One of my lasting memories from university is a verbal stoush I had with a fellow student whilst sitting in a packed lecture theatre in my brand management class.
The topic of the debate was "can people be brands?" and like the warm words between Russia and the USA during the Cuban missile crisis, the idea of what love was really all about between Mike Tyson and Desiree Washignton and the differing views of the UK health system and Amy Winehouse, our stances couldn't have been more polar opposite.
Like my fellow student, Sally Belford, managing director of Principals believes 'a person is only a brand if that brand has the power to shape markets.' Yes, I agree - if we are talking about using people as opinion leaders to sell our products. But what if we take the commercial component out of the equation and the market we were talking about here were the people in our lives? What if we were trying to sell ourselves on a daily basis? Couldn't people be brands then too?
At the end of the day isn't every person in this world trying to sell themselves to other people? Aren't we all looking for love and acceptance, a job? Are we therefore in a very strange way not looking to be consumed ourselves?
If we are always looking to sell ourselves then don't we, like a brand manger trying to position a product, try to position ourselves in a way we believe will ultimately end up in the consumption of us as human beings...therefore, are we not always trying to brand ourselves? Do we not, like Coca Cola, Adidas and Calvin Klein, constantly market ourselves to hopefully one day get that job, find that love, make those friends, reach that personal objective?
Are we not therefore brands ourselves?
If you're answer is still no, ask Barak Obama...
"Yes, I agree - if we are talking about using people as opinion leaders to sell our products. But what if we take the commercial component out of the equation and the market we were talking about here were the people in our lives? What if we were trying to sell ourselves on a daily basis? Couldn't people be brands then too?"
ReplyDeleteV late comment but I like your point here. Whether you choose to engage in it consciously or not you can't ignore the increasing popularity of personal branding. It's relevance certainly isn't restricted to commercial markets. I find it provides an interesting context for your interaction with others and vice-versa, for eg being aware of other people's underlying motivation.
The increasing control people have via various tools over how they're perceived, be it online, in social media or in the flesh can be equally fascinating and brain numbing.
Hey Mark,
ReplyDeleteBetter late than never.
This is one of my favourite topics and its an interesting point you make about the increased availability of branding tools in the online world. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn as well as blogging have have given people a new tool for self promotion / branding option, and people are exploiting it!
The most fascinating online branding in my eyes are by those generation 'Y's aged between 16 and 24. Self promotion is in a different league of its own here and they seem to have no hesitation publically telling 'friends' (another topic in itself)their latest test scores, or putting up photos of themselves getting drunk and advertising where they are going on their next holiday. This surely falls into your 'brain numbing' category?
But it make sense taht this demographic are branding themselves so publically as this is an age where people are trying to work out just who they are!
Interesting..