InsightBlog

Tom Cruise proves the necessity of managing your personal brand

Well, it finally happened...Paramount terminated Tom Cruise's contract due to his recent 'unbecoming behavior,' proving that even H'wood has its standards. Tom's brand: boyish charm meets hot, well-poised, likeable action hero - left no room for jumping-on-various-furniture-and-automotive-platforms while screaming-and-declaring-his-love-for-Katie-Holmes-under-the-influence-of-scientology-while-attacking-Brooke-for-using-medication-for-PPD-Tom. In fact, you could argue, as Paramount is apparently doing, that the two personalities dramatically conflict with each other.

Let's look at Old Tom vs. New Tom:
- Boyish charm? yes
- Hot? yep
- Well-poised and likeable? Aha! Here is the problem...Tom's recent expressiveness led him into a dark hole not unlike the one Howard Dean was forced to contend with during the last presidential race. And his attacks on Brooke Shields for using medication to treat her Post-partum depression were just downright mean. Is it fair to judge someone's character by one or two random acts? Maybe not...but herein lies the power of audience in evaluating brands, and it underscores a key point: every single opportunity to show your brand counts. You MUST feed the public what you want them to takeaway from their interactions with your personal brand, because if you don't, they will create a brand for you. And more often than not, it'll be 'unbecoming,' too.

Read the story:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Business/story?id=2344327

BTW, Insight303 conducts a workshop on personal branding called "The Power And Permission To Be Yourself." Email us for information about bringing it to your company. talkback@insight303.com.

Stacy & Faith