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Corporate branding

5 Superbowl Lessons for Your Personal Brand

Companies that ‘invested’ in an ad for this year’s Superbowl were paying $5 million for 30 seconds, that’s over $160,000 per second and then up to an additional 25% was being spent on advertising to promote the advertisement!

This great cartoon from Tom Fishburne at Marketoonist.com sums it all up. Check out his previous Superbowl cartoons too by visiting his website.

The commercials and the half-time show are for many the primary reason they watch the game. Some people even plan whole parties around the ad breaks rather than the game itself.

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The One Question I Always Get on Personal Branding

brand-called-you

Image Fast Company Magazine August 1997

Next year will see the 20-year anniversary of the Fast Company magazine article “The Brand Called You” by Tom Peters. This was two years before his book series, which included “Brand You 50” were published. Most recognize the article as the ‘birth’ of personal branding or at the least the first time that the concept of having a personal brand appeared on the business radar. When you Google “Brand Called You” the article still appears at the top of the rankings. Read the article here

Many people still minimize the power of personal branding and some label it as egotistical and ridiculous. The criticism is legitimate towards those who have likened branding yourself to branding a bar of chocolate. In fact, the intention is to show the contrast between a person and a corporation when it comes to branding.

It probably took ten years after that article, for the notion of owning your personal brand to be embraced as an accepted way of managing your career, business, and even life. Celebrity branding has exploded with constant exposure and an unquenchable thirst for more. This leaves many people feeling inadequate unless they too garner the same visibility. Sadly credibility can sometimes take a back seat.

Social media has been both a blessing and curse and can be blamed for some of the hype, expectation, and disdain that personal branding attracts. But fault can also lie at the feet of the ‘gurus’ and experts who tell you to “Fake it until you make it” or encourage you to turn your social media streams into a one-way flow of personally branding me, me, me that should never be turned off.

When it comes to personal branding the one question I always get is

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Does Your Personal Brand Have a Purpose?

The Inukshuk is a symbol that has always resonated with me – “A guide for the right direction”. Sometimes one of the hardest parts of the work in defining your personal brand is identifying your purpose. Mother Theresa was a great example of someone with a purpose- to help the poor in Calcutta. Another is Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, with his dream of providing water to… Read More »Does Your Personal Brand Have a Purpose?

Is Your Personal Brand Like the iPhone 7 or More Like the Galaxy Note 7 ?

Aidan iPhone

In recent weeks we have seen two very different brand stories when it comes to the latest smartphones.

The launch of the iPhone 7 has been accompanied by all the pre-launch build up that Apple does so well and that leads to increased demand. We have seen images of the ‘Apple Junkies’, who have already secured their new phone by pre-order, but still queue up overnight to be one of the first to physically have their phone.

Contrast this with the total product recall of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7. There have been reports of a risk of it exploding and airlines have even advised passengers not to get on the plane in possession of one.

These events are accompanied by Apple dropping the price of its ‘older’ models, Samsung having to dispose of whole technology divisions to pay the expected $1 billion+ in compensation, and of course Apple’s share price rising.

Until the next launch or product recall.

After all, it seems like never a week goes by without another new phone hitting the market. Apparently the lifespan for a smartphone, before it becomes ‘obsolete’ and overtaken by a faster, sleeker, more buttons and gadgets phone from someone else, is between 3 and 6 months.

Is this same risk of obsolescence happening for you in your career?

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Achieve Personal Brand Victory with These Olympics Lessons

Gold medal

With the Olympics, the great thing about living in one country and coming from another is I get to cheer for both, because I have double the chance of celebration. Go Canada, Go Great Britain!

Having worked with a number of former athletes, the Olympics give me the opportunity to witness great triumphs and disappointments that are accompanied by wonderful stories. I appreciate and admire an athlete’s struggles and sacrifices. I am also struck by examples of this year’s younger winners being inspired, even mentored by some of the more established and successful athletes.

Joseph Schooling first met Michael Phelps when he was 13, during the Beijing Olympics when Phelps visited his local swimming club. Eight years later, he beat Phelps in the 100 metre butterfly to win the first ever gold medal for Singapore.

Over the years, the Olympics has become much more of a commercial venture, at least in some aspects. Although host nations seem to be almost guaranteed to lose money, brands like Nike and Under Armour and top athletes usually win. Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt have become huge personal brands, with significant endorsement deals and rewards for winning. Even Joseph Schooling earned $750,000 for his medal.

However, I am sure that most Olympic athletes do not ‘do it’ for the money. The investment in supporting them to get to world-class levels can cost a country’s association way more than the bonus for medaling.

For me, one of the best examples of the win being everything was the sheer surprise and joy on the face of 16 year old Canadian Penny Oleksiak when winning a gold medal. Money was not in that picture.

The Olympic brand and logo does have huge monetary and recognition value and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is almost manic about its control. This is in part to help protect the sponsors and the huge investments they make in wanting to be recognised and associated with the event.

So what are the Olympics showing us that you can apply to your personal brand?

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7 Best Practices For Being a Conference Guerrilla

Connectfest 2

The following story is an example of how the actions recommended in this series of articles can work for you. Whilst they are intended mostly for longer conferences they can apply and work equally well to one off events.

How to be a Conference Guerrilla – Part 1 – Pre-Conference can be read here. 

In our time-crunched lives and with the option of virtual events, physically attending conferences can be a hard decision to make.  Approach events with more than just looking at the speaker line up, the complimentary networking sessions or in some cases to get the professional development credits checked off.  Instead actually measure the ‘return on investment’ of attending a conference. Start using this mindset and you will see the value to your organization and your personal brand in getting out there.

I once went to hear Keith Ferrazzi, author of “Never Eat Alone” speak at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. I learnt about the event from the organizer who had booked me to speak there a few months earlier.

I followed Keith’s advice in his book about ‘bumping‘ the speaker before they go on stage and engaging them quickly to gain a follow-up.  I had brought my copy of the book and asked him to ‘sign it before he became famous’ – a quote from the book. He commented that I had obviously read the book and I said it was (and still is) my most referred and recommended book on networking. I have even given several people copies as gifts.  I then told him that I would like the opportunity to follow up with him to discuss how to make his book the #1 business book in Canada. “Absolutely” he said and handed me his card.

As I walked away,  someone behind him had taken my lead and asked for their book to be signed.  I heard Keith ask the person….Read More »7 Best Practices For Being a Conference Guerrilla

What the LinkedIn Acquisition by Microsoft Might Mean to You

MS buys LI

There had been rumours in the past of LinkedIn seeking strategic partners or an acquirer, with several technology companies being the possible ‘one’.  Yesterday saw the news that the successful one will be Microsoft.

My initial thought is I hope this has positive results for many of the areas that LinkedIn seems to be falling short on with technology and that Microsoft does not allow this purchase to squander or suffer like it has with Skype and other poor past acquisitions.

The challenge with any merger, big or small is the merging of leadership styles and cultures. Everything said initially is for the benefit of the stakeholders – investors, employees and users. The reality rolls out differently over the coming months, after all the deal does not close until the end of 2016, so don’t expect any wholesale changes until well in to 2017.

Naturally this was big news in the business world and a lot has been said, with much more to be said over the coming days and weeks. I have collected a few thoughts from the main parties involved as well as some social media, social selling and LinkedIn experts, here is what they had to say;

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The #1 Mistake (Nearly) Everyone Makes on LinkedIn and What to do About It.

If someone is going to search for your name on Google are they going to type in First Name, Last Name and a series of random letters and numbers?  Of course not! Then why do you continue to label your professional profile on LinkedIn this way? What most people do not realize is that you can custom the web address where your LinkedIn profile is placed, it is like your… Read More »The #1 Mistake (Nearly) Everyone Makes on LinkedIn and What to do About It.

6 Surefire Strategies to Survive in Your Career – and MAKE IT!

Today, October 21st 2015, is the actual date that Marty McFly arrived in ‘Back to the Future II’. A number of predictions in the films have come to fruition – such as wearable technology, video calls, hands free gaming, tablets and fingerprint recognition. Of course a few have not. We can never guess it all. Although we know little about Marty McFly’s career aspirations 30 years in the future, we do… Read More »6 Surefire Strategies to Survive in Your Career – and MAKE IT!

An Incredibly Easy Method For Creating Your Personal Brand Statement & Attracting Your Ideal Clients

“Everybody is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” – Mark Twain Three separate lunar events occurred at the same time on September 27th, what was called by some as a Super Harvest Blood Moon. This event has happened only five times since 1900. The last time was in 1982, and it won’t happen again until 2033. On top of that this blood moon was… Read More »An Incredibly Easy Method For Creating Your Personal Brand Statement & Attracting Your Ideal Clients