Unharvested potential spied in personal branding

Former newscaster Judit Stáhl is a notable example, according to Iván Gábor, managing director of Café Advertising Kft. She has gone on to host a televised cooking show and publish a series of cookery books capitalizing on her name recognition.

Gábor also mentions TV host Anett Fehér, known as Anettka. Her methods of self-promotion have included hosting talk shows completely unclothed on local channel Budapest TV, and founding a political party under her own name.

“Like her or not, Anettka has been building her own brand in a constant and conscientious way,” agrees János Serényi, managing director of advertising agency McCann Erickson Budapest Kft. “And it seems she has no problems with exchanging it for forints.”

Serényi cites another case in point: swimming champion Krisztina Egerszegi.

“Her brand value as a sportswoman, stemming from her outstanding results, was converted to economic value, with Pharmavit Rt building one of its marketing campaigns on it,” says Serényi.

Personal brands can sometimes be part of a TV channel’s general strategy, explains Péter Herman, head of the creative department of nationwide commercial channel RTL Klub.
“Personal brands are a key element in some of our shows – Mónika, Balázs and Fábry Showder,” he says.

“We’re building on names in order to establish an emotional link between viewers and the show. The host becomes a ‘friend’ of regular viewers,” he says.

In the case of Fábry Showder, host Sándor Fábry lends his identity to the marketing of an evening comedy program.
“Fábry’s program is a one-man comedy show. Using his name as a brand was a most obvious choice,” Herman says.
Another TV host and media figure, Sándor Friderikusz, is a prime example of conscious and consistent self-promotion, in the view of Péter Morenth, communications director of corporate training and consulting firm Develor Rt.

Friderikusz used to work as a journalist, before rising to fame with his entertainment shows and other programs in a more serious vein, such as the reportage series Az én mozim (“My cinema”). Currently, he hosts MTV’s news magazine show A Szólás Szabadsága (“The freedom of speech”).

As for participants in reality TV shows, a small minority of them are engaged in conscious brand building, according to Adrienn Dobsi, head of communications for RTL Klub’s fly-on-the-wall Való Világ.

“The majority of players apply for the show simply out of exhibitionism,” she says. “On the other hand, some of them have a clear idea how to convert their fame to forints. One of the participants in the second series, Elvis, literally banked on his future fame. He established a tattoo and piercing salon with a bank loan, knowing that becoming a celebrity would help him reimburse it.”

The experts agree that the possibilities of personal brand building are not being fully used in Hungary.

“Conscious and consistent personal brand building and management is not common practice in Hungary,” Gábor says.

Plenty of marketing potential resides in personal brands, but it is not being taken advantage of, according to Serényi.
“The fact that there are, as yet, few examples of successful personal branding can be put down to the inability of market players to use this tool effectively, rather than the lack of potential,” Serényi says. “For example, a top sportsman should never say ‘I’m tired of sponsorship proposals.’ There should be professional management around to jump on every worthy opportunity.”

Serényi complains that there is a lack of experts in this field of marketing.

“Above a certain level, a person’s brand can only be developed further with the help of a team of such experts,” he maintains.

Morenth agrees, underlining that this latter renders personal brands a costly marketing tool.

Morenth also mentions one of the possible reasons for the relative unpopularity of personal brands.

“The tradition of personal branding goes back to the ’50s, when it ran under the name ‘personality cult’. That might be why some people find the whole concept dubious,” he says.
As for how to create and maintain a personal brand, Gábor says it is much the same as with other types of brand.
Consistency is an important element of brand building, Gábor says.

“Once someone has managed to build a brand image, it must be maintained and supported so that its message remains the same,” he says. “The linear extension of brands carries the possibility that the brand will lose its distinctive meaning.”

According to Gábor, former professional boxing world champion István “Ko-Ko” Kovács has made this mistake.
“[Kovács’] brand building was spectacular,” he says. “But the same brand cannot support a television show, an insurance company, a car brand and a residential park at the same time, or even successively.”

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