Figmentations

What a unique way to create some buzz about a new book launch. This approach of offering bloggers a free virtual interview with the author (pre-book-launch) certainly gives this new book launch a “personality” of its own.

The book I’m referring to here is entitled, “Personality Not Included”, written by Rohit Bhargava of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

To find out more about this new marketing book, continue to read the following five interview questions that I posed to him in order to get a better understanding of the book’s content myself. Keep in mind that each question was personally answered by Rohit himself, with the promise of no “cut and paste” used by him at all in order to respond to over fifty other such requests which he freely invited.

Question #1: Does a company have a personality or does each of it’s brands have their own personality (which may or may not be consistent with the image of the company)?

Answer: I’d have to say in many cases it has to do with the brands of a company rather than the parent company – if I’m reading your question right. For example, there may be lots of evangelists for Special K from Kelloggs, but not as many for a different brand. I think it also depends on how much in the forefront a parent brand prefers to be. Darden, for example, is the parent company for Olive Garden, Red Lobster and others … but you will rarely see their name anywhere. In that case, all the association customers have is with the brands.

Question #2: When you refer to “having a personality” does that equate to “having a social media marketing plan”?

Answer: Great question. Coming at writing a book after having written a marketing blog, the first temptation was to write a book about social media … but PNI is definitely a book about more than that. As a result, I would have to say that my definition of having a personality spans far beyond social media. For example, in the book I talk about everything from advertising to training employees to holding events. I even suggest that for some companies, starting a blog may be the wrong choice.

Question #3: Can “having a personality” level the playing field by allowing a small company with a small-budget product to compete with a large company with big-budget product simply on the basis of having an equally appealing personality for a brand of comparable quality?

Answer: Personality can certainly make the difference between big and small brands with all other things being equal. The premise of the book is that personality matters because it is the believable element of your brand that helps you get from being something consumers buy to something that they love.

Question #4: How likely is it that a company can control a brand’s personality versus the brand’s personality taking on an unexpected life of its own?

Answer: This is sure to be a question on lots of brands minds. The idea of control is often written off as a myth with lots of marketing consultants telling you that you need to give it up. One point I shared in the book is that this approach is dead wrong. Giving up control is defeatist, whereas sharing control is what you should really aim for. And perhaps control is the wrong word altogether. If you think about it, if you are truly collaborating with your customers then you are both in control. You’re not handing over your media plan and asking the customer to do it, but you’re also not working in isolation. Shared control is what its all about.

Question #5: Please explain what you mean by “authenticity” and “personality” in the context of already well-known brands such as Coke or Pepsi. Do these particular brands have both of those qualities or do they need more of either or both of them?

Answer: Those are two really good examples to bring into this dialogue because they struggle with these problems all the time. They launch new product extensions, they have million dollar promotions and all to get people to buy more in spikes. The problem with both brands is that they spend too much on awareness and too little on belief. Personality is about belief and if you talk to a Coke or Pepsi drinker, most likely they will have a belief that one is better than another. I went to Emory in Atlanta, widely known as Coke U … so in part, Coke funded my education. I’m not among the category of soft drink drinkers who can really tell the difference, but my having gone to Emory is such a great opportunity for Coke to make me into more of an evangelist. But I haven’t seen any marketing spend targeting me yet …

For even more information and to get a better sense of Rohit’s easy-to-read writing style, download a free preview of the Introduction to this book at Rohit’s “Influential Marketing Blog” and/or read the other fifty plus interviews posted there as well.

Thanks, Rohit, for inviting us into the conversation!!!!