Upload your CV and let recruiters find you and inundate you with Jobs-by-Email alerts if you do not value your personal brand.
I have long preferred a rifle approach to a shotgun or worse still a blunderbus and want to target who sees my CV.

The internet is going to continue bringing up embarrassing moments from school day howlers, Facebook adventures, tweats you now think better of and self inflicted CVitis.

Tips for Personal Brand

• Be clear, open and honest on all CV’s and be aware that the detail on web published information may catch you out.
• Make your own brand so strong that you stand out without having to post your brand CV on every jobseeker site going.
• Your CV is your brand marketing literature but remember there is much more to the make up of your Personal Brand.

Jobsite (old logo or new logo) is useful for first time job seekers and their ‘CV Producer is a fast easy way to create and expert CV that delivers the results you want. it guides you through a quick and easy online process to generate a professional and effective CV. And you’re supported every step of the way by expert CV help and insider tips.’

You can’t keep a good personal brand down and I believe millions of people will recognise Adam the Gardener from his 1940′s strip giving gardening advice in the Daily Express. ‘In the 1940′s Adam the Gardener was a national treasure.’

The original classic has just been republished as a hardback by Chatto & Windus part of the Random House Group.

Released in time for Fathers Day and picking up on the trend for allotments, self sufficiency and nostalgia this could be a surprise best seller.

Brand Image
Don’t you just like the hat, pipe and stance of Adam?
The waistcoat and neckerchief harks back to a different era.
Trust was engendered by Adam, the Daily Express and the authors of the series (Cyril Cowell & Morley Adams).

Bring Back No Name

An iconic brand and its unmistakable plain black printing on yellow packaging was relaunched in 2009 but dates back to North America in 1978.
A Canadian company Loblaw launched “No Name” with 16 generic or unbranded items in grocery and household goods. The range progressively increased to over 500 lines.

The original packaging was in black and yellow and just provided a basic and factual comment on the product. Progressively a registered trademark was added and the brand went international as ‘Sans nom’.

The idea was good enough first time around but don’t flog a dead horse particularly one with no name, it is unlikely to be a Champion the Wonder Horse or Shergar.

Puns and plays on words are sometimes suitable for SME’s but I would leave it to hairdressers and Chinese restaurants to push out these boundaries.

See No Logo by Naomi Klien

Nostalgia for Woolies

Problems for a brand that has lost it’s way. Squeezed by Poundshops, Ecommerce music and notably the bankers we are suspended waiting to find out what will happen to our local stores.

Thats the Wonder about Woolies. Or ‘You’ll wonder where the woolies went when you look to buy your Pepsodent.

Thanks for the Photo by Michael Francis McCarthy creative commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Matt Taylor, of Alex cartoon fame, deserves the credit for bringing this headline to my notice via his strip in the Daily Telegraph. How badly will the brand of Dubai and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum be damaged by the financial problems in UAE. In the longer term not too much one thinks but when things look bad they are often worse.

The UAE Prime Minister, Vice-President and Ruler of Dubai probably need not worry about his personal brand but his PR machine needs to go into overdrive to support the young tourist industry of Dubai. Perhaps Matt Taylor will send Clive there on his next holiday!

‘….Passing off could be extended to allow famous people with sufficient goodwill in their name and image to protect that name and image from unauthorised exploitation in a way in which suggested that the celebrity had endorsed a product or service’…. Read more on Licensing pages

My football team current form implies their passing is very off!

• Conserve family assets and you grow the intellectual capital of your SME or owner managed business.

Why do some families thrive for generations?  ‘Hughes’s panoramic insights into what makes families flourish and fail. He lays out the basis for  what to do and how to think about the complex issues of family governance, growth, and stability’.

• For many businesses the Family is the Brand.

People as Brand Assets

• People are the crucial brand asset of any business.
• Work on the people side of a business, be they customers, suppliers, staff or associates, will seldom be wasted.
• Even sole traders need friends and family support to succeed.
• Consider the wider support network when planning and executing your business activity.
• Bearing in mind the time of year remember the moral of Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’. Don’t be a Scrooge be a Cratchit

‘ Every family, looking at the next generation, hopes to confer advantages that are more than just material and financial––to inculcate character and leadership, to inspire creativity and enterprise, to help all family members find and follow their individual calling ….yet many families never succeed in realizing that vision, much less sustaining it for three, four, or five generations and beyond.’ from Amazon

Further reading in ‘Family Business The Essentials’ by Peter Leach

Polish your interpersonal skills to develop your own personal brand.
If you can deal effectively with difficult people think how successfull you can handle easier people.

I am not difficult, I aim to be impossible! and that is also true of many outstanding entrepreneurs.

It is great to be celebrating the centenary of an Iconic brand that has done so much for our British culture.
Unless you are ‘going to camp’ it may be worth avoiding Harewood House from 31st July to 7th August 2010 when it will be over-run with celebrating Rainbows, Brownies and Guides.

I do not know how old the American cousin organisation is, but if they are also celebrating I hope they all have a grand time.

Brand Literary Magazine’s  last issue was Autumn 2009 and it looks like it will not last as long as it’s Swedish names sake (112 years and still counting.)

A shame such a name should be consigned to the great publishing house in the sky. Where is Robert Maxwell when the industry needs him?

Brand still has Facebook and myspace pages but is that a good thing?