@MikeMcDowell sent me a link via Twitter the other day that identified what American Idol can teach you about personal branding.
“When talking about American Idol contestants,” Mike says, “we typically don’t remember their names, so we describe them in other ways: She’s the hippie girl; he’s the one that sounds like Sinatra; she’s the homeless girl; she’s the cute single mother; he’s the funny one. We’re defining the contestants by a certain set of characteristics – some physical, some behavioral… we are defining their brand.”
Thinking about personal branding becomes easier when you consider celebrities. Some of the most well-branded people (musicians, movie stars, athletes, etc.) get paid millions of dollars to keep their brand clean and endorse a company’s products. (Case in point: after a photo of Michael Phelps smoking a bong got out, Kellogg’s, one of his sponsors, dropped him because his personal brand no longer aligned with their corporate brand. Humorously, there’s now a movement afoot to boycott Kellog’s because of their decision to drop Phelps: “Kellogg’s has profited for decades on the food tastes of marijuana-using Americans with the munchies. In fact, we believe that most people over the age of 12 would not eat Kellogg’s products were they not wicked high,” noted petition writer Lee Stranahan.).
“Ultimately,” says Mike, “the [American Idol] contestants that succeed are the ones who decide who they are, and embrace it, whole-heartedly, in everything they do. You must embrace your brand.” In the end, pretending to be someone you’re not will eventually lead to inconsistencies in your brand that people notice. And an inconsistent brand undermines the purpose of a brand in the first place.
Check out Mike’s full article, what you can learn about personal branding from American Idol.
- Author: Trace Cohen
