Whether you're an artist, DJ, social influencer or a public relations manager looking to represent some of the biggest names in hip-hop, building your brand is an essential element to your success.
In the second episode of our four-part video series with Sprite®, "Thirst For Yours," HNHH's Head of Artists Relations Brandon Barrett chopped it up with Didier Morais (Berk Communications publicist for Meek Mill, Roc Nation, PUMA), Sprite Way artist Prohaize, social influencer & platinum-selling instrumentalist Einer Bankz, and the youngest radio DJ at Power 105.1, Nyla Symone, to learn more about building your brand on the road to success.
When asked about the foundational elements of branding as a DJ, Nyla Symone explains, "I started with the Pretty Tomboy because it's a male dominated industry and I didn't want people to not take me seriously. I feel like, as a black, young woman, there's a lot of stigmas and stereotypes against me - so I went with the Pretty Tomboy so guys would not see me as a sex symbol, they'd see me as like, 'oh she's cool, she's one of us, she loves music too.'"
Prohaize, who has more than 15,000 instagram followers himself, shed some light on how he built up his following as a rising artist and explained the importance of taking into account not only what you do, but what you stand for. Reflecting on where he was a few years ago and the ongoing issues with police brutality, Prohaize described how he started a campaign to run and bike his way from Atlanta all the way to the Statue of Liberty in New York City, while making tons of real, organic connections with people along the way.
In discussing building a brand through those type of real-life connections, Einer Bankz described how when he was first starting out he mapped out different locations across the country and asked his followers to chime in with who they wanted him to link with along the way. Says Bankz, "People are going crazy tagging everybody... It was the momentum, it was that everybody wanted to be a part of it. It had nothing to do with, 'Oh wow, I'm going to get a million views on this.' They just wanted to be a part of that moment and that moving train - they didn't want to miss it."
When it comes to toeing the line between being passionate and too aggressive in building your brand, Berk Communications publicist Didier Morais sums it up best, "If you're passionate about it, about your work, about your brand, you will do anything at all costs to protect it. And sometimes that means being a little overly aggressive in terms of how you execute."
