The BIG Kahuna

Do we have personal brands? Absolutely! How those personal brands impact all areas of our lives and our professional branding is critical. The Michael Vick scandal is a great example of personal and professional branding.

Escorted by U.S. Marshals, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick (r) leaves the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia, 26 Jul 2007

Your brand identity is the soul of your company or personal brand. It?s everything you want to be perceived as. Let?s look at Michael Vick?s issues.?

I?m a strong believer in your innocent until proven guilty. The police and DA are often wrong, as seen in the Duke Lacrosse scandal. I?m also a believer in ?if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck?it?s a duck. Sure, OJ is looking for the killer and Michael Jackson just ?sleeps? with little boys. Ducks! Both proven innocent.?I believe Michael Vick has changed uniforms from being a Falcon to a Duck. He?s lost his Nike and Reebok endorsement deals which are a branding killer. The owner of the Atlanta Falcons has asked him not to return to the team this year. Why? Because the Falcons brand image is more important than Michael Vick.?

The NFL has suspended Michael Vick for the preseason. I suspect he?ll be gone for the entire year. Why? Because the NFL has the strongest brand identity of any sport and these charges are disgusting. ? Innocent until proven guilty? Not when you?re messing with PETA. The last thing you want is PETA picketing outside your front door everyday right? Here?s the deal, Michael Vick appears to be very guilty. If he is I suggest he plead out, do some time, apologize and set up a fund for stray dogs or something. He probably should make a sizeable donation to PETA as well. He made a mistake but we are a forgiving nation. Take your lumps and move forward if you ever want to continue your personal and professional branding again.?As a pet owner I would say that if he is guilty I will never, ever support any team he plays for or buy merchandise he represents. I?m not one of those forgiving people I mentioned above.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 10:46 am and is filed under Branding Blunders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.