The importance of corporate brand personality traits to a successful 21st century business
Received (in revised form): 22nd April, 2006

KEVIN LANE KELLER is the EB Osborn Professor of Marketing at Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College. Keller has served as brand confidant to marketers for some of the world’s most successful brands, including Disney, Ford, Intel, Levi Strauss, Nike, Accenture and Starbucks. He wrote the textbook Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Equity and co-authored with Philip Kotler the textbook Marketing Management.

KEITH RICHEY is an independent consultant working in New York. He holds a joint Master’s degree in Global Media and Communication from the University of Southern California and the London School of Economics.

Keywords corporate branding; corporate image; corporate values; brand personality; brand personality traits; corporate brand personality

Abstract
Brand personality has been defined as the human characteristics or traits that can be attributed to a brand. Corporate brand personality is a form of brand personality specific to a corporate brand. Unlike a product brand personality that typically relates to consumers and user imagery for a specific product brand, a corporate brand personality can be defined in terms of the human characteristics or traits of the employees of the corporation as a whole. A corporate brand personality will reflect the values, words, and actions of all employees of the corporation. A successful 21st century firm must carefully manage its corporate brand personality. The three core dimensions of corporate brand personality and two traits for each dimension that are crucial for marketplace success are outlined as Passionate and Compassionate (Heart), Creative and Disciplined (Mind) and Agile and Collaborative (Body). These traits have an interactive effect such