It is important to understand the different roles which one individual
can have within society, from this, ‘A person can have more than one identity…
The number of identities an individual
has depends on how many social situations they frequently find themselves in. Generally
people play many different roles in life, for example, during the daytime it
may be that a person needs to fit in to the role of a lawyer, whilst in the
morning and evenings the very same person acts as the mother of three children’
This indicates that there is much more depth within one perceived
demographic. For example, if designing a financial brand, the main demographic
will be business owners. However, within this generalized demographic, there
are sub-audiences which must be considered. This returns to the idea of an individual
having multiple identities, one member of the target audience may also be a
banker, electrician, mother of three etc… Therefore, it is important to
identify the majority and cater towards them whilst still being a brand that is
open to interpretation from other minorities within the target audience.
People build upon their personal identities via the use of
product association; by embedding a values and credentials within a brand, desirability
for the product can be created. This can impose a social category on the brand
which can make it more distinguishable and recognizable within a particular
field of work. Similarly to how the use of products can be utilized for individual
presence within society, they can also represent group presence or a
membership. It is stated that;
‘Just as clothing, accent, grooming
and jewellery can distinguish an individual from others and express and individual
sense of being, they can also indicate group identity and express belonging to
a group.’ (Belk, 1988, p.208)
just as much as people buy things to be associated with,
they also choose what not to buy. Therefore, it is important to not embed any
unwanted traits within the brand identity.
