Evan Carmichael Top Header about About About facebook Twitter YouTube Google+

What the Super Bowl Teaches Us About Successful Branding



Free PDF Download
Do What Scares You the Most - By Bud Bilanich

Name: Email:


Did you watch the Super Bowl on Sunday? About 100 million people did. The game was entertaining and fun to watch. New Orleans won 31-17. Drew Brees, the Saints quarterback was the Most Valuable Player, and he endeared himself to the country by bringing his little boy -- who was wearing noise reduction headphones -- on to the field and carrying him around after the game.

I bring up the Super Bowl because you can learn a lot about branding from it. If you notice in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, big box retailers suggest you buy a new, better TV to watch the "big game." Super markets and delis promote their party trays for the "big game." That's because the Super Bowl is the crown jewel in the NFL's brand; so much so that they've trademarked it. If you want to use the words "Super Bowl" in your ads, you have to pay a fee to the NFL. Coors Light did. That's why you saw so many Super Bowl themed Coors Light commercials these past few weeks. Interestingly, Coors Light didn't run one ad during the game. M&Ms paid the royalty fee too. I loved their ads with the M&M running on the conveyor belt in the super market.

The NFL works hard to protect their Super Bowl brand. You should work hard to nurture, promote and protect your personal brand too. Developing and nurturing your unique personal brand is the first step in creating positive personal impact.

I'm sure you know who I mean when I say Shaq, Madonna and Bono. These are people who are powerful brands. However, personal brands aren't just for athletes and celebrities. All successful people create and nurture their own unique personal brand. Your brand is how others think of you. It is a combination of a lot of things -- what you stand for, how you act, how you dress, your on line presence. Nature abhors a vacuum. If you don't consciously create your brand, others will do it for you.

As you go about creating your personal brand, remember that a good brand will not appeal to everyone. A brand that appeals to everybody is too vanilla. You want a Cherry Garcia brand, something that is uniquely you. A good brand will appeal to a lot of people, but it will also turn off a certain portion of the population.

Take my "Common Sense Guy" brand. It appeals to a lot of people. However, some people find "common sense" a little too pedestrian and "guy" a little too colloquial. That's OK. Those folks probably aren't real interested in what I have to say, and how I say it anyway.

There are two simple and common sense steps for creating a strong personal brand.

Once you choose your brand, stay on brand at all times. Be consistent and constant. Do whatever you can to reinforce your brand. For example, all of my websites have the words "common sense" in them. I'm sure you've noticed that I end every one of my articles with a paragraph that begins, "The common sense point here is..." I avoid lengthy, complicated analyses. I work hard to simplify the complex and provide simple, easy to implement advice to my coaching clients. I use humor in my talks -- and frequently pepper them with the words -- "After all, it's just common sense, right?"

I work really hard to consistently and constantly present myself as someone who has common sense answers to everyday career and life success questions.

William Arruda, my friend and author of Career Distinction says it well...

"Be on brand in all that you do. People with a strong personal brand ensure that everything they do and all that surrounds them communicates their brand message."

The common sense point here is simple. Successful people create positive personal impact. Developing and nurturing your unique personal brand is the first step in building your brand. Brand building takes work, but it is simple conceptually. Do two things. First, decide how you want people to think of you. Then do whatever it takes to get them to think of you that way. Your brand is important and, just like the NFL, you should do everything you can to protect it and build it.


Related Articles

  Time for Apple to release a 25th anniversary Mac
  Assumptions Anyone?
  The Best Lesson You Should Learn From Super Bowl XLVII
  Every Day Matters
  What Does Your Gut Say?
  Super Bowl Ads Super Marketing or Super Waste of $
  Five Personal Branding Lessons from the Grammy Awards
  The New Standard for Superbowl Ads
  What a Little Boy's Clarity of Purpose Teaches Us About Success
  Is Branding Enough?
  Super Bowl Then and Now - Super Bowl XLV
  Is Personal Branding Really Effective?
  The Cost of Creativity
  In Business, You're Either A Necessary Evil Or You're Not Necessary At All
  Do You Want your Successors to Succeed or Fail?
  Teamwork
  Why People LOVE the Dodge Farmer Commercial
  How to create better marketing than the world's largest companies
  How to create marketing that is better than Fortune 1000 companies
  Great Sales Management Advice from Football's Greatest

Home > Business-Coach > Bud Bilanich > What the Super Bowl Teaches Us About Successful Branding >
Referred by: http://www.jimbouchard.org
Free PDF Download
Do What Scares You the Most - By Bud Bilanich

Name: Email:

About the Author: Bud Bilanich

RSS for Bud's articles - Visit Bud's website
Bud Bilanich, The Common Sense Guy, is an executive coach, motivational speaker, author and blogger. He is the Official Executive Coaching Guide at SelfGrowth.com. He helps his coaching clients succeed by applying their common sense. Dr. Bilanich is Harvard educated but has a no nonsense approach to his work to goes back to his roots in the steel country of Western Pennsylvania. His approach to career and life success is a result of over 35 years of business experience, 10 years of research and study of successful people and the application of common sense. He is the author of seven books, including Straight Talk for Success: Common Sense Ideas That Won’t Let You Down, where he presents his blueprint for career and life success: • Develop your self confidence. • Create positive personal impact. • Become an outstanding performer. • Become a dynamic communicator. • Become interpersonally competent. His clients include Pfizer, Glaxo SmithKline, Johnson and Johnson, Abbot Laboratories, PepsiCo, AT&T, Chase Manhattan Bank, Citigroup, General Motors, UBS, AXA Advisors, Cabot Corporation, The Aetna, PECO Energy, Olin Corporation, Minerals Technologies, The Boys and Girls Clubs of America and a number of small and family owned businesses. Bud is a cancer survivor and lives in Denver Colorado with his wife Cathy. He is a retired rugby player and an avid cyclist. He likes movies, live theatre and crime fiction.
Click here to visit Bud's website.
Dashed Line

More from Bud Bilanich
What a Little Boys Clarity of Purpose Teaches Us About Success
Dealing With Procrastination
Fear Defensiveness Relationships and Success
Persistence and Success
Outstanding Performance

Related Forum Posts

Victoria's Secret - Too Sexy? Victoria's Secret - Too Sexy?
Re: Super Mario Dethroned Re: Super Mario Dethroned
And the speakers for the Nov 1 event And the speakers for the Nov 1 event
Re: What's 1 word to describe what your business will be in 2012 Re: What's 1 word to describe what your business will be in 2012
Books for Women Entrepreneurs Books for Women Entrepreneurs

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
Share for a Cause
Featured Video


Expert author video by:
Jesse Hopps, Free Small Business Templates



Worksheets
By: Evan Carmichael

8 Powerful Steps to Finding Your Passion

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

Does your pitch suck?

Create a plan of attach to launch your new business.

8-Cover

Like this page? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Bottom Footer



Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Building a successful sales career or business

The Substance Abusing Employee

Clues to Increase Sales -- Listen to the Buyer

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.