Ad Club of Buffalo Panel Recap ~ Being [and Building?] Your Own Brand
Written by ACB Member: Liam O’Mahony
November 27, 2012
Most people can quickly deliver their organization’s elevator speech when prompted, but what is your response when asked what “your brand” entails?
Tuesday night’s Ad Lab presentation by the Advertising Club of Buffalo featured a panel of local creative executives, entrepreneurs and brand leaders exploring the topic of “Being Your Own Brand.” Nearly 70 members and guests turned out at Templeton Landing along the downtown waterfront to network and participate in the multi-layered discussion on the ever-expanding (and expounding) industry narrative on branding in the congested, comprehensive digital age of sharing personal content.
The panel consisted of Jordan Hegyi (Owner of Riveter Design), Warren Stanek (Owner, Warren Stanek Photo), Patrick Finan (Founder of Block Club & City Dining Cards) and Jeff Pappalardo (Creative Director at Crowley Webb).
Ad Club President Charlie Fashana did a great job of moderating and keeping the discussion on track concerning the pros and cons of personal branding and summarized key points from last month’s Wall Street Journal article on co-branding between employees and their companies (“Your Employee Is an Online Superstar. Now What Do You Do?).
While Fashana noted the four major steps in personal branding ~ development, creation, communication and maintenance, the panelists agreed that personal branding, whether or not it is supplemented or supported with social media outlets, relies on consistent performance, your developing portfolio, trust and your ensuing reputation. Furthermore, being true to yourself and projecting passion for your profession will always go a longer way than any excessive, engineered self-promotion. Fashana recommended trying the “three-adjective test” to describe your brand and then test it out on others to see if it translates clearly.