Inside the Art of Brand Personality: A Preview of Ad-Tech Panel

Tomorrow I will be leading a fantastic panel of social media personalities talking about the art of creating and fostering a brand personality through social media.  As I have shared before, I am extremely excited about this session and in particular about learning from the panelists who are participating about how they have managed to build their own brand personalities through social media.  They each bring some very different perspectives to the mix:

Steve Hall | Adrants
Steve at Adrants has taken his many years of experience inside the advertising world and used it to publish one of the most popular blogs about advertising.  Adrants is an irreverent look at the world of advertising that offers opinion along with breaking news about everything from new campaigns to the latest rumors.  Along the way, Steve has created a unique personality for his blog, isn’t afraid to take a shot at a poorly executed campaign or feature controversial efforts, and has developed a highly successful foundation for his own publishing network.  In many ways, the rise of Adrants as a resource within the advertising industry is a case study for anyone wanting to supplant the media in their own vertical industry with a unique and unconventional voice.

Jeremiah Owyang | Podtech
Jeremiah has had a personal blog on marketing and web strategy for several years and recently left his role as online community manager at Hitachi to join the growing team at Podtech.  His story is an interesting one in brand personality, ranging from his extremely smart efforts on behalf of Hitachi to help them connect with customers and potential customers through creating wikis on data storage and fostering strong relationships between Hitachi and key influencers.  Alongside these efforts, Jeremiah built up his personal blog and personal brand.  Now in a new role with Podtech, he attends industry events, publishing interviews for Podtech and writes about his efforts on his own blog as well.  He should offer some interesting insight for any corporate bloggers who may not necessarily be an official spokesperson for their companies, but like him, want to uncover new ways to use leverage their personal brand as part of their "day job."

Kent Nichols | Ask A Ninja
Kent is one of the founders of what some consider one of the most popular video blogs on the internet, Ask a Ninja.  The program generates a hugely loyal following among it’s target audience of young males and is an advertisers dream for reaching that elusive demographic.  Ask A Ninja is also an interesting case study because although the brand is built online, it has branched out into the "real world" as an iconic brand.  You can buy DVDs, T-shirts, and other merchandise all to demonstrate your affinity for Ask A Ninja.  As a result, they are one of the great crossover stories that have taken a social media only brand, and extended it into the real world and beyond.  Kent will likely share some stories about getting to that point and advice for aspiring creators to build their own successful brands through having a unique personality and standing out.

Karl Long | ExperienceCurve
Karl leads a pioneering group at Nokia called nGage and also has a similar background to Jeremiah in terms of creating his personal brand through ExperienceCurve as well as leading many smart efforts on behalf of Nokia to integrate social media into their marketing for video game initiatives.  More and more, we are seeing individuals who have a highly successful personal blog driving efforts from their employers to use blogs and social media in smart ways.  Karl represents a new kind of brand marketer who is at the crossroads of product marketing, new technologies, and social media.  He also produces a weekly podcast show on the topic.  In the mix, he will likely have some great advice for anyone struggling with integrating personal media more into their own current roles and dealing with any ensuing "big company paralysis" that often comes with a desire to dedicate efforts to personal media.

I will be sure to post a recap of this great session for those who can’t make it out to Ad-Tech and am sure that my fellow panelists will do the same.  Until then …