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The Power of a Personal Brand

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Posted on
March 16, 2010

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Personal branding is so powerful these days, gaining media attention and influencing peoples purchasing decisions within a heart beat. The recent news of Â David Beckham rupturing his achilles tendon and not playing in the world cup highlighted to me the power of the personal brand. Have a quick watch and hit me up with your thoughts below:

http://www.footyfansdownunder.com Lww

Sam,

Interesting blog there.

With regards to Beckham it is solely the fact that over the last ten years we have all bought into brand Beckham and whilst he is a loss for England it’s not as abig a loss from a footballing point of view as losing say Wayne Rooney, Lampard or Gerrard.

Beckham on occassions has scored some vital goals for England from his infamous set pieces and whenever he enters the playing arena we all feel (well hope) that he can deliver that special piece of magic just one more time.

Whilst a disaster for Beckham I feel not so for England who can now look to the future, as for David well he can take a ‘break’ and look forward to resuming his playing days in Hollywood.

Brand wise this will probably create greater opportunities as yet again he will continue to dominate the front pages whilst Rooney can look after the back ones.
http://www.thinktankmedia.com.au Sam Mutimer

Spot on Lee!
That comment is really resonating with me. I agree. Beckham will always be around and this unlucky injury will only strengthen his media presence further, off the field. I sense a new aftershave hitting the shelves soon!
Filbo

Great perspective Sammy, as always!

Beckham’s footballing value has been on a inevitable decline ever since he left Real Madrid. Its a fact of age unfortunately.

But the undying brilliance of his professional career is in his personal brand. His iconic status & influence just hasn’t declined in influence like his footballing potential has.

As Lww wrote, this injury will offer greater opportunities for the Beckham brand. I’d say watch this space..
http://www.katmatcreations.com Steve

When Galaxy bought Becks they never bought him for his skills. They brought his name to the US to help increase Soccers following (and ergo the club).

Becks is now half the man he used to be, especially with Victoria around lol!

Will be interesting to see if he continues playing after this injury heals.
http://www.richeverett.com.au Rich

Love the Blog- I’ll miss him for Football!!! No one can bend it like Beckham! Having said that I am sure they will find a new poster boy quite soon! It is quite interesting to see how possible it is to leverage a sporting career to create such wealth off the field.
http://www.footyfansdownunder.com Lee

This is not the last we will hear from Mr Beckham in a footballing capacity.

Any club with an ounce of common sense knows that it makes great commercial sense, even if it was to have him in a very limited role on the field, the millions you could make globally would cover any costs.

A couple of years ago I went to watch Sydney FC at the Olympic stadium, they normally play at SFS as they have never and will not ever attract a crowd greater than 30,000+ on a regular basis – only managed this once this year in the final game versus Melbourne.

Why did they move it then to a stadium which has a capacity of 80,000 and why where they so confident they would fill the stadium – because David Beckham was playing for the opposition LA Galaxy – it was a FRIENDLY and I shamefully bought two tickets at $80 each, an A League game would set you back $25!
http://radsmarts.com Robin Dickinson

Hey Sam,

Short, punchy video posts are great – and you do them *really* well.

I know nothing about pro football, don’t watch TV or read newspapers and have never watched David Beckham play live. So what?

Well, before the screams of “tragic life” become too loud I would say that his brand is what sticks loud and clear in my mind. Even in my state of media-seclusion, his brand has been powerful enough and focused enough to get on to my somewhat limited radar screen.

Thanks, Sam.

Best, Robin
http://www.alblack.com.au Al

I’m with Rich on the whole “bend it” thing. Every time there’s a set piece and Beckham’s behind the ball, you always get that sense of “Anything could happen here!” If only he could have bent his achilles instead of snapping it then all would have been well
http://mattbannon.com Matt Bannon

There’s not really much I can add to this conversation that’s not already been said, but I think Beckham’s got such a huge image and following that we’ll be seeing him long after his football career is over. Being the 3rd most searched for celebrity over the last decade will have that affect.

But like Fil and Al said, as soon as he’s got possession, everyone’s on the edge of their seats waiting for something like this goal, and his 59 times as captain of England are certainly testament to his skill.

I’m probably just biased, since I’m a Manchester boy who’s been a fan of Beckham since I was about 7, but I’ll be missing the player, not the brand at the World Cup.
http://www.geehall1.org George Hall

At least he’s been developing his personal brand outside football.

And he’s still known as Posh’s handbag, so he’s still going to have a profile there. Neither Becks nor Posh will be out of the public focus that soon.

I can imagine him going into some form of entertainment if and when his football’s over. Thought let’s hope it’s not doing any singing or being a “Spice Boy.”
http://www.katmatcreations.com/ Steve

lol i dunno i recon he probably has more singing talent than posh and could probably replace her.
http://www.thinktankmedia.com.au Natalie Giddings

I am with George all the way – The Beckham’s really understand how a person is worth much more than just a sporting ability. Injuries are so common and planning for this is so important.