I’ve been thinking a lot about visibility and branding and have come to the conclusion that your mark of highest visibility is what you will be known for. For instance, if you star in a blockbuster movie, or you’re latest album went platinum or you’re the CEO of a major company, or your blog becomes the pinnacle of your industry, that visibility will stick, over everything else. The exception is if your next project or position (singer, CEO, blogger, actor/actress, etc), is bigger than the last. When your brand is associated with an object, person or company of high visibility, it sticks with you.
The case of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson is best known for his album Thriller, which was the highest grossing album of all time, at 110 million copies strong. Attached to that success is his success is the visibility he had as an artist on tour, as well as the media. Despite his weird habits, allegations of child abuse and his shifting physical appearance, which drew negative attention to his brand, his album and music career remain the mark of highest visibility. All the negative attention wouldn’t have been internationally known, if he wasn’t already famous.
The case of Emma Watson
Emma Watson is best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series. She’s 19-years-old and is extremely famous, due to the films popularity across the world (and due to the book’s originally fan base). I was reading an interview with her in Paste Magazine, which inspired this post originally. She was asked about attending Brown University and if her fellow students would recognize her. This is her response:
“That’s inevitable, I suppose, some of them must have seen the films over the years. But I do hope that it will be only a short time before I am known as ‘the student from the U.K.‘ rather than ‘Emma Watson who starred in those Harry Potter films‘.”
Do you think Emma will be known for being a student over the Harry Potter series? I believe that it’s impossible. It’s also highly unlikely that she’ll ever be able to stand out from the Harry Potter brand because it’s rare, even though she’s young, to associate yourself with something bigger than a worldwide phenomenon. Of course she’ll receive special treatment and attention when she starts attending school at Brown and there’s nothing she can do about it.
What does this all mean for you?
You need to take a good look at yourself, your current situation and the destination you want to reach in life. Ask yourself, “what do I want to be known for”? Is it being an executive/CEO of my company in the future, a blog you’re tryin to grow, a book you just published, etc? Now if you work very hard to promote that, you will end up being most known for it. Do it consistently and across a variety of media, and it will achieve the highest level of visibility, relative to other distinctions in your career.
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Dan,
Are you trying to say: We could have more than personal brands but the most visitable one will influence/dominate the others?
Thanks,
Mohammed, I’m not saying we have more than personal brands. What I’m trying to say is that you’re known for your greatest and most visible achievement (or something bad). Of course, that can change if you do something that’s even more visible the next time around.
Dan,
Totally agree. I would add legendary Micheal Jordan as another example. He didn’t make the same achievements/visibility when he switched to Baseball so he switch back to the visible Basketball personal brand.
I think actors are really facing difficultly when they switching roles.
Thanks,
Great point….I don’t think he could have beat his basketball career!
Note To Self: Hit your peak early, so if you ever fall you will be recogniized for that peak! Oh and make sure your fall is not greater than your highest peak!
Scott, that’s a good way to look at it.
Uh, sorry here Dan. You are known for whatever people remember you for.
Many remember Michael Jackson as a fantastic song writer – but just as many remember him for inviting young boys into his bed. And as far as how Emma Watson will be “rememberd”? She’s 19. I know more people who would not recognize her or her name than those who would.
Sorry but just cuz someone says something (like this) in a blog post doesn’t make it a fact. This is fiction.
Jerry, but would people know about the negative aspects of Michael Jackson if they didn’t first hear of him as the most popular singer in the world?
John Boy Walton comes to mind. In fact, I’ve always found it humorous when actors from hit TV series leave their show because “they don’t want to be type-cast as their character”. Very rarely do these individuals go on to success in movies, etc. (e.g., Friends, ER, …) Great insight.
Ms. Watson said the same thing on David Letterman. I think it sounds incredulous when one hears it, How could she ever be known for anything outside of Harry Potter?!?!? I believe she meant that among her peers at Brown she hopes to become known as a real person and not the girl from Harry Potter.
This is why some people prefer to stay outside the mainstream. For example, most anyone interviewed by The Onion AV Club.
Whatever is said against visibilty, we must realize like Robert Green maintained ‘what is not seen counts for nothing”. We must work hard to gain positive visibility
[...] it depends on your mark of highest visibility. What I mean is that if you’re really success doing something you hate and you don’t [...]
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