Month: November 2010

“How to brand yourself”. Every week I read a blog discussing the issue of self-branding, or how we should market ourselves as individuals. All of these blogs tend to be more or less identical. It was no surprise that I ran across yet another  blog this week by Jacqueline Marshall discussing personal branding. However, after skimming through the first few lines, I noticed she approached the idea from a creative and fresh angle. Rather than discussing how individuals brand themselves, she talked about how they re-brand themselves.

Just like a bottle of coke or a television set, our appearance and certain characteristics eventually become outdated, and it is up to us to transform ourselves in order to keep up with the changing world. Whether it is a quick haircut, change of attitude, or a visit to the plastic surgeon, human beings need to constantly evolve.

Here are just a few of the examples of transformations that we have witnessed

Success or failure? What is evident to us is that at one point or another, we all have to re-brand ourselves. So lets not just think of how we wish to portray ourselves now, but also how to ‘evolve’ our personalities in the future.

No I am not talking about the loud students on campus or the traffic downtown. The objective of this post is to address the deterioration of today’s music. This evening, after a long and tiring day, I turned on the radio only to be greeted by the ear numbing sound of the infamous ‘G6’ anthem by the ‘Far East Movement’. With lyrics like “Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6” I couldn’t help but want to rip my ears off.

Despite the catchy tunes of today’s music, what ever happened to the days when lyrical content played a role in what we listen to? Majority of the songs produced today consist of one or two meaningless sentences that are looped over and over again in the song. Lyrical creativity is quickly coming to extinction thanks to today’s artists.

However, all is not doom and gloom. Despite being few and far between, blogs such as the soul lounge still offer the lyrical aware music listeners a source of refuge. With the soulful sounds of artists such as Eric Benet, Joss Stone, and John Mayer, there is still a glimmer of hope for music today. Musicians such as these have managed to fuse together amazing instrumentals with meaningful content in order to create not just music, but stories.

LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. If you asked any basketball supporter earlier this year, the mention of these three names within the same roster was as probable as George Bush running for presidency in Iraq. Now, this pipe-dream has turned to reality as is evident from my wasted afternoons spent in front of the television with a bowl of popcorn and soda.

Every basketball follower can recall the moment LeBron James announced his decision to join Miami. In fact, every  individual with a T.V set can recall that moment. From CNN to ESPN, this was the news of the hour. Reports indicate that nearly 10 million people tuned in to witness this decision, making it the third most watched program on cable television this year!

Tickets to Miami Heat games ceased to be luxury, and were now as necessary as food is to the monthly consumer budget. The Miami Heat management even went as far as firing their entire sales team due to the power of the tickets to ‘sell themselves’. The average price for the season opener ticket was in excess of $130! Unfortunately for Miami fans, this purchase may not have been amongst their best as Miami suffered defeat to Boston in a low scoring game.

Subsequent to this Miami suffered another defeat later in the season to the Hornets, taking their record to 2 losses in their opening seven games. As a result, ticket sales seem to have lost their Heat in Miami. Prices are taking massive cuts in order to encourage sales. For the opening game, 400 level seats were in excess of $100, but now these same seats are being sold for as low as $16 for opponents such as the Utah Jazz.

Despite my limited knowledge on the products sold worldwide, I am confident enough bet that this must be one of the shortest product life cycles i have ever seen. It is now up to LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and the rest to resuscitate the ticket sales.