Career in Branding

What should you do to start a career in branding?
What are the traits required for a successful career in branding?
Branding is much more than what is taught in B-schools. It is about dreams, big ideas, bold transformations and the constant desire to evolve. Some of the world’s most influential brands are born out of a certain kind of daring and imagination, one that is rarely taught in classrooms.
Branding, today, rests at the heart of corporate strategy. While it may rest under the marketing manager’s mandate, it actually starts from the top and becomes the heart and pulse of the entire organisation. Leaders who have understood this have built their brands inside out by becoming beacons of change, helping transform the world through the power of their brands and creating continuous engagement, relevance and excitement in the most turbulent of times. While having an MBA or a Marketing degree may be a requirement on paper, there are a many softer traits that make for a good branding professional. Here are a few:
Power of observation: Observe and understand the world around you, people, how they live, and what moves them. Comprehending and decoding behaviour lies at the heart of branding, as brands are built as reflections of people and their lives. While observing through first-hand experience is key, one can get interesting insights from pop culture such as movies, books and songs which also have a great understanding of the behaviour and society. Make it a point to absorb it all like a sponge, and your mind and heart will make the necessary connections to help you build and spark off a great brand conversation.
Always be inspired: Branding is a creative, intuitive science; one that comes from a space of inspiration, which is why it becomes all the more imperative to experience the world around you with your heart and gut. Great inspiration comes from the arts and culture. Like a great piece of music, literature or art can become the basis for inspiration. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be the kind of things that appear in museums or concerts. Great inspiration can come from street art or folk music. At the end of the day, all forms of art are about creating something meaningful and memorable, which is exactly what branding is also about. Soak in the fine arts to develop a side to your personality that can never be learnt through a book or in a classroom.
Dissolve boundaries: We have learnt to live our world in silos. In organisations as well, it is common to work in departments or teams that don’t necessarily interact much. A good branding professional needs to be a cross-pollinator, one who can traverse multiple teams and boundaries and understand the big picture easily. For example, understanding product design and its challenges and marrying it with a consumer insight to deliver a meaningful experience at a store require the ability to zoom in and zoom out simultaneously, multiple times over. While you may want to become a branding professional, always realise that at the heart of every brand is a product, business, and an idea that needs you to constantly go beyond and dissolve boundaries.
Keep your ego in check: Branding is not about you. The brand is at the centre. Having the ability to cross yourself out from the equation and being able to build for another, with a sense of non-attachment, is key. A good brand is not created out of individual brilliance, but the amalgamation of many moving parts.