Taking your Dark Brand to the world

There is a tendency, I think, to throw out everything of the 'old us' when undergoing transformation. And this makes sense, because you almost have to be stripped to the backbone to see clearly what and who you are... before you can re-flesh yourself. But it would be a mistake to dismiss and forget completely. Because your past contains cues and clues...

Take me, for example. I was going to be an academic and essayist... until I fell into the land of luxury women's magazines. Outrageous indulgence and debauchery followed (I'll write a book one day, I promise).

I was offended when my serious boyfriend at the time accused me of selling out.

And I obviously hung onto that chip on my shoulder, because when I 'left' that career and moved cities, I deleted my magazine contacts from my phone, removed the magazine roles from my LinkedIn profile and turned my back on magazines as being 'superficial'.

It took me going almost full circle to accept that I love magazines (and illustrated books), have always loved them, and will always love them.

And... you should love them.

Because mainstream luxury magazines are a BRILLIANT vehicle for taking subversive Dark Brands to.... the mainstream. (Fun fact: I used to get off on deviously introducing darkly subversive ideas into my fashion and beauty and interiors pages when I was a magazine editor).

This is why it's so important that when I work with a client – when they receive the blueprint of their darkest identity – that I then 'land' it in a magazine-style template. I need to make the intangible tangible for that client, in a real-life magazine way. Because I want that client to start picturing themselves taking their Dark Brand to the mainstream. Specifically mainstream MAGAZINES. Because one of the fastest ways to shift perceptions – and for someone to gain publicity and audiences and a platform of their own – is for them, in all their Dark Brand glory, to be featured in the pages of Vogue or GQ or Porter.

This is why it would be crazy for me to turn my back on my magazine career. It's part of why I'm so good at what I do. Taking what's subversive and translating it for mainstream luxury audiences by making it aesthetically and conceptually elegant. That’s Dark Branding!

And magazine are HOT for this stuff right now. And I have 20 years' experience both working FOR these mags, and pitching TO them. So, this is the natural step in my work with a client.

So…

Discover your Dark Brand.

Find the hookiest hook within it.

Pitch that paradox to the world.