ourbrand

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My Personal Brand

I am Abdulrahman Bukhari,, a communications specialist, and a interior designer. My brand is determined by the career that I choose to engage in. The skills and knowledge that I have acquired over time contribute immensely in shaping my brand. I could not do anything as a communications professional without going to school and getting experience as a communications intern. Before getting down to work on something is feel good at or I feel honored to associate with, I had to go through a rigorous four-year study in college. In my freshman year, I choose to do interior design, and I thought I would make a huge impact as an interior designer. I wanted to make everything look suitable, and I wanted to improve the appearance of our homes, offices, and other aspects of life through creative design ideas. I learned how design and affects our lives, and I was very passionate about it.

However, I could not continue with the interior design after meeting my career adviser and a Saudi government official who insisted that I had to rebrand myself and consider the opportunities back in my country. I was informed that the Saudi government needed communications professionals to market the country in the world. Saudi Arabia is relatively known across the globe. It cannot be compared to the United States or the UK on the global stage in terms of business, diplomacy, tourism, and culture. Human capital is one of the major aspects of economic and cultural growth. I understood the need to change from interior and graphic design major to communication studies.

I have had an awesome experience as a communications professional. I have learned how human behavior is affected by many things. I have had a strong interest in studying cultures and reporting issues related to international activities. Media professionals usually contribute to changing people’s perspectives about different events, people or countries. For example, the Saudi Arabian government has focused in educating communication professionals to use them to improve public relations. I regard myself as a competent media professional who can advertise market and fix public relations for a certain organization. I have learned that almost what we see about companies is created by professionals who design company logos, people who brand commodities, advertisers, and marketers. I am focused on informing people and educating them on various aspects of life.

Bukhari Designs

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My Portfolio Experience On Personal Branding And Creative Strategies  by Rokayah Al Moaliem

Nowadays, it requires a great deal of effort to produce an effective advertisement that sells. Many factors can contribute to the success of a product or service. But the top of it is building a strong brand strategy through creative advertisement.

I’ve taken the time to compose this fundamental knowledge in a single album that I call: My Portfolio Experience On Brand Advertising And Creative Strategies.

Over the years, I developed a keen interest in advertising due to how it has helped and still shaping the modern world.

The sole purpose of brand advertising is to communicate by creating public awareness to establish and build strong connections and long-lasting relationships with consumers over time.

Here, the keyword is communication. This means that the success or failure of brand advertisement is determined by how the brand communicates with the public.

So, let me take you on tour as I will be showing you some of the fascinating experiences I garnered from relevant advertising classes so far.

Throughout my four-year study, research, and various theses at Lasell University, I learned the importance of, and how I can build an effective personal brand. This knowledge resonates so well with the communication classes that I took at Lasell. 

It also became clear that while planning to build my brand, I realized that personal brand is all about establishing a credible identity that connects with the public. All this can be achieved through a viable means of communication.

I hope to connect some of the courses I took at Lasell to how I intend to build a personal brand identity for my profession.

Personal Branding Begins With Good Communication 

I believe that communication processes are fundamental to human life, for it affects virtually every aspect of our life. Many of the classes I took at Lasell provided me with the opportunities needed to develop practical communication skills. For instance, I learned how to articulate my thoughts in a clearly written form.

The early stages of my study were challenging. However, numerous class presentations, such as Human communication, helped develop my verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Besides, it's just what I needed for basic communication skills as I look to establishing a personal brand for myself in the coming future.

The road to building a personal brand can be chaotic. Intercultural communication and communication research classes are two fundamental classes that helped shape my knowledge on this crucial path to successful branding.

Personal Branding And Social Media Tech

There’s been a lot of buzz about branding and social media. These days, branding and social media are like bread and cheese. They compliment each other so well with the actual result to back it up. After all, the result is all that matters the most in branding.

In one of my most recent classes, I did a project that significantly influenced my creativity on social media branding. The project involved a case study on one of my favorites brands – UGG company. 

For a specific target audience, I focused on creating brand awareness for the UGG boots product line.There are three essential elements I must considered in order to achieve this goal. 

I followed each process (this includes situation analysis, creative brief, and creative execution). 

I conducted in-depth background research to get an insight into the company. The class walked me through the processes of creating an effective and compelling social media profile.

Developing An Effective Marketing Strategy For Personal Brand

All the talks about building a personal brand without a marketing strategy in place would be pointless. In my marketing strategy class (COM 330), I saw how crucial it is for every organization to consider some ethical questions that surround marketing strategies. 

Applying these strategies would aid me in creating successful customer engagement. Also, I learned much about strategic thinking and handling competitors.

Let me share with you one practical project that helped my strategic thinking concerning building effective marketing practices. I did a project on Nike’s Air Jordan.

The “Nike Air Jordan” Marketing Strategy Project

Much could be admired about how Nike could still maintain stable ground in the sports market despite fierce competition from the likes of Adidas and Under Armor.

There’s one undebatable fact; social media is an essential piece to creating successful marketing.

Becoming a successful advertising manager requires developing and combining a variety of digital skills, including creative design. One of my classes highlighted the importance of innovative design in the way of appealing to the right audience.

I developed relevant digital skills in creative design best practices. One such digital skill taught me how to use InDesign software to design a simple advertising poster for a perfume brand with women as the target audience. 

At this point, several questions begin to run through my mind. How do I design a poster that would portray Dior Perfume the way it is – a high-end luxury fragrance for women. Yet, the advertisement must persuade consumers that a less expensive Dior fragrance can be just as desirable as the costly ones. 

Again, how do I communicate to consumers that they can buy this product at Macy’s?. So, I put my thinking cap on and began to put some essential things into consideration.

From what I came up with within the poster, the goal is to show that even younger women with low income can equally afford to buy this new line of Dior fragrance with the same global appeal.

The Applebee’s Grill & Bar projects is yet another classwork that enhanced my marketing skills both in creating and designing an effective restaurant menu.

For example, I learned the importance of product priority and writing clear and concise content descriptions. Did I also mention that I dabbled a little into the copywriting niche? Let me show a few fascinating things I did in the Applebee’s Grill & Bar’s menu. 

I highlighted the bestselling items first and placed are neatly arranged in categories, each with its pricing tag.

For this project, you would probably notice that I have made significant improvements with my graphic design skill.

Intercultural And Professional Communication Classes Helped Shaped My View On Group Work And Collaborations

Working alongside my classmates has exposed me to a new culture, new people, unique personalities, and new ideas. It does not matter my ability and skill; team collaboration is crucial. 

The truth is, I may not be the outspoken type of person, but I learned to be more social, accept people, and see the uniqueness of each group member. From my group members, I learned how to use new digital tools and how best to approach projects.

About a year ago, with my group, we did a “Care on the Go Advertising Campaign”  project for the “Envior Natural SkinCare” product. The product exposed me to making in-depth research such as product research, company research, competitive research, before starting on a project.

The Go Advertising Campaign Care on “Envior Natural SkinCare”

From the project, I understand the big concept and practices of advertising, such as brand mission statement, target market, and campaign strategy. Getting the right campaign strategy is the most challenging part of the project. 

This allows me to apply some of the things I learned in class, but we have to get through it together as a group. For instance, we have to think about creating a unique brand identity from color matching to logo design, to social media ads, and media planning.

The good thing, though, is that collaborative effort paid off. We delegated the project in bits and agreed on an agreed time for submission. Each member was able to bring ideas to the table, and this helped me a lot.

Learning From Experts In The Field Of Advertising

At some point in my life, I had to meet with the experts to tap from their vast wealth of experience. Thankfully, one of my courses opened the door of opportunity. Along the way, my experience further develop my skills in personal branding as a communication tool. I undertook an assignment in the field to interview with Prof. Frank Irizarry.

He is the Assistant Professor at Suffolk University, who has had over 25 years of experience in the Advertising profession. In my interview with Professor Irizarry, I learned a great deal from his experience in advertising and public relations.

Among many things that stood to me were his passion, resilience, creativity, and readiness to accept scrutiny from others. He then advised me to be creative and focus more on group testing.

I would not fail to mention that Prof. Irizarry has an excellent eye for innovative and effective advertising. He would always refer to the acronym “MMP” which means “message, medium, public,” alluding to the importance of synchronizing these three concepts to make compelling media choices.

The professor equally stressed that to be successful in the advertising field, it is essential to get people to buy a product—and that is what measures the effectiveness of the advertisement. 

Above all, I must state that the conversation I had with Prof. Irizarry was an excellent eye-opener for me, and I gained new insight into what it takes to be a successful professional advertising Manager.

Then comes another expert I learned from, the author of the book, The Creative Process Illustrated: How Advertising Big Ideas Are Born. Early in the semester, I took a course on creative advertising. 

For one thing, I’ll admit that the book helped mirror down the process of advertising so tightly that I can see the solutions to advertising challenges right before my eyes. 

The book got me hooked by the way it examines how different creative directors, advertising copywriters, and some other great artists and thinkers tackle the problem of being creative.

The book illustratively inspired me to visualize my search for a great idea in the advertising industry. A part of the book says: “Creativity is advertising’s most valuable resource.” How true that statement was! While self-creativity is crucial, I learned that I could also get an insight into another person’s creative ideas to help polish my own.

Something else I gleaned from the book is that I need to develop skills beyond just putting my ideas into writing, crafting the ideas out like a graphic designer. Above all, the book is quite insightful and full of creative perks, especially for an aspiring advertising manager like me. 

So, I worked more on improving my creativity. Gradually, I began to learn that I would need some tough skin to be creative and to stay relevant in the advertising field.

Content creating is one of the toughest challenges I have. First, my English needs to stay sharp for people to read and respond to the message I’m trying to pass across. 

Then again, content creation is not all about what I want but what my target audience want. With my little knowledge and skills gathered from relevant courses in school, I saw where exactly to improve and to work hard to being consistent.

Final Thoughts

Above it all, brand advertisement is about creativity and putting ideas to work. I know I still have a lot to learn and improve on. But what matters most is that I keep learning and developing in my skills.

[ourbrand]

My Personal Brand Identity by Alexa Morreale

As a communication student, personal branding plays a huge role in future success in your career. 

Personal branding is a way that you present yourself as a professional. Creating a personal brand for yourself allows you to network without others. You can do this by having social media accounts such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or having business cards. Another way is having a website showing who you are and having your portfolio displayed. Also if you are into writing then having a blog is an excellent way to create a personal brand. Blogging shows what you are interested in, your voice, personality, and more. 

When I first started college I was an Interior design major. This caused me to brand myself in a different way than I do now. I had a resume that was more creative, colorful, and artistic. I had made social media accounts for my interior design projects and work. Then in my sophomore year of college, I had switched my major to communications causing me to have to rebrand myself. I deleted my image as an interior designer by deleting my social media accounts and changing the appearance of my resume. I had to start from scratch and build myself up and who I am as a communications student. 

Personal branding is important because it is what separates you from the company you work for. It represents who you are as an individual. The most important thing to remember when making a personal brand for yourself is being truly authentic. Finding what makes you who you are and then showing that is the best way to be authentic. You want to find a way to amplify yourself but its important to remember to always be consistent. You don’t want to present yourself in multiple different tones. That makes you look less authentic and makes it seem like you aren’t sure about who you are and what you are passionate about and interested in. 

Being social and interacting with others is another important role when creating a personal brand because it shows that you are putting yourself out there, networking, and expanding yourself. This is such a big deal because you are making these connections and sharing these connections that you made increasing the number of people are interested in connecting with you. This will grow your reach and following which allows you to become known to create your personal brand to become stronger and bigger.

I have acquired a set of skills that make me who I am as communications professional throughout my college years. My experience outside the classroom has led me to take what I have learned from my various classes and then apply it in a real-life situation. I had an internship at a small company Ame& Lulu which is located in Newton, MA. They are a lifestyle brand that sells golf, tennis, and other lifestyle accessories. They distribute their products from there to various boutiques and other third parties as well as their customers. This played a huge role in my internship because they focus so much on clientele I did a lot of hands-on work communicating with clients and prospective clients. They sell a lot of their totes to company’s and embroider company’s logos onto the totes which result in them to focus a lot on their client database. I also had to contact various companies from their client base and confirm that the contact information that we had for them was still the same. 

 I was able to take skills that I learned from my principles of marketing class such as how to sell products and understanding of different types of markets. This was extremely helpful in my internship and understanding each product and how their golf products were marketed towards their golf clients such as golf courses pro shops or sports stores such as Dicks. Compared to their lifestyle totes were marketed towards clients such as companies who can embroider with their logo or boutiques or stores such as TJ Maxx. Another class I was able to take the skills I learned from was media relations which prepared me on how to communicate professionally and appropriately in a communications professional work environment. This was especially helpful when I would construct emails to send to clients or prospective clients. Lastly, a class that I found to be helpful was public speaking because it taught me how to have clear communication skills. This was something I used when having to communicate in person or talk on the phone with clients or prospective clients. Taking all of these skills I learned and applying them into my internship allowed me to develop these skills further. This enabled me to now take these skills and build up my personal brand.

Furthering my personal brand identity I have made a website that displays my portfolio, my blog, and more about me. This will show who I am and what my interests are along with my skill set. I also have an Instagram account that is specifically for my photography work and twitter account that goes along with that. I have a passion for photography and I want that to be shown and expressed in my personal brand identity. I also have a LinkedIn where I do a lot of my networking and making connections with people that are doing things that I am interested in. I have my website linked in my LinkedIn profile and have my previous work experience listed along with my skills. I also have a picture of Boston that I took myself as my background to show my interest in Boston and photography. I think that these are all a great start to my personal brand identity and I plan to develop my personal brand further as I go into my professional career. My next plan I want to work on and develop is my blog on my website. I want to make social media accounts that go along with my blog to increase attention and its presence. I think this will be beneficial to my personal brand because it will really show who I am and my writing skills and more. I plan to make sure that my social media accounts with my blog will be truly authentic so it captures my personality and what I am interested in and maintains my personal brand identity effectively.

Below are some screenshots from my website where I have samples of my photography, typography work, and my blog....

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My Personal Brand Identity Hannah Akerly

What is Personal Branding to Me?

Your personal brand and identity define who you are as an individual, it’s what makes you unique and special. College and the path you choose to pursue can truly define who you will be once those 4 years are over. When I first started applying to schools, I had no idea what path I was going to take. I took on Communication as a major because I knew I loved writing, I was good at it, and I thought it was a broad enough field that I would hopefully find a passion to pursue within it. I never knew that path I took would give me all the experiences I am so grateful for and the new skills it has brought me as well. My personal brand is those unique skills, experiences and personality traits that college has shaped me into and brought out in me that the media world should and will look out for. My story for how I became who I am, how I developed my brand and identity starts when I first arrived on campus. 

Finding my Concentration

I first started out as a media entertainment focus major but I knew something about that field wasn’t quite right for me. I had a creative mind where I was constantly thinking, developing and creating. I have a talent for art and design and I wanted to harness that skill and mold into something more. Growing up I knew I always wanted to pursue something creative and make work that other people and the world would love. Finally, halfway through my freshman year I met with my advisor and I made the bold decision to switch my focus to creative advertising. I knew it would be the perfect fit and to top it off I added a graphic design minor to develop and strengthen my design skills. I figured the combination would be extremely complimentary and would allow me to explore and achieve great things in my field. Choosing to become an advertising focus student and have a graphic design minor was the best decision I ever made. Through the four years at Lasell University I discovered the power strong advertising can have on the world and I am truly passionate about the work I create for companies and brands alike. Furthermore, I truly found a niche skill in graphic design work. For me at least, it’s something I never thought I would pursue, let alone be a professional at and sought after for guidance. This was the path I chose to pursue, and I knew it was right for me the minute I sat down in my first advertising class all those years ago. 

My Experience

Yes, I was scared and yes, I had moments of doubt that I could ever succeed in a field where your only job is to always be creating and developing, but then my professor told me that there is never a bad idea, there are only ideas that can be crafted and molded into something more powerful and intriguing. It all starts with an idea and it grows from there. My very first advertising class was my sophomore year and I was so nervous, but sitting there it felt right. We had a project where we had to develop a campaign for a brand and my group was assigned the cereal brand Special K. *see images 1-4 below*.  I never had more fun and felt more creative freedom than in that assignment compared to any other assignment before. Our ideas were constantly bouncing off each other and growing into something bigger and better. We turned the brand Special K into something no one expected and everyone thought it was genius. It was once known as a cereal made only for women only but we decided to expand its market and advertise it for everyone and anyone. It was a revolutionary idea and we were truly proud of the work we created and how hard we worked so tirelessly on developing it. 

I had many more assignments such as my first one. I had to redesign brands such as Lush *see images 5-8 below* and even deconstruct brand identities. Throughout my years at Lasell I had extensive training in breaking down the methodology behind campaigns and why brands market them in the way that they do. It’s like solving a riddle, breaking down every little detail and strategy of a brand is very alluring. After learning how to break down a campaign strategy and analyze a target market, I can now successfully engage them into the professional world. 

My Professional Experience

In my time at Lasell I was successfully hired at two social media and marketing based internships. Those internships were both extremely different but both prepared me for what is to come after graduation. I learned that I was hired not only for my social media and marketing skills but also my strong graphic design background. At those internships I was able to create content for two very different types of industries. One internship was for an industrial manufacturing company while the other was finance, but both were very crucial in the development of my personal brand identity. During my internships I worked in client relations, researched social media strategies to gain followers and engagement, created design work for each companies’ social platforms and also used a web designer to develop and transform their websites into something greater than they were before. All the work I did for these two companies allowed me to gain personal brand awareness and how to work within two differing demographics to understand their needs and wants. I also learned that to succeed in the marketing industry you have to be able to adapt quickly and learn how to immerse yourself into a brand identity in order to successfully create campaigns and content that will successfully reach the desired demographic along with growing the brand as a whole. I never thought I would work in the fields that I did, but I found it a privilege as they helped me gain experience and knowledge that will place me above others that I may be competing for a job with in the future. I am able to say that I’ve worked in fields that don’t necessarily involve an agency but instead I worked in house and created content for not only a business to business company but also a business to consumer company. That is something not many graduates are able to say they did at our age and that makes me a few steps and skills ahead of them. 

What Makes Up my Personal Brand Identity

I found that after my four years at Lasell University I grew not only as a creative advertising focus and a graphic designer but also as a person. I grew to stand up for myself and really chase what I desire. I gained confidence as a designer and learned where my niche skill set lies. Classes such as effective speaking, media ethics, professional communication, media literacy and all of my advertising and graphic design classes have prepared me for what is to come. Yet, I’m sure you’re asking yourself what is it that makes me unique and makes up my personal brand identity? Well it’s my desire to succeed, my professional identity, my creativity and work ethic to create bigger and better things that make me who I am. I have changed so much since first coming to the University’s campus and I have learned that public speaking isn’t so scary that I can effectively share my ideas and campaign projects to a future agency or a client. My advertising classes have taught me not only the basics of the world I am soon to be immersed into but also the importance of understanding who it is you are trying to market to. Lasell has also taught me how to put myself into the mindset of others and understanding what they are thinking, feeling and wanting. As a new graduate this is key in becoming successful in a field such as mine. Then to compliment that skill is the ability to relay specific information in a creative way that the world and consumers will be engaged in along with getting consumers to talk about the company or product. This is one of my strongest skills. Creating work that gets people talking, and the spreading of brand identity through word is the most powerful and effective type of advertising. With my graphic design skills that I have mastered over the last four years, I can enter the industry confident knowing I can create persuasive and engaging work that will leave a lasting and successful impression on the consumer and bring positivity back to the brand. 

Having a liberal arts education has made me a well-rounded individual with skills in different types of fields. A strength that I am most proud of is my writing skills. Working with the school newspaper, it has taught me the importance of meeting deadlines, how to tell a persuasive and engaging story and how to work more efficiently and collaboratively, which has led me to be a powerful writer and storyteller adding even more uniqueness to my brand identity. So, I have the design skills, I have the marketing skills and I also have the professional skills to succeed in the media world. Yet, there is one more skill I have not yet discussed that is key in my brand identity and that is my media literacy skills. Understanding the media world from all different perspectives is crucial in not only being a successful marketer and designer, but also being relatable to the media consumers. Consumers love something or someone they can relate to in the media industry. I understand the media world from a journalism perspective, an entertainment media perspective and a public relations perspective. I have experience in all forms of media and I use those skills in my work. All that I have learned through my internships and classes at Lasell along with my skills makes up my personal brand identity. 

I have also attached below graphic design work done for classes and my internships. Such as infographics, invitations and social media posts.