How Build Personal Brand: Main Tips

1. Create a brand symbol

In essence, a good logo is an image to which each customer can add their own understanding. By choosing a less unambiguous logo, you make the buyer think and get the opportunity to fill this symbol with a new and unexpected meaning.

Mark drew this:

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The meaning of this logo, like all good logos, goes from the surface to the depth. Yes, it is convenient from a graphic point of view: it is quite symmetrical, has clearly defined lines, it is easy to replicate. The very anatomy of the rhinoceros reflects the values of the Ecko Unltd company — hardness on the outside and softness on the inside. A rhinoceros has strong skin and a big, strong heart.

Soon the brand began to be recognized, and Mark decided to expand the meaning of this symbol. From an icon indicating streetwear, the Ecko logo has grown into a banner of current culture. The rhinoceros helped to avoid the narrowness of the assortment.

Mark's brand sponsored themed club events. There was also a rhinoceros at the parties of the rollers. Even if the guys from Ecko were just attending shows or fashion shows, they were showing off the rhino there too. Soon, the picture became a label, which allows you to instantly learn about the brand.

2. Bribe the "gatekeeper"

"Gatekeepers" stand between you and your chosen path. These are restless people. They are the legislators of opinion, the sages, the last instance that evaluates one's taste and preferences. In fashion, your last "watchman" will be Anna Wintour - the editor of Vogue magazine. In hip-hop, probably Kanye West.
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Bilal, Capone, Mark Eco and Kanye West at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

Mark has been trying to reach thought leaders since his first day on the market. At first, they were leaders of street parties, then DJs, rappers. He created advertising bombs in which he put T-shirts or sweatshirts with portraits of celebrities.

The trick is that when a famous performer appeared in his clothes at his concert, and the DJ thanked the crowd of thousands, it had almost no effect on the development of Mark's brand.

Even when he received hundreds of orders a day, he simply could not process them on his own. Only after the organization and adjustment of production processes, communication with opinion leaders — organization of exhibitions, parties, participation in charity evenings — began to be truly effective.

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What he said finally matched what he did.

How to work with professionals — advice from Mark Eco:

• Don't flatter yourself. Just take a bow. They get annoyed when you act like a bigot. And it's distracting if they have to act as a teacher instead of a partner.
• Clearly define your business goals. Your relationship with a professional is defined not by the amorphous word "cooperation", but by common business goals. Always outline the finish line in your mind.
• Don't wait for mentorship. Yes, you want to learn something from them. But this process should be natural. Therefore, create conditions for them in which they can show themselves from the best side.
• Don't project your admiration. Don't expect them to love you just because you love them.
• Don't brag about your partnership. Never use professional names as a bargaining chip for status. The only proof of success can be the high demand for products that are the result of your cooperation. Don't assume that working with thought leaders will earn you an "excellent" badge.

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Eco Collection in the style of "Star Wars", created in collaboration with George Lucas

3. Scale

Since you usually can't compete with the giants in your industry, try to talk to those who are likely to become your clientele. This will engage them in a dialogue with you. For example, if you are a beginner and dream of starting a second Facebook, you can start by creating new branches on the open source service GitHub. Look for repeat customers from the very beginning.
Eco worked with loyal customers and whetted market appetites, provoking conversations in which people could shape and change their perception of him and what he does.

Of course, this happened not only at offline parties:

• In 1997, Mark Ecko negotiated the appearance of the Ecko team in football simulators from EA Sports. The implementation of this idea did not require large costs and was effective in the cost/conversion ratio;
• Eko created the computer game Getting Up, where he used the works of Banksy for the first time in mass culture, ahead of the fashion for his works;
• he allowed graffiti artists to paint a model of an entire subway train in the heart of New York, proving in court that graffiti is art, not vandalism;
• Mark started one of the first viral videos by filming an imitation home video of an artist painting the US president's plane.

To create this video (its main purpose is to advertise Mark's next game), it was necessary not only to use a similar plane, but also to use scenery imitating the area where the number one board is usually parked.

However, there were times when Mark thought no marketing at all was better marketing.

Due to the spread of social networks, there is an illusion that you can create your own brand by typing 140 characters. But it is not so. It is worth thinking about what a brand can do without social networks, and make it so that it can sustain itself at the expense of its own actions.
Everything was fine with the distribution of the main products. When street style clothes in India, Pakistan and China took a place no less important than jeans of good brands, Eko arranged the supply there.

But Mark had plans for a company that would define people's lifestyles. And what kind of lifestyle can you talk about if you only do T-shirts?

Nike doesn't just make sneakers. They embodied a religion based on three words: "Just do it."
Once at the Odesa airport, the co-owner of the Ecko brand, Seth Gerzhberg, saw a small duty-free shop. Montblanc pens, Smirnoff vodka, Toblerone chocolate, and a whole mountain of Guess watches were displayed in the window, the brand then merged with Timex.

Seth called Mark Eko from the airport:
- How did Guess get to the point of selling watches in Odessa?
- How do I know?
— Can you imagine, Odesa! Do you think the owner of the Guess brand has ever been to Odessa? We need to get Timex to cooperate.

Two years later, Timex began producing the Ecko watch.

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Yes, licensing or licensing a brand in exchange for a license fee has a bad reputation. It is believed that if you go for it, the logo will be slapped on the underwear and it will turn the brand into a cheap one. If you are not careful, this can happen.

But at the same time, licensing itself opened up new opportunities for the Ecko brand. It expanded the field of his activity and significantly increased the power of psychological influence on the market.

Initially, eight out of ten partners of Eko, to whom he transferred the brand licenses, were little-known middle-class women. But he increasingly approached good brands with proposals for cooperation. Soon, revenue from licensing alone exceeded $50 million.

Over time, Eco had more and more diverse ideas, which, however, he did not try to unite under one name. A separate brand was created for each idea. First of all, the symbol of the Ecko brand was the rhinoceros. Now that new brands were launched in this rhino's sphere of influence, it became necessary for people to recognize the face of their creator.

4. Understand the rules of the global world

When you go international, interesting things come out. For example, a trademark with the same name has existed in some country for 80 years. Letter to letter.

Mark Milkovski (his company was originally called Echo Unltd) had to appeal to representatives of Echo Design — manufacturers of home accessories and umbrellas. In order to preserve the business, he changed the name of the brand, and now also his own surname.

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Even Ralph Lauren was once Ralph Lifshitz :)

The second challenge of the global market is dishonest contractors. Mark made clothes in factories in China, and their managers often delayed deliveries or simply pushed through their fraudulent schemes.

The third threat is the copying of symbols and counterfeiting of goods. But if official enterprises copying brand elements can still be leveraged (although Ecko is still trying to close a number of "its" stores in Asia), then it is almost impossible to deal with millions of "pirated copies" of products.

Timex Group CEO Cindy Livingston advises to just accept it:

You should not be upset if you see fakes of your goods in China. The appearance of fakes in China shows that the brand has crossed the ocean, crossed the language barrier. People spend time, effort and material resources to make fakes. Your task is to break into the legal market to claim your piece of the pie.
The fourth demon is, rather, inside the creator of the brand, which is going to conquer the world. It is a stereotypical attitude towards the mainstream - it is fashionable to despise it. Many perceive the mainstream as something very familiar, ordinary, without the slightest provocation. That's why they don't like it.

Along with all this, you must constantly declare yourself. One good way is to send emails. In order to find new mailing addresses, you should use special tools, such as https://getprospect.com/email-finder, which will help you find email addresses for free. This will help you to always keep your brand in front of people.

In fact, people are overcome with anxiety: they are afraid to do something that can proclaim "I am the most important" or "I am in charge." They cannot presume to claim that their efforts can determine course, trend, or direction.

5. Think of emergency exits

Young entrepreneurs usually loudly declare that they will never leave the business. But if you know how to proceed if necessary, you will make a more perfect plan for the development of the company, predicting optimal ways to mitigate the consequences of possible losses. This will allow you to better understand the market on a micro level. After all, in business, someone eats alone, and someone is eaten.
When Eko was in a difficult situation due to a breakdown of agreements with contractors, Ralph Lauren, Nautica and Levi's wanted to buy his brand. The question about the price came to the first place.

One rough way to value a company is to multiply gross revenues by an "industry multiple." This is a measure of how much companies comparable to yours are worth on a scale of 1 to 10. If this ratio is 5, with gross revenues of $10 million, the company would be worth about $50 million in the market. After the initial assessment, other factors enter into the process: loans, competitive offers, obligations. As a result, the value of the business is formed.

After many years of essentially single-handedly owning the business, Mark traded the investment from Iconix for 51% equity in his brands and now takes a stake as the face of the brand.

Think Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, still owns the company? There is no individual who owns more than 5% of Nike's shares. Does this make Phil Knight or the company any less authentic? Does this mean that he sold himself? You don't need to own all the stock to really own your brand.
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Mark Eco's office

Conclusions

According to the experience of Mark Eco, every author of a personal brand should:

1. Give up shortcuts.
2. Follow the 10,000 hour rule.
3. Find partners.
4. Master the entire production process.
5. Learn new technologies.
6. Create a brand symbol.
7. Bribe the "gatekeepers".
8. Scale up.
9. Understand the rules of the world market.
10. Think of alternate exits.

Of course, the book "I am a brand. The formula for success” is not really about that. Like the authors of this video , I deliberately missed all the joys and troubles that accompany brand building, and the main question: is the owner of a personal brand happy as a person?

Get distracted.

Ukraine war: Mass exhumations at Izyum forest graves site

In a pine forest at the edge of Izyum the stench of death filled the air as a mass exhumation got under way.

The earth is giving up its secrets. Ukrainian officials believe war crimes have been committed, which they are determined to document.

Around 100 Ukrainian emergency service workers wearing blue plastic coverings dug into the earth, opening makeshift graves.

They are trying to establish the cause of death of hundreds of people buried in a forest at the edge of the city, recently liberated by advancing Ukrainian forces.

Izyum, invaded in April, was used by Russia as a key military hub to supply its forces from the east.

The exhumation was conducted mostly in silence, as police and prosecutors looked on. One officer put his head in his hands. Another walked away.

Kharkiv regional prosecutor Olexander Ilyenkov says there is no doubt war crimes have been committed here.

"In the first grave, there is a civilian who has a rope over her neck. So we see the traces of torture," he told the BBC.

He said almost everyone died because of Russian soldiers.

"Some of them were killed, some were tortured, some were killed because of Russian Federation air and artillery strikes."

Ukraine was determined to show this disturbing sight to the world. Convoys of international journalists were brought to watch on.

The burial ground - beside an existing cemetery - contains row after row of graves, marked by crude wooden crosses.

Names were written on a few, but most were marked only by a number. The burials here were carried out under the orders of the Russians when they were in control.

Ukrainian police say there are 445 new graves at the site, but some contain more than one body. It's unclear how all of them died. Many are said to be civilians, women and children among them.

Prosecutors say some were killed by Russian shelling and others were victims of a Russian airstrike on an apartment block in March, in which 47 people were killed.

Officials say one grave contained around 20 soldiers, some with their hands bound and one with a noose around his neck. The body of a man in military uniform was exhumed and zipped into a white body bag.

As the graves were opened there were sporadic explosions in the distance as the security forces worked to de-mine the area.

72-year-old Hryhorii came to the burial site today to see the grave of his wife, Ludmilla. He told us she was killed on 7 March during heavy shelling in Izyum.

He first had to bury her in the yard of their home, then she was reburied in August. Now her remains will be disturbed once again.

It's only now, since the Russians have been pushed out, that Ukraine can carry out detailed investigations here, and can determine how many victims the occupiers left behind.

A woman who lived opposite the forest told us Russians troops had kept locals away from the cemetery.

A local man named Maxim appeared at the burial site, asking journalists to record his account of torture.

He said he was detained by the Russians in early September, and released by Ukrainian forces when they arrived in Izyum last Saturday (10 September).

He showed us the marks on his wrists caused by handcuffs, and said he had been subjected to electric shocks.

A senior advisor to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC evidence of torture was found in some areas recently retaken by Ukrainian forces.

"We saw wildly frightened people who were kept without light, without food, without water, and without the right to justice," Mykhailo Podolyak said.

Kharkiv prosecutor Mr Ilyenkov said several similar burial sites had been found in areas recently retaken by Ukrainian forces.

US national security spokesman John Kirby said reports of the graves in Izyum were "horrifying" but "in keeping with the kind of depravity and the brutality with which Russian forces have been prosecuting this war against Ukraine".

"We're going to continue to actively support efforts to document war crimes and atrocities that Russian forces commit in Ukraine and to assist national and international efforts to identify and hold Russians accountable," he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned "in the strongest possible terms" what he described as the "atrocities" committed in Izyum.

British lawyer Nigel Povoas, who specialises in the prosecution and investigation of major international and transnational crime and who has just returned from Izyum, told the BBC's Newshour he would not be surprised if the exhumations revealed evidence of war crimes.

"I think that the early signs at the moment - although it's very very early - is that some of the bodies have died from shelling or malnutrition and a lack of healthcare," he said. "But as normal bodies are tested and the cause of death determined, I would expect there to be also evidence of torture and executions, because it follows a pattern of what's been happening in the occupied territories."

War in Ukraine: More coverage

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• ON THE GROUND: What weapons are being supplied to Ukraine?
• READ MORE: Full coverage of the crisis