Designer brand or design your brand? A little play on words to get you thinking as I did when I took this photo whilst visiting Chadstone shopping centre, the so-called "Fashion Capital" of Australia. I’m aesthetically drawn to massive floor-to-ceiling photography that decorates the designer corner of the centre. They are vibrant, striking images portraying famous icons adorned accordingly to capture our dopamine-driven nature into outside-in possibility. These elegant marketing pieces catch my eye drawing me further away from the brand that matters the most: my own.
Before I begin my designer label diatribe please don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of owning quality items. In fact, I gifted myself a Louis Vuitton wallet for my 40th birthday. The distinction I want to share is this: Build your brand versus living someone's brand. Gucci is unique in retail world and so are you in your world. Whilst the emotion of a designer purchase gradually fades, you can have real-life ongoing and lasting influence on the people that surround you. It starts by bringing your unique qualities and highest values to your daily activities and encounters.
How often do you schedule deliberate time to update your personal brand? After all, Omega periodically redesigns their Seamaster line. Under Armour refines their high-tech sportswear with the passing seasons. Don’t get me started on Apple with their relentless iPhone roll-outs! My request of you is to take a little time weekly, monthly or at minimum yearly to reinvent or refine the brand that is you. What do you want your name to represent both in reputation and standards?
Design and advertise your brand by living it in all areas of your life. Here’s the choice to contemplate: continue to pay money for someone else's brand or define your brand and get paid. And remember, you can get paid not just monetarily. You are can also be remunerated in gratitude, love, legacy, recognition and enhanced relationships. The most significant reward for bringing your brand to the world is the fulfilment you experience. And that is priceless.
Know what you stand for and desire to bring to marketplace. Next, align with your purpose and values and build a lasting brand that you could proudly emboss your name. Consciously design your brand or the environment will impose its agenda on you. Whether it be your surname or business name, create something that will stand for something everyone would want to be associated with. Look out Gucci, a new brand is about to take the catwalk.