You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with. I truly believe you’re only as valued as the people you’re connected to. I was just as careful with the Calvin Klein brand as I was with my own. Just as I wouldn’t associate with just anybody, I wouldn’t let the Calvin Klein brand either. I screened every single licensee who carried the Calvin Klein brand and made sure they were in absolute alignment with our own values, vision, and standards of excellence. The Irish have an old saying: “By your friends, you will be known.” In other words, you are who you associate with. In your life and business, if you choose to become successful, you’re going to meet a lot of people who will want to align themselves with you. They’ll want to get a piece of your “brand.” Protect it with your life. Make sure before you enter any partnerships or agreements, ask:

• Does this person/organization align with our values?
• Do they understand the importance of what we do and stand for?
• Would I personally associate with them?
• Would I be willing—as an individual—to associate with this person or organization?

If the answer is no to any of the above questions, and you still proceed, then you aren’t protecting your organization’s brand. To be your brand’s ultimate champion you must:

1. Know the value of your brand and be uncompromising in protecting its worth. Every person I have come to admire knows his or her own worth. Calvin Klein himself knew from the outset what he was worth. He also knew what his clothes were worth. He demanded excellence and quality from everyone who worked for him, and they delivered, because they respected him and knew he held himself to the same high standards. You can’t expect much from your employees, clients, and partners if you don’t hold yourself in high regard. It’s that simple.

2. Realize that your personal brand precedes you everywhere you go. How you look, what you say, what you do, where you work, who you are friends with, and what you believe in speaks volumes—about you and the company you represent. It tells everyone what they need to know before you open your mouth. I embodied the Calvin Klein brand everywhere I went. I didn’t stop representing Calvin Klein when I left the office.

3. Love the brand you’re championing. You have to love and be passionate about the brand you represent. This seems obvious but I am often amazed when I talk to other business colleagues how little affection they have for their brand or organization. I believe in being the world’s biggest fan of the brand you’re representing. It is one of the most vital things you can do to be a brand champion. Talk up your brand everywhere you go. Tell people why you love it. And then just don’t talk the talk, walk the walk. Wear or use the brands you champion. To this day, I wear Calvin Klein and trust that whatever I buy with the Calvin Klein label is going to be made with the utmost quality and care.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Tom Murry, the retired CEO of Calvin Klein, who ran the company for 17 years and facilitated the brand’s growth from 2.8 billion to $8 billion.

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Mark Ritson: No
It’s a common error to assume that people, countries and cities are all brands. Yes, they all possess symbolic meaning but as I point out in my post so do road signs. The point is that brands are more than just a cluster of meanings. On the consumer side you have to be able to purchase them and own them, on the organizational side you have to be able to control and alter them if you so choose. Neither applies to people.

Take Michael Phelps. Do you own him when you buy a box of cereal with is name on it? Could we reposition Phelp’s personality and talents if we decided a strategic review was needed – perhaps into an intense soccer player?

Put it another way. We have an extensive academic body of work on celebrity endorsement in the Journal of Consumer Research for example, starting with the superb work of Grant McCracken. We also have an extensive and empirically verified series of papers on Co-Branding published in journals like the Journal of Brand Management. Even a cursory look at these two literatures confirm that the relationship between two brands, and between a celebrity and a brand, are entirely different. If we were to accept the premise of celebrities as brands we would have to unite these two disparate literatures somehow.

There is a final and most important rationale for rejecting people as brands. To do so would be to commit what Marx called “the commodification of self”. When we turn people into brands their humanity is lost. Yes we use people to sell brands, but when we start to use the literature on brands to sell people we forget the essential humanity that sets apart people from things.

This terrible literature that teaches people to market themselves or brand themselves asks people to become products, and in doing so, asks them to forget the things that makes human beings very different from baked beans.

I am all for brands, I spend my life working on them, but it is a fundamental and very common mistake to assume we can apply our knowledge to the sociology and psychology of the human condition. For both theoretical, practical and philosophical reasons it makes no sense.

Brad VanAuken: Yes
Brands are the source of promises to consumers. They promise relevant differentiated benefits. They can make these promises because they are the personifications of products, services, organizations or other entities. Brands have personalities, they possess character and they can stand for something. I have long contended that not only can companies and their products and services be branded, but so also can colleges and universities and museums and other not-for-profit organizations and municipalities and countries and musical groups and yes, even individuals.

While most people do not need to be personified, some arguably do. Indeed, many celebrities are packaged as brands. The trick is to draw out a person’s authentic brand, one that is true to him or her. The same is true with all other brands. And authenticity usually reveals a combination of positive and not so positive attributes. The role of the brand marketer is to accentuate the positive attributes, especially those that will give the brand an advantage in the marketplace.

Some celebrities recover nicely from a crisis situation and some do not, just as some companies do and some don’t. For some celebrities, a brush with the law or the demonstration of particularly lewd behavior is not a crisis at all. It is a PR opportunity. Yes, depending on the intended personality, all publicity can be good publicity.

Regarding using celebrities to endorse products or to be spokespeople for them can often be problematic. Remember Anita Bryant and Sunkist or O.J. Simpson and Hertz. While I think Tiger Woods is a perfect endorsement for Nike (the “authentic athletic performer” [Nike’s brand essence] just doing it [Nike’s tagline]), that relationship could still be problematic depending upon how Tiger Woods conducts himself in public and private.

Branding is the process of managing identity and perception. This can be done for virtually anything. At least that is my belief.

Al Ries: Yes
Sure people are brands. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton, Donald Trump, etc. These names stand for something specific in the minds of consumers. Furthermore, brand names can be leveraged across a number of generations. Prescott Bush, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush.

Jack Trout: Yes
Some people are brands because they build powerful reputations in their field of endeavor. Steve Jobs is a brand at Apple. Michael Dell at Dell. DeBackey in heart surgery. But most never quite get to that status.

Derrick Daye: Yes
In my opinion there is no denying that people are brands. Brands are owned in the mind. They represent the sum of all experiences a customer or prospect has with your offering. When we think of brands in the context of people, naturally we think of celebrities. Oprah comes to mind as a prime example of how a person can be a brand — extending well beyond her physical self, manifesting in a TV network, publication and creating “The Oprah Effect” which has transformed others to celebrity brand status as well. (Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and others)

Where do you stand?

The Blake Project can help you discover the right celebrity endorsement for your brand based on emotional connection measurement. Further, we work with all of Hollywood’s A list celebrities and can strategize and facilitate your celebrity endorsement.

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As a result, early pioneers of consumer branding often created a fictional identity to personify the brand to make it easier for consumers to relate to them.

In 1921, for example, US food giant General Mills invented Betty Crocker as the personification of many of its brands. It created a kitchen, a portrait, even a signature for its all-American homemaker. It was a strategy many brands adopted. Consumers were encouraged to form relationships with fictional characters from Aunt Gemima, the African-American face of pancake mix, to the Marlboro Man. In so doing, they also formed relationships with the brands that sponsored them.

As consumer culture evolved, the vocabulary of branding became increasingly anthropomorphic. Consumers ‘adopted’ brands, built brand ‘relationships’ and eventually became brand ‘loyal’. Words once reserved for personal relationships were increasingly applied to material goods. Consumers grew adept at identifying directly with brands.

Recently, we have entered a third stage in this process. Not only are consumers comfortable relating to brands, they have now begun to use the language of branding to help them relate to themselves and to others.

Where once consumers needed fictional people to help them form relationships with a brand, now brands help us define how we relate to ourselves and others.

A sociologist published the results of a study analyzing Australian birth registries. In the past decade there has been a big increase in newborns christened with brand names. We can expect a generation named Chanel, Lexus, Bentley and Armani.

In America a whole industry has sprung up around ‘personal branding’, in which consultants apply the theories of brand management to career planning and life goals. In Managing Brand Me: How to Build Your Personal Brand, authors Thomas Gad and Anette Rosencreutz observe that in this ‘increasingly transparent world it is becoming harder to grasp who you really are. Time to brand yourself as you would an exciting new product’.

In London, snooker player Jimmy White announced he was changing his name to Jimmy Brown as part of a sponsorship agreement with HP Sauce. And while Kerry McFadden was announcing to the press that she had received laser surgery to remove the tattoo of her former husband’s name from her derriere, the ex-husband in question was announcing to the press that he was rebranding himself from Bryan to Brian to reflect his new outlook on life.

In Hollywood, the decision to scrap the production of Nicole Kidman’s movie Eucalyptus was blamed on co-star Russell Crowe and his row with the film’s director. In a furious email exchange between the two, Crowe attempted to assert his superiority with the words: ‘I am a Ferrari, you’re just a VW’.

It is what sociologists call the ‘postmodern turn’ in society and what Marx predicted as the ‘commodification of self’. People have become so absorbed into consumer culture it now obscures all other aspects of their lives. They see themselves as brands, and see others in the same way.

Yet people are not brands. Brands are things we buy and use and discard.

When we apply the concepts of branding to individuals or to ourselves we lose something very important. We are supposed to love our families, not our cars; be loyal to our partners, not a supermarket. The sad lost souls that are today’s celebrities are an important illustration of what happens to people who completely forget that they are different from the products they consume.

30 SECONDS ON… JIMMY WHITE’S HP SAUCE DEAL

– Jimmy White reportedly received £100,000 from HP Sauce for changing his name by deed poll to Jimmy Brown. HP also sponsored the brown ball in the recent Masters snooker tournament at Wembley.

– White said he wanted to attract new sponsors to the sport following restrictions on tobacco deals.

– During the tournament, White ditched the customary black tuxedo for an all-brown outfit.

– He began his Masters challenge confidently, stating: ‘I am definitely having James Brown on the Masters trophy. I’ll be the “godfather of snooker”.’ Such dreams were ended when he lost 6-1 in the semi-final to eventual winner Ronnie O’Sullivan.

– The change of name has confused broadcasters. The BBC referred to him by his name of birth, while Sky has opted for Jimmy ‘White’ Brown in coverage of the Premier League of Snooker.

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“My general formula for my students is ‘Follow your bliss.’ Find where it is, and don’t be afraid to follow it.”  Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, pp. 120, 149

“I have learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”  Henry David Thoreau

“Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”  Frank Outlaw

I took a course entitled Self-Assessment and Career Development while at Harvard Business School. It was the most useful course I took while there. The premise of the course, from alumni research, was that those who most loved what they did succeeded the most, regardless of what it was that they did. So, when asked to help a person brand him- or herself, I focus on helping him or her discover what energizes and what enervates him or her.

I employ journaling to a great extent to help the person in self-discovery. I supplement this with self assessment, friend and family observations, psychological instruments (sometimes), guided imagery, affirmations, personal credo development and life plan development.

Journaling questions (which number over 100) including the following:

•    When have you felt most alive?
•    What ideas have set your spirit free?
•    What is your deepest, most sincere wish?
•    What has had the most profound impact on your life? Why? What has it changed in you?
•    What was your fondest childhood experience?  Describe it in detail.
•    Who do you admire most?  Why?

Most important to successfully branding yourself is:

•    Taking the time to be reflective
•    Being completely honest with yourself
•    Facing, sitting with and trying to understand your anxieties, fears, desires, aversions and addictions
•    Forgiving yourself where you believe forgiveness is required
•    Completing accepting all aspects of yourself

Based upon a rigorous self-assessment of strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes, I help the individual develop a life-plan that includes all the aspects of his or her life from work/career, family/home to health, financial and personal development/spiritual. I then have that person check in with me periodically to assess how he or she is doing against the plan and to offer coaching along the way.

This process typically leads to a more meaningful and successful life defined on the individual’s own terms. People who invest in this process tend to be happier and healthier with more energy and enthusiasm.

As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

People who commit to this process become more radiant and authentic human beings. They attract to themselves what is best for them as defined by them. In many ways, this is the same process that I go through with organizations as I help them refine their brand essences, promises and personalities

I wish you great success in branding yourself.

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It’s important to note that just because a name is well-known, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a powerful brand. What’s a Chevrolet? A Chevrolet is a large/small, cheap/expensive car. Consequently, Chevrolet is a weak brand. It’s no surprise that Chevrolet has lost its brand leadership to Ford.

The most successful business people consider themselves a brand and market themselves according. And like product brands, it’s not enough to just be well-known. You also have to stand for something in the minds of other people. John Kerry was well-known but he never made his brand stand for anything. He was the alternative to Bush, but that isn’t enough to win an election. Kerry needed to define his brand in a focused, positive way. George Bush defined himself as a compassionate conservative in 2000. In 2004, his brand message was focused on protecting America.

Other interesting brands are Hollywood stars. The best film brands are stars that stand for something in the mind of the movie-going public.

· Julia Roberts = Pretty woman
· Bruce Willis = Wise guy
· John Wayne = Man’s man
· Arnold Schwarzenegger = Tough guy (A brand image that also worked well for his gubernatorial campaign.)
· Adam Sandler = Immature goofball

When a Hollywood star steps out of character, the results can be disastrous. For example, what was Arnold thinking when he made a movie with Danny DeVito called Junior in which Arnold gets pregnant? And when Adam Sandler has tried to be serious it hasn’t played well either. Just look at ticket sales from Spanglish.

So, how do you turn yourself from an ordinary person into a powerful brand? Here are some basic branding principles to consider:

1. Do You Have The Right Brand Name?
Remember your parents gave you a name, but it doesn’t mean they were expert marketers. So if you don’t have a good brand name, change it. When Ralph Lifshitz wanted to become a famous designer, he didn’t start by working 24 hours a day designing clothes. The first thing he did was to change his name to Ralph Lauren.

2. Narrow The Focus, Don’t Try To Be Great At Everything.
When you ask most people what they are good at, they generally say that they are good with people, good with planning, good with strategic thinking. In other words, they are good at everything! Traditional brands know that when they narrow their focus they are able to get into the minds of their customers and prospects. Being a specialist and narrowing your focus allows you to get into the minds of your manager, headhunter, boss, colleague, spouse, et. al. If you try to stand for everything, you will stand for nothing.

3. Use PR To Build Your Brand.
The best and most credible way to establish a brand is with PR. You cannot go around boasting about yourself and your brand. You need other people to do it for you. PR is a third-party endorsement of your brand, someone else saying how terrific you are. So look for ways to be mentioned in newsletters, websites, and the local media touting your success. Make speeches about your “narrow focus” and try to get publicity in trade papers and other outlets. Then reproduce that material and start a file of our accomplishments. It takes one brick at a time to build your personal brand, the brand called you.

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