Five Power Personas. 

Five brands per niche.

The Rule of Fives. 

Persona first defined, explored and researched the Rule of Fives. Over the course of a decade, we uncovered the true secret of successful branding. We didn't invent the universal pattern of fives. We revealed it. We understood it. We called them the Five Power Personas. No more than five brands per niche. Any brands not counted among the first five in any niche will not survive past five years, or will begin to decline, unless they proactively battle for one of the five spots—or create a new niche. 

Many have tried to disprove the archetypes, unsuccessfully. Some poo-pooh them, without research—just their gut reaction to hard rules. But, in the end, nearly everyone uses them instinctively.

Some companies, especially savvy marketers such as Persona, use the FIVE
with devastating power.

"The Power Personas are proven to work, every time."
Strategy Magazine 

Illustrated: Persona-developed IBM EMPEROR Power Persona—rich golds and strong blues, aggressive imagery, image of the leader. 

Illustrated Above: Kunati, Persona-built as the HERO, champion of provocative literature with Hero-style Red and  "high impact" imagery.

The Rule of Fives 
The true edge, the real competitor-beating advantage, comes from a true command of the five Power Personas and the Rule of Fives:

"There can only be five brands actively competing in a niche. These five will, inevitably, slot into highly defined archetypes. All others in the niche will fade, extinguish or be forced into a new niche within five years. There are no exceptions to the rule of fives. Five Power Personas. Five brands per niche. Five years to sort it all out."

The Persona Principle (Simon & Schuster) Derek Armstrong and Kam Wai Yu. 

Illustrated below: HBI College, Persona-developed SIMPATICO Power Persona, in tune with audiences, people oriented, warm colors, with tagline: "Your success begins today."

Even a rudimentary understanding can help. A carefully built strategy deploying the Rule of Fives and YOUR Power Persona can make you great. And no one knows more about this than the people who have spent more than two decades understanding, using and leveraging the Power Personas. The Persona team—inventors of the Power Personas.

History of the Five Power Personas 
In 1988, the thought-leaders of Persona began the rigorous formal research (data are renewed yearly) that led to the formulas, benchmarks, methodologies and principles of Peronsa Plan and Image Marketing.

Emperor Persona
Hero Persona
Expert Persona
Buddy Persona
Simpatico Persona

Illustrated: Tridel's Persona-developed EXPERT Power Persona and our slogan "Built for Life" calls for expert-tactics such as PR, magazine publications and Credibility PUS.

Can You Choose Or Does It Choose You?

The Rule of Fives is inexorable. You cannot escape this primary law of marketing. If you ignore it, you will likely find your brand in decline. If you embrace the Power Personas you can choose your path. To use Power Personas you'll need to follow five rules (notice how everything comes in fives?)

Illustrated: D-Link's powerful BUDDY Power Persona, here developed as a dynamic Persona-designed trade show booth, is one of the most popular Personas. Unfortunately, everyone wants this Persona, making it the hardest to defend. 

1. Research your niche. Based on the definitions of the Power Personas (click on the links above), rate yourself from 1 to 5 (why not?) on each. You'll have elements of each in your brand matrix, but normally one will be clearly stronger. Or, none will be, but you'll have the potential to BE one of them.
   
2. Identify the Power Persona's of all your competitors using the same ratings and questions. Ideally, Persona Corp. should do this for you using their precise inventory, but you can, with research, figure this out. Don't skip this step. If you find ALL FIVE Power Persona's taken in the niche, you have TWO CHOICES (not five!)
1. Move into a new niche where you CAN own a Power Persona
2. Attack the brand that currently owns the Power Persona (warning, this costs more, since they will defend!)
   
3. Based on the characteristics, archetypes and colors indicated for each, position your brand as ONE of the five Power Personas (click on the definitions in the list above). Failure to do visually position around your chosen Power Persona will ensure you will diminish in future (statistically, within five years of the launch of your brand). Implement this new image everywhere.
4. Indoctrinate the entire team, your audiences—all your stakeholders—in this new image and your positioning philosophy. Usually this is easiest if you develop a positioning slogan, such as our Persona-developed "BUILT FOR LIFE" for Tridel, an Expert Power Persona for condominiums. Don't be weak here. Be innovative and aggressive. Enforce the image! Keep the pressure up until your team lives and breathes the Power Persona, and your audiences believe it!
5. Use Credibility Marketing, especially lower cost tactics such as Credibility PUSH, to get that message out. If any competitors "are in your turf" go to war. You own the Power Persona. Once you've invested in it, let no one else into your branded world. You make the rule of fives happen by aggressively ensuring ownership of just this one Power Persona. Forget the rest. Just own your own Power Persona. This doesn't require high cost ad campaigns. Credibility PUSH or lesser credibility marketing methods are fine. Consistency is vital. You earn your position over months and years, not days and weeks.

Power Persona Experts

Ultimately, if you're serious about your Power Persona—certainly, if you're at the critical launching phase—you will waste less time and gain better results if you use the inventors of the Power Persona's to help you. With Persona's 97.5% track record of success against client goals, you will ensure your success. Contact Persona now, or email us your questions.

Books by Persona's Marketing Strategist Derek Armstrong

Coming in 2008-9

• Blogvertise. Journalsize. How to Advertise for Success Online With No Money. ISBN 9781601641625 — Kunati Books — Cloth $24.95 Fall 2008
  

• MADicine — ISBN 9781601640178 — Kunati Books — Cloth $24.95 Spring 2008  "In his follow-up to the excellent The Game (2007), Armstrong takes on a whole new set of challenges....Armstrong blends comedy, parody, and adventure in genuinely innovative ways." Booklist
• The Last Quest — ISBN 9781601640116 — Kunati Books — Cloth $24.95 Fall 2008 — Sequel to the immensely popular The Last Troubadour
  

Currently in Print

• The Persona Principle — ISBN 9780684803695 — Paper $20.00 — Simon & Schuster "Shows you how to succeed in business on Image alone." Dayton Daily News
• The Game — ISBN 9781601640017 — Kunati Books — Cloth $24.95 "Sexy" Publishers Weekly "Keeps us chuckling. An author to watch." Booklist "Darkly humorous thriller." Library Journal
• The Last Troubadour — ISBN 9781601640109 — Kunati Books — Cloth $24.95 "Brilliance....an author of abundant talent" Booklist "A work of Art" Aeclectic

• Profile and blog on Amazon
• Blog on Kunati's site
• Last Troubadour personal site blog
• Derek Armstrong's Myspace Blog
• Of interest, related to The Last Troubadour
• Buy online: The Persona Principle — The Last Troubadour — The Game

We are committed to leadership in the disciplines we created: Image Marketing^TM, Percept Marketing^TM and Credibility Marketing^TM. Each year we conduct various research studies and add the data to our famous benchmarks. Much of this information finds its way into our free knowledge base—Persona Knowledge Outreach^TM—or we discuss in our unmoderated chat area (unmoderated because free-association and free-thinking are important to brainstorming)—called Persona Think Tank^TM. We also share as contributors to the world-renowned Advance Magazine^TM, the only magazine exclusively dedicated to Image Marketing and Percept Marketing, first published in 1989. Click on any of these icons to participate:

Persona Think Tank^TM—an unmoderated brainstorming free-for-all chat/forum. The principals of Persona jump in with tips and research to fuel discussions. Freely discuss your company, brand, case or post anonymous questions for help. Because this area is unmoderated it should be viewed as an "idea bank" but not as concrete expert advice since our hundreds of thousands of web visitors can post here freely. Have fun.

Advance MagazineTM—Advance Magazine is an arms-length magazine founded in 1989, going online in January 2007 for the first time with free RSS subscription. The print magazine will no longer be available, but the same savvy reporting, analysis and features will be available to its thousands of subscribers worldwide in English. The publication has correspondents in five countries and focuses exclusively on Image Marketing and Percept Marketing.  

Persona-Developed and Maintained Web Sites and Other "Persona Stuff"

 The Persona Principle Book on Amazon.com

Derek Armstrong's Persona-Developed Author Site

Persona-Developed Website for Kunati Book Publishing

Derek Armstrong's Persona-Developed Author Blog 

Derek Armstrong's Thriller Novel The Game "Armstrong injects the trope with new vigor." Booklist. 

Derek Armstrong's Literary Culture Column at Suite 101

Persona-Developed Website Antiquezen.com, Asian and Buddhist antiques, sculptures and art

Persona-Developed Website KD Farms: Persona's principals relax with Icelandic Horses and Organic Farming 

Persona-Developed HBI College Website 

Persona Client Freedom 9 

Persona-Developed Website Daemar 

Persona-Developed Website Jameson Foreign Exchange

Persona-Developed Website Abria Alternative Investments