You are a brand or you are not
"Werbewoche" editor Anne-Friederike Heinrich on men who wish they were brands.
Big men like compliments, small men need them to feel big. Those who are considered a brand don't need compliments. Such men can make companies boom or collapse, share prices soar or plummet with a sneeze. They are real men. They are incomparable, usually well-dressed and generally well-paid. Such human brands no longer have to work. It's enough for them to play golf, be present in the media, write a book now and then (or have one written for them) and sit on one board or another. Brand management can be so simple.
Because it seems extremely pleasant and uncomplicated to be a brand, small managers and provincial politicians have recently taken up a new hobby: turning themselves into a brand. "A brand like a friend" is very much in vogue. There's really only one problem left: how do you become a brand?
To be or not to be distinctive
Let's see: Roger Federer is one. He stands for likeable greatness without airs and graces. To achieve this, he plays tennis and has fathered twins. Or Arnold Schwarzenegger. The muscular Austrian has never been ashamed of even the most embarrassing films. He simply believes in himself and allowed himself to be married to the right woman, which is indeed a merit. Steve Jobs is also a brand. He holds up a new device and everyone buys it. It doesn't even matter that the Apple guru is not particularly likeable. Nicolas Hayek senior was a brand. With two watches on each wrist and his heart always on his sleeve, he was respected and loved. You have to achieve that in Switzerland. And Gordon Gekko is also a brand, albeit a fictitious one. The broker, to whom Michael Douglas lent his charismatic face, is envied rather than resented for his hard-nosed greed for money: "If you need a friend buy a dog!" Yes, that's actually true.
Federer and Schwarzenegger, Jobs, Hayek and Gekko could not be more different. But they have one thing in common: they are authentic and always remain themselves. "You're probably a brand to me," my mother used to say to me a lot. What she meant was: "You're an incredible loudmouth, but I love you." I liked being a "brand". Human brands don't necessarily have to be super inventors like Steve Jobs or successful clean-cut fathers and mother-in-laws like Roger Federer. They can also have human flaws, like Haudrauf-Schwarzenegger, Polter-Hayek or Gier-Gekko. If you want to be a brand, you simply have to be authentic.
I am also a textbook
But have you ever resolved to be authentic? The effect is already gone with the resolution. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, better known as Prime Minister Erdogan, is currently experiencing this bitterly. He desperately wants to be a fire. That is why his lawyer is trying to have the initials RTE protected by the Turkish Patent Office. Erdogan wants to stamp his RTE on media, devices or teaching materials, reports the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Great idea. And how about "RTE Turkish honey"? Then at least I would love Erdogan.
Because it seems extremely pleasant and uncomplicated to be a brand, small managers and provincial politicians have recently taken up a new hobby: turning themselves into a brand. "A brand like a friend" is very much in vogue. There's really only one problem left: how do you become a brand?
To be or not to be distinctive
Let's see: Roger Federer is one. He stands for likeable greatness without airs and graces. To achieve this, he plays tennis and has fathered twins. Or Arnold Schwarzenegger. The muscular Austrian has never been ashamed of even the most embarrassing films. He simply believes in himself and allowed himself to be married to the right woman, which is indeed a merit. Steve Jobs is also a brand. He holds up a new device and everyone buys it. It doesn't even matter that the Apple guru is not particularly likeable. Nicolas Hayek senior was a brand. With two watches on each wrist and his heart always on his sleeve, he was respected and loved. You have to achieve that in Switzerland. And Gordon Gekko is also a brand, albeit a fictitious one. The broker, to whom Michael Douglas lent his charismatic face, is envied rather than resented for his hard-nosed greed for money: "If you need a friend buy a dog!" Yes, that's actually true.
Federer and Schwarzenegger, Jobs, Hayek and Gekko could not be more different. But they have one thing in common: they are authentic and always remain themselves. "You're probably a brand to me," my mother used to say to me a lot. What she meant was: "You're an incredible loudmouth, but I love you." I liked being a "brand". Human brands don't necessarily have to be super inventors like Steve Jobs or successful clean-cut fathers and mother-in-laws like Roger Federer. They can also have human flaws, like Haudrauf-Schwarzenegger, Polter-Hayek or Gier-Gekko. If you want to be a brand, you simply have to be authentic.
I am also a textbook
But have you ever resolved to be authentic? The effect is already gone with the resolution. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, better known as Prime Minister Erdogan, is currently experiencing this bitterly. He desperately wants to be a fire. That is why his lawyer is trying to have the initials RTE protected by the Turkish Patent Office. Erdogan wants to stamp his RTE on media, devices or teaching materials, reports the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Great idea. And how about "RTE Turkish honey"? Then at least I would love Erdogan.
