Personality not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity- And How Great Brands Get It Back
Personality not included written by Rohit Bhargava, is a witty and straight forward book on how a brand can attain or regain personality. The book uses many interesting examples of larger organizations and established brands which are applicable to smaller organizations as well. Bhargava also highlights the fact that personality is what moves passive consumers to active, and passionate brand enthusiasts. The book starts with a quote from David Ogilvy:
"You now have to decide what image you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the marketplace."
Bhargava starts by explaining how organizations lose their personality. Organizations lose all authenticity and personality when their employees become "people" rather than individuals. He later discusses why being a faceless corporation doesn't work anymore since having personality adds layers of trust with your consumers.
Next he discusses different spokespeople who are the "voices" of an organization. He describes five types of spokespeople of a brand. The Founder, The Character, The Authority, The Celebrity, and The Enthusiast. According to Bhargava companies should find these spokespeople and leverage them.
On defining your Organizations personality, he introduces the UAT tool- Unique, Authentic, Talkable= Personality. He also illustrates the importance of crafting a unique back story for a brand. In this chapter he discusses five key elements:
What I really enjoyed about this book is that it doesn't only give you great tips and examples of creating an authentic brand personality, but also directs you on how to implement the theory through action.
The part about organizational change and techniques on how to encourage these changes wasn't my favorite since it felt very theory/textbook like. The information provided in this division wasn't really of any use for me, since I'm not in the position to encourage organizational change.
Other than that the book has tons of content that can be implemented easily, while using great examples that are thought provoking and supported with great visual aides.
This book is perfect for marketing and sales professionals who believe that marketing needs to do more than generate profit. It is for companies who want to be loved, instead of liked. It is for organizations that want to be iconic instead of ordinary.
Personality not included is definitely worth a read for anyone in marketing.
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