This is the first article I wrote in English. It was originally published by Advertising Age in 1985 and was published again in the same magazine in 2000.

Jacques Chevron

(As published in Advertising Age, on July 22, 1985)

        For a brand sell to be effective long-term, the advertising needs to 
create an emotional involvement between the consumer and the brand. The 
kinds of emotions that are translated into words like: MY Apple Computer, 
MY Tide, MY Olds. Consumers with this kind of involvement become 
literally married to them. They are more brand-loyal, usually refusing to 
consider the arguments of competitors (adultery), but receptive to those 
from THEIR brand.
        They will switch brands (divorce) only if forced to, or after many 
disappointments. When a marketer achieves this kind of status with 
enough consumers, he begins to breathe easier, feels less competitive 
pressure, has better margins and a steadier income.
        How can advertising make a consumer want to marry a brand? By 
giving him the same kind of information needed to evaluate a prospective 
bride (or groom), i.e., information about physical attributes, style and 
character.

THE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES. How pretty is the brand? How engaging is its 
smile? How well does it perform? Physical attributes can be encountered 
in many areas like packaging, product performance or superior value. It is 
for instance, Era's stain removing ability, or Federal Express promising 
overnight delivery.
        Information on physical attributes is necessary in the courtship of 
the consumer. But the consumer will continue purchasing only until a 
prettier product comes along. Brands sold for their physical attributes 
live with the permanent obligation of justifying themselves by 
performance or price.
        Attractive physical attributes are reason enough to date on a day-
to-day (or purchase-to-purchase) basis. Alone, they are not enough to 
justify long-term commitment and marriage.

THE STYLE. Style is the way the brand presents itself. It can be serious, 
tongue-in-cheek, scientific, fun or down-to-earth. All those are style 
descriptors.
        Whether we like the style of a brand or not is essential in 
determining the kind of relationship we will have, at least initially. While 
relationships based on physical attributes rely on convenience to 
determine their duration, style adds the first step of emotional 
involvement, an incentive to take a good look at the product. If the 
consumer likes the style, he will look at a product a little closer. He 
might even overlook (temporarily) a prettier brand for one that has a style 
that entices him.
        ...And if handsome physique was enough for dating on a day-to-day 
basis, attractive style can justify going steady.

THE CHARACTER. To create the long lasting bond of marriage we need more 
than handsome physique and attractive style: we need character. It is 
essential to a long-term relationship. But the communication of character 
is very difficult to achieve because:
        a) CHARACTER IS FELT RATHER THAN STATED. Assessing someone 
else's character is based on personal observations. Nobody can TELL his 
character... we must see it ourselves.
        b) BUILDING CHARACTER TAKES TIME. While physical attributes take 
fractions of a second, and style a few minutes to impress, character takes 
time to discover. It is only after we form our own assessment that we 
may be impressed. And that takes time.
        c) CONSISTENT BEHAVIOR IS ESSENTIAL TO BUILDING CHARACTER. 
How often have we doubted our own assessment of someone's personality 
based on one trivial faux pas?
        Character is Marlboro, Coca-Cola (though the formula change may 
have changed some of this), Keebler or Apple.
        Advertising that works long-term builds the character of brands and 
gets consumer wed to them.
        But advertising is seldom consistent for a long enough period of 
time to be able to communicate brand character. Changes in key marketing 
personnel or in ad agencies do hurt.
        The main culprit, however, is the organization of major US 
advertisers: Copy decisions are too often influenced by lower marketing 
personnel who have short term goals, who occupy positions only 
temporarily (just on the way up), and, who must justify decisions with 
logical rationales. Character, easier felt than explained, seldom survives 
the rationale test.
        Big profits go to those advertisers who organize their brand copy-
decision process to improve its chances of communicating character.
        Most other brands live out of wedlock.

By:
Jacques R. Chevron