Bon Brand

Cult of Celeb or Personal Branding

2 January, 2012 (17:07) | Personal Brand | By: hortoris

IS CASSIUS CLAY THE NEW RACHEL ZOE? screams the Daily Mail between Christmas and the New Year 2010/11.

Well sorry to disappoint but neither of these personality brand names have hit my radar.
Hit may well be the operative word as I do remember the original Cassius Clay before he relinquished his name to become the ‘world heavy weight boxing brand’ that was Muhammad Ali.

Be On Brand Personal Branding View

My contention has always been that a brand has equity value with intangible assets supporting that brand value and an intellectual asset base. Much of that seems to be missing in the Cult of Cleb.

Personal branding is with you for life. Celebrities come and go.

Celebrities in this context are all about recognition whilst Personal Branding is about what and how the person is, interacts and operates in the market.

The cult of Celebrity is created, managed and perpetuated by others whilst a good personal brand is just that Personal.

Cult of Celebrity is not the same as Personal Branding, the former is about temporary opinion the latter about value and intangible assets.

Paris Hilton 3 Sept 2010
After a spell in prison, Paris Hilton now faces a law suit from her sponsor Hairtech International. Allegedly she has been wearing the wrong hair pieces, (a bit of a bald statement).
Who says blonds have all the fun, not Paris if she has to stump up $35 million.

The cult of celebrity will forgive reckless driving but wearing someone else’s hair extension, that is a personal branding no-no.

Red Letter Day Doomsday

I listened to Red Letter Days former owner, Rachel Elnaugh, rationalise her business failure upon which she bases much in this book. A banker in the audience had different views and the question time exchange was more illuminating than any book.

I have linked to a paperback edition of the ‘Nightmares’ at less than a third of the price or click on the hardback cover above.

“Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best” by Donna Childs, is a guide to disaster planning for small business. She observes that many of the problems that occur in a disaster are also ones that could happen in the best of times.”

John ‘Giraffe’ Timpson Brand Repairs

The Daily Telegraph ‘business agony aunt’ tackles the question of changing your brand,logo, corporate image. Based on years of retail experience and good common sense he says ‘think twice before betting your future on corporate image -it might not be the magic you are hoping for’.

For more practical gritty advice read ‘Dear James Secrets of Success from a Management Maverick’ or John sticking his neck out in ‘How to Ride a Giraffe’

Timpson shoe manufactures since 1865, suffered after the introduction of cheap shoes by retailers like Marks & Spencer, B.H.S., etc. and the trend away from conventional footwear to trainers. Fashion is not for ever and products and services must move with the times and trends.

‘John Timpson put his shoe shops back on the retail map by taking up the cause of the customer and introducing a Code of Practice that ensured everyone shopping at Timpson got a fair deal. In 1987 he focused on shoe repairs and bought Mister Minit, Supasnaps and Sketchley to own 550 shops.

The Timpson’s web site put success modestly down to ‘Everything from ethics, history, benefits, charity work, training, careers, latest news, customer care and the people who make it a great place to work.’

Tommy Hifliger
hilfiger

Once known as a “bling” brand clothes label Tommy Hilfiger has sold out to join Calvin Klein at Phillips Van-Heusen after 4 years ownership by Apax partners.

The brand’s eponymous founder will stay on as “principal designer and visionary” . “Calvin and Tommy are global iconic mega-brands” and since Apax worked wonders relaunching the company it may deserve the €0.7 billion it is reported to have made on the deal.
That is one heck of an uplift in brand value even discounting product investment along the way.

Sainsburys

What do Delia, Heston, Jamie and Marco Pierre have in common? They are all ‘Brand Representatives’ or ambassadors food retailers.

Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal will feature in an advert or mini cookery programme for Waitrose. Marco Pierre White starts his ‘bootiful’ job promoting Bernard Mathews after Jamie Oliver of Sainsbury fame did such a job on Turkey Twizzlers.

Click on any book cover to buy from Amazon