Bouncing to brand glory.

Maybe I’m a little biased because I’m from Iowa, the home state of Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, but I think she makes a much better “brand” than her teammate Nastia Lukin, despite losing to Nastia in the women’s all-around competition.

Why? Her smile. Her story. And her spunk.

While Nastia Lukin is obviously a beautiful, graceful, talented woman, she wore a tense scowl throughout the Olympics (causing my 12-year-old nephew to start calling her “Nasty Look-in”). However, Shawn Johnson smiled throughout the games, even when she missed winning the gold by a few points.

While I have no hard evidence that the Shawn Johnson “brand” will prove to be more successful than that of Nastia Lukin, it seems like Shawn is already getting a lot more press coverage since the Olympics. Yahoo News recently posted this story telling of Shawn’s triumphant return to her hometown. If you Google “Shawn Johnson,” you’ll get 1,400,000 results, compared with only 742,000 for “Nastia Lukin.”

Plus, Shawn Johnson was even the subject of a butter sculpture at the Iowa State Fair (albeit a very bad representation of her. But really, how much can you really do with slabs of lard?) If that isn’t brand success, what is?

So can corporate brands learn anything from the bouncy 16-year old balance-beamer?

I think so:

Personality counts. Is your brand safe and bland? Or have you developed your own unique, compelling personality that comes from your true essence?

Tell a unique story. Do you have an unexpected story that needs to be told? Shawn Johnson’s parents enrolled her in gymnastics when she was just a tot because she had too much energy and was driving them nuts. It never occurred to them that their kid would be an Olympian. In contrast, Nastia Lukin’s parents seemed to have pushed her to become an Olympian from the start—not a very compelling story, because it’s too expected.

Be positive, even when you’re not winning. Maybe you’re tempted to stoop to negativity to beat the competition. But is that the answer? Will it help you win in the long run with your brand? Sure, Shawn Johnson wanted to win the gold. But she was able to keep perspective and smile and congratulate her competitors in the midst of loss. That made her more attractive, likable and marketable.

 

We’ll see in the next few months if Shawn Johnson will, indeed, become a bigger brand. I predict she will. And I also expect we’ll see her at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, hopefully winning the all-around gold this time.