Wednesday 3 December 2008

Brands: Bigger than Jesus?



Brands are the new religion. In these secular times we no longer look to a deity or prophet for our values and aspirations, but to these pretty little symbols. When we buy a brand we are not merely purchasing a product, but buying into the values and beliefs the brand represents.

Magazines have embraced this concept for a while. Vice has a club venue, record label and film studio, Elle has a clothing range and Cosmopolitan has everything from false eyelashes to bedspreads. But how easy is it for a single journalist to pull this off? We have individuals turning themselves in to brands, some of the most famous being Katie Price, Paris Hilton and The Beckhams, between them selling an A-Z of consumer items. Can journalists do the same?

Rick Waghorn explained to us that now, thanks to the simplicity and low cost of digital technology, it is easier for journalists to employ the cult of the brand than ever before. Rick was once a football reporter on the Norwich paper but was recently made redundant. But thanks to his local reputation as a football expert and the availability of easy-to-use multi-functional technology, he set up his own sports website, My Football Writer, which he runs at home from his kitchen table.

There are several journalists I follow who embrace this concept. Music journalist Chantelle Fiddy also has a DJ career and club night as well as her own online project, Ctrl.Alt.Shift. And for anyone interested in current affairs, Robert Peston became the name to watch as the economic meltdown went from bad to worse - there were points when Peston was arguably a bigger authority on the subject than the BBC itself.

Peston hasn't actually turned the power of his name to anything other than journalism yet though - maybe he could launch self-branded safes for his many readers to keep under their beds?

(photo by frozenchipmunk, shared under a creative commons licence)

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