Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

I’ve been doing a lot of lengthy and analytical posts recently, so today I felt like switching it up. I’ve gotten a lot of email asking for me to bring back “Brand Mystery,” which is a game where you guess who the personal brand is and receive a link on the following game in the series. If you want to know why I play games on this blog, the reason is simply because I think personal branding can be fun and interactive.

Brand Mystery 9 Winner: Eric Windsor with the correct answer of Vince Vaughn

Past Winners

• Brand Mystery 8 - Eric Windsor, who answered “Heather Locklear”
• Brand Mystery 7 - John Moore with his answer of “Loic Le Meu”
• Brand Mystery 6 - Robert David Hunter, who answered “John Battelle”
• Brand Mystery 5 - NONE! The answer was…Owen Van Natta, Chief Revenue Officer, Facebook
• Brand Mystery 4 - Kevin M. Keating, who said “Steve Rubel”
• Brand Mystery 3 - Jeff Glasson, who said “Kate Beckinsale”
• Brand Mystery 2 - Adam Salamon, who said “Sergey Brin”
• Brand Mystery 1 - Doug Petch, who said “Bill Clinton”

Now that we traveled back in time, it’s time to reveal the latest image. Leave your guesses in the comments section. Whomever guesses correctly first wins.

Hint: Looking for a job anyone?

Brand Mystery is a game where I take a well known personal brand, edit it and then give you the opportunity to guess who it is. The reader that comments first and has the correct answer will have their name on the following post, as well as a link to their blog or website.

Brand Mystery 8 winner - Eric Windsor

Note: for the future, please provide a link to your blog/website in the comments section when answering so I can give you your reward.

Hint: The underdog

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The song of the week is actually a dance and techno song called “Love is Gone” by David Guetta. One of my best friends that goes to college in Florida sent this to me and I’ve been addicted ever since. The video is strange and comical at the same time.

Surgeon General’s Warning: try not to listen to this in the morning. Before you go out tonight or afterward is more suitable for your ears.

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This week I’m going to leave the question as open ended. If there are a lot of thoughts in regard to this question, I will have a separate post with a more thorough discussion and analysis for you.

As technology rapidly accelerates, what do you feel the impact will be on our personal brands? Will they become unmanageable or will they be integrated in a GUI that is easily adaptable and customized to our brands?

The best part about Friday’s is that after work or your last class, you have the whole weekend to have fun and rejuvenate. Here at Personal Branding Blog, I am now offering you relief from a long week reading countless entires on self-branding, amongst other blogs and news sources. In order to make Friday’s as fun as they should be, I’m now enlisting the “Brand Mystery” game, a song of the week and answer a question of the week for your viewing pleasure. By the time you’re finished guessing the brand below, listening to the song and thinking about the posed question, you’ll be way on your way to saying “TGIF.” If you leave a comment on this post requesting your favorite song, I may play it next Friday!

Brand Mystery is a game where you guess who the personal brand is below. The person who guesses the correct answer first receives a link on the next autopsy post.

Brand Mystery 7 Winner: John Moore with his answer of Loic Le Meur (which rhymes)

Hint: Donald Trump’s Cousin

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The Foo Fighters - Long Road to Ruin

I’m seeing the Foo Fighter’s here in Boston on February 1st, which is the same day the 3rd issue of Personal Branding Magazine comes out.

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Question from Jen: What happens when everybody else gets a blog and uses every social network connection they have to land a job? Will you still stand out?

My Answer: Jen, this is an interesting question. I think part of the competitive advantage now is having a blog, being prolific and engaging in conversation on various social networks. Remember that personal branding is less about the delivery channels and more about who you are and what you can offer. When everyone has a blog in the future, there will be a new technology or strategy that you can discover that will give you an advantage.

Blog Readers: What are your thoughts?