Brand new Brand YOU
"Personal branding reflected in the zeitgeist. Watching the pros in entertainment, politics, business. And now you. What makes YOU different?"

Gene Kelly, the actor who made the “Singing in the Rain” song and performance known worldwide, appears now in a commercial for Volkswagen.
They rebuild the original movie scene and let a breakdancer do a little routine dressed as Gene Kelly in the original movie. Afterwards, they even added his face, so it looks like him and not some other dancer doing the moves.
It is, in my view, a very strong ad, and it’s amazing how they branded the face of Gene Kelly on this actor. Again, his face continues to be a brand even after his death in 1996.
To watch the ad, click here, or here. ( about 6MB, .mov file)

A lot of time has passed since the old days with Tetris and Pong. Computer games are a part of a new entertainment industry, focused on virtual games. Tournaments all over the globe offer gamers big sums of prize money. And like in every other business, the industry produces its own niche celebrities. One of them is Jonathan Wendel. He has taken the title of “Best Gamer in the World.” In the biggest 12 tournaments in a year, he can earn over $300,000. He is on the way to create a kind of accessories and gadget line, branded by his name. Also, this guy works as a consultant to game development companies to develop more addictive games.

It’s really interesting to take a look at this small, niche market and how he became the star of the gamer scene. It is indeed true for every business one can think of. If you got talent AND have the ability to market yourself, it’s an easy game.

Blogging became the main instrument for anyone trying to create a kind of “cyber brand” around himself. In contrast to real world personal branding, the kind of cyber brands can start right here and now, without any history.
One of the biggest cyber personal brands is definitely Matt Drudge. Without any background in journalism, or any career in the news business, he became (over a few years) one of the strongest news brands on the web. Certainly, his unbiasedness is more than questionable, but on election night, he had more visits on his site than the New York Times. His whole “fame” is just based on his website and his ability to choose the “right” news for his audience. It is an amazing job he is doing, and it’s amazing how he can earn a pretty good living by his site (about 10 million visits a day, .50c/1000 (lowballed) are ~ $5ooo a day)
But as you probably know, he didn’t only do this, he had also his tv show on Fox News, and now hosts a talk radio show every Sunday night. Without his strong personal brand on the web, he would be a nobody. In my view, he could be even more successful if he would work on becoming a stronger media personality on screen and at the mic.
Another good example is the guy who ran the Apple insider website and started it at the age of 13, now being 19 years old. Seth Godin wrote on his blog, “I figured that Nick was about 50, a burnt out engineer shopping at Fry’s and living in the Valley.” This is an amazing story about Cyber Personal Brands. How someone can create a myth around himself, playing his role straight forward, and staying credible the entire time. (Ok, until you get a law suit)
Driving it into a more philosophical direction, blogging is one of the most tolerant fields existing today. A blogger is judged not by his race or color, not by his age or resume, not by his big friends or his huge office, it is only about content, knowledge and the feeling for your audience. That’s a wonderful thing, and it is a great help for each and everyone to create their own cyber personal brand. How about you?

In the Mac community, the website “Think Secret - Mac Insider News” was known for the super-secret inside news, which had just scampered out of Steve Jobs’ office door (I bet he is working in an “open door” office, isn’t he?) The blogger kept anonymous until now, since Apple has started to sue the owner. Suprisingly, it turned out it to be a 19 year old student who started the website at an age of 13.

For me, this is one big story of cyber brands. I will go into detail on a follow up posting.

I have written about the fight going on between both of them a short time ago. Yesterday they both announced a split of their cooperation regarding the “Billionaire Boys Club” and the “Ice Cream” brands. Both seemed to have very different ideas of what it takes to make a product successful.

A fashion designer (named Rudolf Moshammer) here in town was very popular for about 20 years. Recently, he was murdered by a gay hustler (he didn’t get the payment which he demanded, about $2500). There are witnesses that he even had sex with underage boys. Usually this gets a really strong reaction from society, the yellow journalists, and so on. Just think of the Michael Jackson indictments. But not in his case. He did a great job in promoting his personality in many ways. Here in the local stadium, he got a bigger cheer by taking his seat than musicians playing the concert. He did TV commercials, show appearances, minor appearances in movies and theater plays. How did he come to this “fame”? Very simply, just by branding his name and his face all over again for years. A few examples: (more…)

Newsweek has just published a good background story on the connection between famous brands with celebrity faces. One of the major players in this field, Steve Stoute, talks about his business and his best deals.
It’s certainly a big business, and on a good run. Nevertheless, I’m convinced it’s a kind of short term perspective. The article talks about Gwen Stefani, who is cross-promoting her new solo CD and a digital camera from HP. Seems strange somehow, doesn’t it? Maybe it works in a short term perspective, maybe HP just was looking for a cheap testimonial, but I don’t believe in a fast celebrity rotation. The cam itself tries, at least, to be somehow cool, but on the other hand I don’t find it unique enough. It’s not a fit to her personality, but hey. Anyhow, good look with targeting the 16-28 girls market with a digital camera…

This blog is about personal branding. One of the major factors is, of course, the entertainment industry. Especially since their strong personal brands are where the money is. To be honest, I’m an idea lover. Others collect stamps and are really happy if they find a new one they didn’t have before, but I’m a collector of ideas and I’m grabbing every one I can find.

This love of ideas demands my attention all the time. Today, I just found some papers stuck to a lot of cars here in Munich. By taking a look at them, I found the following message written on them: (more…)

Just a quick note: Go to Google.com, enter Dan Rather… What’s the top hit? CBS? Wrong! It’s a kind of Dan Rather hater site. I don’t care who is right or wrong on the subjects. But what I do care about is that Google doesn’t consider neutrality or anything like that, it just cares about the links and content. So Rather doesn’t have his own site, which is Google optimized, or anything similar to it.
It’s again the point: If you don’t brand yourself, others brand you. Okay, probably in Rather’s case it doesn’t hurt him so much, but if you don’t know what the truth is behind the rumors, you are probably going to search on the web. No matter if it’s right or wrong, something will stick to him.

Pharrell Williams sues Reebok for bad quality products, branded with his name.
He demands over $4mil from the sportswear manufacturer because they didn’t provide the quality for the product which was negotiated for upfront. Reebok manufacturered a so-called “Billionaire Boys Club” clothing line and “Ice Cream footwear.” Design and quality seem to be the main reasons for the lawsuit.

My comment on this: (more…)

I’m really excited to see how Lil Jon will promote his new energy drink. His announcement to do anything possible to promote it seems to be quite challenging. The big question is: How will Lil Jon be able to transfer his mad and crazy image on a can of liquid? The USP he is claming for it is just that “it tastes better.” Well, is this enough?

Lil Jon is an amazing artist. For me, not so much because of his music, but much more by branding his key phrases like “What?”, “Yeeeah”, and “Ooh-kay!” By the way, did anyone taste his “Crunk” drink yet?

Source (Business Week)

The winners, the losers. Names and blames.

Winners:

Marketing Brain of the Year:
Karl Rove - As the Marketing Mastermind of the 2004 election

Online Marketing Brain of the Year:
Howard Dean - He proved how important the internet can be for a candidate.

PR Hardcore Person of the Year:
Britney Spears - She creates news stories just on the flow.

Religious Marketeer of the Year:
Mel Gibson - How to promote Jesus Christ

Losers:

Personal Branding Loser of the Year:
John Kerry - If you don’t brand yourself fast enough, others do it for you (flip-flop).

Worst End of a Career of the Year:
Dan Rather - He didn’t deserve such a bad ending.

Unhappiest Child of the Year:
Michael Jackson - Will he ever hire a PR pro?

All the very best for you in 2005.

PJ Harengel