Ah the first of many posts to come and what hopefully will become a popular and recognised Blog in the Blogsphere, with a lucrative VALUE.

As the title says, whats in a name? Barack Obama, Coca Cola, Sarah Palin, Nike, Google, Yahoo, WordPress, Mc Donalds, Michael Jordan, Beyonce, Britney Spears I could go on and on and on, different names, different meanings, different values, but they all have one thing in common, they have a VALUE because they are easily recognisable.

I first became aware of brands, when I was a little kid. Growing up in Zimbabwe, many shoes / trainers my parents bought were from Bata (a huge brand name I would come to realise). The shoes I want were the Bata North Star Trainers / Sneakers and it was largely because of the flashy advert on TV and the fact that all my peers were wearing them. Odd you would think that a footwear with Bright colours would drive children to hysteria and convince their parents to buy them a pair. That is the power of the brand and the power of advertising, which all determines the VALUE of something. Look around today and it is all about the value of items going up or down, currencies, house prices, Funds, Stock Markets, Jobs, you name it the value is either going up or down.

The crazy thing behind all this Value see-saw is Me, You, US as a collective. We determine what we think some is worth based on a simple economic principle – supply and demand. Off course other factors play into it, desirability, trends, exclusivity etc etc, but all this is actually drive by Me, You, Us. We hold the power in our hands to make or break a brand, to add value or take it away. And now with Blogs, Twitters, Social Networking sites it has all just become a lot easier. The market place is changing quicker than companies can blink, Inc 500, FTSE100, regardless of their stature, and corporate value, they all need to keep up otherwise they will get left behind. It is not unusual now to hear of a 20 something year old kid who creates a company from his / her bedroom only for the company to go on and be valued in the billions only after a few years,  Facebook and Google are prime examples. It took companies like IBM / General Motors / General Electric probably double the time to make that “valuation”.

Follow me as we explore the history, current state and future of brands, value and how we look at ourselves as brands and try to ascertain what us as individuals are actually worth.

I would like to leave you with this video which sums up many thinks.