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The Tragedy of Kate Spade & The Dangers of a Self-Named Brand: 5 Reasons Why You Don’t Want to Name the Company After YOU!
We’ve all undoubtedly heard about brand fashion designer’s Kate Spade’s suicide. Yet, the most troubling statement is that she didn’t embrace all mental health treatment for fear it would damage her brand.The tragedy of Kate Spade is that she put her brand image over her self-care. Click To Tweet
After all, her thinking went, how could the founder of her joie-de-vivre brand admit to being a little less than bubbling with everlasting joy? As a personal branding proponent, I’m heartbroken that Kate Spade chose her business image over her personal health.
Why would she think the public would know about her doctor visits? Is invasion of privacy so pervasive that public figures believe every detail of their lives are splattered across the tabloids? If so, I’m horrified.Self-named brands are unequivocally tied to their founder. Click To Tweet
The recent debacle over Roseanne Barr made that fact clear: how can the Roseanne show continue without Roseanne? And, both Steve Madden and Martha Stewart came roaring back after their respective prison sentences. When you name the company after yourself, you and the business are one.Naming the business after you is a long-term, losing proposition. Click To Tweet
Here’s Why:
5 Reasons to Avoid Naming the Company After You It’s one of the many reasons I advise against self-named companies. They limit your success because:
1. Lower Valuation— Eponymous brands are typically valued lower than other named companies.
2. You are the CEO— Clients often only want to deal with the founder. If, for example, you call The Ken Blanchard Companies, I hope you can get this amazing speaker to your company, but mostly, it’s his employees who lead the training and workshops.
3. Recruiting Difficulties— Employees are harder to recruit because they don’t see a clear path of ascending to the top when someone else’s name is on the masthead.
4. Intellectual Property Issues— Often, when you sell your company, you sell your name. Vidal Sassoon, Wally Amos, and Joseph Abboud have all sold their brand names and unsuccessfully fought to gain back the rights to use their name in other businesses.
5. Negative Implications— Any negative statement or action also adversely affects the company as we’ve recently witnessed.
If you’ve already named the company after yourself, here’s my thought: protect your brand, but not at any cost. You are the person who deserves self-care regardless of what anyone else thinks.
To your sizzling success,
Liz