Brand identity and brand personality are key. Your brand identity is the internal foundation of your brand, your brand image is the external perception of that identity, and your brand personality is the human expression that brings it to life. When they are aligned, they bring clarity and send a clear signal to your audience about who you are and what your brand stands for. When they are not, they create confusion and leave room for mixed messages.
Many businesses focus on logos, visuals, social media, marketing, or how to go viral, but struggle to articulate who they are and how they want their brand and business to be perceived. It is important to highlight that when we talk about brand identity, it goes without mentioning that we are also talking about the brand’s image.
Brand identity is the internal foundation of your brand, encompassing your values and operational controls. In contrast, brand image is the external reflection of how those efforts are viewed by your audience.
What is a brand?
Let’s define what a brand is. A brand is a combination of various elements such as the name, logo, values, motto, ethos, products, services, and the environment in which the business operates. Together, these elements differentiate the business and help make the brand memorable in a crowded marketplace.
Brand identity vs brand image
Brand identity defines the brand’s strategic foundation. It is the tangible and intangible part of your brand. It is something customers can see, feel, touch. It is unique and comes with a set of associations for what your brand stands for and promises to your customers. It is about who your brand is, which includes its purpose, vision, brand values, positioning, promise, visual identity, and tone of voice. This part is intentional, as it is how you want your brand to be perceived. A luxury brand may define itself as exclusive, timeless, sophisticated, and rooted in heritage and craftsmanship. That is identity.
With brand identity, you are in charge of how you want your brand to engage with the external world. It reflects how you want your target audience to view and perceive your brand. When the identity is correctly applied, it establishes the emotional connection between your brand and your audience.
Your brand identity will usually encompass your logo, your products and services, your promotion, retail environment, as well as your social media presence. All of these elements of your brand identity are what will make your audience connect with your brand. When your organisation controls the brand identity, this process will in return activate the brand, creating the external expression known as the brand image.
Just like a mirror, brand image is your brand’s identity reflection; it is all the elements of the brand’s identity coming to life. It is from your customer’s perspective, and how they view and perceive your brand.
Ensuring your brand identity and brand image are aligned is essential, as any gap between the two can create a distorted image and affect how customers perceive your brand.
What is brand personality?
Brand personality is about how the brand behaves. It is the human character people associate with the brand. Brand personality translates that foundation into a relatable human character. If the brand were a person, what characteristics, personality, or traits would it have? How would it speak, behave? What values would it have?
Brand personality encompasses behaviour. It humanises the brand. Customers attribute human characteristics or traits to the brand, and that is where brand personality begins to form. It helps customers make sense of the marketplace pool of brands.
During the customer experience with the brand, the human personality will come to life. Your organisation’s internal processes shape a unique set of traits, characteristics, and values that define its personality. This strategy relies on brand personification, where customers attribute human traits, emotions, and behaviours to non-human entities.
Brands whose personalities are closely aligned with their identity are more likely to build emotional connections with their customers. Equally, brands that align with a consumer’s self-concept are more likely to be chosen. When a brand’s identity and personality are coherent, and that personality resonates with how the customer sees themselves, the brand image becomes clearer and more recognisable. It is no longer left open to interpretation, but becomes a reflection the customer can identify with and emotionally connect to.
Looking at it from a human anatomy lens, brand personality is the essence of what your brand is and how it behaves. Without the personality aspect, the brand lacks essence and becomes sterile. Brand personality is what translates the identity foundation into a relatable character.
Final Thoughts
The brand’s identity is like the skeleton: it provides structure. Brand personality is the character: it brings that structure to life. Without brand identity and personality, brands blindly follow the latest trend bandwagon in an attempt to capture customer interest and emulate their market competitors. When brand identity and personality are aligned, customers respond with emotional connection and deeper engagement.
Identity gives direction. Without it, brand personality becomes random. Decisions become inconsistent, positioning becomes unclear, and the brand sends mixed messages because it does not know what it stands for. Without both, the brand becomes misaligned.
Personality creates emotional connection. Without it, brands become sterile. The brand feels generic and becomes difficult to remember or relate to. Customers purchase on an emotional basis before it is justified rationally. Some brands have brand identity without personality, while others have personality without identity. The memorable and strongest brands have both. A strong brand personality sets you apart from other brands in a crowded industry.
When managing a brand, one must ask: What does your brand stand for? How should your brand behave? Are brand identity and brand personality aligned? Those are the early questions that shape how a brand functions, behaves, and is ultimately perceived.
A brand is a living entity. Like a human, it thrives, it fails, and if neglected, it deteriorates and dies.
Sources & Further Reading
Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team - Alina Wheeler and Debbie Millman
Strategic Brand Management - Kevin Lane Keller
“Brand Identity and Brand Image” - research paper
“Self-image, Self-concept and Self-identity Revisited” - Joseph A. Bailey II