Brand Kate

Personal brands can be immensely powerful. Millions of people will take action, or even take arms, because of the perceptions they hold of a person they have never met. Muammar Gadaffi is one example. Kate Middleton is now another.

The power of a brand is in its ability to influence people’s behaviours – how they spend money or time. Millions of pounds have been spend on Royal Wedding branded memorabilia. That hundreds of millions of people around the world have changed their normal routines to watch today’s Royal Wedding shows the power of the British Royal family’s brand. That hundreds of thousands have travelled to watch or celebrate the wedding of two people they only know by reputation emphasises this.

The British Royal family always gather a crowd. Their personal brands bring considerable value to the British economy in terms of tourism and endorsements of British businesses. But today’s crowds have been exceptional. This is due to two things: the pageantry of the occasion, and the addition of a new personal brand, Kate. She may become known as Princess Catherine, or one day Queen Catherine, but today in the minds of most, she is simply Kate, the Kate of William and Kate.

So she is now the possessor of a hugely valuable and powerful personal brand. Her brand has grown almost entirely by association with her new husband’s family, but it is now her own. Despite the wealth of her husband’s family, it is probably now her most valuable asset. She could use her brand for good, as her husband’s mother did, or she could weaken her brand by her actions, as her husband’s father has. But whatever she does, she is now the possessor a brand that is a huge national as well as personal asset. We wish her all the best for the future, and hope she uses her brand power well.