Personal Branding: You Are What You Brand

From Britney Spears to Barack Obama, the way that an individual is branded determines their success and legitimacy in the eyes of consumers. Whether the individual is trying to sell cd’s or lobby for a vote, branding an individual is similar to branding a product. The creation of a successful artist, singer or politician often coincides with branding as well as talent. Celebrities and athletes use aggressive publicity campaigns that usually coincide with the release of a product. They also rely on agencies to decide which opportunities are best for them to accept.

This weeks Brand Rant discusses how an annoying ad for a headache remedy is seeing sales success, despite viewers dislike for the ad. And in the Brand Spotlight, we look into how Anheuser Busch and Miller Brewing Company are spending far less on traditional advertising. Also, Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon joins us to discuss how athletes are successful branding themselves.

Related Topics:

Read about the increase in sales that Head On has seen despite running what is seen as an annoying ad.
http://adage.com/article.php?article_id=120636

Watch the ad here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE

Budweiser and Miller are spending less advertising on network television
http://adage.com/article?article_id=120644

Tiger Woods could market ketchup to a woman in white gloves, read why here
http://www.wizardofads.com/default.asp?ArticleID=271

Tiger shows some of his personality here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tICYqiHRniw

See how Barak Obama has branded himself into a presidential candidate
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama_senate_recordjun12,1,5172091.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

See how Oprah has become the most powerful celebrity according to Forbes
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_12_35/ai_n15652746

Jeff Gordon has branded everything from wine to panty hose
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3022895&type=story

Britney Spears was once on top of the pop music world, now she is struggling after a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/arts/music/13brit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Watch the VMA performance here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTFeOQk3Akc