I was told early in my career that I should never underestimate the power of corporate personality. Initially, I passed this advice off as puffery – something that someone who cannot describe what they do for a living in 300 words might say. But, this has turned out to be great advice. After all, purchases and consumption are emotionally-driven events, even if you’re talking lug nuts. Yet, I am still amazed that businesses fail to understand this, especially those selling commodities. A charismatic CEO, a polished and attractive sales force, a great boot-strap story, and a catchy ad campaign are good examples. SC Johnson for instance, in all of its television commercials, reminds me that “SC Johnson is a family-owned business” (I get a comfy feeling in my gut knowing this; kudos to you, purveyor of Pledge).

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com seems certifiable at times, yet I like the guy, I like buying all kinds of stuff from him and his little e-business outfit. Do they have books, toys, or windshield wipers? I can’t keep up, but I like them. I even like the fact that they make arbitrary product recommendations that are never even close. I don’t know why, but I do.

eBay, funny enough, doesn’t do much for me. Meg Whitman is an accomplished executive. In fact, I think she’s too good; she doesn’t have that fatal flaw that earns my sympathetic purchase. But eBay does have loads of corporate personality – it’s just that I like Amazon’s better.

But Amazon and eBay get it right. They know that ecommerce is ecommerce, and when customers are only one click away from their competitor at any given time, making that emotional connection is critical. As a PR or communications professional, identifying winning corporate personality traits for my clients is one of the most exciting things I do. Often, they are amazed that their company’s personal attributes resonate with potential customers. Funny enough, it’s often these very attributes that close a deal.

This is not new stuff. Socrates taught the benefit of establishing emotional connections in communications a few years back (he called it Pathos), but I think it’s still extremely relevant to communications professionals today as markets have never been more competitive and margins have never been thinner.

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