Brand(,) You(?)

A few of us spent Labor Day at Virginia Beach. On the way back, we stopped at Prime Outlets in Williamsburg. While uncomfortably trying on a blue cardigan sweater in J. Crew I made a joke that, “wearing this wouldn’t be on strategy for the Jake Dubs brand.” An advertising joke.

Funny.

We got in the car and began the drive back to Richmond. I leaned my face against the glass and looked up at the star-riddled sky.

Written on my portfolio professor, Charles Hall’s business card is the following:

when lovers stop flirting
and partners stop listening
when boyfriends stop calling
and girlfriends stop kissing
when husbands stop touching
and wives stop feeling
when people stop communicating
people have affairs.

brands are people too.

I always liked it put that way, but let's flip it.

People are brands, too.


As a person, you are your own brand. Everything you do must be on strategy as to what it is you are trying to do in your life. Everything you do must be on strategy as to what makes you different and unique and better. What's your USP?


From any one moment we can be a million different things at once, any one of them representing who we are and what's important to us at that particular moment. A racquetball player, a student, a leader, a lover, a hater, a nice guy, a smart guy, a cool guy, involved, apathetic, girl-crazy, money-crazy, crazy-crazy, someone who wants to have a family, someone who wants to change the world, someone who wants to sell multivitamins.

But who you are overall is what really matters. All of those moments put together to create that one big moment that is your life is what really matters.


Taking risks in your life is the same as taking risks for a brand, as far as I'm concerned. Analogously, as putting money into a different new proposition for a brand could be risky, so to is putting yourself in jeopardy when you put time and effort into doing something different.

Similar to spending a half million dollars to put fire-juggling clowns atop the Chrysler Building for Commerce Bank, you could be taking a year of your professional life to backpack India in order to broaden your horizons. In my opinion, there’s no difference between the two.


The only questions are, will shelling out half a million to put fire-juggling clowns atop the Chrysler Building get people to switch to Commerce Bank? Will taking a year of your professional life to backpack India really broaden your horizons and make you a better professional and person? Is either one right for the brand, or just a stupid figment of your imagination, off-strategy, and an unnecessary risk?

I realized that at this school--and in this industry--it's all about taking risks and putting out work that is different and provocative and new. Which is fantastic. But everything we do still needs to be smart and calculated. We need to start thinking of the brands we work on as ourselves, or at the very least, brands we own. By putting ourselves in these shoes, it forces us to think calculated and smart, rather than risky and half-baked just because we can.


In the same way you are your own brand, your book is your brand's ads. Everything in there is working towards showing off who you are and what you stand for. And to create it, I think it's important to remember you are always working for yourself (especially when you're in school). It’s not for your teachers or your client or your agency or your Creative Director.

It's all for you.

dubs. out.