When professionals give advice to students of the ad industry, they like to say you need to “build your own brand.” More often than not, they leave it at that while leaving students, myself included, bewhildered with grasping to draw a comparison between what they’ve learned about branding in class and their own personal development.
Should I take out a 30-second network spot? Well, it’d have to be late night because that’s all I can afford.
Last week, Rishad Tobaccowala, Cheif Innovation Officer for Publicis/Starcom shed some much needed light on personal brand building. After a very insighful presentation, he took a question regarding what he looks for in job candidates. His reply, “mongrels.” What? He went on to explain he’s looking for well-rounded, curious, persistent individuals with a sense of humor. He went on to explain the foundations of a personal brand- a story, a niche and a voice.
So let me tell you a story: My freshman year was wrapping up and I needed to find a summer job. I knew I didn’t want to go back to waiting tables and I wanted to do something adventurous, I wanted a cool job. That landed me on a job search site called coolworks.com, very fitting. I applied to a variety of jobs in national parks all over the country. Eventually, I had some options: Yellowstone, Lake Tahoe or Lake Powell. I took the job at Lake Powell with a very vague job description and a lot more ambiguities of the location, the work environment, and plenty of other variables. Day one at Lake Powell was so overwhelming, the natural beauty, the distance from home(I had never spent more than two weeks away from home and my contract was for over three months). After a few days, I still didn’t know what I was going to be doing. They said I’d be working at Adventure Cove, the resort’s beach area. OK, so I’m gonna be working on a beach, sounds like a cool job. While in the HR office, I saw a job posting for wakeboard instructors that seemed very enticing, except that I was an amateur wakeboarder at best. regardless, I volunteered for the job and got it.
The rest of my summer was filled with excitement, adventure and new experiences that I will cherish for a lifetime. My appreciation for the outdoors grew immensely and I made lifelong friends from all over the world. My wakeboarding skills developed because I was on the boat giving lessons and riding three days a week. A defining moment was when a group that I went camping with were stranded on a beach for over two days with little supplies. Luckily, we had a cell phone but in order to get reception we had to hike up a 500 plus foot plateau. Eventually we were rescued and I was able to get to work on time for my next shift. The experience is something I can laugh about now, but let me assure you of the anxiety I felt while stranded on that beach. I tell that story every chance I get and consider it a huge part of my branding story.
So what is my niche in three words? Adventure, there’s lessons to be learned with every rock waiting to be turned over. Listening, whether it be music or CEO’s every source has something to be gained, be a sponge. Leadership, march to the beat of a different drummer, be your own voice.
My voice? The culmination of my life experiences has shaped my voice, which admittedly, I am still finding. But in three words: Passionate, Spontaneous, and Curiousity.
I thank Rishad for the insights he shared. Already his words have impacted how I work on my advertising capstone classes as well as how I construct my story, niche and voice. I hope to be in his shoes someday.
