B Scar TV Podcast
Hi-Quality conversations with your favorite athletes, entertainers, thought leaders, and cultural tastemakers - hosted by NFL Linebacker Brennan Scarlett.
B Scar TV Podcast
HI-QUALITY QUICKIE | How To Add Value to Your Brand: Lessons from an NFL Veteran & Entrepreneur
Creative Agency CEO, 8-Year NFL Veteran and B Scar TV Host Brennan Scarlett takes us through his journey to building a personal brand and shares his 3-step method on how he increased its value.
Full-length video episodes are available on YouTube.
Follow the show on Instagram and TikTok @bscartv.
Created and Produced by Scarlett Creative.
scarlettcreative.co
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’Til next time... Peace ✌️
Once you signed on that dotted line as an NFL player with the Houston Texans, you were cooking with gas. You probably have brands beating down your door. No, it couldn't be further from the truth. This is a high-high quality quickie. Yeah, yeah, b-scar TV. And we're back with another episode of B-Scar TV. It's a high quality, quickie, fold-at-ass. A brand is defined as a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or services from those of other sellers, and I am here to tell you that, as an athlete, as a creative, as a creator, as a professional, you are your brand. Let me tell you how I know Me, brennan Scarlett, aka B-Scar, the host of the B-Scar TV podcast. If you ain't know, if this is your first time here, I was an undrafted free agent into the NFL the Bright Lights, you would think, man, you had your brand all baked in, didn't you? Once you signed on that dotted line as an NFL player with the Houston Texans, you were cooking with gas. You probably have brands beating down your door. You probably had clients and partners and all type of professionals trying to work with you. No, it couldn't be further from the truth. When I got into the league, I was actually one of those guys that I had to call agents. I was calling for representation. It was never easy for me, and as soon as I made it to the league, it was the same thing. Right, I was focused on ball and I was trying to make the team and this, that and the other. And, to be honest, I thought that the commercials, the shoe deals, the network, the professionals that I wanted to connect with, I thought it would all just happen by getting there, by getting to the upper-action line, the top of the top of my profession. That's what I thought. Boy, was I wrong.
Speaker 1:I started a couple years in the NFL. I had a conversation with my agent. You know, what about my marketing? That's what I was asking my agent at the time. What about my marketing? How can I start to get these deals off the field? You know there were rumors of Marchion Lynch not spending a cent of his contract because he had a deal with Skittles and he had beast mode and he had this, that and the third and all the money that he spent off the field was money earned off the field. And here I was spending every dollar that I made. Not every dollar that I made, but every dollar that I was spending was made on the on the field, because I didn't have anything coming in off the field.
Speaker 1:My agent, he told me, said the odds are stacked against you. One you play football, you wear a helmet, no one sees your face. Sure, you're a professional, but you're number 57. You got a helmet on, but he sees you. Number two you play defense, you're an outside linebacker, a backup at that. You just played special teams and you don't score touchdowns. And then, number three, my friend, you're undrafted. You're just not that big of a deal to these brands, but you're not the first of the 53 guys on your roster that they're going to reach out to. You may not even be the fifth or the 10th, or definitely wasn't the 53rd.
Speaker 1:My mother and father blessed me with a decent aesthetic, but the point was, just being in the NFL wasn't enough. It didn't build my brand to then command the type of collaborations, connections, networking, the type of partnerships that I really wanted to build. I thought to myself, I took it back and I was. You know, I was like damn, I need to come up with a strategy, need to come up with a strategy. How can I, brennan Scarlett, number 57, the outside linebacker that wears a helmet, who was undrafted. With all these odds stacked against me, how can I bring value to a brand? How could a brand see value in me and my brand? And that was the shift in perspective for me is that I actually have to add value to my brand for a brand to see value in it as well. Does that make sense? I thought of three layers and three ways to increase my value as a brand. To increase my awareness, to bolster Hmm, that's the word I was looking for. I found three ways to bolster my personal brand.
Speaker 1:If a brand wants to work with Brennan Scarlett the number one there should be alignment. Me and that brand should share the same values. Whatever that brand does, it should also be something I enjoy to do. It should be a service that I enjoy using, that I find value in. There should be alignment there. Right, the things that I care about, that I'm passionate about, the branches, somehow relate to those things, if not even have those same passions and morals and values. So that was number one. Number two it was my network. I am in the NFL, I am in a locker room of all these brilliant athletes and I did go to school at Stanford, I went to Berkeley and I have all these brilliant friends and people around me and connections and I could somehow leverage that network to then bring value to this brand.
Speaker 1:Where I really started to dig, I dug deep it was the content that I create, because the content that I create was kind of like the umbrella that was able to showcase the alignment. It showcased my values and the things that I was into and what I was passionate about and what I like to share my thoughts on. The content that I create could show alignment, could lead to alignment, which was that first layer, but then also the content that I create. There also are ways to start to integrate my network. How can I share the stories of the guys in the locker room? How can I share the stories of my friends? How can I share the stories of these folks in my network that brands might see value in that too, but then also the folks that are sharing their stories, they might find value in that themselves, and maybe there is even room for a partnership outside of that. So the content that I create, can I merge and integrate all of the layers between alignment and network within that, content creation, being kind of the umbrella.
Speaker 1:I've been at this for the last six years. It's been six years of really studying, of trial and error on building my own personal brand and also building the brands of my companies as well, and so I've thought a lot about it. And now, as I think about branding building a strong personal brand, building a strong brand period I like to use this metaphor of the five senses. So I'm going to give you our 10 seconds to think about what are the five senses 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. It's okay if you didn't think of it. I always get to four. And then I think about what's that?
Speaker 1:Fifth one as humans, we typically process whether or not we like a thing by leveraging one, two or, in some cases, all five of our senses. Visually, right, how does that thing look? Do we like how it looks? And then we might feel it. We might feel it. Does it have a texture that we like? Is it a delightful texture? You could taste it, right. Is it tasty? You could listen to it? Is it pleasing to hear? And then, mm. Damn, that smell, because does it have a sweet fragrance? Those five senses, and so each one of those five senses might evoke an emotion that tells you damn, I love that thing or I ain't really feeling it.
Speaker 1:Similarly to the five senses, a brand has several mediums that can evoke emotional responses right In humans, in customers, in followers, in fans, etc. Those mediums could be written. A brand can communicate through the written medium via a LinkedIn post, an email newsletter, a caption, a thread, a DM. Visually right. A brand can communicate to their following via photos, videos, right, and then that's you know. Is it a real? Is it a carousel? Is it, you know? Is that in your emails and your newsletters, that on your website? You know how do they visually right? Sonically, is it a podcast? Is there a voiceover that is over, layered, over top of the visual? What is your music? What's your jingle? Do y'all like the Beast Guard TV jingle? Because we worked hard on that, we created that for y'all.
Speaker 1:And so, obviously, these mediums can span and be interwoven, weaved through, underneath, around, through all the different channels, right, like I mentioned, you got the website, you got social media platforms, you got email, you got newsletters, you got physical, you got merch. There's a lot of different channels, right. I think the trick is how is your voice consistent through all of those channels and through those different medium. That's where branding becomes more of an art than a science. Right, because your voice should be consistent, but on each platform and through each medium, it should be tailored specifically for that platform. The way that you post on TikTok may not be the way that you post on Instagram, that may not be the way you post on LinkedIn, which may not be the way that you communicate in your newsletter, but it should have a consistent voice, but tailored specifically to what the customer, the follower, the fan, the consumer expects out of the platform that they are consuming that content. And so now it's starting to get really thoughtful, right.
Speaker 1:And so it is a little bit of an art and it's a little bit of science, and that's what creating a brand is. Creating a brand is an art and creating a brand is a science. And, more importantly, sustaining a brand is also an art and it's also science this process of continual reinvention and tweaking, keeping the voice consistent but staying fresh. How do you do that? Not over weeks, not over months, we're talking years At the end of the day. I think it's so important as an athlete, as a creator, as a creative as any type of professional or as someone who is in charge of building, sustaining, managing a brand of any company is to think about.
Speaker 1:Think thoughtfully about. What is the voice, what is your voice? What is said brand's voice? Find that voice and dig into it right, what are those values? What is the alignment? Right, how, what is, what is the orientation of that brand? What you know? What does it mean to be Brennan Scarlett, right, what are the things that Brennan Scarlett is passionate about?
Speaker 1:And then you find your mediums. How do you express, how do I express who Brennan Scarlett is? Who is B-Scar? Who is B-Scar TV? And then the fucking hardest part, the hardest part I go in and out. It's waves. It's crazy, it's tough, but I'm getting better. Communicate consistently, find your voice, find your mediums, communicate consistently. Like I said, I'm six years in the game. I'm a rookie in this brand. Again, call me a novice.
Speaker 1:I think building a strong brand and then continuing to strengthen and keep it fresh is all about having alignment in your voice, leaning into your network and really building that network into a community and then, lastly, create some high quality content. God damn it. Come on, please drop a comment, leave a little feedback, some constructive criticism. Is this helpful? Do we like this? We're always trying to get better at B-Scar TV. We are always trying to get better because the pursuit of high quality content is an endless pursuit. I'm going to catch you all next time. This episode of B-Scar TV has been brought to you by Scarlett Creative. For the full length video episode and more content, find us on Instagram, youtube and TikTok at B-Scar TV and please leave us a review. Drop a comment. What do you want to see? What do you want to hear? Who do you want to hear from? We would love to hear from you. This is your host with the most Vernon Scarlett. Sign in now, paisley.