Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

I've talked on the unfortunate Vanessa Hudgens story on a couple of my other blogs on how it will impact her as a brand and some things we need to do to protect ourselves or our company.

The best thing we can do is preventive maintenance rather than tryng to put out fires that may already be out of control. In the case of Vanessa, who has starred in the first two hit High School Musical movies, a private picture of her nude somehow ended up on the Internet and has been seen by an untold number of people.

With the Disney High School Musical brand portraying a wholesome lifestyle, she definitely has a problem. It'll be difficult to reconcile her online picture with what she how she is now perceived of as a brand. It doesn't help that she is in negotiations for the third installment of the franchise, having turned down a recent $1 million offer from Disney (DIS).

For personal or company brands, I don't think it has to be too difficult to understand the basics of branding, which to me is as simple as being who you say you are, and taking actions consistent with that assertion.

In our business climate I don't think we can live one private life and than live a different public one. It seems technology has changed that forever.

The way we keep out of trouble as a brand is to be who and what we say we are. Foundationally, I don't think it's any more difficult than that or harder to understand.

We can't say we represent one thing and then privately live another as a company or individual brand. Politicians get this wrong all the time, as their defenders always say what they do privately has no impact on their public service. Are you crazy? It has everything to do with public service.

For brands, we can keep out of a majority of trouble if who we say we are is what we are in reality. What people can't stand today is a fake. Even if you're a louse, if your brand is one of being a louse, people accept it. If you brand yourself as something different, and are still a louse, that's when people lose respect for an individual or company.

Consumers want you to be who you say you are, not surprise them behind the scenes.

If you want to keep from having to put out endless public relations fires, stay on the solid foundation of what you represent as an individual and a company. Make it one of your key responsibility and continually remind and communicate to your company what it is you are and hold to.

That should manage the vast majority of problems arising from brand confusion in the minds of people. Remember, a confused mind doesn't buy. And if you want brand buy-in by consumers, you need to make sure there's no confusion who you are as a company.

If we don't do that, we may find ourselves waking up one morning like Vanessa Hudgens and having our brand defined for us by someone else.