It is quite possible that journalism has entered a virtual world where the brand of an individual has the potential to be as powerful as the brand of a multi national. Martin Lewis and Robert Peston are perhaps the two most obvious examples of this. They have become the go-to-pundits for money saving and impending financial doom respectively.
What do these two have in common? Besides an in-depth knowledge of their subject, good journalistic skills and some flare for self promotion. They all have an audience which is pretty web literate.
It is fair to assume that Mr Peston’s business audience are likely to be tech savvy. Mr Lewis’s audience is less easy to identify but given that he has built his reputation off the back of a website, they are obviously big web users.
Is it possible to build a personal brand using web publishing (no-other means allows you to be a one man band in this way) in an area where the your audience is less tech savvy? The truly great brands, such as Coca Cola, have a recognition which goes further than their immediate customer base. Is it really possible for an individual to do this?
This study claims that web users are primarily 18-49, which seems fairly logical to me. So is it possible to sustain a self branded career if your audience is pensioners.
Taking the risk that is resorting to stereo type, I have tried to find any blogs or correspondents who write about crown-green bowls, this being synonymous with retirement. I have resolutely failed to do so. However i did turn up a number of news and views pages from local clubs or larger umbrella sites.
This in itself is far from conclusive. It's possible I've identified a gap in the market but i think it more likely that we are not about to turn the brand model on it's head just yet. Until the digital revolution reaches a larger spread of the population Mr Peston's brand is unlikely to rival that of coca-cola.
What do these two have in common? Besides an in-depth knowledge of their subject, good journalistic skills and some flare for self promotion. They all have an audience which is pretty web literate.
It is fair to assume that Mr Peston’s business audience are likely to be tech savvy. Mr Lewis’s audience is less easy to identify but given that he has built his reputation off the back of a website, they are obviously big web users.
Is it possible to build a personal brand using web publishing (no-other means allows you to be a one man band in this way) in an area where the your audience is less tech savvy? The truly great brands, such as Coca Cola, have a recognition which goes further than their immediate customer base. Is it really possible for an individual to do this?
This study claims that web users are primarily 18-49, which seems fairly logical to me. So is it possible to sustain a self branded career if your audience is pensioners.
Taking the risk that is resorting to stereo type, I have tried to find any blogs or correspondents who write about crown-green bowls, this being synonymous with retirement. I have resolutely failed to do so. However i did turn up a number of news and views pages from local clubs or larger umbrella sites.
This in itself is far from conclusive. It's possible I've identified a gap in the market but i think it more likely that we are not about to turn the brand model on it's head just yet. Until the digital revolution reaches a larger spread of the population Mr Peston's brand is unlikely to rival that of coca-cola.
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