Take a page from the annals of business rags: good branding equals good business. Consumers need to know WHAT it is they are buying and WHY they should be buying it.
This holds true as much for actors as for any company (or individual) seeking to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the more traditional corporate world.
As an actor, YOU are the business and/or commodity that is seeking a buyer: The casting directors, producers, directors, and executives that will ultimately – hopefully – offer you a JOB!
But before that happens, you need to identify WHO you are for the production staff to whom you are marketing yourself.
A great article published last year in BusinessWeek, A Practical Guide to Branding, states, “studies show companies that market their products or services without first establishing their brand identities are not likely to achieve return on investment.” The article goes on to quote Rodger Roeser, president of Cincinnati-based Eisen Management Group, a public-relations and brand-development firm, “If you can't define your brand, your customers won't be able to, either.”
This is akin to the actor who consistently hears, “I love what you do, I just don’t know what to do with you.” These are performers who have not FIRST established their brand identities.
My teacher, Lesly Kahn, humorously recounts the days in her acting career when she didn’t understand why she wasn’t getting the work she wanted, the work she THOUGHT she should be getting: She was a sweet girl from Chicago, going out for roles befitting a sweet girl from Chicago. The problem was, while that may have been true, and that may have been how she felt, her outward image did not fit that package. In reality, Ms. Kahn is more akin in type to Laura SanGiocomo – a gusty Italian from New York.
Here is perhaps a slight departure from traditional business advice on branding: It is not enough to identify WHO you are, but to be cognizant of HOW OTHERS see you…and incorporate the two.
An exercise Lesly had us do, and one that I encourage you to try for yourselves, is to simply ask friends what their first impressions were of you (just be sure they are willing to be brutally honest…better yet, ask strangers or people you have just met for their opinion). Had any of us in Lesly’s class had to guess before we knew better, any one of us would have said she was a native New Yorkah!
And branding for an actor is not necessarily a one-time-only process. You may find a time when you need to “re-brand” yourself. An example of this comes from one good friend from our class who has seen a good deal of success, working as a series regular and featured in big-budget films. In these she has always been the gorgeous, seductive femme fatale. Now, however, she is looking to “re-brand” herself, knowing she is not going to be playing those roles forever. It will be a challenge to get those who know her established brand so well to see her in this new light, but she is working hard to redefine her brand identity, doing everything from smaller projects that will allow her play “against type” to exploring having her headshots be more reflective of the new HER.
After spending five years working for the Worldwide CEO of an advertising network, I found that this businessman and I were not that dissimilar: An actor is the CEO of his or her own company, and the product being sold is YOU.
A little Google-searching on this idea led me to an article in the archives of Fast Company by Tom Peters. In “The Brand Called You," Peters says: “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”
This is akin to the actor who consistently hears, “I love what you do, I just don’t know what to do with you.” These are performers who have not FIRST established their brand identities.
My teacher, Lesly Kahn, humorously recounts the days in her acting career when she didn’t understand why she wasn’t getting the work she wanted, the work she THOUGHT she should be getting: She was a sweet girl from Chicago, going out for roles befitting a sweet girl from Chicago. The problem was, while that may have been true, and that may have been how she felt, her outward image did not fit that package. In reality, Ms. Kahn is more akin in type to Laura SanGiocomo – a gusty Italian from New York.
Here is perhaps a slight departure from traditional business advice on branding: It is not enough to identify WHO you are, but to be cognizant of HOW OTHERS see you…and incorporate the two.
An exercise Lesly had us do, and one that I encourage you to try for yourselves, is to simply ask friends what their first impressions were of you (just be sure they are willing to be brutally honest…better yet, ask strangers or people you have just met for their opinion). Had any of us in Lesly’s class had to guess before we knew better, any one of us would have said she was a native New Yorkah!
And branding for an actor is not necessarily a one-time-only process. You may find a time when you need to “re-brand” yourself. An example of this comes from one good friend from our class who has seen a good deal of success, working as a series regular and featured in big-budget films. In these she has always been the gorgeous, seductive femme fatale. Now, however, she is looking to “re-brand” herself, knowing she is not going to be playing those roles forever. It will be a challenge to get those who know her established brand so well to see her in this new light, but she is working hard to redefine her brand identity, doing everything from smaller projects that will allow her play “against type” to exploring having her headshots be more reflective of the new HER.
After spending five years working for the Worldwide CEO of an advertising network, I found that this businessman and I were not that dissimilar: An actor is the CEO of his or her own company, and the product being sold is YOU.
A little Google-searching on this idea led me to an article in the archives of Fast Company by Tom Peters. In “The Brand Called You," Peters says: “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”
So before you run out and get your new headshots, before you go to your next audition or even casting workshop, take the time to define your BRAND – it is the first essential step of a great marketing plan.
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