How to Become a Successful Human Brand
Humanisation of brands appears to be one of the main trends in branding. As a branding expert at Stima, which is the largest marketing organisation in Belgium, I decided to launch a discussion about this trend in the Stima Expert group.
It appeared that the phenomenon isn’t really known yet in the Belgian marketing community, but it is definitely recognised as an important trend.
Humanisation of brands is the process of becoming a human brand. Now why should a brand become more human? Well, nowadays people are looking for a better connection with the brands they prefer.
They want to build a relationship with those brands. They want to go into dialogue and have conversations with the brands of their choice. Social media is certainly facilitating those conversations and is even a stimulating factor in the process of humanisation of brands.
People even want to identify with their preferred brands. Youngsters for example tend to say “I am Jack and Jones” instead of “I like it”. They become more than brand ambassadors.
They ARE the brand. So, it becomes very meaningful for brands to give more attention to bridging brand values and human values, in order to become a more human.
The trend is definitely triggered by a growing anxiety and uncertainty in society. On the one hand, we have the growing problem of brand over choice.
People are afraid to pick the wrong brand. What should they choose? Are they picking the right ones? What does the brand stand for? Is it honest, transparent and does it care about me and my world?
On the other hand, we are living in a world with more uncertainty and fear due to tougher economical circumstances, war, the Arabic spring and terrorism.
This has an impact on people. It makes them more critical, also towards brands. People are attracted to human brands because they offer them more certainty and a better feeling.
Do you necessarily need to evolve towards a human brand? No, you don’t. But if you evolve towards a more human brand, you will be able to realise a better connection and higher brand loyalty, and you will get more brand ambassadors. It’s all about survival of the fittest.
Now, how can your brand become a more human brand? To answer this question, we need to know what makes us human.
Humans have a face, a heart & soul and feelings. They also have brains and are capable of thinking and sharing a vision.
They have a personality, which is important to their social environment, because they need to express who they are. They also need relations and interactions with their social environment.
Good relations take responsibility, are honest and protective. Those are relations that you can trust.
8 drivers of becoming a more human brand
So, how can your brand become a more human, attractive, trustworthy brand? Those are the eight drivers of becoming a more human brand:
1. HEART & SOUL
Have a heart and soul, become a soul brand and show your human values, make your core value a human one, show your feelings
2. BRAIN
Have an inspiring vision and share it, become a charismatic brand, stand out from the crowd.
3. FACE
Show your face, show who you are, be attractive.
4. PERSONALITY
Show who you are, show your style and what you stand for, so people can identify with your brand.
5. RELATIONS
Be social, build relations.
6. INTERACTION
Build interaction and conversation, share and connect with your relations
7. TRUST
Be authentic and transparent, show that you care for your customer’s environment and be socially responsible
8. FEEL GOOD
Make people feel good, solve problems and offer happiness instead
After all, a brand is a person’s gut feeling about your product, service or organisation. Your brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is. So show who you are. Don’t stay anonymous.
