Personal Branding | Artist Charles Wilkin

Personal branding presents a special storytelling challenge. Like with all brands, the object is to unify various elements within an integrated narrative.

Yet since we’re dealing with a human being here, and not the more abstract notion of a brand comprised of products and services, it’s key to make sure the story is neither too glib nor too slick. You don’t want your brand, after all, to present you as a product rather than a person.

In this case, the story is about a very interesting person, Charles Wilkin. Wilkins is an accomplished artist who specializes in collages. But he’s also a beekeeper.

Award-wining director, screenwriter and photographer George Billard asked Smarter Storytelling  to collaborate with him in helping to unify these two sides of Wilkin’s life. Billard had interviewed Wilkin at length and produced wonderful footage of him conversing, creating his art and working with the bees.

Our job was to edit the footage and help tie it all together.

In this brief personal branding video, Wilkins reveals how an impulse to do something “frightening” in his life, something far different and apart from his collages, led to an interest in beekeeping which, in turn, has had a significant effect on his art and the way he practices it.

The result is a personal branding story that is authentic, subtle and engaging.