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We all know the trademark turtleneck of Steve Job but he also had his favourite work shoes, the Balance 992. Personal branding has become quite important these days. Even Sundar Pichai has trademarked his simple image in a class of his own. Considering that the founders of Google were never seen in the limelight, Sundar actually came in as a torchbearer of a whole new generation of bright minds. If Steve (was) = Apple and Tim Cook stepping into the formers’ shoes in his own unique style whilst still maintaining the aura of the legacy that was created, Google actually showed a more oligopoly structure of stakeholders that the company represents. It also reflects on how Google has introduced its new product launches.
Work style and work culture is all going through a change that was never foreseen. As ‘normals’ are being reset so would people’s comfort levels of getting into someone else’s shoes or wearing a different hat.
Work culture has changed over time since ‘smart casual’ became fashionable in contemporary times. It has a direct bearing on the company’s, products and services that are promoted. We have a lot of examples of this in India.
Brands (per se) can fit into many shoes and work culture itself has spawned a number of stories on corporate values that have motivated the youth, aspiring to build a career.
Just like the six thinking hats, shoe types can be a metaphor for illustrating different working styles that characterises personal branding, corporate culture and perhaps brand positioning?



4. Broque: I fancy a bit of style, a bit of panache, launching a new innovation. Putting my best foot forward to keep the momentum, wrapping up and closing deals for a profitable quarterly review.
5. Brown loafers: I sometimes have a lazy day. Days when you want to spend to get your creative juices flowing. I also need to think ‘outside of the box’. There are some challenges that evidently need a different approach. Take a detour and find newer ways!
6. Blue Suede shoes: The party shoes as I would say, my Elvis Presley moment. The hard work is done and dusted. I want to wander into my personal time, go a bit footloose as the hard working week wanes into a play hard weekend.
7. Daily shoes: If I have not hit the jog or my physical regimen then I am not at my best. I must get into those pair as that really decides how decisive my day is going to be. But some people use this to work every day like Steve Jobs! He was a 24/7-marathon runner, a constant innovator.

Similarly, every project is about breaking down the task. Each task might be different in the way we approach it, quite like Edward de Bono’s 6 thinking hats.
Today, lot of marketers are not talking about brand building in the traditional framework that shaped our thinking in the early days of advertising. If WOM is the strongest medium, then the product should stand the test of time with continuous innovation. Steve did a good job on this and few others like him. But the Chinese copycats caught on pretty fast!
Somewhere, I read that there have only been around 10 worthwhile innovations in the past century. So how does one succeed when you have new brand launches more frequently then ever before. Whilst we can strive to disrupt market trends it is more easily said than done. In a competitive market however, brands do stand out for the way it is perceived. Quirkiness is a trait and can be built into a virtue.
The attempt (if I may) is to open a conversation to a different ‘school of thought’.
So who wants to step into one of these shoes?
The author is director, account planning, Sensibly Weird Company