A brand is essentially the personality of a product. If your product were human, what would its personality be like?
From early carvings of primitive gods to modern day films, like “Toy Story,” mankind has been relating to products as if they were people–as if they had personalities. (This is called anthropomorphism.) When you define the personality of your product, you are tapping into a central theme of human nature.
Ads have the ability to communicate your product’s personality on a massive scale. They can make us acquainted with new products and entice us to get to know them better (i.e. buy them). If we already buy a product, ads reminds us what we like or dislike about it. The effect is very much like browsing Facebook. Pictures in the news feed may introduce you to new acquaintances, or they may remind you of a time you had with a dear friend.
What is your favorite product? What is its personality like?
P.S. One of the most useful tools that I’ve seen for developing the personality of a product is the 7 trigger framework by Sally Hogshead.
Applied to one of the brands that I manage: Expert Reputation (http://expert-reputation.com) is a doctor who’s a really good communicator.