Persona!

Preface: Please note that the format/font may look a little funny. It's because I copy/pasted it from Word. :-).

Dictionary.com provides two interesting definitions for the word persona. The first, a more general definition, is that a persona is “a person’s perceived or evident personality, as that of a well-known official, actor, or celebrity; personal image; public role,” while the other delves into the psychological philosophies of Carl Jung and describes it as “the mask or façade presented to satisfy the demands of the situation or the environment and not representing the inner personality of the individual; the public personality.” In this blog post, I find it important to explore both of these definitions.

Initially, to set up a framework for why I’m writing about personas, I feel that I should say that the goal of my blog post is to create a persona for me or someone like me with key nuances, opportunities, and insights for marketers to capitalize on. However, in order for me to do this successfully, I first want to quickly discuss the ideas of personas.

In the first definition, I was struck by the idea that personas are all built upon perceptions. It brings up the concept that how we are perceived is as important, if not more, than who we truly are. From a marketing perspective, I would certainly think that a person’s personal image and public role were important in the development of insights. A person’s personal image allows a marketer to get into the insecurities, vulnerabilities, and ultimately, needs of that person in order to develop a solution for problems the user may or may not know exist. On the flipside, the public role a person plays allows for a marketer to study the environment a person is in, observe how someone interacts with others around them, and develop key social implications for the way they conduct their daily activities.

In the second definition, Carl Jung and Dictionary.com describe a persona as something that does not represent the inner personality of the individual, but rather, the public personality. This concept is fascinating to me. Marketing challenges people to not only be specific down to an individual’s needs, but to also scale a concept across an entire persona to reach large amounts of people. Yet, while marketing clearly deals with a lot of psychology, the Jung definition states that a persona does not truly represent the individual. The first question that pops into my mind in response to that statement is “Does that matter?” and in the end, I don’t think it does. If a marketer is able to correctly identify the public personality of an individual and scale it across large groups of people, despite the inability for the marketer to capture the true representation of the individual, I think the marketer could still succeed.

Now that I’ve successfully ranted about my thoughts on the definition of persona, I want to begin to describe a persona that I believe represents me or people like me. One of the readings for class was a chart of Cohort Segments. Two segments jumped out as relatively representative of me when I first read them: Jason, a male student and grad who represents “Physically active, technologically inclined young men finishing school or embarking on their first job,” and Jonathan, an elite single man who represents “High-powered career-driven men with sophisticated tastes, extensive investments, and the means to travel the world.” The interesting thing is that while I currently identify best with Jason, I connected with the cohort of Jonathan because he represents something I aspire to be.

That being said, I present to you an attempt at the representation of a persona for Brendan, a 21-year-old college senior looking to enter the “real world” to find his first job.

• · Brendan has just started his final year in undergrad, a year unlike any other. His focus has continued to expand outside the classroom on securing a job.

  · He is the first to admit that sometimes, he takes too much on his plate. He participates in a lot of activities and lives by his Google Calendar.

  · He prides himself on time management, organization, and communication skills, but understands that he doesn’t have all the answers.

  · His parents got divorced when he was nine but both parents eventually got remarried. He lived with his dad and step-mother while his mom and step-father remained close-by. His freshman year of college, his dad moved to Hong Kong for a job.

  · His family dynamic has also introduced two additional step-siblings into his life. He remains closest to his brother, rather than his step-brother or step-sister.

  · His freshman year of college, his step-mother developed (and eventually defeated) breast cancer.

  · He competes heavily in collegiate competitive speech (the speech side of Speech and Debate). Thus, he spends his weekends traveling across the country instead of doing more traditional “college student activities.”

  · He tries to stay up-to-date with current events. He reads The Economist on and off and has gained exposure to contemporary issues in culture through collegiate speech. He engages in active dialogue about social issues.

  · He loves college football (namely Longhorn Football). That’s all there is to that bulletpoint.

  · He follows his instincts in terms of leadership and guidance. He cares a lot about the well-being of his friends.

  · He doesn’t wait for things to come to him; he seeks out answers and opportunities. He tries to be proactive.

  · He is quick to understand how to navigate websites in order to search/research any topic he needs the answer to. He lends these skills to help people around him.

  · He defines himself as a blend between a person with a Type A personality and a couch potato. This dichotomy is embodied in the idea that he can simultaneously watch CNN and High School Musical (1, 2, and 3).

  · He is a social person who can respect his alone time, but prefers to be around people.

  · He’s a gamer that leans towards Nintendo products. He grew up with Nintendo and loves the games of his childhood.

  · He loves to eat anything and everything. He abuses his metabolism by over-eating and has failed at every attempt to do any exercise beyond walking to class.

  · He doesn’t spend his money on much, but what he does spend his money on matters (food, gas, trips to see people, fun activities).

  I must admit that when I was typing up these bulletpoints, I had a distinct audience in mind: marketers who were studying Brendan in order to develop a strategic solution (either through a product or service) that would help make Brendan’s life easier.

  In the end, I hope you enjoyed my discussion on personas. I found myself simply rattling off universal concepts that I felt people could identify with or relate to. As I continue my journey in school, I hope to learn the nuances of translating insights (or bulletpoints) like these into tangible goods and services to improve the lives of consumers everywhere.