Building a brand personality from scratch can feel near impossible. Just like a triple Big Mac with all the trimmings and extra cheesy goodness melting from the sides – ‘where do you start?’
Today Readcity are bringing you 3 brand personality examples to inspire your own.
What is a Brand Personality?
Sure, we can all go around shouting about being ‘the best’ and ‘like, so totally cool, man.’
But, hate to break it to you, cobber – boasting about ourselves won’t get us anywhere.
Instead? Turning your brand into one with its own personality… Well, that’s where the magic is.
Because, as Lucidpress says:
“A brand does not exist within a company or organization. A brand personality exists in the minds of your customers. A brand is the sum total of impressions a customer has, based on every interaction they have had with you, your company, and your products.”
– (Lucidpress).
Do you really need a Brand Personality?
Did you know that 78% of consumers value custom content over generic ‘flavourless’ content? And that a whopping 90% of consumers expect a seamless brand experience, from social media to your website, email marketing and beyond?
It’s no secret that brand personality plays a huge role in the consistency of a brand. But if you’re just starting out and creating your brand personality yourself, some guidance would be handy, right?
That’s exactly why we’ve put together these brand examples for you to draw inspiration from.
But, first up – Some handy tips on how to use these bad boys.
How to Make the Best Use of These Brand Personality Examples
- Inspiration (not imitation): Look to these brand personality examples to help your creative juices start flowing.
But be a peach and don’t try mimicking them to a tee, ‘kay?
For one, it’s so far from being in the ‘cool books’ (it may as well be in the Sahara).
And two, 9.8757 times out of 10, trying to mimic another brand comes across as a cheap fake.
This is for many reasons (and a story for another time).
- Look through fresh peepers: If you’re not on the brand’s target audience, imagine yourself as someone who is.
What do they want? What do they like? What other brand personalities are in the same
the industry as an example?
Now that housekeeping is done and dusted (geddit?), let’s get into these killer brand personality examples – So you can obsess over them as much as us.
Brand Personality Example 1: Good Pair Days
We had the pleasure of interviewing Good Pair Days Co-Founder, Banjo Plane earlier this year. Apart from being an absolute legend (you only have to have a squiz at his Youtube videos to work that out), he’s also one of the faces behind one of our all-time favourite brands.
Originally known as The Wine Gallery, today Good Pair Days is Australia’s fastest-growing personalised wine subscription service.
Let’s unpack that.
The personality:
Good Pair Day’s brand personality is, in Banjo’s words:
“Bright, energetic and friendly.”
So, why have they chosen such a bright, inviting and fresh brand personality? Essentially it comes back to their brand mission.
“A few years ago, a world-famous sommelier and a total wine newbie walked into a bar. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but it was actually the start of a great company.
Aside from wondering what “dry” even meant when it came to something wet, Tom (newbie) had a question for Banjo (expert): did he want to be part of a mission to help everyone – from newbies to aficionados – to discover and experience the joy of exceptional wine? To remove the confusion and jargon and assumed knowledge, to cut through the pretentiousness and exclusivity of the traditional wine industry? To make wine accessible and enjoyable for everyone?
He did.
And they’ve been pairing good wine to good people ever since.”
Good Pair Day’s brand personality is interlaced with key elements to communicate their mission. Let’s have a look at them.
Why it works
Good Pair Days set out to redefine the way people consume wine. The way we appreciate it and understand it. Good Pair Days is a brand that epitomises what it means to be ‘down-to-earth’ and real.
How they’ve done it
Essentially? Through the use of relatable graphics, conversational language and familiar wording. The brand uses the kinds of words you’d say to your friends.
Here are just a few of our favourite examples:
- “Enjoy your lovely bottles”
- “Don’t love a bottle? We’ll add a free bottle to your next box”
- “Wine adventure”
You’ll notice that Good Pair Days uses shorter words with fewer syllables, as well as shorter sentences. This gives the brand personality a feeling of simplicity, certainty and intention.
This brand personality spans further than website words alone. It extends into their email copy (seriously, get on their list), the ordering process and even through to their approachable social media presence (reposting User-Generated Content 18+ times per day). If you were looking for a brand personality example that feels like your BFF, you’ve bloody found it.
Brand Personality Example 2: Go-To Skincare
You’ll hear us raving about Go-To Skincare’s brand personality until the cows come home. Why? Because in an otherwise saturated market, their sassy goodness has set them apart from competitors in a ha-uge way.
So, why is this relatively new brand overtaking industry icons in the faves game? Let’s check it out together, muchacho.
The personality
The Go-To brand personality is peachy in more ways than one. For starters, it feels fresh – like a freshly rosed cheek from giggling.
It’s also not-quite-pink, not-quite-red in feels. You feel? Neither girly nor aggressive. A perfect balance of somewhere in between – nestled within powerful femininity.
The brand personality feels young and modern, friendly yet trustworthy and new, yet wise.
Why it works
It’s no secret that people crave “human” brands. And Go-To Skincare is by far a standout in this brand personality example category. Legendary Founder, Zoe Foster-Blake (yep, Hamish Blake’s other half) was the Beauty Director at Cosmopolitan and Harper’s BAZAAR – so it’s not her first rodeo.
By using their own invented words, speaking to their audience like the real people they are and creating a brand that doesn’t beat around the bush, the personality packs one helluva punch.
Not to mention it looks damn delightful and cuts through the noise for a younger market too.
How they’ve done it
Language is cheeky, errs on sarcastic and always feels empowering. Playing around with word choice (or even word invention) is a common occurrence for the mega-brand.
By breaking language conventions, Go-To Skincare shows that they don’t take themselves too seriously. This is welcomed by their younger target market who not only feel heard and understood – but also entertained. Seriously, this brand is an absolute hoot.
Want some examples of their brand personality in action? You’ve got it.
- “Transformazing is a serum-drenched sheet mask that transforms regular skin (or thirsty, sad, hungover/tired skin) into very amazing, very glowy, very luminous skin.”
- “Poor old hands. They work so hard. They age so fast. And they get thrashed with cheap, public bathroom soap. No more! It’s time we give our hands some g-damn respect!”
- “Oh, and it smells good. Real good.”
Brand Personality Example 3: Xero
Brand personalities come in many shades. And depending on your target market, yours will find its own shape and groove. An excellent brand personality example that smashes all preconceptions is – I can’t believe I’m about to say this – Xero.
Yep, what’s usually a dry and pretty boring industry has actually been transformed into something you wanna read.
The personality
Xero’s brand personality is less conversational than our previous examples. But it is simple, intentional and trustworthy.
Xero’s brand mission is to:
‘Empower small businesses and their advisors to do beautiful business.’
… Beautiful? … Business?
Seeing these two words together at first glance feels almost jarring.
Can it be? Can the pair actually be two peas in a pod?
Short answer? Yep.
And Xero’s the absolute definition of that. But how has their brand personality steered their messaging this way?
As explained on the Xero blog by Global Head of Brand Strategy and Marketing at Xero, James Kyd:
“When you truly believe in your business purpose, it becomes more than a poster on the wall: it’s your powerful weapon to decision making. Purpose impacts the causes you champion, the conversations you start; the places you show up; and, ultimately, the creative communication that really resonates.”
Xero’s core values? Hero, champion and beautiful.
It’s these core ideals that radiate through each and every piece of Xero’s copy. These guiding values give the reader a sense of confidence – as though accounting ‘ain’t no thang’ with Xero on their team.
Noggin sparkler: Wanna know a fun fact? Readcity made the move to Xero after being targeted with their super useful instructional videos. They were easy to understand, fresh and skipped the confusing jargon. AKA, Xero’s branding was on point and targeted to people like us.
Why it works
Simply put, Xero knows their market. They know it like Van Gogh knows how to suck energy from his muses. They know it like unicorns know their magic. They know know it. Here, take a peek at one of their clever promo videos.
How they’ve done it
When it came to bringing you brand personality examples in this piece – only the best would do. Xero made the cut because we see them as being revolutionary in their field. Legit.
Xero clearly saw that business owners were finding their banking and accounting tricky. So they’ve brought their language down to a simple, yet savvy tone.
They use metaphors that include real-world, relatable references. Such as, ‘a piece of cake.’ Cleverly, Xero also let their customers do most of the talking. In line with their value – Champion – Xero give their customers a voice by celebrating their businesses and achievements.
Xero’s language is free of jargon, it shows a variety of people using their service and breaks down preconceptions that ‘accounting software is boring and difficult.’
On a side note, they’ve also cleverly laid out their website to separate each individual industry that Xero works well for.
Here are just a few examples of their voice in action:
- “End of financial year and the start of something beautiful.”
- “Number one again. Four years in a row. Canstar Blue asked Australian small businesses to review and rate different accounting software…. Xero came out on top for the fourth year in a row.”
- “Single Touch Payroll. A piece of cake with Xero.”
What have you learnt from these brand personality examples?
Having a strong brand personality can seriously strengthen your brand. As you can see from these killer brand personality examples, any industry can benefit from establishing their brand voice.
What did you take from each of these examples? Maybe you’ll begin choosing more intentional words for your business. Perhaps you’ll experiment with sentence structure and branded terms.
Here are some noggin sparklers to get you started:
- Like Xero, what are three of your brand values?
- Like Good Pair Days, how do you communicate with your audience (i.e. text, graphics, labels)
- Like Go-To Skincare, what aren’t others saying in your industry?
Check out more of Readcity’s noggin sparklers over on their website, and become BFFs on Instagram too!
