Using Your Personal Brand Name to Brand Products or a Company
October 20, 2008 at 11:13 am | In Personal Branding, Success Strategies | 11 CommentsI’ve been thinking about how we brand ourselves, in combination with a product or company for a while now. Geoff Livingston and Ari Herzog both sent me notes to inspire today’s post. Many times, you will see authors (such as David Allen), speakers (Tom Peters and Anthony Robbins) and consultants use their personal brand name for their company’s, while many web-based startup companies will use a distinct name for what they are selling, leaving their founder and CEO seperated from their core brand strategy. There are pros and cons to each approach, so that will be the focus today conversation.
Paul Newman’s legacy
Paul Newman, for any of you who don’t know, was an Academy Award-winning and seven-time Academy Award-nominated actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian and auto racing enthusiast. Among his many achievements and the legacy that he built was “Newman’s Own,” a food company which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity.
Paul died on September 26th this year, yet “Newman’s Own” lives on or does it? Without Paul’s smile on your salad dressing, would you still purchase it and pay the premium price? If the bottle just said “Light Balsamic Vinaigrette” would you buy it? I would say you wouldn’t. People purchased Newman’s Own because of Paul Newman’s brand and what he represents (philanthropy, success, etc).
My prediction is that they will discontinue this company and line of products after a few years, when the new generation becomes the majority buyer of salad dressing and the name “Newman” is irrelevant to them. In this situation the company and products die with the personal brand.
The pros and cons of using your name
- Pros: When you use your name on your products and company, there is much more visiblity for your brand name. People are going to remember you more if wherever they go, they see your name. You can build the company history and story based on a person. A person is easier to acknowledge then a corporate brand name because you can reach out and touch it.
- Cons: It’s much harder to build a larger company around one person’s name, not just because their brand dies when they die, but also because there are more people in the company. If you use your name it might be seen as selfish, especially if you hire other people that will have the badge “your name, title, your CEO’s name.” The biggest brands in the world aren’t using their founders name. For example, Apple, GE and IBM.
- 1) What is your main business objective. Are you trying to be a solotrepreneur or do you want to build a business, hiring people along the way? If in the foreseable future you want to have a thousand emloyees, you might want to use a creative name instead of your own.
- 2) Choose a career path before you put your brand on anything. Do you want to start a company, work for a company or go back to school? The entrepreneur path is typically the one that makes sense for branding yourself as your company.
- 3) Do you want to pass your business down to your family? A business with your name can be passed down to your child if they accept it or run by someone else in your family.
- 4) For legal reasons, if you use your name as your companies name and your company get’s sued, you go down with it.
I’m leaving this conversation open, so if you have any ideas, suggestions or experiences to share, be my guest.
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Dan, you are right on. There are many different consequences of attaching your name to a company/product.
Early on in my journey to be a business owner I started a business with my full name. As the business grew and my customer base got larger I found myself getting business calls on personal phones at times that I tried to set as personal times.
Comment by David Robertson — October 20, 2008 #
Dan,
Interesting discussion topic! In regards to Newman’s Own, I have no doubt that the product will live on for years, even with Paul gone. The bottom-line is that the products just taste good – ever tried his lemonade? When the product was started, I agree with you… Personal Brand recognition mattered.
At this point, though, the product carries itself. People associate the name with the product – hell, when I started buying Newman’s Own products, I didn’t know who Paul Newman was. I just liked that taste that the charity aspect of the product.
That said, I generally prefer naming companies and products with a name not associated with my Personal Brand. I’ll make sure to get visibility to my name somewhere, but I’d rather the product or service sell itself than the other way around.
- Chris
Comment by Chris - Manager's Sandbox — October 20, 2008 #
The legacy of Paul Newman will remain with his acting career, not the salad dressing business. Part of this reason, I suggest, is because the salad dressing containers (and I have one or two in my fridge) don’t have his face but use a cartoonish representation.
On the flip side, look at celebrity restaurant owner and chef Wolfgang Puck, who is also the namesake behind a world of organic soups and his face and his signature grace the label of every can. I bought another four cans yesterday. It tastes good, the nutritional information matches my lifestyle, and I trust the brand despite eating at one Wolfgang Puck restaurant (in Denver).
As to your second recommendation, Dan, for millennials and others to choose a career path before branding themselves, I recall my senior year of high school when applying to college and every application required me to write-in my intended major. Of course, it changed after I took a course in that department. So, I think it’s OK to change directions as long as you’re true to yourself and treat your experiences as the sum of who (or what) you represent.
Writing online came naturally to me because I’ve always written on paper.
Thanks for the mention.
Comment by Ari Herzog — October 20, 2008 #
Great post!
Regarding the Newman branded products, they are quite good. I would say that the brand could remain viable indefinitely as long as they continue their tradition of quality and philanthropic ventures.
If I were marketing the products, I would focus exclusively on these two things:
1.) Our products taste great.
2.) Our profits go toward helping children.
How can they lose?
Besides, Paul Newman’s movies will be with us forever and he will forever be remembered by generations to come for being a fine actor and more importantly a fine person.
Comment by Jason Armstrong — October 20, 2008 #
People may stop purchasing when the “people” become those who don’t know Paul Newman.
Comment by Dan Schawbel — October 20, 2008 #
Whether Newman’s Own will survive has more to do with whoever is running the business and their commitment to keeping it alive. I think there’s enough brand awareness and a bit of a cult following that will only continue to grow over time. As for the connection between Newman having to be alive to stay current, I’m not sure that really matters. I don’t know who Ruth’s Chris is and I can’t say I’ve ever wondered if S.C. Johnson but I still pay way to much for a steak and buy their furniture polish.
Comment by courtingyourcareer — October 20, 2008 #
“The biggest brands in the world aren’t using their founders name”
I think that’s a bit of a crass generalisation.
Kellogg’s, Disney, McDonald’s, Daimler-Benz, Chevrolet, Louis Vuitton, Gillette, along with almost every notable investment bank, advertising house and luxury consumer goods brand in the world are proof to the contrary.
Lots and lots of highly valued brands carry their founder’s name. The difference to Paul Newman’s is that they detached the brand from the face and the person, allowing it to live on filled with its own values separate from those of the originator.
Comment by Tom Voirol — October 21, 2008 #
Tom, good point. Thanks for chiming in!
Comment by Dan Schawbel — October 21, 2008 #
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Pingback by My name to brand a product ? « Stetoscope — October 22, 2008 #
I just want to comment on the Newman’s own scenario. When I started buying Newman’s own products it was because it didn’t contain any HFCS, hydrogenated oils, or any of the other crap found in many products today. I had no idea who Paul Newman was, hell I didn’t know he was a real person until long after I had started buying his products.
I might not be the typical buyer in this case, but who he was had no bearing on me as a consumer, his product did and still does. His product is high quality, great tasting, and I think it’s a reasonable price for what you get.
I don’t think they will ever get rid of the Newman’s own brand because the name has become more synonymous with quality than with Paul Newman’s acting career and when I go to the grocery store the first thing I look for is that smiling face.
Comment by Josh Peters — November 2, 2008 #
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