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.
   

Simon Cowell

Interesting comment from Simon Cowell on American Idol's latest series cutting the remaining 24 down to 20 this week. He said it as it is... nothing unusual in that, however, he happened to outline the foundations of a powerful personal brand.

Now, we often hear Simon describing a performance as dull, boring, unmemorable. On this occasion, he went into a little more detail. He said that the performer had to bring something different, memorable, interesting, unique, relevant to the table. I would sum it all up and use one word. Compelling. All of these things need to add up to compelling. We need to want more. Loads more.

Personal Image Tips

Creating positive first impressions is all about our Personal Image, which is made up of three things; how we look, how we sound and our body language. We form opinions about others in a matter of seconds and then spend the rest of our time justifying our decisions to ourselves.

Our Image communicates so much about us. It has a powerful effect on how other people approach and respond to us, personally and professionally. A positive, appropriate Image instantly puts our audience at ease. Adversely, a negative, inappropriate Image creates hard to shift obstacles and barriers to success.

Top Tips:

1. Ensure that your clothing is appropriate for the occasion
2. What you wear and your grooming communicate how you feel about yourself… ask yourself what it is that you are conveying to others?
3. Keep accessories, jewellery, make-up, perfume and aftershave subtle and appropriate
4. Practice the art of introducing yourself and of making small talk
5. Smile, make eye contact, shake hands, relax, don’t fidget
6. Be conscious of the appropriate etiquette in the circumstances that you find yourself
7. Remember other peoples names and use them
8. Listen, pay attention to what the other person is saying in order to show interest and find common ground… don’t chatter

Dwain Chambers

And so the row over Dwain Chambers, doping and athletics goes on. From a general sporting perspective, this is an easy one. We all agree. If we are to compare and reward physical prowess and skill, then all things must be equal. A level playing field so to speak.

What makes all of this interesting is Dwain's public claim that it is almost impossible to win a major medal in athletics without the use of artificial stimulation. And he of all people must know the contents of this dirty can of worms. He failed a test for tetrahydrogestrinone, the Balco designer steroid in 2003 and was given a two-year suspension. Having served his time, he returned in 2006 as a member of the British sprint squad, taking relay gold in the European Championships.

And that leaves us with way too many questions... who isn't doping? Is anyone clean? Can we trust the results? Is it real? How do we stop it happening?

One can argue that Dwain has paid his dues for past misdemeanours... he should be allowed to go on. After all, the social trend is to forgive those in the public eye for their ill-judged transgressions. However, this is a very different arena. His body is the basis of his success and it’s cheating. Plain and simple. One can liken it to putting rocket fuel in a formula one car, if that were possible. Its just plain wrong. Do we celebrate the efficacy and wonders of the drugs, or the performance of the athlete?

And I wonder if this brand will be able to recover. So damaged in 2003, will he now fight in the name of 'lessons learned' and can we forgive and forget? After all, it seems that his playing field is not at all level and we may well ask if he is being vilified, persecuted in the name of all those who as yet remain undiscovered.

Bull in a china shop...

I do enjoy working with those who promote and manage people in the public eye. The good ones have an innate sense of the power of personal brands and a determined interest in helping the talent they manage to make the most of theirs.

A case in point a couple of weeks ago with an Agent who wanted what I think of as a little insurance on behalf of a young and inexperienced artist who shall remain nameless. This raw talent has been catapulted into the public eye and is struggling. No, let me re-phrase that. The people who manage him are struggling. He is a happy bull in a china shop and finding trouble in the most unlikely of places.

We spent a couple of hours together as I coached him on his image & personal brand and their impact on his career. Perhaps predictably, the usual motivator of increased financial success held little appeal. He has more money than he ever dreamed of and the numbers don't mean much. They are just numbers... with lots of commas and zeros. And as for reputation... he quite likes his 'wild boy' image. What finally worked was the opportunity to create a legacy for his family. His mum to be precise.

A couple of weeks later, a few more hours of coaching and he seems to have 'got it'. Thank goodness. I like to see Agents smiling.