What’s Your Personal Brand?
November 29, 2010 § 3 Comments
Image via Wikipedia
I have been thinking a lot about brands professionally and on a personal level over the last few months.
As Manager of Marketing and Communications with the City of Grande Prairie, I am leading the initiative that will give our community an official brand for the first time ever early in 2011. A brand is not to be confused with a logo and slogan. These are the visual identity elements that represent the brand.
A brand is what people say about you as an organization, community or individual.
A consultant determined that Grande Prairie has an innovative culture. This was supported in October when the Canadian Federation of Independent Business declared Grande Prairie to be the most entrepreneurial community in the country. In 2009, we were Number 2. Our community also has a significant number of patents for our population. The ‘can-do’ spirit is pervasive in Grande Prairie.
A brand is something that is unique and enduring. Edmonton calling itself the City of Champions does not fit the current reality.
Likely as a result of my work with the City, I began contemplating the whole realm of personal brands.
This past week, the professional hockey world lost Pat Burns, a well-regarded former coach, to cancer.
Resoundingly, he was known as a hard-nosed but fair coach with a heart of gold. He had a reputation for building winning teams wherever he went and his three coach of the year awards – with Montreal, Toronto and Boston – proved that out. Burns was the first NHL coach to accomplish that feat. He also was a Stanley Cup winner with New Jersey.
His toughness carried over to his personal life – his latest bout with cancer was his third. He had beat colon and liver cancer but when the disease spread to his lungs, it was fatal.
I am not sure what Pat Burns would have thought about his own personal brand.
“For those who know me well, I’ve never backed down from any fight, and I’m not going to back down from this one,” he said after first learning he had the dreaded disease.
If anyone pitied him, Burns had this to say after it was determined his cancer had reached a terminal stage: “As for my career, I always said to my kids, ‘you don’t cry because it’s over, you’re happy because it happened.’ That’s the main thing. I’m happy it happened.”
Ironically, in the same week as Burns passed away, Tiger Woods was coming up to the year since he crashed his Escalade outside his home, opening up the floodgate of events that would reveal his repeated infidelity and end his marriage.
We were hearing how Woods is happier than ever, thanks to his two children. I saw in the media how he is said to love activities like bathing them and making macaroni and cheese.
What is the legendary golfer’s personal brand? I don’t think using his kids for PR will help him rehabilitate his image.
Perception becomes reality and it will take a long time for people to believe that Tiger is truly a great family guy. Whether he is or is not is none of my business. All I am saying is that once your brand is something you don’t want, it is difficult to change.
Similarly, if Britney Spears suddenly adopted a girl-next-door image, how seriously would she be taken?
On the other hand, Toyota has suffered corporate challenges over malfunctioning brakes and gas pedals in recent years, yet I don’t know a Toyota owner or former purchaser who wouldn’t buy a vehicle from the automaker. I almost did recently.
That goes to show that if you have managed your brand well over time, particularly as a corporate entity, people are more likely to be prepared to stand by you.
On a personal level, I think of myself as a hard-working, fun-loving and caring individual who would do anything for family and friends. If people don’t perceive those characteristics to be true, then that’s not my personal brand.
What image do you think you portray? What is your personal brand? Are they the same?
I leave you with this quote from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.”
The Muse and Views 
Mmmm now im going to have to wonder all night what my personal brand is…very thought provoking read….
Wow you run the brand gamut here but it’s all really relevant and thought provoking. What an exciting challenge to be working on the new brand for Grande Prairie. Congrats!
I chose to read this blog as I am at a changing point in my life with my career. I’ve been employed in writing long enough to know that this is what I really crave in life – Analyzing, pondering and writing. To consider that I should possess a personal brand piques my curiosity.
I like how you specify that a brand isn’t to be confused with a logo and slogan, (so, it is not visual), but that it is “what people say about you as an organization, community or individual” and that they a brand should be “unique and enduring.”
I probably speak for many of your readers when I say that I would like for people to speak highly about me and not only now, but for the long-term future.
When you contemplated your own personal brand, David, you considered all that Pat Burns had been through in his lifetime. His cancer was a lot for him to contend with and you took this message that he stated to heart: “As for my career, I always said to my kids, ‘you don’t cry because it’s over, you’re happy because it happened. That’s the main thing. I’m happy it happened.”
You also found this quote that Pat Burns made after his cancer diagnosis, to be noteworthy: ““For those who know me well, I’ve never backed down from any fight, and I’m not going to back down from this one,”
This is a great example of someone who had a fantastic personal brand!
I like the idea that you brought up, that if one manages their brand well through time, that people are more prone to standing by you. I am seeing this on local Grande Prairie Facebook group pages, where local businesses are doing a stellar job in promoting their ‘brand.’ Grande Prairie Coffee Co. comes to mind. They support local businesses and causes such as “Dogs with Wings Assistance Dog Society.” My daughter and I were happy to see a dog in training in their downtown shop while we enjoyed a cup of coffee. They also support “True Heroes Coffee Co. Ltd.”, a local coffee company that supports local emergency workers, with the aim to expand to assist more emergency personnel in the future.
Not only is the Grande Prairie Coffee Co. supportive within the community, but they ‘personalize’ their brand with daily Facebook posts that are friendly, chatty and describe in detail with honesty – “Our soup today is Corned Beef and Cabbage. This soup is LOADED with veggies, carrots, potato, celery, cabbage. Chicken stock and I’m pretty sure I put in an entire cow of corned beef 😆 😆. It has been simmering for an hour and has another hour to go. We will be charging a bit more for this soup as GOOD corned beef is expensive ☹️. Have a great day friends.” I am drawn to their down to earth, friendly brand.
As far as your personal brand, David, you consider yourself to be a “hard-working, fun-loving and caring individual who would do anything for family and friends.” You hit on a great point when you stated, “If people don’t perceive those characteristics to be true, then that’s not my personal brand.”
I have known you only a short duration, but already note those traits within yourself. Eight years later, you are still exhibiting your true self and your original personal brand.
You asked of your readers, “What image do you think you portray? What is your personal brand? Are they the same?”
My image is not always one of my true self – I’m working on trying to emit my ‘real’ self as opposed to my more confident on-line written self, (which I consider to be my online persona but also, is VERY much ‘me.’) Thankfully, with today’s technology a person can have an online presence without requiring meet and greets with others. But then, without real human contact, is there a point to having a strong online image if it doesn’t match in-person? Thus, I aim to bring forth in person, the same qualities I exude when writing for work or pleasure.
I believe that a person’s image is a strong component of a personal brand. One can’t have a personal brand with an unknown image.
You quoted this, from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.”
I recognize that I must know ‘who’ I am before I can go forth and present myself to the world. There’s a learning curve to become enlightened, but your blogs motivate me to think things through in an in-depth manner.
Enlightenment will ensue!