What’s Cosplay got to do with Personal Branding?

Some business sages have advised me not to show my cosplay images – what’s a Medieval knight have to do with personal branding?

Well … everything.

Cosplayers dress like the people they want to be, not necessarily who they feel like most of the time. That’s true of businesspeople as well – putting on a tie or opting for a Patagonia fleece vest lets colleagues know something about your business intentions, a strategy mainstreamed by the 1975 best-seller, “Dress for Success.” Dress as what you aspire to.

Consciously or unconsciously, anyone about to be photographed employs the dress for success strategy, whether they are a princess or C-suite executive. You can be certain that before a brand portrait a CEO looks in his closet and wonders which is his most CEO-looking tie. He is a real CEO, but he is, in that moment, also cosplaying a CEO. Meta, right?

Perhaps surprisingly, photographing a sorcerer requires the same creative muscles as good branding. What are we trying to say? What is the most effective way of saying it? Research. Conceptualize. Plan. Execute.

Cosplay images push the aesthetic boundaries, demanding more cinematic techniques, which then spill over into more persuasive brand images.

Making cosplayer fantasy feel real teaches me how to do more with your reality.

Let’s talk about how I can make you stand out from the ordinary business sorcerers.