt to constrain and control them. Rather than trying to understand brands in their natural habitat, we box them in enclosures-turning them into guinea pigs of sorts. We do recognize, of course that pyramids, onions, mappings, brand wheels, master brand keys and other myriad techniques indeed can prove to be useful tools/disciplines that help in the distillation process – But a key and objective question remains that ‘do they really help define the unchanging core values of a brand?’ We spend ages debating and rationalizing the nuances of synonyms, performing semantic gymnastics to prove that Brand X is different from Brand Y, and ceaselessly agonizing over whether something is an Emotional Benefit or a Brand Value or in fact the selling proposition – a distinction we struggle to understand in the first place. At the end of the day,where does all of this get us in real terms? More often than not, a pile of disjointed words that look like little less than explosions in a bombed-out thesaurus factory. Unfortunately, when we eventually succeed in building our pyramids and agreeing that our brand is contemporary, stylish, relevant, inclusive and other usual suspects, we fall into the trap of thinking our job is finished. In reality, though, we are no closer to articulating ‘core essence’ than when we began – even if that particular box has been filled in. What should be rich, complex and, by definition, pain-staking to articulate only ends up more confusing and sadly subjected to assisted suicide by a thousand adjectives and buzzwords., by no means helped in the least by the phenomenon called Microsoft Power-Point (As if we strong brands had not been successfully built before its advent!)
Frankly, Pondering on all of this, I reckon It definitely was not intended to be this complicated.
Permit me to quote Scott Bedbury, who, at different points in time was head of marketing at Nike and Starbucks respectively, He opines that: ‘a brand is a metaphorical story that … connects with something very deep — a fundamental human appreciation of mythology … Companies that manifest this sensibility … invoke something very powerful’. Talking about deep metaphors…….Very insightful and thought-provoking, in my perspective.
Now, those very factors that appear like the seemingly "intangible" elements of a brand are really very precise sets of contextual values, emotions, aspirations and projections that can quite easily be not only identified but plotted, graphed, and inserted into a brand's identity. It’s been said that the key lies in the actual archetypes of the brand(s) in question, and relatedly, a very clear understanding of the pivotal role they play in the psyches and expectations of those folks whose culture you are trying to intertwine your brand with.
The above underscores the imperativeness of extensive and incisive research targeted at obtaining deep consumer insight….the knowledge of what motivates your target and makes them tick.
Some brands are even able to achieve this without actually realizing it. They instinctively tap into something primal and culturally relevant without really knowing or understanding why or how they did it. BRAND STRATEGY intrinsically involves employing archetypes to build stronger brands
A classic example in this case is the Nike Brand: The brand appeals to the "champion/hero" and uses sports as the medium for its allegorical language. The very choice of names - "Nike" the Greek Goddess of victory - has immediate Archetypal implications and goes a long way in moulding consumer perception of the brand.
The Virgin brand, which has become a huge success globally is archetypally a ‘jester’ brand…irreverent , light-heartedand exciting. This has gone on to inform the positioning as well as tonality of the entire brand communication.
A strong identity rooted in a well-fitting archetypal forte is very integral to the brand-building effort.This is the key reason why brands with a strong identity, like Apple, Nike, Guinness, IKEA and BMW, among others have a relatively large group of loyal consumers, employees and ambassadors. These represent brands with strong beliefs and a set of consistent values with which not only their consumers, but also employees , investors and other stakeholders feel connected and are willing to identity with.
It’s about time we, particularly in Nigeria, and Africa, by extension began to have a serious look at the way in which strong and meaningful brand identity can be developed and nurtured, starting from the point of asking these fundamental questions. And, just before I toss my pen away for now……………..Ye marketers, Hearken to Gospel truth ………..”Seek ye first the building of the brand, and all other returns shall be added unto you!”

Tomi Ogunlesi is a professional member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and is presently an account planner in Strategy and Business Development at BatesCosse, Lagos.