Style over substance?

I have been working with a client who is in banking over the last few months. With so much turmoil in the markets, she wanted to ensure that her company understood her value. As she should - banking has been hard-hit globally with job cuts reaching frightening proportions and everyone is feeling understandably vulnerable.

It is at times like these that our personal brands really do work hard for us, not only in obvious ways when we are present, but more importantly, behind the scenes where we have little direct influence or control.

We often hear cries of 'style over substance' when discussing making our brands known to our market or audience. This is such a misnomer. Being known for who you are, what you do, and how you do it better is, in most cases, all about subtlety rather than blatant self-promotion.

Job Cuts

This week I was invited to join a panel on BBC Radio Five Live to discuss when those in business, politics and sports should resign. With so much uncertainty in the markets and a frightening number of job cuts reported and predicted, the need for a strong personal brand couldn't be more stark.

And it seems fairly obvious that when people should go is a timing issue. Either an unanticipated disaster has occurred as in the case of Terminal 5, or we want to pre-empt a possible disaster as in the case of Mr Brown. And one can argue that Mr Walsh's management style prevented those who thought that a disaster might occur from raising the issue - and their heads did roll. And the latter, well, we are predicting a rather difficult coming week for the British Prime Minister.

Yet more often than not it is worth seeing a possible disaster through to completion for the greater good of the organisation. In the not too distant past, the constant change of leadership had deeply negative effect on the Conservative Party, leaving voters reluctant to commit.

And it is at times like this when that we see people's personal brands having a profound effect on their futures. We are prepared to weather the storm with those that we can connect to emotionally.

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson seems to have positioned himself as the “love me or loathe me” candidate in his bid to win the London mayoral race. And while this is inspired marketing for a distinct consumer brand like marmite, it is inappropriate for someone who aspires to taking on the biggest directly elected job in British politics. There seems to be a key factor missing in what we are now referring to as ‘brand Borris’ - that of a statesmanlike quality.

It is clear that a change is needed, however, I believe that Boris is heading in the wrong direction. We learned earlier this week that his team’s strategy appears to be focused on keeping him on a very short leash to avoid blunders and controversy. However, the cornerstone of any personal brand is authenticity. By becoming bland and appearing to conform behind a well-managed mask, he leaves us very little to buy into and we are suspicious of this new Boris. He needs to work his brand to his advantage, not stem its very lifeblood. He won’t win on protest votes alone.

According to a Guardian / ICM poll, trust is going to be the determining factor in who wins this race. The poll reflects that 42% of those questioned believe that Boris is honest, versus 28% for Ken Livingston. So the issue is one of character, which is remarkably unsurprising. No one buys vanilla - people buy people and we like traits and quirks and beliefs – they demonstrate what people stand for and give us something to relate to.

I suggest that Boris considers what his target audience will be interested in ‘buying’ from someone in the role of Mayor of London. He needs to analyse each potential audience that will influence his success and list everything that will be deeply compelling to each. The result will be qualities, expertise and experience that he should then compare to his own. Anything that appears to be weak, missing, or overlooked should be explored and where possible, developed and incorporated into his brand.

The next stage is to communicate and demonstrate all of this through action in a way that will appeal to his target audience. And no, he cannot simply send the spin machine into overdrive or get another haircut… authenticity is vital if he is to be believed.

Naomi Campbell arrested at T5

Yesterday Naomi Campbell was escorted off a flight to Los Angeles at Heathrow's Terminal 5 and arrested for allegedly spitting at an officer after she was told that one of her checked-in bags had been mislaid.

Naomi, who was seated in first class, became abusive towards cabin crew after she was given the option of leaving the flight until her bag was found, or to continue on without it.

Now much has been said about the humiliating failings of Terminal 5, so I won't labour the point, however, spitting is another matter. It seems that Ms Campbell just can't help herself. Her public displays of aggression, rudeness and guttersnipe behaviour are only reinforcing a personal brand that has much to be desired. Do we care, is it really news, is there anything startling about this?

I think not - when it comes to her brand, Ms Campbell is proving to be horribly consistent. The question here is whether this unchecked ego will see any backlash from the audience that she needs to appeal to. I suggest that Naomi gives some thought to how those who might employ her, her friends and supporters, and the general public will react to this. Will they continue to forgive, or are they quite simply, over it?

Heather Mills McCartney

Yesterday's insightful article by Kira Cochrane in the Guardian "Why we love to hate Heather" details the many misogynistic and stereotyped ways that Heather Mills McCartney has been branded by the press and others. But while she seems to be damned and condemned, doing nothing along route to help herself, there may well be a way to rebuild her brand - albeit slowly and with caution. I know that it's a 180 on my previous blog, and as impossible as it may seem right now, I think that with the right mindset, advice and self-discipline, something can be done.

We know that personal brands need to be deeply compelling to their audience, authentic, consistent and known. Indeed we can almost hold Heather up as a case study for the perfectly executed anti-brand - she fulfils all of these principles, only from a negative perspective. As a personal branding consultant, I believe that if she can do it all so perfectly negatively, its possible to turn it around. With extreme caution and very slowly.

Heather will carefully need to pick a target audience that has some empathy with her cause and stick to this in the short to medium term. She will need to dig deep to find and establish a different, distinct and positive element of her brand and story that will be compelling and of value to this audience - something that is truly authentic, beyond doubt and as yet, untainted. All of this will need to be delivered unwaveringly and consistently over a period of time. She needs to be a living, breathing embodiment of all of the above.

Then, and only then, should the process of communicating her brand begin - very subtly and only in the right arenas. Central to all of this should be a commitment to apply an unyielding self-discipline, to withdraw from the public eye until she is ready and to find a sense of grace and elegance that has been so lacking.

It's going to be a challenge, of that I have no doubt. But then again, life is a series of choices and challenges. Should Heather choose to rehabilitate her brand, she will need some help. She can always give me a call and we can explore this further...

Heather Mills McCartney

Here begins lesson 101 in how to destroy a personal brand. No, I'll start again. Here begins lesson 101 in how to reinforce a negative personal brand. Uh, no, how about: Here begins lesson 101... Oh I give up. It's all just too hideous for words.

Heather Mills McCartney has been lambasted... and it seems that she happily contributed by a thorough self-basting, before offering herself up for a roasting by the press following her High Court, high profile divorce from Sir Paul McCartney. No surprises there. No surprises anywhere in fact. Not at her throwing a glass of water over Sir Paul's lawyer Fiona Shackleton, which Heather apparently referred to as 'baptising', nor the fact that she won less than a fifth of the £125m that she was claiming.

And I don't know why I am surprised that she hasn't learned a single lesson about managing her personal brand, but I am. One would think that all of the pointers are there for her - as clear as day. Would it really take that much to find a touch of elegant neutral ground or a slither of grace? She seems hell-bent on reinforcing all that we have come to perceive as vile, trashy and vengeful. Can this brand ever recover? I think not.

Chelsea Clinton

From prop to propagandist... Hillary's not so secret weapon has been outed. Our enduring memory of a geeky teenager with braces is slowly but surely being replaced with a polished, poised and some would say, convincing speaker.

As the only child of power couple extraordinaire, protected as much as was humanly possible, Chelsea followed in her father's footsteps and went to Oxford. She largely managed to stay out of trouble and the media with only a few hiccups... all of the usual variety associated with her age - partying, falling out of nightclubs. Not even a hint of inhaling.

Post degree, she joined McKinsey in New York and then a hedge fund and was rarely seen on the social circuit, preferring to attend charity dinners and sit on the board of a ballet company. She refused to give interviews. In short, she managed to work hard, play soft and keep a low profile.

Ring in the change. Initially we saw her by her mother's side, silent and supportive. However, as Hillary's campaign went from inevitable to deeply uncertain, she stepped up and is now eclipsing Bill's efforts. It seems that Obama has a new contender for the hearts and minds of the young. We are even starting to hear talk about the 'Chelsea effect'.

And whilst she is still refusing to give interviews and claims no political aspirations apart from getting her mom into the White House, I think that we will watch this space with interest.

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

by Philip Scott Johnson

Celebrity drug use...

There has been a lot of recent coverage on celebrity drug use as a result of the annual report from the UN's International Narcotics Control Board warning that treating celebrities 'leniently' is undermining faith in the criminal justice system and has a damaging effect on young people. And whilst I agree, it struck a cord as the argument that young people see celebrities as true role models in the old fashioned sense may well have lost some of its impact.

Today, young people are a lot more savvy, more aware. I recently heard the author of Wikenomics, Dan Tapscott (the man behind Wikipedia and author of many books) talk about his multi-million dollar research project, which showed, amongst other things how young people process information. Interesting enough, he found that young minds are 'wired' differently to ours due to the way that information is presented to them (the internet, facebook, myspace, youtube, mobile phones, computing in general, mulitmedia) and he feels that the great social and economic divide will soon be those young people who have been exposed to this, and those in developing countries who's brains will still be wired like yours and mine.

Back to drug use and interestingly enough, if the media weren't involved and we didn't have individuals 'caught on camera', the impact might not be so great. It makes me think of elvis, the rolling stones, the beatles... the rock n' roll lifestyle that has always been, and how we are prepared to forgive so much when it comes to those in creative industries... as we have always done. It seems that not only are our personal brands key here, even entire industries are branded and treated accordingly. We are still prepared to buy a movie ticket, a music CD, go to a concert, buy the goods that celebs endorse knowing that those involved use drugs. However, would we accept the same from our banker or doctor or personal trainer? I think not.

There will always be those who slavishly follow their idols, however, the rest of us recognise that drugs are slavery, and the best thing we can teach young people is how to be free. Often it is the media, not the celebrity that has the most clout and de-glamorising drug use should continue to be top of the agenda. And should celebs face the same penalties, well yes, afterall we live in a democratic society, right?

Personal Branding Tips

I have recently added a Q&A section to my site... feel free to ask if you have any burning Image or Personal Branding queries and I will get back to you as soon as.

On that note, I thought that I would share my 'top tips' for Personal Branding.

Here we go:

1. Find out how you are actually perceived or what your reputation is – ask a variety of people;
2. Spend some time exploring what it is about you that is or will be memorable, different, distinct and deeply compelling to your market or audience;
3. Ask yourself if what you are offering is authentic, if not it will only breed mistrust;
4. Make sure that your message or what you deliver is consistent, if it is erratic, it will lose value and undermine your efforts;
5. Create a Personal Brand statement outlining who you are, what you do, how you do it and why it is compelling… and use abridged versions of it consistently wherever appropriate;
6. Explore how you can make your Personal Brand known to your market or audience and act on it.