The Youngest Brand Ever

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Over the long weekend, my four year old nephew (Dilan Patel) came to my house and spent a few days with me. The last time I saw him was when he was two and since then he has changed quite a bit. The thing that shocked me the most about him was that this kid already had branding down to the Tee.

Here’s just a few of the brand associations he’s working hard on building:

Clothing
4 year olds usually enjoy wearing shorts and t-shirts, but Dilan enjoys wearing ties and black socks. He doesn’t just like dressing up when going to special events but likes wearing ties on a daily basis. You maybe thinking it is because he goes to a private school, but he doesn’t. The other unique thing about his attire is that his shirt is always tucked in… he even tucks in his pajamas.

Networking
Most people network with others at their job or at parties. Dilan is a bit young for both, but he actually networks at fancy restaurants. For his birthday his parents asked where he wanted to go for dinner and instead of saying Chuck E. Cheese he told his parents to take him to this fancy place called the Duck Club.

Volunteering
Dilan is a bit too young to know what volunteering is, but he already has the concept of helping others down. His mom does a lot of community oriented stuff, such as throwing parties for people who left for Iraq and Dilan helps out where he can. What better way to learn that you should help people and not always think about yourself.

Standing Out
Being another face in the crowd doesn’t really help with branding. Dilan already stands out for his age because he goes above and beyond to do so. For example kids his age use backpacks when they go to school, but he uses a brief case. His first brief case was a card board one his parents gave him, but he immediately traded it with his dad’s.

Granted, Dilan is only four and he probably has no clue that he is creating a strong personal brand but if he can do it you can too. Don’t let a 4 year old show you up, go out there and start branding yourself even if you have to tuck in your pajamas once in a while.