What do you know about African Swagger!

Brands that are built inside out will always shine brighter than those that are solely defined by the world within which they exist. Our brilliance is in our resilience, unwavering pride in face of adversity.

And for my birthday I got myself a blog…

It is said that people like nothing better than the sound of their own voice, personally I think we like it more when other people hear our voices and a tad more when they actually listen. So the blogging phenomenon should not be a surprise, its just an improved medium for our inherent narcissism.

I'm designer and brand man, you wont find a group of people more narcissistic than us - So for my birthday I got my self a blog! If you've read my very first post, you would know that a branded perspective is a journal of my interests, beliefs and passions all told from a design & branding perspective. So as part of an introduction (and the first and last time I will focus a post purely on myself), I thought id do a personal brand audit. To do this and to keep it short I will borrow “The 7 C’s to Personal Branding” by Mr Thebe Ikalafeng (click here to listen to Thebe on The 7 C's). I will attempt to get Thebe to comment on this post so watch this space.

Joey Khuvutlu The Brand (one of my favorite brands might I add)

1. Context Context refers to self discovery, how you feel about yourself in relation to how others see you. In this case I see my self as brilliant designer entrepreneur who cant spell to save his life. Those around me describe me as a better than average designer, hard worker and very forgetful (im bad with names).

2.Clarity Clarity refers to how you would position yourself. If you had to describe/sell yourself what would you say? As my profiles says, “I am a capitalist hippie and lover of all things beautiful. Design & Brand Strategy is not just my profession, it’s my passion.”

3. Competency What is your expertise, experience? What are you good at? I am designer by training (BA Communications Management – Vega), self schooled brand strategist, co-founder and creative director of Plutonic The Design & Brand collaborative and a lover.

4. Core identity This is the outer layer, the look & feel. Me? - Im Mr GQ styling! I love looking good as you shall soon discover. Bring on the fitted single button blazer with a skinny tie to match and a pair of classic black lace-up shoes and im good to go. I like it classic with a touch of swag.

5. Community This is your network, your influences. Read my very first post to find out more about this aspect of my life.

6. Consistency This is where brands become brands! This where every contact point of a brand reinforces the overall brand promise. Every thing that I do, be it a boardroom presentation, my dress, what I drive, the way I think and most importantly what I believe, is all done within a brand ideal – my beliefs being the core of it all.

7. Chutzpah If you don’t understand the concept of having chutzpah, then you don’t understand the concept of chutzpah – like Jay-Z says (the rapper, not my president) – say no more.

Bellow are some example of the attention to detail that I try to give to myself as a brand

The Mont Blanc
Yes, my Mont Blanc is fake! Bought it in downtown Maputo city for the equivalent to R80.00, but it has the same effect as an original. Hand one of these to a client to sign a proposal and they will stop behaving like cheap skates that are always expecting to pay R1000.00 for a logo.

Then you have my journalist style Moleskine notebook. Whenever I pull this out to take notes in meetings a compliment is always given - "stylish notebook" is the usual. The job has not started but already i am being complimented, a good start to the relationship. There are many things that can raise people’s confidence in you, the fact of the matter is a book is judged by its cover and as frivolous as these items may seem, remember that every contact point must represent the brand.

I never lose notes because I never lose my note book, I never lose my notebook because I love my note book – it inspires me to write! Exclusive Books has the widest range.

The blog & the books

Fancy pens, notebooks and fitted Jackets can never compensate for competence. One of the reasons i started this blog was to learn more by sharing my thoughts and engaging in conversation. There is a Chinese proverb that says “One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; one who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” More than anything this blog is my platform to ask questions.

Im currently on a selfstudy crusade, focusing on brand strategy as I did not major in strategy during my studies. Currently im reading;
Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier
Origin of Brands by Al Ries and Laura Ries
Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler
Please feel free to suggest any reading or web surfing material.

The London style cab
Recently a tree stepped in front of my car as i was driving along the road minding my own business, needless to say my beloved 330ci is a write off.
So how do i get around? SA Cab. If i have to do it I’m going to do it in style. Pull up to a date, meeting or event in one of these and trust me you will make the right impression.

On a practical level these cabs are hell of a comfortable and spacious to allow accessibility for disabled individuals. Price wise they a fraction more expensive than your average cabs – but why chose average when im not an average brand?

Ive also come to realise how overrated driving actually is. Let me give you an example. A 1 hour meeting in Brynston will take up 3 hours of my day. How? 15min getting ready to leave, 45min drive (JHB/2010 road works traffic), 1hour meeting, 45min back to Rosebank, 15min to settle back in. Now with a SA Cab I use the 1hour and 30min travel time to either read, relax and prepare for presentations or work in the spacious cabin. I don’t know, I may just buy an old Mercedes and hire myself a chuffer. http://www.sacab.co.za

Much love, peace be with you. JK