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.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post – perfect for a Friday…
Forget just the pictures, you need to get him on YouTube or something – he is a character for sure..
Remembers me of the 3 year old hardcore brother
This guy is also building a brand, without knowing it
ROFL!
Thanks for sharing.
You must be rubbing off on him neil. Sounds like he has a great future ahead of him.
I tried to rub off on him, but I just have to wait for him to get a bit older. I am hoping that one day I can make an entrepreneur out of him.
Cool. There are some valuable lessons you could teach him, such as the value of money. Unfortunately can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I know there are some fun ones out there for young kids.
Having them setup their own lemonade stand is another good one. It also helps to teach them the value of money.
Cute way of illustrating a great point, Neil
He definitely tries to make his own unique impression, cool!
About the tucking in of the t-shirt. I notice more 4 year olds do this, not so much because of dress style, but that is easiest when the pull up their pants after visiting the bathroom. My 4 year old is doing that, anyways….
Hi Neil,
Nice, standing out can be child’s play
)
However, your nephew is not conciously, actively branding himself; he’s copying his parents (see the brief case and volunteering example). This is what all kids do.
There’s nothing wrong with it, especially as it seems they are good role models. It must makes his parents proud too.
However, branding is more than standing out, it should carry a message too. What’s the value of standing out, otherwise? Standing out for the sake of being different? So, as much as I like your story as an example of how you can stand out from a crowd, I don’t really see a brand being created (yet
)
Regards,
Otto
You make some good points. I definitely agree that standing out is not enough, but it is a good start. By standing out you are going to get more people talking to you and remembering who you are which is great for branding.
I like the tie part, but the rest sounds like high maintenance!
I thought you were going to discuss your nephew’s cow branding skills. I thought that must be a brave kid to work with a scolding hot iron and cows 1000 times his size.
Personal branding… oh.
This was a good illustration! Thanx!!
This is going to be the kid that can pronounce the whole alphabet in one word, and do it backwards as well…
Poor Kid, you know its cute when there 4 years old, but if you bring a briefcase to high school you will be getting the smackdown… If you smell what the rock is cookin…
I would agree with you on that, but his parents claim the chicks love it.
Dilan Patel is looking so sweet! I think he really look like a business man.
Himanshu
He is. I expect him to do very well in the future.
This guy is also building a brand, without knowing it …
lol… yah and he’s doing a great job at it too.
wonderful way of illustrating. I imagine where your nephew will be in 25 years. he will be successful.
lol, I’m sure he will be!