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Maria Ogneva

Maria can be found on Twitter @themaria
Her blog is http://themaria.me

Last time I wrote about branding, I wrote about Method, a consumer brand. Corporate branding is still alive and well (albeit trickier to maintain due to fragmentation of the ever-growing number of media channels), but other forms of branding have started to come to the forefront. In recent years, proliferation of blogging, microblogging and other publishing platforms has given rise to popularity of personal branding. Rick has written here about the importance of and strategies for successful personal branding, so I won’t belabor the point. Because we are all publishers now (active as well as reluctant), we get to enjoy the benefits of, as well as the work associated with, personal branding, which used to be strictly the realm of celebrities.

I would like to focus on the personal brand of Michael Jackson for several reasons: 1. he has enough mind share right now to have pushed the Iran elections right off of Twitter, and 2. because his brand has been around for a good 40 years, and has been through severe ups and downs, it’s an extremely illustrative example of an enduring brand with tremendous global reach.

Overall, I think Michael Jackson is a personal brand win. Although he has gone through very public and very severe episodes that could’ve destroyed his brand, they didn’t. Even though the allegations of child abuse tarnished his brand temporarily, I think it’s safe to assume that they could’ve completely destroyed another, less strong brand. Of course, just because a brand is strong, does not automatically mean it’s positive (there are tons of mean-spirited, yet strong, personal brands out there). In this case, when I talk about the strength of MJ’s brand, I am referring to the strength of his overall positive message.

Why do I think it’s a win? Because when Jackson passed away, the sentiment has been overwhelmingly one of extreme loss. Even though the tarnishes on his reputation certainly had their place in media over the past couple of weeks, the memories were largely focused around the tremendous influence and artistic inspiration that he produced, as well as his charitable giving and advocacy. Moreover, Jackson’s brand is truly global. When I was a little girl in communist Soviet Union, MJ was one of the few Western music acts allowed into the country (we basically had MJ, Madonna, Depeche Mode, Wham!, and not much else from the U.S.). I find the fact that he was not simply a music act that broke through the Soviet machine, but also an African American act, simply astonishing. When I learned of his death, I remember feeling a loss that I had never felt from losing someone I didn’t know personally. I think this speaks to the strength, ubiquity, longevity and impact of his brand all over the world.

Personal brands are complex and much trickier than corporate and product brands, because they are more closely associated with underlying human behavior. Needless to say, we aren’t perfect, and are all very prone to making mistakes. Even though the social web humanizes big brands more than ever before, actions of a single person won’t impact a big brand as much as they will a one-person brand. I urge everyone who cares about his / her personal brand, to closely monitor his / her digital footprint. Even if you aren’t actively building your brand online, others are probably building it for you with Facebook photos and other tools that don’t always require your approval. Be vigilant, Google yourself often, and contribute original content, so that when a potential client, employer or date Googles you, they will have something positive and proactive to read about.

Tagged as: Brand, Facebook, Google, Iran, Michael Jackson, Soviet Union, twitter, United States