Together with Jump Academy, I will run a half-a-day seminar on how to build your personal brand. It will be a high value event, full of interesting cases about the women who have built successful personal brands, and practical exercises that will help you make a big jump towards your desired professional goals.

The workshop will take place on February 2, 2012 in Brussels (hosted by the Belgian luxury bags and accessories brand, Delvaux), from 1.30 pm till 5.15 pm.

Sign up on the site of Jump Academy, and, using the lyrics of Katy Perry, “Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth”.

One of many reasons why I have very good memories about my formative years in the US is that I was constantly blown away by people’s generosity.  I often felt that Americans had their homes, and hearts, open for me.  It often happened to me that, after just having met people once, I was invited to their house for dinner. It’s not so common in Latvia, where I come from. Neither it is in Belgium, where I am living now.

There were generous professors who invested extra time of their work into me. In fact, I owe the fact that I can write in English relatively well (for a non-native English speaker) to Professor Patricia Cumming, who encouraged me to follow her creative writing course at Wheaton College back in 1995. I am thankful to her for this. People invited me to their homes during holidays and allowed me to stay there for weeks in a row. They fed me. And heck, people even gave me money I needed for my studies.

Schmoozing is also something that became part of my DNA during my time in the US. I did some very advanced, very authentic, and very warm-hearted schmoozing with some great people at the awesome Fletcher School, where I was Fulbright student in 2001.  That’s where I learned the word “schmooze” and understood its real meaning. And look at this — now it’s even part of my own brand identity.

Schmoozing and generosity combined work very well in the business context, and Americans has taken this combination to perfection. When these two qualities come together, the effects can be bombastic. I’ve just come across a great article about generous schmoozing by James Altucher, American investor, author and entrepreneur. What James is talking about is the kind of schmoozing I find meaningful — it’s networking for the sake of connecting people, without expecting anything in return. Here’s a nice quote for you from his article, “Connecting people who can benefit each other is the most useful skill you can have on the entrepreneurial ladder of skills. When you help others make money by connecting them together, the world forces itself into the Möbius strip of success that brings the money right back to you times ten.”

Happy Thanksgiving.

Follow me on Twitter: @schmoozyfox.

From keynote speeches by Randi Zuckerberg and Jimmy Wales, to workshops on topics such as social advertising and social media in the offline world, to name a few, for me iStrategy was a great opportunity to get some good insights into the web dynamics of brand building.

It would be a challenge to review the entire conference (if you want to get a feel for what was discussed, check #istrategy on Twitter, or read the istrategy blog), so I am going to mention only a small — but extremely interesting — part of iStrategy, the panel discussion How brands can work with startups.

Moderated by CMO of an online French retailer Vente Privee,  Julien Zakoian, the panel consisted of Thom Cummings from Soundclowd, Chris Maples from Spotify and Anders Sjoman from Voddler.

The discussion focused on partnerships between startups and established brands such as joint marketing campaigns and advertisement deals.

Chris Maples from Spotify gave an example of a brand partnership between Volkswagen and Spotify, which started off as an ad hoc collaboration, and ended up as a show on MTV. Involved in the ideation stage of this joint project, Spotify helped VW create a social media campaign whereby VW fans with profiles on Spotify contributed to the list of Driving Track Confessions — songs they would be embarrassed to admit they sang while driving.

Here’s more scoop on this campaign:

The panel on brands and startups was extremely interesting for me mainly because 1) I often work with startups helping them create and implement brand strategies for growth and profits early on, and 2) because brand partnerships is such a hot topic in branding and marketing in general. You might have noticed this from my previous posts.

Is it important for startups to think strategically about their partnerships with brands?

My short answer is YES. Whereas from my experience I can say that most startups don’t think in terms of medium or long-term brand strategy, and often tend to go after opportunities which will bring cash fast, thinking strategically can help them create long-term brand value.  Having a brand strategy is not a luxury, it’s an extremely useful and necessary framework for startups which enables them to decide upon each new partnership and select those which will enhance, not diminish, startup brands.

This is one of the main reasons I’ve intentionally changed the word order in the topic of this blog post. Whereas the discussion panel at iStrategy was called how brands can work with startups, I found it more logical to talk about how startups can work with brands. Big brands are in a good position to choose their partners, but as a startup, you also need to be perceived as an equal partner, and do what works for you in the long-term.

Here are some of my tips for startups which will help them consider brand partnerships that will work in their favor:

1) Keep in mind that each brand partnership with an established brand will signal something about your own brand and create brand associations for your consumers. To put it simply, their reputation will become part of yours.

2) Make a list of criteria for brands to partner with — they should fall nicely into your overall brand strategy (and please don’t tell me you don’t have one! )

3) Don’t concentrate only on the big and powerful brands with lots of cash. Someone on the panel said that every startup brand would probably like to partner with brands such as Coke, but this is really not the only approach you should concentrate on. Focus on the brand power, not only cash, that your partner can deliver to you.

4) Explore the unexplored — seek partnerships based on contrasts, not similarities.

5) Seek brand partners with different target audience than yours.

6) Finally, partner with authentic brands, leaders within their product categories. This is often easier said than done (the truth is, big brands like to partner with… other big brands, and in order for them to explore startups, the latter need to convince them of benefits), but you should set your goals high.

For more details on the last 3 points, check out my previous article 3 co-branding rules for bigger profits.

For more on co-branding, see my previous blog post 8 examples of co-branding and brand partnerships.

You can follow my live tweets sent from @schmoozyfox, and watch this space for my blog post about the event later this week.

Flickr image by ralphrepo

The authors have structured the results of their detailed 5-year long research, that I finished reading a couple of days ago, around the so called CRUSH model.  It is an acronym of Coolness, Realness, Uniqueness, Self-identification with the brand and Happiness, which are the main requirements for any brand that aspires to be considered “cool” by youngsters. Whereas the book is packed with useful marketing advice (did you know, for instance, that teens actually do trust their parents more than one could ever imagine, and that they don’t like to buy “ethical” and “green” products because they are fed up with marketers telling them what’s ethical and green?) from beginning to end, I’d like to share with you the main findings about the part on teen self-identity (The S in the Crush model). It resonated with me particularly in view of my recent talk on Personal Branding.

How big is the role brands (especially clothes, accessories and gadgets) play in constructing self-identity and personal brands? To answer this question, it’s important to point out that identity is always connected to the body, “Identity is always about the body, the bodily states and desires of being, becoming, belonging and behaving.”³ That’s why fashion, and tatoos play such an important role in self-expression. What your customer wears or carries often becomes part of his or her personal brand.  And because personal brands are shaped and influenced by the external social environment (which forms the so called social identity), it’s extremely important for marketers to understand the dynamics of self-identity formation.

Perhaps one of the most profound lessons for anyone who wants to understand consumer dynamics of Generation Y, is to step away from traditional psychographic segmentation which is a “method to simplify reality by assigning individuals to groups of homogenous persons who share the same characteristics. In reality, the members of segments are not connected to each other and take no collective action.”⁴

Instead, it’s important to explore the teens’ search for a lifestyle that enables them to become part of a “tribe”, express their self-identity and construct their personal brands.

The concept of tribal market segmentation becomes easy to grasp if we take into account the following main elements of identity formation:

-The personal identity: the identity a person believes he/she has

-The social self: the identity he/she has in the eyes of others and that can be discovered only through social interactions. Given that there may be several social groups each person interacts with, that person can, in fact, has several social identities.

-The aspired self: the ideal identity a person would like to have

-Non-identity: the non-wanted self  ((ibid., p. 150))

Tribal marketing explores relationships that teens have within networks of heterogeneous people linked by a shared passion or emotion. For a very detailed, and very useful example of tribal mapping within Gen Y, have a look at the image below.

Image courtesy of InSites Consulting & MTV Networks

The table summarizes results of joint work between Insites Consulting and MTV Networks. The horizontal dimension of the image represents “me”-centered tribes on the right, and “we”-centered tribes on the left. The vertical dimension groups extroverts above and introverts below.

As a result, each of the quadrants in the model groups youngsters whose identities have a lot in common. For instance, the upper left quadrant groups people who like to react to the world around them through their own creativity. Indie kids, rockers and new ravers are part of this group, for instance.

What kinds of insights does the tribal marketing approach give to brand builders?

First of all, it’s important to understand that it’s rarely possible to appeal to the entire Gen Y with a single brand. If may be, however, possible to have several brands at your disposal within the same company.  Nike Inc. has understood it well by using two different brands — Nike and Converse — to appeal to different tribes within Generation Y. The Nike brand, which focuses on athletes, appeals to the upper-right quadrant (status-seeking youngsters). This tribe will find Nike’s notions of excellence, importance of fashion highly appealing. Converse’s fans — mostly in the upper left quadrant — will appreciate the simplicity, creativity and art: values that fuel the Converse brand.

Another interesting example described in the book illustrates how to create appeal across H&M’s Generation Y customers.⁵

Second, do not structure your brand communications around the tribes that are most located on the outskirts of the tribal model. This means that whereas the “mainstream” tribes (located close to the center of the model) are relatively “safe” to portray in your communications, the outskirt tribes, such as gothics, may be a stretch, because they are often perceived as non-identities to many tribes, especially diagonally opposite. So, if you consider running an ad in which a pair of gothic youths drive your new funky car brand, think twice and consider a pair of fashionistas instead.

Third, explore a close fit between online and real life identity formation. Notice what different tribes like to do online, and you should not be surprised to find out that fashionistas like to watch glam YouTube videos, whereas introverts are big time into games.

1. How Cool Brands Stay Hot, Kogan Page, 2011
2. ibid., p. 3
3. ibid., p. 148
4. ibid., p. 157
5. ibid., see p. 168

Yesterday I conducted a Personal Branding Masterclass in Brussels. The event was organized in co-operation with IE Business School, my Alma Mater where I completed International MBA in 2007.

My goal was to show how my approach towards building product and services brands can be applied to building personal brands.

But what is a personal brand, anyway? In my presentation, I defined it like this:

Personal branding is a framework of associations, values, images and actions through which people perceive The Unique You.

In other words, it’s your unique value proposition, something that makes you stand out from the crowd, and something by which others can remember you.

In my presentation, I mostly focused on the advantages of good personal branding in professional life, and demonstrated several important steps that one would need to go through in order to craft a strong personal brand.

I spoke about how personal brand audit, brand positioning and brand promotions – some of the steps that I use in product brand strategy — could be used in the area of personal branding. To give an example, your LinkedIn professional headline is a very good place simply made for a personal brand positioning statement. Most people do not use it to their advantage, listing their job title, rather than their Unique Value Proposition, in their professional headline on LinkedIn. Look at my own example of my personal brand positioning statement:

As you can see, my job title is listed under “Current”, whereas my professional headline is all about my unique value proposition. In 120 characters (that’s how much LinkedIn allows!), I said a lot of things that summarize a lot of important facts about myself:

• Passionate = I am definitely passionate about my profession!
• European = this shows both where I live and the geographical scope of projects that I work on
• Funky branding diva: this one catches a lot of attention on LinkedIn! The “funky branding” part refers to my Funky Brands™ philosophy, as well as my blog about Funky Brands. And, yes, diva! I don’t need to explain this one, do I?
• The next phrase (Offering creative, web-enabled strategies to position and build your brand) also contains a lot of useful information about my personal value proposition. It shows that creativity is my strong point, that I know the web, and am strategic. And of course, I know how to position, build and nurture brands!

I gave several examples of people with strong personal brands, among which was Jean-Pierre Lutgen, with whom I had published a Funky Brand Interview about Ice Watch.

For more information about this event, search #MyFunkyBrands on Twitter, and visit my Facebook fan page. You can also read my article Several degrees in one personal brand published by The Personal Branding Blog.

http://www.ie.edu/alumniweb/alumniagenda/DetalleEvento.aspx?id=12007

It’s the first in the series of more exciting workshops on different aspects of branding that I plan to teach in the future. Come and discover how to build a powerful brand You!

Its brand image is the one of glitz, glamour and red carpets.  That’s why this event has been so much liked by luxury brands that are all about glamour and exclusivity.

This year, however, along with Gucci and Prada, it seems like the Oscars is becoming a bit more funky and relaxed.

First, it  will attract an unusual participant from the world of brands — Omega 3 snack mixes Planter, a Kraft Foods brand.  With its Nutmobile specially made for this and other promotional events, Planter will make a statement about its support for the green and eco-friendly way of life.

The Nutmobile by Planters

View image source here.

Second, many brands that are tapping into the huge advertising potential of the Oscars, will be exploring social media on a much larger scale that they’ve done so far. The Academy Award itself has been actively engaged in generating buzz about the event with a series of videos that feature young and hip hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Well, at least I can from now on refer them to an article that appeared in this week’s edition of Références, a Belgian weekly for employment seekers and career-focused individuals.

Schmoozing: mode d'emploi(s)

The article focuses on the kind of “schmoozing” (particularly, its online variety) one does to find a job. For me personally, and of course, for SCHMOOZY FOX as a company, this word has a broader meaning.

Ladies and gentlemen, schmoozing is HIGH POWER NETWORKING.  The kind that involves co-operating, building relationships and closing win-win deals.

All of this with the objective of enhancing the client’s product or service brand.

In my brand strategy work, schmoozing capabilities come in very handy when assessing my clients’ potential and spotting opportunities for brand partnerships, brand endorsements and co-branding.

So, from now on, vive le schmoozing!

Source: Schmoozing: mode d”emploi(s) by Rafal Naczyk in Références, 19.02.11

However, for all those who want to keep up to date on all kinds of funky branding issues, it’s worth following @schmoozyfox. If you want to see which brands I consider funky, you can also follow our Funky Brands list, http://twitter.com/schmoozyfox/funkybrands. Finally, since I also sometimes tweet about branding from my personal account, search the hash tag #funkybrands and  you’ll get a scoop of creativity in marketing and branding on Twitter.

Entrepreneur.com has published a great article How to Name — or Re-name — Your Business, and I am quoted there.

JUMP, a European online portal for advancing women in the workplace, has published a story about me and SCHMOOZY FOX in their Inspiring Women category.

Help spread this news, and stay tuned on more great stories dedicated to Funky Brands™!

Image by WebWizzard on Flickr

I’ve already written about “schmoozing” in my post Some Lessons On Schmoozing.

Schmoozing is a term that is commonly used in the US, and today I want to bring to your attention a recent article How to Schmooze Your Way to Business Success published by BNET, a popular US business portal.

As the article states, many still underestimate good schmoozing, and the big role it plays in building and cementing business relationships. The best schmoozing is done when you  don’t only meet people who can be helpful to you, but also simply help others connect to like-minded people. Even if you won’t benefit directly from this kind of “business matchmaking”, you’ll build a good reputation as a resourceful person.

What’s important about good schmoozing is that it’s a great tool to create a powerful network. As the BNET article rightly states, the power of your network is not in the numbers of your Twitter followers or Facebook fans. It’s in the strength of your relationships with maybe 5 or 10 people with whom you have built good business relationships and whom you can trust.

Being myself a very schmoozy person (hence the name SCHMOOZY FOX), I’ve made the art of schmoozing a key characteristic of how I do business. When working on branding projects for clients, I can tap into my valuable network and put together ad hoc teams of top-notch industry experts, business economists, design gurus and web guys — all able to contribute to building your Funky Brand.