16 personal Branding of Icons from the past to the present – who have used their Brand influence to promote their Business
“Before everyone became a brand, these chefs, artists, athletes, entertainers, & entrepreneurs developed the innovative techniques that paved the way”
Branding Topics: Chef Boyardee, Andy Warhol, Muhammad Ali, Betty Ford, Martha Stewart, Richard Branson, Oprah, Tom Peters, Beyoncé, Kylie Jenner, Jlo, Jeff Bezos, Starbucks, Google, Apple.
Personal Branding is the practice of people marketing themselves as brands. While previous. The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in a 1997 article by Tom Peters in a business magazine. Personal branding is essentially the ongoing process of establishing a prescribed “image or impression” in the mind of others about yourself. Personal branding often involves the application of one’s name to various products. Your brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by somebody (other than you), that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you. The relationship between brands (you) & customers needs to be constantly made & re-made – by a constant desire for a reinforcement of the self-brand. Below are some famous Personal Brands through-out history to the Icons of today.
1. Chef Boyardee, 1929 Hector Boiardi
Boiardi (boy-ar-dee), a Cleveland chef, sold take-home meal kits of his dishes – from 1929 – due to customer demand. During World War II, he canned his pasta meals for servicemen, popularizing his Italian food.
The Impact: That’s Boiardi’s face in the Chef Boyardee logo, making him godfather to celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Martha Stewart & Rachael Ray.
2. Andy Warhol, 1962
The painter turned Campbell’s Soup into art and “brand-ified” celebrities with silk-screen portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and other famous celebrities of the time.
The Impact: Warhol’s 1968 observation that “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” has become the rallying cry for aspiring social media Influencers & Reality-TV stars.
3. Muhammad Ali, 1966
The outspoken heavy-weight boxing champion conscientiously objected to being drafted to fight in Vietnam—at great personal cost.
The Impact: Ali helped turn public sentiment against the war. Today’s star athletes, from LeBron James to Colin Kaepernick, risk their broad appeal to speak out about racial injustice.
4. Betty Ford, 1974
Shortly after becoming First Lady, Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. She bravely shared her story, removing the stigma around the disease and treatment.
The Impact: Ford’s candor helped save countless women’s lives. She would go on to do the same for alcoholism after she admitted her addiction.
5. Martha Stewart, 1980
Stockbroker turned Caterer published her first Cookbook, and its success led to dozens more, a Magazine, TV shows, and House wares that still gross hundreds of millions in revenue.
The Impact: Stewart’s embrace of multi-media paved the way for every lifestyle of intelligent woman since, including Gwyneth Paltrow & Brit Morin.
6. Richard Branson, 1985
who started with a Record label, attempted the fastest nautical crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, in a Balloon. The first of many stunts that made him famous.
The Impact: His swashbuckling style doubled as good marketing for his Virgin brand. Jeff Bezos & Elon Musk mimic Branson’s playbook, including following him into space exploration.
7. Oprah Winfrey, 1986
Winfrey’s mix of charisma & vulnerability as a national daytime-TV host inspired viewers to buy anything she endorsed.
The Impact: Winfrey’s advisers—including Dr Phil & Dr Oz—became personal brands in their own right. Her hard-core fans now hope she’ll use her pulpit to run for president in 2020.
8. Tom Peters, 1997
The business Author posited in Fast Company ‘Zine that employees needed to think of themselves as brands, “creating their own micro-equivalent of the Nike swoosh logo.”
The Impact: Spend a few minutes among thought leaders on LinkedIn to see how white-collar workers have embraced Peters’s vision.
9. Beyoncé, 2013
The pop super-star reaped the power she’d accrued in her career to break the old model for album releases, dropping Beyoncé on iTunes at midnight with only an Instagram post publicizing it.
The Impact: Beyoncé set sales records and a new standard for how stars launch new work, inspiring Drake and Taylor Swift to follow suit.
10. Kylie Jenner, 2018
In February, the Reality-TV star & Cosmetics entrepreneur tweeted that she no longer opened Snapchat, adding, “Ugh this is so sad.”
The Impact: The tweet catalyzed concerns about Snap, and its stock lost $1.3 billion in value, re-inforcing that personal brands can be even more powerful than the platforms that build them.
Other Celebrity Brands – greatest “branded” CEOs of today
- Jennifer Lopez. More popularly known as JLo, she made her own mark as a singer, and later on as an actress. She was a popular celebrity in her own right before she launched her very own line of Clothing and perfume. She also opened her own Restaurant and eventually founded her own TV Production Co. Consumers could easily assert that JLo is a brand on her own.
- Jeff Bezos, Amazon is a pioneer in world of internet commerce, and was instrumental in defining this space that is now defining many aspects of the internet world. It is Jeff who innovated the concept of “predictive analytics”–recommending products to customers based on search history & buying habits. Whether you like the concept or you hate it, the idea has made online commerce more profit rich & efficient, and is making online shopping a better experience for consumers throughout the world.
- Howard Schultz, Starbucks – From his upbringing in a poor family in the Bronx to an athletic scholarship, then eventually the head of Starbucks, Howard is a consummate example of courage, hard work, & the ability to achieve the American dream. Even in the glow of his own successes, Howard is also interested in investing in others’ success and continues to invest actively in other business ventures, such as eBay.
- Larry Page, Google is another example of a business person who can persevere any challenge. Larry and his company have faced much criticism, but received ample praise over the years for his company’s actions. But in the midst of the storm, he has never let what others think, sway him from pursuing the course for his company that he considers the best.
- Tim Cook, Apple Steve Jobs is a hard act to follow, but thus far, Tim Cook is doing a tremendous job. Rather than attempt to match the consumer-facing innovations Steve Jobs had been known for, Tim Cook is forging into the future with his own new advances, such as Apple’s newest innovative Inventory Management software.
- 16. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo – another of Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women, has not only led her company to record financial results but is making strides to move PepsiCo in a healthier direction, leading the courageous charge to shed traditional fast food properties and to replace them with initiatives to supply healthier foods. She is deeply caring & committed as a senior executive. She is a fun-loving executive as well—she played lead guitar for an all-woman rock band in college, loved to play cricket, and is known to sing Karaoke and perform at corporate gatherings to this day.
Comments: there are many others (ie, Bill Gates, Micro Soft, Larry Ellis, Oracle, etc) who are outstanding Person Branding examples. Who’s your favorite?
Compiled by Peter/CXO Wiz4.biz 6/18
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