CASE STUDY
How top Los Angeles-based executive producer and director, Brady Connell, was able to stand out in the entertainment industry and expand his career with a personal brand platform from brandiD
“Entertainment is extremely competitive — people come from all over the world to Los Angeles to work in this business — so if you don’t stand out for something in particular you’re just one of the masses. Having gone through the brandiD process, I now have a brand and a website that makes it easy for potential partners to get a real sense about who I am and what I stand for.”
Brady Connell
Brady Connell is an executive producer, director, 30-year veteran in the television industry, producing shows like Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
CHALLENGES
Encapsulating a 30-year career into one
unique brand + website
After three decades as the executive producer and director of some of the most popular reality television shows in history — including Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
— Brady Connell was contemplating the next stage of his career.
“I’d been a freelancer in the entertainment business for 30 years,” he explains. “While I was doing well, and had executive produced many shows, it just felt like I’d hit a certain level in my career where it was time to think about what the next step might be.”
Brady realized that next step could be anything — even something he’d never thought of before. He needed to streamline his story and present his vast experience in a way that would attract new opportunities and the right future partners.
“I had a feeling there was something next, but didn’t know exactly what that was, and the only way I was going to get there was to make it really clear to people what I’ve done, what I’m good at, and what I’m interested in now,” says Brady. “There are people out there who might need my skillset for something that I can’t even perceive, so there needed to be a place where all of my experience was captured and readers could dig deep to see if I was the right person to take on their project.”
Brady knew that place had to be a website, yet he didn’t know how to create one that not only showcased his experience but also helped him stand out in the crowded entertainment industry (and the internet at large!).
He needed a strategic partner to help him develop a brand and create an online presence that attracted the right people and the right projects.
Solution
A dedicated team with a step-by-step process that makes
creating a brand + a website a breeze
To get the process started, Brady checked out brandiD after hearing the name mentioned by a colleague. He sent a request through the brandiD website for more information and received a call from brandiD founder Rachel Gogos the next day.
“I was initially thinking I would talk to a dozen branding companies before I found one to work with, but the conversation I had with Rachel was just so great,” he recalls. “She was so normal, caring, and patient and talked me through the full range of what brandiD does. I decided on that phone call I was going to develop my brand and website with them.”
There were two main things about brandiD he found really attractive. The first was Rachel’s willingness — and eagerness — to take him through the entire process, starting from the very beginning.
“I had never done anything like this before, and I needed someone to walk me through the whole thing,” he explains. “I didn’t even know where to start, and Rachel said, ‘Relax, that’s what we do.’”
The second appealing factor was brandiD’s small, boutique size.
“I didn’t want a giant, impersonal branding company that just does logos and visual branding,” says Brady. “I wanted a small, personal company that was going to hold my hand through the whole process. The fact that Rachel was the head of the company and was talking to me, yet also had a tight, knowledgeable team behind her, made me feel like this was the exact right size company I wanted to work with.”
Once the work began, Brady tried to immerse himself in the process as much as possible, in order to give the brandiD team the tools they needed to build the best brand and website for him.
“I just trusted in the process that they’d been through with lots of other people before me,” he says. “It was definitely an in-depth experience, and allowed the team to get to know me to the point where they could make great choices and suggestions for me. I appreciated that.”
RESULTS
An online headquarters that gives Brady more confidence and sells his brand for him
Brady’s project with brandiD was extensive, including logo design, personal branding, web copywriting, the development of a custom WordPress website, and a customized portfolio page. All that work resulted in one central place which showcases Brady’s vast experience in television as well as his current interests in media technology, especially virtual reality.
For Brady, the greatest result of his work with brandiD is the confidence that having a brand and a website has given him when looking for future projects.
“The best thing is being able to hand people a really nice business card with a cool logo on it, and send them to a website that tells them everything they need to know,” he says. Going to a television convention or meeting a potential financier and directing them to my website — it feels good.”
He also loves having a website that does most of the talking—and selling—for him.
“I don’t have to sell myself anymore, and I don’t even have to follow up as much, because I know everything someone needs to know about me is on my website,” says Brady. “They can gather from my site if I’m the right person for them or not. That’s really nice.”
Having a brand and a website allows Brady to show the full picture of himself in a way that his résumé alone never could—an opportunity he hopes more people will embrace.
“When all you have is a resume, it’s honestly pretty useless compared to what I have now,” he says. “My résumé didn’t show what I look like or what my personality is like, and there’s no third-party opinions of me. I hire hundreds of people a year, and I wish everyone had a website. It tells me so much more about a person than a résumé ever could.”
Want to create a brand and a website that helps you stand out from the crowd?
Find out how we combine strategy + branding + website creation to make it happen.
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