BRANDS: You and Your Aura

Now that the economic downturn constraining growth for big brands in big markets has worn on for a few years, possibly indicating a longer term change, some new thinking has entered the marketplace. Creative brand marketers are beginning to aggressively embrace what would have been heresy not so long ago: synergistic branding...the intention of borrowing and sharing equity with other brands to reach new markets, connecting emotionally and intellectually with consumers. A brand used to be no more than a physical mark, burned first into the skin of criminals as a sign of disgrace, then onto cattle marking ownership. It became a "distinctive name identifying a product or manufacturer." But today, brands are alive. They bring tears to your eyes (Lifetime), call you to action (Nike), make you smile (Volkswagen). They are more than just a name; they are all that surrounds that name: brand and aura.

Brands are provocative forces that can evoke empathy or hatred. Working with a group assembled by Keith Reinhard on the crisis that is Brand America, I see a trend: While marketers have worked to ensure brand consistency around the world, the new information highway and individual points of view say that Pepsi, for example, cannot mean the same thing all across the globe. It depends on who you are and where you are looking from...and that's personal and local brand perception. What's associated with it-outside of it-helps determine the brand and its aura. Using Britney Spears in a Pepsi ad makes the brand hot in the USA and decadent in the Middle East.

Establishing and knowing your brand not only in its home market but also how it resonates in markets and with individuals in local communities wherever you want to be is the new game. Whether you are a mega brand client like Kimberly-Clark or a past Olympian, using your associations and the aura around your brand, not just your logo or product, matters.

Are you a brand? New York Magazine recently referred to Chelsea Clinton as a brand. She is, even if she isn't selling anything...and so is her dad, and the Queen, and America. If you're designing "You" the brand, consider what your brand is. Create an aura. Give yourself adjectives. Be sure the adjectives you assign yourself coincide. Make sure they are clear in your name, your website, your look and feel. Then, take a look in the mirror. How might someone outside your brand respond-someone you want to woo?

Let's say you're a consultant. Whether you're selling to IBM or a sole proprietor, your brand must speak to them. Are you classic? Uptown? Downtown? Behind the scenes? Front row and center? Jeans or Celine? Whatever your personal brand, your logo, products, collateral presentations, and personal presence must harmonize, because if they don't, you'll lose your brand aura.

Remember the aura part: it's a palpable messenger of "You," the brand. If the only reality people respond to is what they perceive, then your aura is your brand. It is the feeling, the sense, the connotations of your brand-the things people respond to. You cannot avoid it, but you can harness it and shape it to your advantage.