As I’ve mentioned before, Tom Asacker is a very bright man with some profound insights about branding. He offers some thoughts about branding in light of the controversy in the NFL over the New England Patriots and their coach Bill Belichick.
The details of the controversy aren’t vital for you to know, if you don’t already, for you to get the value of this post. (And read Tom’s entire post for most of the pertinent details.) But, here’s the key thought from his blog entry…
A brand is an expectation of someone or something delivering a certain feeling by way of an experience. And that feeling is always self-reflective. It’s always about the identity of the chooser. Today, the feeling of being a Patriots fan is a conflicted one, at best. And make no mistake about it, it was Belichick’s smug response that tarnished that feeling. As Jennifer Wielgus of phillyBurbs.com so aptly summed it up:
“When somebody acts like they’re smarter than us, or better than us, or above dealing with us, or don’t have to follow the same rules as the rest of us, we relish any opportunity to knock them down a peg or three. We want to see them walking in our shoes – the ugly, ill-fitting loafers of the admittedly imperfect.”
The current leaders of the Patriots have proven that they know how to win. Now let’s see if they truly understand what makes a brand great; and that’s being something to aspire to, something that makes us feel good about our imperfect selves in their bigger than life presence. Because we can’t all be winners in life, but we can play the game with passion, integrity, humility, and humanity.
Your voiceover sessions aren’t about you, they’re about your client and the story they’re trying to tell, the message they’re paying you to deliver effectively. Just so, your brand isn’t about you. It’s about how you make your clients feel.