Post 2: Personas

When I first heard the word “Persona” in my marketing class, I thought of the 1966 Ingmar Bergman film about two women who eventually sort of become the same person by the end of the film (no worries, I didn’t spoil anything). It’s one of my favorite movies ever – EVERYONE SHOULD GO OUT AND WATCH IT NOW.

So when my professor first said this word in my class, I was replaying those wonderful cinematic images in my head. But personas, which I understood previously to be a sort of mask that people wear in the world (kind of like a “we aren’t who we really say we are” kind of thing), take on a sort of different meaning when placed in the context of marketing. Yes, it’s still the creation of a new “character,” so it’s similar in that regard. The difference, though, lies in the motivation behind creating such a character.

According to Karen Chen of Procter & Gamble, companies create personas that represent a strategic target. “Prime prospects” is what she calls them. They have specific personality traits, they fit within a specific demographic, and they have certain lifestyles that differentiate themselves from other consumers. This information allows marketers and designers the opportunity to dig up motivations or involvements that lead to insight, which ultimately leads to the creation of a product or service solution.

Now, I’ve been given the opportunity to create a persona for myself, which IS AWESOME. So let’s go. What makes Dave Dave (That’s my middle name. I’m avoiding using my first name because if I do, my blog will be picked up by Google, it will show up in search results and I’m not sure that I’m ready for that)?

So, Dave marks “two or more races” when he fills out his census form. Though he was born outside the US, he has spent most of his life within the states and thinks himself very American. He is 20 years old, but when people ask him how old he is, he replies by saying “I’m in my early twenties.” He feels like he’s much older than he really is.

Since he’s in college, he doesn’t really have an income, but he has taken part-time jobs and loans to pay for his entire education. On top of all that, he interns as he is very driven and ambitious. This drive does have a downside though: he has a tendency to put aside his passions to pursue his career goals. He loves film more than anything, but has not had time to watch as much as he’s wanted to in the past couple of years. He says it’s cause he just doesn’t have any time. When he does, he forgoes the mainstream movies and goes for the indie or foreign films. Though he understands it may come off as pretentious, he’s genuine when he says that he prefers to watch something less formulaic and more stimulating.

He thinks of himself as forward-thinking, but is somewhat of a laggard when it comes to technology due to his lack of income. If he could, he would want to be an early-adopter.

He is health-conscious. He does not lift weights, but he runs regularly. Though many of his friends “look down on him” because he does not run in nature, he does not care because he likes to count the number of miles that he runs and the time it takes him to do them. Unfortunately, he does not have the money to buy a Nike+ Sensor.

Dave is also a vegetarian, not for any moral or religious reasons but because he feels healthier and lighter when he does not eat meat. Although, he does admit that he eats fish every now and then because there have been times that his body will be sore for 2-4 days after a long run. He thinks it’s because he doesn’t get enough protein in his diet.

He likes listening to entire music albums and not just singles. Of course, he owns an mp3 player. He likes to play video games, but not x-box or playstation or wii or anything. He prefers old school N64. He enjoys watching tennis and soccer, and only watches football because of the experience and not because he actually likes watching the game.

I could continue but I feel like if Dave were to divulge any more, he would start feeling a little self-centered (clever little excuse to stop writing, eh?). Dave's also generally a very private person.