If companies acknowledge the value of employee branding; and professionals are serious about seeing themselves as brands too: maybe we should be moving towards a new system and brand architecture - where we actually calculate the brand value of more professionals, and then incentivise and reward their social media network activities?

1. aestroaestro
086 // jun 2014 // the-marketeers.com
If companies acknowledge the value of employee branding; and professionals
are serious about seeing themselves as brands too: maybe we should be
moving towards a new system and brand architecture - where we actually
calculate the brand value of more professionals, and then incentivise and
reward their social media network activities?
IfProfessionalsare
Brands,thenshould
webemeasuringthis?

2. the-marketeers.com // jun 2014 // 087
Jonathan(Bilal)A.J.Wilson
SeniorLecturer&CourseLeader,
UniversityofGreenwich,LondonUK
Editor:JournalofIslamicMarketing,
EmeraldGroupPublishing.
In my previous pieces, I have shared
my thoughts and findings derived from
investigating the views of practitioners and
academics. Our industry needs people who
are both arts and science, being a manager
isn’t enough, and leadership is essential.
The challenge occurs when attempting to
galvanize these elements into a coherent,
collaborative, compelling and authentic
offering - across functions and amongst all
levels of employees within an organisation.
I’ve also reflected on the age of ‘Mad
Men’ mavericks being replaced by those
who formally study
the discipline.
The idea is that
with such large
organisations,
geographies, and
markets – this
necessitates
professionals with
subject specific
skills, formal
qualifications and
training.
If I was to be
cynical or critical,
then there’s a
real risk that this
produces butlers
and engineers.
People in many
ways designed to
fit in and serve
like butlers, and
tinker around with
existing processes,
like engineers.
However, with
so much disruptive
innovation, global
competition, and increasing cross-sector
extensions – being agile, lean, lateral, and
hyper-responsive have become the mantras
of large and small organisations. Plus,
with the advent of social media platforms,
tablets and smartphones – work/life
balance is a blended reality. iPhones not so
long ago weren’t serious business phones,
they were toys and a work distraction; and
Blackberry was the default instrument.
Now, Blackberry messenger can fuel
Arab Springs; iPhones and others are
your remote office, research tool, media
broadcaster, and a whole lot more.
What else has changed: avatars, social
media, and concision as a result of
democratized information overload have
pulled us further into a branded reality.
Employer and personal branding are also
in vogue. StrongTheory messaging has
given way to WeakTheory – it’s about
incremental gains, and long-tail economics
that are achieved through the sum total
of nudges, shares, and reciprocity as an
opening gambit.That’s: ‘I’ll help you to be
great in the hope that you’ll help me to
achieve greatness – somewhere, somehow, and
to someone’.
So brands are attempting to resonate
and embed themselves into our psyche
by being more human, like Pinocchio –
an identity, personality and all the rest.
And humans are attempting to become
more like brands.There’s never been a
greater call to stand out, whilst fitting in –
collective individualism.That means being
liked by diverse networks and connecting
them, so that they see your Gestalt reality.
So how can we make this blended multi-
layered reality work for us? My suggestion
over the past year has been this concept
of singularity and surrogacy through
branding and transformational leadership.
This is one emotive and cogent offering,
decoded from the sum total of experiences
and interactions. But most importantly,
delivering cultural authenticity - in a
way where adoption results from
demonstrating a willingness to stand side-
by-side, as a native and equal.
With all of this in mind, should we be
applying and extending brand thinking
in the same way to professionals and
leadership? Brands are no longer just
reflective of an architecture made up
of a corporate identity and portfolio of
products and services.They are driven
and humanized by the employees and
consumers.
Having said all of this, if it was this easy,
then studying and following the rules would
work, right? So what about those that
break, reshape and make the rules? And are
these rules actually just too nuanced and

3. aestroaestro
088 // jun 2014 // the-marketeers.com
perishable?
For example, Metallica are a brand that
wasn’t cooked out of an agency. Not so
long ago, I can also remember colleagues
marking assignments wrong, where
students suggested that Jay Z was a brand;
and billboards in car video games, or
YouTube user generated content videos
were adverts.“Jay Z is not a brand, Coca Cola
is – he is a celebrity endorser”… “an advert
is a paid for piece of communication in a pre-
designated space”… or at least, that’s what
the text books used to say.
But at the same time now, entertainers
have raised the bar for other professionals.
Have we all become performers? The
pressure on staff across an organization to
be intuitive communicators and decision-
makers - with the speed of wit of a stand-
up comedian and the ability to present
every pitch like a TED talk.

4. the-marketeers.com // jun 2014 // 089
And, like rock and rap stars, the
argument stands for controlling your
professional image to present a ‘corporate’
cool - as everyone is Googling, checking
and searching for authenticity. I’ve
remarked on how with elite athletes it
makes sense to spend time away from
the training ground, working on image,
personality and communication; and even
considering retiring early - in order to
protect an accrued brand equity, which
translates to earnings, desirability and
reputation.
Okay sure, if brands want to become
more human, and professionals are
becoming and behaving more like brands,
what are the implications and perhaps what
should we be doing?
Well employee branding as a concept
has been around for a while: but should
we be assessing the sum total activities of
individuals; not just by how much they do
for the corporate/product/service brand -
but by all of these in conjunction with an
employee’s brand value?
Now, we’re used to rating athletes,
musicians, celebrities, sponsorship

5. aestroaestro
090 // jun 2014 // the-marketeers.com
endorsers, and entrepreneurs in this way;
but perhaps the conversation becomes
a little uncomfortable when we look at
professionals like us in the same way.
Logically, we should be encouraging
people to improve their LinkedIn and other
social media profiles, giving employees
training in this.The aim being that they
become more active on social media, for
the benefit of the organisation. It’s good
cheap promotion, and the days are gone
when professionals can separate their
private social media lives completely from
their professional identities – everything is
in the public domain.
Also, as companies are on LinkedIn they
should be pushing the profiles of their staff,
as part of their corporate branding and
promotional activities - because LinkedIn
is doing this, making links and presenting
network bonds anyway.This would give
a boost to existing branding activities,
attracting business, raising the corporate
profile, and attracting new talent.
However, there is a perception/guilty
secret/fear here, that this gives too
much power and ‘brand value’ to the
people, which they may cash in on and
take elsewhere. If we apply relationship-
marketing theory to our staff, as we
have to consumers; then this healthy
competition and these brand exchanges
should be embraced and encouraged.
So for us professionals in marketing,
advertising, branding and public relations
what does this mean? In order to fulfil
personal and corporate obligations - it’s
about focusing on the individual.We should
be doing more to create our own brand
architecture, and to bring and embed that
into an organisation’s.That’s more time
communicating and practicing the spoken
and written word; and not being afraid to
stand beside our professional activities
and offerings – because professional
and corporate authenticity will be
demonstrated ultimately through real
people.
The difference now is that this isn’t just
the domain of board members; it extends
throughout the organisational hierarchy.
For example, I encourage my students to
createYouTube short documentaries and
presentations, to rework their assignments
into magazine style pieces and whitepapers
on SlideShare – to stand out, claim that
space, and demonstrate authenticity
beyond a degree certificate.
Holistic Brand Leadership means
leading and empowering professionals
towards branding themselves, and being
less precious about top-down control.
Help people to be themselves and trust
that they will return the favour by bringing
brands and campaigns to life, just like
Pinocchio.
Finally, if companies are serious about
branding their staff and employee branding;
and if professionals are serious about
seeing themselves as brands - maybe we
should be moving towards a system where
we actually calculate the brand value of
more of our professionals, incentivise and
reward it - and not just leave that approach
to the footballers?