Brand Bolt: Your Olympic-Sized Greatness
The London 2012 Olympic Games are a true testament to those who, through much sacrifice and practice, put their minds and bodies through rigorous training, all with the goal of not only competing, but also winning gold.
Sportsmen and women have worked tirelessly for years in hopes of culminating in Olympic glory and being named the best in their discipline. One of the greatest on the track is Usain Bolt, born in Jamaica, the fastest man in the world and a BRAND MACHINE. He’s literally everywhere, but he didn’t get there with talent alone, but with a great team behind him and an icon mentality.
Bolt was recently interviewed by Mashable Entertainment regarding their latest iPhone gaming app, appropriately named BOLT. One of the answers he gave to the journalist’s question really resonated with me. Here it is below.
Why do it? Do you think athlete and brand themed mobile games are becoming a trend?
Bolt responded: “I see the game as an extension of my personal brand, just like my website and social media channels, so it made sense to me. I can definitely see more athletes going in this direction because it provides a new way to engage fans and create additional value for your brand.
Bolt is the person and Bolt is the brand. Everything he does is an extension of his brand. His name is now the value. With each new product, the identity and projection of your brand increases. I’ll explore this a bit further and show you how you too can incorporate this into your brand for phenomenal success.
All sports icons, including Muhammed Ali, who also participated in the 2012 London Olympics, have one thing in common: they believe in their greatness, in their icon. One of my slogans “Icons master the art of being unique, compelling and standout. Icons are profitable and outshine their competitors.” emphasizes a very special quality that all Icons possess, they are trendsetters and their brand is transferable to other industries.
Why is Brand Bolt so profitable and how can you incorporate this into your life, business and brand?
1) Your name: God blessed Bolt with an appropriate name to match his speed, it’s like he was predestined. Like lightning, this is Usain on the track, the fastest on the field. It is very important to have a name that clearly indicates who you are and what you do. You may not be as lucky as Bolt to be born with the most laudatory name for his brand, so take the time to brainstorm and come up with a name that’s memorable, one that clearly communicates who you are and what you do.
2) Personality: Usain is a true artist and has always loved his country Jamaica, food and dancing. All of these things and more were uniquely blended together to create the fabulous person we love on screen. Being authentic and charismatic will grab people’s attention and make them want to be like you and be around you. Like Bolt, can you find a way to bring more of your personality into your business, brand, or niche? It will certainly increase your sales and make you more profitable. Remember that people buy people, not products.
3) Pose – While others put on the more serious faces to emphasize their high level of focus, Bolt completely changed the game by playing for the cameras. He would smile and be funny, he would dance and make even the least confident person feel brave enough to shake a leg but most of all he would pose. It was the lightning strike pose that helped catapult his brand to the next level. The pose of him made him stand out and get an instant following. Suddenly everyone was doing the Usain ‘to the world’ pose. Think about where you stand in your industry, what is everyone doing that you can do differently? Spend some quality time finding your distinction, when you do you will become so attractive that many people will start following you.
4) Partnership: Usain and his team carefully choose what the Bolt brand is associated with, and unsurprisingly, it’s all been high-end and super fast. Think of the Virgin Media campaign he ran pretending to be Richard Branson for the fastest fiber optic broadband in company history or the Ferrari yellow sports car campaign. Now think about what your brand can be associated with that will reinforce your identity or message. Search for free companies and agencies. Take advantage of your credibility and take advantage of the value of your brand. Think about being transferable.
5) Relevant: Being your country’s Ambassador must be a real honor, but what’s also fascinating is that even the Prince of England desperately wants to be in your company. Earlier this year, Prince Harry visited the sunny island of Jamaica and couldn’t resist running with the world’s fastest man and, of course, striking his signature pose. This not only exposed the Bolt brand to the world stage once again, but also made it relevant and up-to-date. You need to be continually in the media and in front of your customers. What are you doing to be more relevant in your industry?
6) Be cool: You can’t be cool without being cool. You have to condition your mind and specialize in an area that you are constantly focusing on in order to be great. You have to meet the time. Practice makes skillful and skill makes great. Bolt had to find an area in which he could excel. He found running. Before running, his passion was cricket, but he had to choose one to be excellent. He could be good at both or EXCELLENT at one. So with a lot of practice and discipline he became the fastest man in the world. Don’t do anything you don’t think you can be good at. Once you get big, you get profitable, because the world can’t resist someone who’s big.
7) Trendsetter: Like his new app, Bolt was willing to do what others in his field hadn’t done yet. This point is simple, invent something new in your field or borrow the strength of another field and incorporate it into your own. Bolt brought the field of technological gaming into athletics, how innovative is that? Get creative and think outside the box.
It’s your time to take it to the next level to have an Olympic size brand and be great. Your world is waiting for you.