8 Reasons Why Having A Face For Your Brand Is Important
Many leaders often underestimate the importance of having a face for their Corporate Brand – particularly when they are not in the retail/consumer facing sector. It is wrongly believed that having a face for the Brand is a nice-to-have and not mandatory. There is also the belief that not every business or organization needs to have a face to it; and it is possible to be hugely successful as a business without having a uniquely identifiable human face to the brand. This is often the perspective of companies with a more conservative (and media-shy) background and even though it is true that not having a face to the brand is not a showstopper for all businesses – especially those who are in the B2B sector; there are many reasons to consider having face for your brand not necessarily because you need it now but because it would definitely come in handy in future.
Let us consider some of the high-points of having a face for your brand.
1. Humanize the brand
The biggest advantage of having a face for your Brand is that it humanizes the business. It helps to create a human image and personality in the minds of the consumer, audience and makes it easier to recall and identify with the brand; develop some level of familiarity and affinity from a distance – in a way that could potentially be helpful to the business now and in the future in terms of sales, goodwill, advocacay and influencing in times when the direction of societal discourse may require other voices to chip in on behalf of the brand or business without having being prodded or incentivised to do so.
2. Tell personal stories
Having a face for your Brand gives the opportunity to tell personal stories which draw people into the purpose and mission for your Brand. It is not for nothing that the most successful tech companies in the world have Founders who have embraced the concept of becoming the Face for their Brands even knowing how much it takes to be in that space.
3. Share human connection
Having a face for your Brand makes it much easier to build a human connection and also create cross generational stories. By following the life trajectory of the Face of the Brand, they continue to follow the progress of the business and it becomes a part of their lives. In Nigeria, one of the reasons, the richest man in Africa enjoys a lot of goodwill from ordinary Nigerians is simply because everyone knows his story. They have followed his progress through Dangote sugar, cement, flour and now refinery. He is respected as a serious businessman in Nigeria and a part of society. He is seen in social functions and interacts with people from various works of society.
4. Bring the brand closer
Having a face for your Brand also helps to bring it closer to the audience. And this is useful in the tech industry for instance where CEOs/Founders like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs have developed a a cult like audience and a community of brand-loyal users who identify with the Face of the Brand. We have a similar situation in Nigeria where the owners of some banking conglomerates have the same kind of following. They enjoy a societal grace and public goodwill that others who are less known publicly do not have.
6. Illustrate brand purpose, mission and vision
Having a consistent and recognizable Face of the Brand is useful to helping illustrate the purpose, mission and vision of the brand. And there are many who do this excellently. Rihanna has done this perfectly for her Fenty Brand. She has so cleverly leveraged on her personality, face and voice to build and support an entirely new brand in a completely different but lifestyle adjacent industry. Her Face has connected the following/audience from the Music/entertainment scene into that of our beauty and clothing brand – Fenty. In all her promotion for the Brand – she personnifies the Brand’s mantra of beauty for everyone and even in her music – that thread of inclusiveness shines through her onstage performances. Her face and lifestyle gives.
Rihanna wove her personality so much into the presentation and promotion of the Brand that she is described as being not just the FACE of the Brand but its HEART and SOUL. And the strategy has paid off tremendously.
7. Build trust and credibility
Having a face for your Brand breeds trust and credibility. For one thing it makes the brand more accountable as public personalities are often held to a much higher standard. It does mean that there is an expectation to speak out on issues of public concern regarding the Brand – but the flip side of that is that there is trust and credibility for those who are able to rise to the occasion and use their public face to affirm brand values for societal good when it matters most. Particularly in times of crisis management, there is a need for someone to step up to the plate quickly and firmly. And it is much easier if it is someone who already has a bank of goodwill to draw from.
8. Customer investment Attraction and Retention
Having a face for your Brand attracts a certain kind of audience and keeps them loyal. This is primarily why Brands now use social media influencers to market their products and it works really well. The same principle applies for the corporate master brand. And you really cannot use an influencer to market your Corporate Brand. That is a job for a Founder or a very charismatic CEO. Even if the Face of the Brand is only seen in Boardrooms and at industry forums, it is important to identify and present a very credible person as the Face that everyone can look up to for direction, insights, clarification and explanation on where the Brand is going, what it stands for – what to expect in the future and why it matters.