1. Personal Branding
Ref: 0065
6 Personal Branding Lessons Learned
From Forbes Celebrity 100 Women
Cheryl Isaac
Forbes, May 18, 2012
Celebrity: A known brand. A popular face. The embodiment of the phrase personal branding.
So it comes as no surprise to see women like: Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé Knowles, Oprah Winfrey,
Rihanna, and Lady Gaga in the top five place on the Forbes 2012 Celebrity 100 list.
Combine beauty and business, and you could get a powerful brand.
But look closely. It is not just business for these powerful celebrity women. It’s also about the personal.
Personal branding.
Their personal brands helped these women maneuver the business world, and their business brands
continued right where their personal branding started.
Whether you are a celebrity, business mogul, or aspiring business leader, we all could learn five
personal branding lessons from the celebrity women on this list:
1. Master your craft first.
Gisele Bündchen didn’t start off as “the most beautiful girl in the world;” according to Rolling Stone in
2000. Before Vanity Fair published an article with this bold headline: And God Created Gisele, before
Time Magazine called her, “one of the few runway models whom straight men can name” (by the way, I
tested this theory with my husband—who never remembers the names of actresses or models—and she
was one of the models he did name), she was a teenager taking a modeling course, and an average girl
discovered by Elite modeling agency.
Bundchen auditioned for roughly 42 shows before she was even given a break—once she showed that
she could wear super high heels on a slippery runway.
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2. 2. Be known for something.
For Gisele, it was the “horse walk” and her Brazilian ethnicity.
For Khloe Kardashian Odom however, it was her no-nonsense style. When the reality show that made
her a known brand—Keeping Up with the Kardashians—first aired, it was clear to the fans that Khloe
was the renegade of the group: the sister who spoke her mind, the hesitant dater , the sister who wasn’t
afraid to challenge the media about her weight.
The result? A spinoff show that showcases her marriage to basketball star Lamar Odom, and a contract
to be a spokesperson for the weight loss product, Quick Trim. Of course since then, Mrs. Odom has done
quite a bit more.
This leads to this next point:
3. Leverage what you have.
Like supermodel and mogul Kathy Ireland who came before her, Gisele has made millions from
leveraging her personal brand with licensing deals.
Gisele started as a model, so naturally, her next move was to represent products. Yet once she started
representing products such as: Proctor & Gamble, HOPE, Espirit, Volkswagen, businesses took heed.
They noticed that products moved quickly with Gisele as “the face.” For instance, Proctor & Gamble’s
Latin America sales rose an estimated 40% after Bundchen represented their products. Soon, even
economist Fred Fuld created the Gisele Bundchen stock index, to measure the performance of the
companies she represented. Surprisingly, she outperformed the Dow.
Gisele soon used her momentum as leverage. Soon after, she was signing deals to not just represent
products, but to license her name for products. Her collaboration with shoe company Grendene: the
Gisele Bundchen iPANEMA flip flops, was a huge success; leaving some to predict that she could very
well be the world’s first billionaire supermodel.
4. Transform the personal into the business
From the reality TV, Keeping up with the Kardashians,
the Celebrity 100 Kardashian sisters were able to
celebrate the launch of their popular clothing boutique
D-A-S-H—now found in Calabasas, Miami and SoHo.
Then K-Dash—a recent clothing line the sisters released
on QVC.
With Kloe and Lamar sharing almost everything with
their viewers on their reality show, it came as no LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 04: (L-R) Rob Kardashian,
Lamar Odom, Khloe Kardashian Odom, Kourtney
surprise when the personal was turned into a business
Kardashian and Kim Kardashian pose for
where they shared their new unisex scent, Unbreakable, photographers during the 'Unbreakable' Fragrance
at Perfumania stores across the country. Launch at The Redbury, Los Angeles on April 4,
2011 in Los Angeles, California.
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3. Model Gisele on the other hand, took her beauty,
branded it personal, and then turned it into business.
Bundchen, known for showing skin in her photos,
turned that brand into the business of Sejaa Pure
Skincare—a skincare line.
And singer and business woman Beyoncé Knowles
wasn’t joking around when she sang this in her hit
song, Girls Who Run The World: strong enough to bear
the children…then get back to business…
Beyoncé Knowles performing "Listen" during "The
Beyoncé Experience" in Munich, Germany. (Photo
credit: Wikipedia)
The woman whom People recently named, “world’s
most beautiful woman,” may be taking time off for her Beyoncé Knowles performing "Listen" during "The
new baby, but she took no time off the list: with $40 Beyoncé Experience" in Munich, Germany.
million at #16; in part because of her business venture:
House of Dereon clothing line.
5. If it doesn’t match your personal brand, don’t do it
Singer, songwriter, and savvy business woman Taylor Swift, is known for turning down movie scripts.
Swift, known for having the humble, girl-next-door brand that she, also a CEO, built from scratch just like
any other startup, will only take on a movie role if she is obsessed with it.
Khloe Kardashian has also admitted to turning down numerous endorsement deals if they don’t mesh
well with her personal brand.
6.Use social networks to keep your business brand personal
Talk to people when they talk to you. Interact with people who care about the same things you do—the
same rules of face-to-face etiquette applies to social networks.
Yet most business people—celebrities included—struggle with this. For some, it’s either all business, or
all personal.
However, superstars like Khloe Kardashian, know how to intertwine the two. She has been called the
“queen of social networking,” with stats showing her to be the most active tweeter on Forbes’ Social
Networking Superstar list; touting a list of followers that include the ardent fans of pop star Justin
Bieber.
For further information on this handout and the consulting
and coaching programs available please contact: Page 3 of 3
Image Group International
Asia Pacific Head Office
T: (+61 3) 9824 0420
E: info@imagegroup.com.au
www.imagegroup.com.au
©2012