Even after life, personal brands can continue earning for film stars like Marilyn Munroe and Steve McQueen. ‘Delebs’ is is the name the royalty industry give to these dead celebrities.
Whilst authors like Micheal Crichton, Dr Seuss Geisel and J R R Tolkien feature in the top ten earners for last year it was Yves Saint Laurent who came out on top. According to Forbes it was the sale of his personal possessions that got him to the top of this years list with £214m. Michael Jackson was in third place beating Elvis Presley by one slot but I hear Elvis will make a comeback next year.
UK common law is moving with the times in protecting the Personal Image rights of individuals. Europe and the Human Rights legislation has also contributed to this form of your Intellectual Asset protection.
Even as far back as 1888 a modest portrait photographer could not display his skills via a portrait of a lady without her permission.
In 2002 Formula 1 driver Eddie Irvine was paid damages after his photograph was used to promote a radio station without his consent as the court held he had ‘property rights in the goodwill attached to his image’.
OK magazine won a ruling over Hello in the House of Lords after a 7 year wrangle about wedding pictures of Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas. OK had a contract for exclusive pictures which Hello scooped.
Kleinwort Benson advocate considering a separate company for celebrities, media stars and sportsmen to syphon off part of their income often into an offshore company. This is achieved by separating the contract for services from image rights on merchandise and promotions. This is part of tax avoidance which is also one of your intellectual assets.
If you contract for sponsorship or endorsement ensure your contract agreement is clear and enhances you companies IP whilst not breaching any Personal Image Rights.
Beattie and Taylor of Alex cartoon fame deserve the intellectual property credit for this Dubai headline – it may be the only credit in Dubai at the moment. The personal brand of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum the UAE Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai may be tarnished but I bet he will ride out any storm.
Dubai has been branded the tourist spot of the last decade and has seen tremendous investment in infrastructure. Let us hope our banks are not in too deep if repayments become an issue. At least the Daily Telegraph can send their prize banker ‘Clive’ from the strip cartoon on holiday to solve any problems.
The intellectual assets of the Brawn GP team have been highly valued by Mercedes as they buy 75.1% for a reported £110 million. Probably a good deal to acquire the Constructors World Champions and provide what could be a marketing coup for Mercedes.
In addition to the undoubted tangible technical assets that make Brawn cars so competitive there are intrinsic systems, people and organisational skills that contribute to Brawn GP being a world leader.
Of the human assets, will the World Champion Jenson Button get a salary increase from £4m to £8m or a transfer to one of the other Formula 1 teams for next season. Well his personal brand profile has never been so strong so good luck to him.
What is in a name? If Patrick Brunty a student at St Johns College Cambridge and father of 6 children had not changed the spelling of his name to Bronte we would not have an industry built around Bronte Country. Would the name Brunty have spawned the literary and commercial enterprise that continues more than 160 years after the more famous sisters Anne, Charlotte and Emily were born.
Perhaps the Irish connection had a negative connotation in the 1840’s like Windscale had in the 1950’s. Names and reputation are at the heart of a brand.
The Daily Telegraph ‘business agony aunt’ tackles the question of changing your brand,logo, corporate image. Based on years of retail experience and good common sense he says ‘think twice before betting your future on corporate image -it might not be the magic you are hoping for’.
For more practical gritty advice read ‘Dear James Secrets of Success from a Management Maverick’ or John sticking his neck out in ‘How to Ride a Giraffe’
Dolly Parton is a personal brand packaged in blonde hair and rhinestones. Dolly Parton has several one liners about ‘how expensive it is to look this cheap’. When asked if she was ever offended by dumb blonde questions she claimed definately not ‘cos I’m not dumb and I’m not blonde.’
Celebrity status has been transformed by Dolly in to a business empire that includes Dollywood the Great Smoky Mountain’s theme park. With her Imagination Library programme, which gives books to children from disadvantaged backgrounds now rolled out in Rotherham she is also using her personal brand for charitable work.
Are we now a nation of Charity Shopkeepers? A well organised and operated shop can increase the brand awareness of the Charity concerned as well as providing a funding source.
In June 2009 Mary Portas set out to improve the quality and quantity of donations to Save the Children charity shops, and for giving in this way to become a more regular occurrence. Help your local charities by giving and buying or volunteering.
A young business Addacus has a super product to teach maths to people with dyscalculia a genetically-linked learning disability which affects a person’s ability to understand, remember, or manipulate numbers or number facts.
However the website is not generating traffic and a google search gets poor results. Simple tweaks to the web site will change this and increase the products visibility – is there a word for dyslexia of the web?
If you see great 4 x 4’s vehicles traveling around Yorkshire with NJT Embroidery plastered all over the bodywork it isn’t a new process for embroidering metal but a clever promotion of this branded personalised clothing business. Whilst fleeces, jumpers and polos are standard products everything is available from personalised Horse Blankets to designer named Executive Clothing.
Most of the personalised items will be allowed for tax purposes so promote your brand image with embroidered clothing from Yorkshire.
