Early Praise for Personality Not Included “Wow. I devoured Personality Not Included, frequently shouting ‘yes!’ as I followed Rohit’s spot-on analysis of a fundamental truth: being faceless doesn’t work anymore. Per- sonality in both people and companies is what customers get passionate about and drives seemingly unlimited success. This is one of those rare books to purchase by the case so you can give copies to employees and investors. But make sure to keep a few for yourself to read and reread so you don’t miss a thing. Bravo!” —David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR “Personality Not Included breaks down the old barriers between marketing, advertis- ing, and PR and shows people how to nail the single objective of it all: creating pow- erful conversations with your customers and getting them to choose you over the rest.” —Timothy Ferriss, top blogger and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek “There are two types of small business owners—ones who know they are in the busi- ness of marketing and those who don’t. For either, Personality Not Included is an eye- opening look at what really matters when it comes to delighting your customers. If you want a guide to being more than ordinary, get this book.” —John Jantsch, award-winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing “Just being pretty isn’t enough anymore, today a brand also needs a strong personal- ity to survive. In PNI, Rohit gives you the techniques and tools to help your brand go from wallflower to social butterfly.” —Laura Ries, bestselling author of 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, and cofounder of Ries & Ries “Finally. The road map to marketing in the era of social media, which we’ve all so des- perately needed. With Personality Not Included, Rohit defines the power of brand per- sonality in a world of instantaneous, ubiquitous storytelling and gives marketers the practical knowledge and tools they need to transform their brands and marketing approaches with the secret weapon of personality. If there is one book I recommend every client and every agency person read right now, it’s Personality Not Included. Every chapter gives you new ways to navigate an increasingly complex marketing land- scape with clarity, nimbleness, and pragmatism. Invest in reading it—the dividends will be enormous for your brand and your business.” —Carla Hendra, chairman, Ogilvy New York and co-chief executive officer, Ogilvy North America Continued on next page “Authenticity in products and personality is the new hallmark of corporate success— Rohit shows us why the days of faceless corporate spin are over and points us in an exciting new direction.” —Lucas Conley, Fast Company writer and author of Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Business of Illusion and the Illusion of Business “No one talks about boring brands. With bountiful ideas and insights, Rohit Bhargava deftly explains how to present a brand’s personality in a way that will get people talking and believing.” —Jackie Huba, coauthor of Citizen Marketers and Creating Customer Evangelists “The secret to free marketing: give people a reason to talk about you. How? Have a personality. This fantastic book will teach you.” —Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking “Filled with powerful insights, yet written like a collection of stories—you don’t see many business books that are this tough to put down. If you believe that great mar- keting is about creating powerful experiences, then you need to get Personality Not Included. Rohit goes beyond how to effectively engage the customer and explains how to continue an intelligent dialogue with the customer after a brand already has their attention. The brands that learn from this book will be the ones kept from being thrown into the wastebasket of commoditization. Read this book—then read it again— it’s that good!” —Erik Hauser, founder, Experiential Marketing Forum; director, International Experiential Marketing Association; founder and executive creative director, Swivel Media “Generation Y demands both authenticity and personality in a brand. It’s why brands like Apple and Adidas continue to top lists of brands young people trust and respect even in an increasingly crowded media landscape where everyone is vying for young people’s attention and loyalty. Personality Not Included acknowledges the real challenges for brands created by social media while reminding us that it’s ‘personality’ that ulti- mately inspires your customers to not just like you, but to truly LOVE you. Rohit goes beyond the theoretical and includes lots of company stories as well as practical advice on how to bring out your brand’s personality. As a blogger who has built a brand based on personality, I found Rohit’s book to be an essential addition to my library.” —Anastasia Goodstein, founder, Ypulse.com and author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online *Personality not included *Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity– And How Great Brands Get it Back Rohit Bhargava New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright © 2008 by Rohit Bhargava. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-07-154522-0 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-154521-2. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. 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If you’d like more information about this book, its author, or related books and websites, please click here. For my two little personalities, Rohan and Jaiden and to Chhavi, my accomplice in raising them. This page intentionally left blank For more information about this title, click here Contents xi Foreword xii Note to Readers 1 Introduction PART ONE chapter 1 Sign Here to Read This p. 19 How Organizations Lose Their Personality chapter 2 The Accidental Spokesperson p. 41 How Unlikely Voices Are Shaping Your Brand chapter 3 A Signature Is Not Enough p. 73 How to Define Your Organization’s Personality chapter 4 Lessons from the Storytellers p. 101 Crafting a Backstory People Care About chapter 5 Conquering the Fear Factor p. 135 Getting Your Organization to Embrace Personality chapter 6 Add Personality and Stir p. 159 Finding and Using Personality Moments vii ! INTERMISSION page 182 PART T WO Introduction The Butler Was a Marketer p. 185 Putting Personality into Action Techniques New Styles of Marketing p. 188 Overview of Techniques Curiosity Marketing Karmic Marketing Participation Marketing Un-Whatever Marketing Sensory Marketing Anti-Marketer Marketing Fallibility Marketing Insider Marketing Useful Marketing Incidental Marketing Guides & Tools Taking Theory Further p.