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Morris Mpala
THE appeal that you project and the appeal that one oozes determines latitude. We spoke about sex appeal and the way it is selling brands and these are high end brands. These use appeal to market their brands. High end products and services had abused the fickleness of its audience to sell products mostly the visuals to attract traffic to its products and services.

Look at car manufacturers, high end apparel houses and alcohol adverts, you name them. They have abused the appetite of the body to woo potential clients.

How you package yourself determines a lot in your person and business branding. Most brands are selling not because they are the best in their fields but it is because they have packaged themselves accordingly and strategically in the field. The best in the field at times lose out because they cannot appeal due to their packaging, which would not be up to scratch.

Some average brands have scaled dizzy heights due to right packaging. The gurus in marketing have been playing us for a long time with the branding and rebranding of products and services for continued relevance on the market.

As we know even yourself can be considered a commodity that needs a certain appeal for it to function.

David Beckham was not the best footballer in the world but he embodies that which is football in the world. He was packaged right and tight and he became a football icon and he coined it through that image. Tuku (Oliver Mtukudzi) is not the best gifted musician to come out of Zimbabwe but he is called the superstar. Look at him now and the price tag he commands on his shows. He has done amazingly well for himself through aggressive packaging.

Nigel Chanakira was not the best of students in class but he pioneered. We know and talk about him when before him many had unparalleled academic excellence but he was now employing them. George Bush (Jnr) was not the rocket physicist scientist but he ran the world like Michelle’s husband or maybe bullied the world.

Imagine if Peter Ndlovu (ex Bosso, Coventry and Zimbabwe national team captain) was packaged right with the raw talent that he had as a teenager. He would have been the greatest in Africa and England because no one measured up when it came to natural talent on the field.

Naomi Campbell was not the prettiest young woman of colour but the world labelled her super model. It is as if they told us she was the model and we swallowed it hook line and sinker and guess what we also believed it for ages while she made a ton of money out of it. She happened to be at the right place at the right time and they then groomed her accordingly. System Tazvida could not even sing, did not have the looks, did not even have the voice but he rocked growth points and moved some of us. He achieved his “success” whether knowingly or otherwise it happened for him and the image he projected did wonders for his “smoko” brand image. I would not call the hummer a car but sales volumes are phenomenal after they told the market it was a must have vehicle. Steve Jobs was not the best of bosses and the Apple products do not really solve our aspirations.

Check out fizzy beverages and fries (chips) despite them being a health disaster they still sell like hot cakes due to their appeal. Who does not do chips and Russian with fizzy beverage but you know it is a deadly combination. Trevor Noah, South African comic is not the best Republic of South Africa has had but he is by far the most recognised worldwide and the most monied comedian.

Of course we have a few exceptions of people that had talent and were still packaged right. Michael Jackson was born to entertain and he did just that. The amount of funds spent on his image was crazy so that could sell his music. Tiger Woods was the golfing sensation the world had been waiting for and he measured up. He was projected as a serious professional and that put billions into his pocket.

Michael, Jordan what can I say. His Airness was the face of basketball and sneakers. He embodied insane talent and they derived so much business from his name. He is selling up to now. The Bible is and will remain the go to book for life’s survival skills. So consistent that it still does what it has been published for. Let us talk of the Silicon Valley and what it means to start ups! If talent is not there you might want to package it right that is key to market dominance in your personal or business branding.

One resident brand maverick calls it branding. He says “branding is everything MoB” we cannot agree with him any more even though it is field of which he could be biased. Some players go to the extent of saying it is personal branding and have training courses in that regard. They claim it is the future and since they are the gurus we will give them the benefit of doubt. If you have talent then that will work for you even without the packaging but with right packaging it becomes double threat.

The key is to know thyself and do what is right for you. As they say you have to look the part. There are some that have faked it until they made it. It all depends on who you are, whatever works for your image, just go for it.

Rat race for workers
“Happy working days to all workers. Remember that the labour that you sell is an asset that you need to take care of in terms of good health and skills acquisition (education).

Your labour just like any raw material is subject to market forces of demand and supply. So when you are in high demand make a lot of money for tomorrow your demand will not be there. Don’t over price yourself, neither should you accept slave wages”. Elias. M Banda (Whange)

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Morris Mpala is the managing director for MoB Capital Limited, a Bulawayo-based micro-finance institution with footprint across the country