THE POWER
OF PERSONAL BRANDING
KRISTY CAMPBELL - PINK PONY
UNSEEN TO UNFORGETTABLE
Kristy Campbell is the founder of design studio Pink Pony Creative, where she leads a team of 6, who refer to themselves “naturally” as the Ponies. At Pink Pony the team work as visual identity specialists. Visual identity encompasses everything visual to portray a brands personality. A brand goes far beyond it’s logo. The real challenge is bringing the elements to life, into a living breathing brand.
Kristy’s Adobe MAX session showcased her experience in bringing her brand to life and her knowledge of what she learned along the way. The Pink Pony creators talk lasted one hour and was packed full of innovative methods and insightful tips of how to integrate your personal brand with business.
The session left me feeling motivated and full of creative thoughts. So much so I felt compelled to share Kristys process with all of you in hopes you leave feeling full of creative energy. The 4 stages Kristy walked through are Create, Carve, Connect and Conquer. As is true with all great leaders with great power comes great responsibility her advice was imparted with a forewarning for success “If it is to be, it is up to me”. With that lets dive in to the stages and turn your brand from unseen to unforgettable.
CREATE
PILLAR 1
The create stage is where we are on a path of discovery. Think of your backstory. Every single business is fundamentally rooted in someone’s personal brand. That business all started with an idea and the person behind its life experiences. In the creation of your personal brand, we need to reconnect with essence and understand our true selves. How do we do this? Well, think of your life as the core framework of your personal brand.
Kristy tells her own quick example. Growing up I loved to: Create, Favorite color: Pink, Favorite Animal: Ponies, Hobby: Dancing, Approach: Not talking life to seriously. This is the core framework of my life. When we think about building a personal brand, we are creating a brand of who we are authentically?. To be honest we could not be more authentic as who we were when we were a child.
Evidentially her love of creating turned into a career path, love of pink and ponies became her business name, approach for not talking life so seriously allowed for well considered business risks and taking things with a grain of salt. To find yours simply dive into your life and understand what makes you, you. What was your favorite color? Did you have a favorite animal?, was there struggles that shaped you? Did you go through life with a different approach?
A great example of a very successful brand is Lincoln Design Co. The founder Dan Jensen grew up loving motorsport and took this aesthetic into branding, illustration, animation by simply finding core aspects of his life ad pulling them to the forefront of his brand.
You can be selective, if you don’t want to share your core elements of your past, you don’t have to. Think about what you are comfortable with sharing and what value it presents to others.
LESSON
Lesson: BUILD YOUR CORE FRAMEWORK ANCHOR YOUR PERSONAL BRAND BY EMBRACING WHERE YOU COME FROM.
YOUR STORY
You’ve begun to reflect on your story, lay your groundwork and build your core framework, but how to you actually integrate that into what people see. Your brand is about projecting you, its not about your work, its not about how good you are at what you do. Its about portraying a person. Be Authentic. Authentic? It’s kind a of a fluffy word. It’s not a tangible strategy, you wont wake up tomorrow and just be 100% authentic.
In Kristy’s journey she discovered something that has allowed her to be authentic easily.
The four facets of branding.
WHAT YOU KNOW
Skills and technical knowledge.
WHAT YOU SHOW
Accomplishments, the value you can bring to others.
WHAT YOU FEEL
Motivations, values and core ethics.
WHAT YOU HIDE
Challenges, failures and struggles.
CHALLENGE
Time for a little Challenge? take the workshop below on the four facets of branding created by Kristy to help push yourself further in the description of who you are, If in need of some help follow the link here to see Kristy’s answers and my own results from completing the workshop. We are more than our title.
LESSON: CREATE YOUR CHARACTER AND EMBRACE IMPERFECTIONS.
CARVE
PILLAR 2
Kristy’s favorite Pillar as she described it “the fun one”. This is the design phase of the whole process. Building a brand is all about making connections with strong ideas so we can basically carve space into people’s minds.
When It comes to building your own personal brand, do for yourself what you do for others. It’s crucial to be consistent. This is everything from your logo, colors, photography etc. The more consistent you are the more people will remember you. Build your personal brand visually by what you do best, your work. Your style is how you are remembered and makes you stand out, that is your artistic DNA. But how do you find your artistic DNA?
Kristy takes us back to 2019 when she worked for a one brand business. She explains how for two years she was designing with 3 colors and the same two fonts. Creatively drained and uninspired she took a 100 day design challenge and opened an Instagram to keep herself accountable. The Instagram account was Pink Pony Creative. Going into the challenge Kristy hadn’t uncovered her own style yet and wasn’t sure who she was visually. She describes the challenge as a pivotal moment for her, having full creative control allowed her to learn new techniques and skills. The challenge lead to the creation of her own artistic DNA, that people know her for today.
LESSON: CARVE OUT YOUR ARTISTIC DNA TO CARVE SPACE INTO PEOPLES MINDS.
SHE LEFT
ME WITH INSPIRATION
After listening to this section of Kristy’s session I felt inspired to try my own design challenge. Using the book 642 things to draw by Chronicle books, I set a challenge to create a logo for every letter in the alphabet from words that appear in the book. I used Kristy’s process and posted daily to social media to hold myself accountable to the challenge.
HOW DO WE CONTINUE TO CARVE OURSELVES INTO PEOPLE’S MINDS?
Make your brand, make it bigger and get creative. To do this you need to build a wildly solid impression on people. These 3 techniques have been tried and tested on how to accomplish that impression. The first technique, think of this person I am describing. . .The man who moonwalked? Got it? I’m sure we all think of the same person. How from such a simple description is this person so recognizable? It’s because they consistently presented themselves with a specific style. Do you have a consistent style you dress in? Glasses? A hat? A color you wear frequently. Embrace those things and make them your trademark. Kristy goes on to explain there is no coincidence she is wearing pink, the color of Pink Pony, every business meeting, conference she goes to, she wears pink. The formula for memorability is find a style, supercharge and stick with it.
Thematic Branding is another pillar within CARVE. The idea behind thematic branding is theming everything in your business. Pink Pony Creative uses Pony or pony associations throughout the business; The Company: Pink Pony Creative, Podcast: The Social Ponies, The Office: The Stables and The Team: The Ponies. The question to ask yourself here is how do I turn an idea into an extension of my personal brand and name segments of it with purpose?
BRINGING THE BRAND TO LIFE
Stop thinking that your brand has to be on paper or on the screen. In 2023 when Kristy opened her physical design studio she had a vision that she wanted a giant pink pony in the office. After relentless searching she found a black horse on Facebook marketplace, had him painted pink and Pedro the Pink Pony was born. Not only has Pedro became a show stopper for people walking past the window, he allowed for the brand to come to life. Pedro is used for photoshoots, the website, stickers and swag and brings a physical asset to the brands identity.
LESSON: BRING YOUR BRAND TO LLESSON: BRING YOUR BRAND TO LIFE, BE CONSISTENT AND COMMITTED TO YOUR BRAND IN EVERY FACET OF YOUR BUSINESS.IFE, BE CONSISTENT AND COMMITTED TO YOUR BRAND IN EVERY FACET OF YOUR BUSINESS.
CONNECT
PILLAR 3
Essentially now we just have to connect with our audience. Kristy highlights a quote from Rob Brown “ If I don’t buy from you, I won’t buy everything else that stands behind you”. According to Accenture, 65% of consumers say that a brands CEO and employees influence their decision to buy. How do we gain this trust? Kristy believes trust is built off a reputation of two main factors.
REPUTATION =
(KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS)
X
(NETWORK + RESOURCES)
VULNERABILITY
“If you can create shared experiences and forge strong bonds you will create a personal brand that will go from unseen to unforgettable.”
TRANSEND THE TRANSACTION
& GO BEYOND WHAT YOU DO
The key is to find out what resonates with you and go beyond just what you do. So how do we implement this in everyday life? The first way is to share your unique perspective. What do you believe? People will return to hear what you have to say about something not just by telling them about what you know, allow them to understand how you think. The 2nd way to resonate with your audience is to tell a story. Think about tv and film, why is it so engaging? Why do we return? . . . for the story. Start with an introduction, have a hook, set the scene and then you;; have a problem that you're then going to resolve. Trial and error, not the prettiest way to resonate but par for the course. Try things, experiment, see what works and what doesn’t. Finally, Show up and share your personality. Adding your personality helps you stand out from the rest, just by being you. Think about your surroundings as a stand out visual too, where are you sitting? Does your background show who you are? Finally, Don’t be a gatekeeper. Share your wealth of knowledge and insights. People will think if you give this much value away for free imagine what you could do if it was paid. Everything you put out there will be remembered by someone. Everything you say and do reflects on your personal brand. Think before you post.
To continuously connect with your audience, create something that they can immerse themselves in. Kristy thinks back to her university days and the first stages of her career when her mindset was that the peak of her career would be creating work for incredible clients. And yes that is part of it. At this point in her career she realizes more that with the power of social media we can do more than that, we can go beyond what we do.
Online Communities
Sharing Insights and Processes
Podcasts
Hosting Industry meet ups
Collaborations
LESSON
Market through emotion to allow your audience to connect with you on a deeper level.
CONQUER
PILLAR 4
The last pillar, Conquer. At this stage there is one thing that will stand in your way. Your Mindset. Kristy states she lives by the quote “You’re far too smart to be the only thing standing in your own way”.
When building a personal brand and in business, we are consistently pushed into corners we aren’t comfortable in. These are the areas where magic lies. Areas of risk and discomfort are where we learn the most. Think of your career like a marathon. No one wakes up and decides to run a marathon the same day. You make a training plan, building yourself up in strength and fitness. You can do the same thing in our personal brand and business so big goals don’t seem so intimidating and overwhelming. Sharpen your spurs, rustle your grit, embrace and battle on. Amongst your journey you are going to have setbacks and failures, it’s your job to keep going.
Battle on, no matter the obstacle. If you want it, you can get it.
DO THESE THINGS AND YOU CAN TAKE YOUR BRAND
FROM UNSEEN TO UNFORGETTABLE
Create your character and anchor your personal brand by embracing your own background, as our shared stories unites us all.
Carve your brand into people’s minds and use your skills to make your brand unforgettable, as our artistic expressions unites us all.
Connect with your audience on a deeper level, use emotion driven marketing to create bonds that reflect shared human experiences that unites us all.
Conquer your mindset, embrace risk and bold moves, showing that the courage and resilience we share in our journeys unites us all.
