Do Brands Have a Gender?

Can brands be feminine, masculine, or even neutral? Most languages use gender to describe things, even though English doesn’t, we still tend to call cars or boats a she. If so, is it based on the product or service? And does it really matter?

We think they do and it does. Even though we are talking about inanimate objects and companies rather than people, all brands have a personality. Strong brands, brands with higher levels of equity than their competitors carefully develop, define, and manage their brand personality – and gender is an aspect of personality with given traits of femininity or masculinity. This is interesting to think about as the topic of gender and sexuality continue to evolve along the lines of a more fluid spectrum in our society.

But how should you think about your brand personality and gender when it comes to your brand? Research conducted at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland found that brands with either stronger masculine or feminine traits had higher brand equity. For example, the Levi’s brand which is associated with more masculine traits had a higher level of brand equity than H&M which had a combination of equal traits. Similarly, Chanel has higher brand equity with a female target audience given their predominantly stronger feminine personality traits than Calvin Klein whose brand personality is more gender neutral.

A brand personality is important to understand when thinking about your target audience. Are the images, language, types of promotions, influencers, and associations with other entities aligned with who you are looking to appeal and sell to? Even though there has been research that indicates it’s better to lean into a specific gender trait, that is not always possible and even necessary. Your brand and target audience cross the entire spectrum. If that’s the case – great – it’s more important to be authentic. Personality is just one component of a brand. It will neither make nor break your brand, but not being true to who you are will erode your brand equity.

A brand is like a person. Be yourself. No one likes to hang around with in-authentic people and people don’t like to associate with in-authentic brands.