A couple things that I’ve learned developing the MrGlasco brand of commentary and creative content surrounding design, casual video gaming and practical health & fitness since 2013, is that adaptation and innovation are never ending and ongoing processes. This comes with the territory of being online, as the Internet is constantly changing and evolving along with end-user attention and novelty within a community. Additionally, the on-again, off-again execution of my early brand testing revealed to me that adapting and innovating aren’t only for the sake of adjusting to an audience and a market, adapting and innovating my brand has also been necessary to further develop my own self awareness.
Most of 2013 was spent with my head down, learning about communities on the live video broadcasting platform known as Twitch. After I came home from work each day, I would sit and study EVERYTHING: community leaders & influencers, common customs & practices, design aesthetics, content format, common terms & phrases, platform limitations, monetization potential, trends, trolls, networks and etc. By 2014 I had a regularly scheduled broadcast program, a small and steadily growing community, and a 2014-2015 plan for continued growth and promotional work with a gaming marathon charity. However, like the poet Robert Burns once said, “The best laid schemes of mice and men, Go often askew”.
“The best laid schemes of mice and men, Go often askew”
–Robert Burns (1785)
Over the course of 2014, my daughter Alyse was conceived and born, so I had to adjust my brand execution. Then in 2015, the charity work that I was promoting began to monopolize my brand identity and my sons Alister and Theodore were conceived, so more adjustments to my brand execution were needed. I’ve since taken a break from doing charity work, but as I write this my twin boys are less than a couple of weeks from being delivered. I could have continued to work and manage my brand part time if I only had two children, but once the twins are born in addition to my daughter, a critical tipping point will be passed and everything will change.
While child care costs for two children would have been manageable, having three children under 2 years old will require that I become a stay-at-home father, also since my wife currently makes significantly more money. Yet I am somehow more hopeful than I have ever been for the development of my brand. In this calm before the pending storm of sleepless nights, crying babies, and endless diapers, I am proud and content to realize that my brand is no different than my actual identity. So for the sake of my family, my self-awareness and my brand, I am back, and here to stay as I adapt, innovate and adjust as I go.
Share this:
One thought on “Getting Back on the Brand Wagon”
Comments are closed.