I was talking with my colleagues and the subject of Julie Andrews’s concert in 2010 came up which led to a conversation I found really interesting and I felt it had some relevance to my inquiry subject of Personal Branding.
A Personal Brand has 3 components:
· Your image
· Your personal values
· What you want to deliver
these components will elicit an emotive response from your target audience. So when we were talking about Julie Andrews I thought about her Personal Brand:
· clean cut, “proper” lady image
· her personal values include clean living, hard working and goodness and she delivers perfect pitch singing.
· The emotive response she gets from her target audience is a feeling of calmness, beauty and admiration for her talent.
I attended her concert in 2010 at the o2 which had very mixed reviews and my conversation at work was about what a shame it was that some people felt it wasn’t made clear that she would not be singing all the songs herself. She bought in other singers and the few songs she did attempt were spoken rather than sung. We all felt that there will probably be a lot of her fans where this might be their last memories of Julie rather than when she was at her best. We all felt she would have been better off doing what Doris Day did and leave the business at her peak when she was still the performer everyone loved her for and delivered her promise.
If Julie could no longer fulfil her promise should she have been brave enough to call it a day, or do you think the risk she took was worth it? She had acted in a few films without singing since her surgery and the audience had been sympathetic and embraced the development in her personal brand.
What do you think? Should you stop and leave when you are still at your best?
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ReplyDeleteAre personal brands meant to change according to the development of one's career? If so, I think the importance lies in how successfully the performer make those 'shifts', bringing different qualities by playing different roles... However, if they value a particular personal image that cannot be sustained any longer, they may choose to stop and leave, rather than risking to change it.
ReplyDeleteI know of a 'prima ballerina' who is over 60 years old, and continues to dance principal roles in full length classical productions with her own company. (The majority of female ballet dancers retire or move into another genre of dance by around 40, and I often hear that their 'peak' is around 30 when the declining physical ability and developing artistry balances out.) I believe that there is no boundary in artistic development, but do read and hear critical comments about that prima.
I don't know whether continuing to push physical limits is brave, or stopping at the peak is brave...
Hi Mina,
ReplyDeletePersonal Brands should develop and evolve as your career progresses and you are right it is important to carefully mange those “shifts” which I fear some performers don’t do they hang onto the past too much.
Dan Schwbel who is a well known expert on the subject said
‘Never forget: your brand is a representation of who you are – it’s brand YOU! As you progress through your life, you’ll grow, mature, and develop – and so will your brand. At some point, you may even redefine your brand based on new passions and discoveries.’
The prima ballerina you mentioned sounds amazing I hope I am as capable as that at 60.