People got upset because their belief was challenged.

Brand is consistency.

If you are not creating a unified brand, you are not branding. You are one of millions of companies not standing out from the rest.

Corporate Communication by Paul A Argenti is a laypersons reference work for this.

I’d put it on anyone’s reading list who is interested in branding.

In webmarketing we talk about Brand as the name. And that frankly is a load of Bull!

The majority of the disagreement in the comments so far seems to come not from disagreeing with the message, but disagreeing with the example.

I have to admit, I was a little disturbed to see the interview. Conan didn’t look great. And while I’m not a huge Conan fan, if I had to pick a team, it was Team Coco. The interview didn’t change that for me. Maybe because Conan’s brand is a human brand, and his responses to those questions on 60 minutes seemed real to me.

The other thing that hopefully doesn’t get overlooked is that the interview was something like 12 minutes long on television. How long do you think the interview actually took? How many questions do you think Conan actually answered?

That interview was edited by a news crew that had its own agenda, to get ratings, and create buzz for the interview, and not for Conan. Editing can make a huge difference between the actual tone of a conversation and what it comes out looking like.

Is Conan a bit down? Probably. Is he as down as that interview made it seem? Probably not.

I think Conan did make a mistake: his mistake was to trust his brand to the editors and producers at CBS (who, by the way, have a vested interest in making NBC look bad). At the end of the day, though, Coco’s brand is strong enough right now that I think he’ll come out just fine.

Very comfortable online–shut down upon first meetings irl.

Thanks for this post. Very clear and helpful.

Agreed on this, and the rest of what Lisa’s saying in the article here. The thrust is that Conan is playing the pity card and he didn’t do that on his show. I didn’t watch enough Conan to have any affinity for him, but those who loved him did rally. (So, I completely disagree with Gil Reich in the comment, “Well, brand affinity was cute and all, but his fans didn’t particularly fight for him. I remember his fans standing for hours on end in the pouring rain fighting for him. They wore special Conan support bracelets. How do you define fight if not that? They’re paying good money now to see him on this tour. They’ve fought with their feet and dollars.

I think if Conan’s still needing some tender loving care (and I’m absolutely not being cheeky here), he should stay home with his wife (who seems, in the interview, incredibly supportive of her sour-faced husband). Get back on his feet before going out into the public eye. The trouble with personal brands and creating a “unified presence online and offline” is our online brand can sustain itself while we sleep. It can be going 24 hours – through our logo, our bios, our brand statements, our blog posts and other creative endeavors.

Our bodies need rest. Our minds crave stillness.

If there’s a disconnect between your “personal brand” and your self, it’s that. It will always be that.

In Conan’s case, he’s triggered left and right in the interview. He appears exhausted and moody. Even his makeup looks packed on. Watch his facial expressions as he speaks. It’s not just what he says that shows his exhaustion, in my opinion. It’s the whole package.

The brand Conan takes a hit because the man Conan is, or at least appears to be in the 60 Minutes interview, needing self-care.

With respect to his little red beard, I thought it actually made him look better. I think it definitely suited his musical act better when he was on the road. I think it’s probably difficult for him to have unified his on-the-road act and his late show persona since they’re very very different.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have gone on the road? TBS is a different animal than network. Maybe the bearded Conan you’re seeing is how he is going to try and re-brand himself? But I didn’t see anything hurt, scorned, defeated in anything he said. Sorry.

You are spot on. There are are far too many business owners that have the most amazing USP on paper and that completely do the polar opposite of that when you interact with them.

There is no such thing as outside life and business life. You are the same person and people are always watching. It doesn’t matter how much or little celebrity status you have. If you are out there representing a brand or an image, you better make sure that all the parts line up or you will lose customers FAST.

Great blog by the way, just found it by accident. I will be back again.

-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionare

I think if you were to remove the celebrity aspect of this discussion then this interview would be labeled as a bitter ex employee that should be frisked before entering the building.

Totally agree. In January he was Jerry Maguire. Now he’s a disgruntled laid off employee. THAT’S the difference.

In my eyes he definitely had a pity party, which he’s entitled to for losing a dream over strong morals.

No he’s not. Public figures are not entitled to public pity parties. He was paid $30 million to go on tour and stop working. He should have taken it, licked his wounds in private, and then resurfaced in public full of fire and ready to build momentum for his new gig. He didn’t do that. He came in like an emo ginger.

However, he quickly picked himself up…

I think the interview showed he hadn’t moved on — which was actually the problem. He was still angry and jilted over what happened and didn’t even seem that enthused about what was to come.

He looked exhausted because touring the country amid major professional changes has to be just that, exhausting.

Again, he’s a professional. He’s been doing this for years. This is his life. And that’s why God created makeup. Showing up to your first public interview in months looking dead probably isn’t the best brand move, the rest of it aside.