Build your personal brand and show it off on the red carpet! Image by Fascinating Girl on Flickr

In my blog post The Zuckerberg Brand I talked about the recent positive buzz that has surrounded Mark Zuckerberg, and how it has boosted the brand of the company he had founded, Facebook.

Paraphrasing myself, Facebook is known pretty much by everyone on planet Earth. Facebook’s business model relies on people to trust it with their data. If they trust the CEO, they are much more likely to trust the platform.

The blog post about Zuckerberg resulted in some friends’ comments posted directly on my Facebook profile.  To summarize, there was general hesitation towards powerful CEO brands. One of my Facebook friends argued that the “CEO star syndrome would eventually hurt the company in question”.

Sure, there are, of course, (more…)

Just a couple of days ago I blogged about Mark Zuckerberg, and showed how a serious of recent events (with the release of The Social Network movie among them) have positively contributed to his personal brand. (more…)

Do entrepreneurs have to manage their personal brands separately from the brands of products they launch? This is the debate that I’ve seen happening recently, and answers to this question differ in each individual case.

What does seem clear is that whether they want it or not, CEOs of big companies have their personal brands under scrutiny 24/7, and they should take this fact seriously.

A concrete example I want to talk about today is Mark Zuckerberg’s personal brand.

Facebook is known pretty much by everyone (more…)

The concept of Funky Brands™ is becoming more and more known, and we’ve been quoted by major international online publications recently. (more…)

#tiëstotuesday

DJ Tiësto, a world-famous musician and record producer of electronic dance music, spent the whole day yesterday (October 5) directly interacting with his Twitter followers. He sent out about 450 tweets answering questions to his fans. Most of the questions were about Tiësto’s personal life (whether he’s single, has children,) and, or course, his music. His answers were very short, getting shorter and shorter towards the end of the busy day. He rarely retweeted anyone. (more…)

The sleek business card of Jean-Pierre Lutgen, CEO of Ice Watch, displays the addresses of his two offices: one located in Bastogne, a Belgian town near the border with Luxembourg, and another one in Hong Kong. From Europe to Asia, this funky brand has become true arm candy for millions of fans. Although the company was founded only 3 years ago, it’s difficult to refer to it as a startup, as the high brand recognition of Ice Watch internationally puts this company already in the league of well-established funky brands.

Today, Jean-Pierre Lutgen, the creative and entrepreneurial founder and CEO of this funky brand, talks about his passion for Asia, plastic, marketing and putting pieces of the puzzle together. (more…)

I love Antwerp. It’s a city of great fashion, outstanding design and funky shops. My discovery of funky brands from Antwerp began with an interview with Wim Somers, founder of Theo.

It was at the very end of that interview that Wim mentioned Theo’s collaboration with a talented young Antwerp designer, Tim Van Steenbergen, who worked on Theo’s sunglasses collection.

I noted down Tim’s name with the intention of finding out more details about him later. While I was waiting for my train to Brussels at the Antwerp Central Station, I was browsing through magazines at a press kiosk, and the first article I randomly opened was… an interview with Tim Van Steenbergen!

I don’t quite remember which magazine it was, but here’s my very own interview with Tim. (more…)

Michael Chia

The importance of building one’s personal brand in social media cannot be underestimated. What you say about yourself on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other channels, and how you appear there, can either enhance or diminish your personal message.

The first thing people see when they visit your LinkedIn profile, or Twitter account, is your photo. That’s why you should not underestimate the role of the “right” photo which ideally has to communicate not only your appearance but also your personal value proposition. (more…)

I was very happy to hear that my Alma Mater, Tufts University in Boston (I went to the Fletcher School at Tufts back in 2001), has been exploring the power of social media in order to identify best applicants for its top-ranked undergraduate education. (more…)

Artist Thaneeya McArdle

My dialog with Thaneeya McArdle, a  young artist who lives in Florida, USA, started when I typed “funky abstract art” into Google Search. I was looking for images that would give me inspiration for my company presentation about funky brands. One of the images I liked very much led to the sites of Thaneeya McArdle: www.thaneeya.com and www.art-is-fun.com. I liked the way Thaneeya spoke about herself and her passion for art, as well as how she used the power of the Internet and social media to connect to those who appreciate her work. As a follow-up to yesterday’s blog post about branding for artists, I am happy to publish my funky brand interview with Thaneeya (more…)