Today, brands chase authenticity like they used to chase “cool." But more often than not, efforts to appear authentic fail. Why? Consumers crave a more authentic authenticity. In short, they crave CHARACTER. Character is about who you are at your core – the set of values that each behaviour is judged against. It’s deeper than a static personality statement or set of adjectives because you have to ratify your values with your actions.

How can you be authentic without knowing who you truly are?

The idea of having character is nothing new, but the definition of what it means to build brand character is evolving. At Mission, we’ve found that it’s quickly becoming a primary concern amongst our clients.

Five ways to determine and communicate your brand's character

Live your character .Consumers respond to brands that think beyond touchpoints and show their character in bold ways. Live your brand has become some sort of a mantra for success, but you can't live your brand before you've defined the brands "who's and what's" (also called the brand story) Hillary Clinton, for example, did not manage to live her brand during the presidential campaign. She was so afraid of not getting through to everybody that she started selling her message thin, she changed her message several times, and exposed little consistency in comparison to her opponents Bernie Saunders and Donald Trump.
Think bigger . Companies who manage to tell their brand story and operate from a guiding purpose ties closer bond to their customers. This also transcends businesses and helps to navigate change, as we've seen in our Mission Purpose Report.
Be honest, even when it hurts . Fully embrace consumers’ expectations for full transparency and act accordingly. DiGiorno Pizza committed a major social media fail when they accidentally incorporated a hashtag tied to domestic violence awareness into a promotional tweet. But they immediately and candidly fessed up to their failure and wrote sincere, "no excuses" apologies to Twitter users that where offended.
Transcend transaction. Today’s consumer/brand relationships go well beyond one-off purchase decisions. Invest in those relationships by reciprocate loyalty and partnering with your customers. Etsy's energy consumption and shipping practices were running counter to their brand's mission of rethinking commerce for a more "fulfilling and lasting world." They decided to live their brand truth by transitioning to renewable electricity and are committed to developing a carbon neutral marketplace.
Be courageous. Take short-term risks that align with core values to build long-term trust. You’ll earn brand advocates for life. When we kick-off an identity process we start by defining the brand character. Often, when it is barely visible, we start with character building. Building character is always about going the extra mile, it's about going beyond the obvious.

Three steps to help build character

Listen. Find out what’s most important to your customers, and what expectations they have for you and your category/branch; Qualitative: Understand how and why people connect with your product; Social Listening: Tap into of-the-moment conversations; Cultural insights: Learn what will be important to consumers in the future.
Reflect. Take a 30.000 ft view of your brand and consider it in context; Insight alignment: Consider all available findings and use them to challenge assumptions; Social impact strategy: Uncover the social issues that are both important to your customer and relevant to your brand.
Articles . Use insight about brand equity to develop a robust brand narrative that will resonate with your customer; Brand DNA: Define and outline what you stand for and build a consistent brand experience; Narrative development: Project the actions behind your purpose and values by telling a story that sticks.

If you really listen to your customers, you can leverage their stories to drive your creativity. By analysing their stories of how your products and services fit into their lives, you can gain valuable insight into their needs and desires, which can be hugely beneficial to other aspects of your business. Like product design and development and ongoing marketing strategy.

In Mission we believe that tomorrow's brands are characterful, and we belive that when it comes to authenticity, character is key.

Further reading: At the core of the brand is purpose.

Source : Sara Stone, CMO and John Wise, Director of Cultural Insights, both Kelton Global