Characters and Branding

In this space I've done plenty of discussion about character creation, and hopefully it's beneficial. However, aside from their many traits and quirks, characters need a few other things. A moral or ethical code is always important, a general worldview helps, and some kind of personal focal point of their interests/obsessions can always help shape them. However, one thing that every character needs is a brand, and it's one of those things that is not immediately obvious but makes the character stick.

Now when people think about brands they go to items - Coca-Cola or Green Giant frozen vegetables. Good brands indeed, but that's not exactly the point. The point is more that when we think about those items, something comes to mind immediately. Coca-Cola might evoke those somewhat-creepy CG polar bears, or perhaps people singing on a hilltop if you are of a slightly older generation. Green Giant has, of course, the Jolly Green Giant come to mind. Each brand gains a boost when they have something very identifiable about it, and when that goes both ways. If I hear the word, "gecko" I think of GEICO insurance, and if I hear GEICO, I think about their gecko mascot. It's more than brand recognition - it's like that connection is branded into my brain.

Relating this to your characters is a similar process, but their identifiable trait should be something used enough or mentioned to the point where readers hear it and think of the character, or when they think of the character, that trait comes to mind. It could be a catchphrase (think about how those show up throughout TV shows), a physical quirk like an eyepatch or an excessively loud necklace, or a habit they do much to everyone's irritation - cracking their knuckles comes to mind immediately (mostly because I do that to the chagrin of my friends). These become points of detail and association, and the reader slowly buys in.

The one catch about this branding trick is to not use it to excess, but rather using it strategically. After the brand is introduced, don't throw it around all the time. Constantly having the character cracking their knuckles might break from the story's flow. Rather, give it a purpose and meaning, and connect it to a specific condition. Does the character do this when they are concentrating? Nervous? Indecisive? Angry? Once they have that association, you train the reader to feel the connection - they read that the character is cracking their knuckles again, say at a poker table, and realize they are actually very nervous even if nobody else notices. The brand is established, and the reader now makes associations between character, action, and mood.

When you make up a character, step back and think for a moment about how you want that character to be remembered. Not the tragic hero or whatever, but what little thing would you love to connect to that character that triggers people like that damn gecko or those creepy polar bears? That should become your brand for them, and the rest should flow around it.

And yes, those bears always creep me out.