Why You Can't Stereotype People

Last weekend, I did some fact finding about a group of people who live in the valley of a very poor neighbourhood. I wanted to know what Media they were exposed to and what their leisure looked like. This is a typical D, E Demography by Marketing definition. A traditional school of advertising warns that these people are so poor you have to talk to them 'in the language they understand'. More like they are dumb. [ Sorry that didn't sound right but that's how advertisers see the Mass Market. ]

This is a typical home in this neighbourhood. 3-bedroom apartment. That's the bathroom in front to the right.

And that's their form of entertainment. They watch Series on DSTV. They know about Grey Anatomy. They also love to watch the MTV Base. In the afternoon, when the young ones are out to work or school, the elderly ones watch African Magic

See you guys sooner on this. More on Stereotypes. 

Multitalented and Confused? Try This.

One of the challenges of Personal Brands is choosing an area of focus, especially when a lot is going on.

You can write. You can sing. You can act. You can design clothes. You can heal the sick [ I didn't mean to add that last bit ] One sunny day, you happen to run into the richest man on earth in an elevator going to floor 7. This is your chance to sell yourself. He asks 'may I meet you' and you say ' I'm Winnie the Pooh, a renowned writer, singer, actor and recently a fashion designer going to change the world'

Ping! The elevator has reached its destination and you have to say your goodbyes.

The Elevator test is a very popular exercise in major business schools but it's really a discourse of Personal Branding.

Your greatest talent is the one that gives you your AOI. That is, your Area of Influence. Every Personal Brand, no matter how talented they are, has their AOI. It's simply your talent that has a community built around it. Or the potential to have a budding community. Communities are different from Customers.  You may be a singer but you may not have a throne in Singing. You are no less than a singer, it's just that it's not your AOI. There can only be one Ruler on a throne at a particular place and time. Social communities are built around common needs but more than you think, they are built around certain influencer at a time. That Influencer is a talent that commands much more respect in that community without trying too hard.

I once had a music album. Don't laugh. I really can sing if I want to sing. Just that I have a few off keys. And I remember hawking my music from door to door but I knew I could offer my world much more than that.

I then happened upon my own AOI one day by chance. Sooner, I realised why music is one of my talents. Today, people don't have to gamble through life finding their AOI. Using stories and experiences of key influencers of our world today, Orange Academy has filtered down to some basic pointers that can guide your choice; learning how to really focus on what really matters.

How do you find your AOI?  Join us at the next Workshop of Personal Branding in Lagos. Reservations can be made through Ms Esther Ilori as follows:

RSVP: Call Ilori Esther on +234-8060213455, +234-7028342631

Red lipstick, Sex and Power. Be the Rebel in the House

I've been very curious lately as to why the power of red lipstick never dies. From Cleopatra to Queen Elizabeth 1 to Marilyn Monroe and to modern images of power women around us, the red lipstick lives on. Most women have one in their purse. This power tool has fascinated both men and women since 3,000 BC. It's a call to the inner goddess and the obsession is unfathomable.

There had been oppositions to red lipstick in the early days as the religious folks thought it resembled a flushed and aroused labia. Some even went on to say it was the devil's symbol. But this red thing lives on. Long before the emancipation of womenfolks came to the fore, the red lipstick had been a silent tool in this journey. It even became more popular when Elizabeth Arden and Estee Lauder started dispensing lipsticks from their own saloon in the 1930's. They tried to tone it down by introducing women to different shades of it. However, the bold red shade is still the most popular today.

Red is one of the strongest retail colour in Branding and it calls so much attention to itself. Red is a look-at-me, I'm-here colour that never goes unnoticed. Coca-Cola won't trade its red for anything in the world and great brands like HSBC and Virgin know the energy they are tapping into when they stay with red. It's sensual. It's rebellious and it is a power tool. For me, what I find fascinating about red lipstick is the sheer simplicity that never goes unnoticed. Sounds ironic. Simple, yet very much in your face. You overdo it, it backfires. You don't do it, you have a bland look.

That's what I call being profound. Your Personal brand can be too simple and not get the attention it deserves. You need to introduce a power tool. Some mystique. Some silent rebellion message that says ' hey, this is what I stand for, guys!'

If you are going for a Powerful persona, find a power tool that can prop you. They are usually the simplest things around you. They come in small shapes and sizes like the red lipstick.

My Ads of Fame Collection: Why do brands lie today?

We don't see great ads anymore. What we see are ads done for the clients or ads done by the agencies to bag awards. I have nothing against awards. They remind you that you are still in people's good book. Just that a large percentage of these award winning works are recycled. People doing the same thing under new names. And I have nothing against Clients, it's just that most are not in touch with reality. In these days of Google and Social Media, most ads still stink of lies. Fast broadband. Caring bank.  Shame.

In this Collection, you'll notice that the Creators of these ads had one objective in mind: to connect with their audience so they might care about their offerings. They first sought to interest their audience, then they went on to sell the offering in a simple yet profound way. Above all, they said the truth and ran away. Great ads are about truth but then truth well told. Enjoy

A Bill Bernbach's classic where truth always wins out in Advertising.  When you know you are not no 1, how do you find strength in that? Now, don't try this with today's delusional brands. They are always No 1.

This is one of the most famous of Ogilvy's ads. Way back in the 60s.  When you are selling a generic thing like a work shirt, you need to put some spin on it. Don't just use models for modelling sake [ like we have on our streets today, posing for the camera is not advertising. Smiling faces. That's photography. Do something crazy and run away ]

Way back then, Leo Burnett did stunning jobs for Kellogg's Corn flakes and this one is timeless. The product is in view but not forced into the view. The focus is on the moment. The Copy is not pretentious. It's just Corn Flakes for God's sake! What we see today are commodities ads that flaunt the number of vitamins they contain plus the name of the Chairman sitting on their board [ now, I made that last one up ]

I bet there's no Advertising book worth its salt where this Bill's work has not been mentioned. The only sad thing is no one has the gut to do such an ad. If this ad was done today, I guess the Brand team would insist that 'small' is not in their dictionary.  Why do people tell lies today, even when we have Goggle to tell us that your broadband is not actually 3.9G as claimed in your advertising.  [ Kenny, 3.9! How far? ]  There must be something sexy about telling the truth in advertising especially when you know how to turn it around to your advantage. 

Great ads have some edge to them. This was grabbed from the famous  Super bowl commercial of Apple in 1984.  

At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock. That's Ogilvy for you. Nothing to add.  

When you are ready to talk, close that Powerpoint.

It's amazing how 99.9% of us still don't get it.

One of our best graduating students at Orange Academy. Caroline Latona.  Here was her final defense and the Strategy was on point. However, we always warn our students that it doesn't end there. You have to be able to translate Strategy into an experience.

Consumers don't read Powerpoint or a Strategy document when they get to the shelf to buy our products. They simply SEE it, SMELL it, TOUCH it, FEEL it or HEAR it.

A brand is an experience.

There are no worse times in history of Brand Communication when the buzz word is 'Strategy'. People design Powerpoint. People flash numbers. People draw graph. And honestly, all of that is good. I'm a student of Y&R Strategic Planning and I really do know how to design engaging Powerpoint presentations.

Howbeit, my brodas and sistas, when you really mean to talk to a humankind. When you really need to pass your message across to some human being somewhere.
When you really mean business in this business of Brand Communication, you have to close that Powerpoint presentation and keep your eyes on the ball. Yea, you heard me. Powerpoint and Big Grammar don't grab balls. Hands do. Good pair of hands.

This Coca-Cola Facebook page captures humankind. It's not about the formula it contains,  it's about the story of the people who drink Coca Cola. That's not a Powerpoint. 

Since 2008, Orange Academy has helped more than 27,000 Graduates and over 600 Executive Managers find their own voice through our various programs. Again and again, we have discovered that one major ingredient that has helped shaped the best of our best is the power to turn a business strategy into an experience.  We call it Magic. www.cluborangeng.com

It means the readiness to take on new discoveries about humanity. We want our students to be very curious about everything. Curious about what make people tick. Sex, yes, sex. Money, music, laughter, friendship, colours, images, cries, stories. The list is endless.

This Samsung Facebook page reeks of Strategy. It's like a designed Powerpoint in a Social Media space. 

You want people to respond to you? Give them an experience. Full stop.

Put some colours on it

This Weekend, I spent some time with some young creatives and we stumbled upon a painful truth. Colours can change everything. Timeless. When you have a block, find some colours. Find some colours to inspire you

Michael Jackson: what's in the white gloves?

The famous MJ's white gloves may have been auctioned for over $350,000 ( not including fees and commission ) http://www.luxist.com/tag/michael%20jackson/page/2/. Before you cringe at such 'unholy' spend, take a look at your own hand. What are you wearing?

Now, seriously, a Personal Brand knows how to stick to a prop or a piece of clothing. This is called consistency in Brand Management. In the street language form, this is called 'your logo'. Your logo or Brand Identities are not usually some designs, it's that part of you that announces your entrance in your area of influence.

Here's how it works. A larger percentage of human brain is visually oriented and early in life we are exposed to icons, signs and images that cue us into making a sense of our universe. These are schematic patterns we have formed. Even the blinds are usually fond of associating people with scent, voice texture, etc. Steve Jobs and the black turtleneck.

You may have spent so much building your presence but you may have missed out on your white gloves. Yea, you have a song. Yea, you have a dance. What about your white gloves? These props add to your brand equity in the long run and they as important to your branding as the content of what you have to say. What they do? They simply help your universe to store you in their consideration set as the human brains process about 100 million operations per second. Yes. That's how fast the brains work and it means one may be forgotten so easily. 

You need professionals to help you map out which logo works for your brand. Try attend some of our Personal Branding Workshops in your areas so you don't to jump into some funny hats, looking like everyone else. So, go get a glove. And not just a glove, a studded white glove. 

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WHY SIGN UP FOR OUR PERSONAL BRANDING WORKSHOP

Venue: Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja
RSVP: Esther Ilori Esther: 08060213455, 01-7685461




Every now and then, we take a few people away into a workshop that is all about them and we are not ashamed to do so as this may be the only selfish thing they will be doing for themselves. Why?
CV will get irrelevant Your company may outgrow you
Your talent and skill may face a stiffer competition Relationships may fail

The world is changing per second everyday and the only thing people will always buy when they transact business with companies will always be people. People do business with people; no one gets attracted to buildings or companies. The only thing you can do for yourself and your company to keep being in high demand is by finding your own voice or brand your frontline people so you can return more on your investments. That's Personal Branding. PB.

How do you find your voice or Persona or your core story? How do you tell it so well that it affects everything you touch positively? In the past, PB was an expensive thing to have as you would need to own a Medium in order to project your voice. Today, the world has been flattened by the Digital Media and the possibilities for PB are endless. First, you have to know what you should be about. 







Our Team, led by Kenny Brandmuse, will help you MAP out your core story, using our trusted and proprietary tools. Secondly, you have to know how to tell your own story without sounding self-praising. Self advertising is not PB. It's like a needle in the ocean. PB is more enduring.

Successful PB today include Oprah Winfrey, Richard Brandson, Barak Obama, Rick Warren, Waren Buffet, Steve Jobs, ASA, and Christien Amanpour.

What every organisation can learn from CNN on Personal Branding

As I write, Christiane Amanpour just returned to CNN for her weekly news interviews. I can't miss Christiane's interviews for anything. She just finished interviewing the 26-year President of Uganda on Koni's matter and the anti-gay bill that are headlining the war ravished country. She is a diplomat. The previous day, Senator John McCann came on the show and I was amused that this Veteran was deferring to Amanpour. Amanpour's presence pierces through the unsaid words of her interviewees, you can see it on their brows. That's a persona. She couldn't pull that through on ABC. It takes a great organisations like CNN to give wings to Personal Brands.

How about Becky Anderson?

Becky Anderson 

Christiane Amanpour 

Becky is another ball game altogether. She is a Gladiator's archetype. Though she reminded us of Christiane years back, we now recognise Becky's voice in the clutter. She is highly very stubborn. She brings her point of view to bear on the news. She talks faster than Christiane.

And Quest Means Business? This is a News Anchor that has brought so much props to the newsroom that you'd think you are in a theatre.

That's CNN. Jonathan Mann. Clancy's files . Piers Morgan.

When you want to run a dynamic organisation that will continuously set the trends, you have to invest in the people as individual brands. Treat them as varied genre of styles that emanate out of your company. Help them find their own voice. All you need to give them is the Core Story of what you stand for. The rest is up to them.

Do you run an Insurance firm? Do your Managers see themselves as someone who is bringing something to the table? Is there enough room for them to grow their own voice?

Always remember that people don't do business with your infrastructures. People do business with people they can connect with. People cannot connect to sales pitch. They will only think about it for a few seconds, except they really need what you are selling. Emotion sells. And emotions reside in Persona.

Give it all that it takes

When I first got my 1st Copy writing Job at McCanns, I was living miles away from the office and my salary was barely enough for one week meal. I had a serious accommodation issue and I had just landed my dream job. Working in Brand Advertising can be rigorous and it often requires long hours of works; it's even worse if you are a cub Copywriter as you have to do all the dirty jobs.

One day, while returning from Lunch with some of my colleagues, I saw a pub house near my office. [ A Beer Parlour ] I noticed there was a little house attached to the Pub where the bartenders slept. Then I had a crazy idea. What if I offered to help these guys at night maybe I could get to squat with them for a bit? At first, they laughed at me, thinking I was joking, then they saw the tenacity in my eyes. So, on Mondays, I would move in to the Pub house after works and returned back to my far away house on Friday evenings. My job was straightforward. I had to help them do all their dishes and tumblers each and every night. Then I could go to sleep. That was how I paid my landlords. That was how I pulled through those first few months on the job. It was crazy as I had to keep that part of me from my colleagues. In fact, there were times , we would pass that Pub and everyone would imagine how the guys that lived there were surviving. It was such a tiny little room with a tiny window opened to the main road where all the vices in Yaba resided those days. When I drive by that pub today, I get a little emotional as the little room attached is no longer there. The Federal Government has taken my room away. It went with the road construction works, leaving only the Pub house.

Here's the thing. If you are lucky to find your dream job, nothing should be in your way. Not even accommodation. You've got to give it all that it takes. If you really mean to grow a career, keep your eyes away from the pay-cheque. Look at where you are going. No one is really out there to help you when you are starting a career. Personal Brands know how to help themselves. Keep your eyes on the end. Discipline yourself. Cut out some luxuries. Salaries don't grow careers. People do. When you cut your teeth and you finally find your own voice, then you can spread your wings and fly. But right now, you have to give it all that it takes.