Real Talk: Annie Mac and Charlie Sloth on personality as a brand

Annie Mac and Charlie Sloth gave talks on personal branding and authenticity as part of BBC Radio 1's Academy in Devon.

They're two unique DJs with very different approaches.

You can see the full talk from Annie here and Charlie's talk is here.

Authentic means being absolutely genuine... and not a copy

1. Tune into who you are

Discover yourself and your identity and embrace who you are. If you're honest and truthful about it - you'll be successful.

"No-one else could be Alan Carr, apart from Alan Carr" - Annie Mac on why celebrity personalities matter

Annie talks about the distinctive personalities that celebrities have built careers on

2. Find what makes you happy and run with it

Happiness should the catalyst for your lifestyle and career choices.

Annie's career development has been based on making decisions around doing things that she loves.

For Annie that was talking, socialising, discovering music and DJing. Put together they equalled radio.

Ask yourself "What are the things that make me feel most fulfilled and happy right now in my life?"

So Annie started off behind the scenes, producing radio shows. After 6 years her hard work paid off and she was offered a show on Radio 1.

You don’t have to have a pre-determined career but a good place to start is with what makes you happy. After that you can figure out how you make a career of it.

"It was terrifying, but it was also really lonely" - Annie Mac on why she launched the Annie Mac Presents brand

Annie Mac on how wanting people to travel with led to the Annie Mac Presents brand

"If you base your career off personal happiness and fulfilment it's going to be so much better because it won’t feel like a job.

It’ll be fun and enjoyable and the best thing in the world."

Annie's full talk

1. Understand your audience

Before you can brand something and package it up you have to understand who it is for. Once you understand your audience it’s easy to deliver to them.

Understanding your audience is the most important part of creating a brand

Charlie's audience is the hip hop, grime and urban community. Something he's been passionate about and involved in all his life.

2. Brand yourself

Branding is one of the most important parts of packaging something and selling it. It's the same across the board - music, clothing, catering etc.

"Branding is everything" Charlie Sloth on what we can learn from Coca Cola

Charlie gave a talk on celebrity personality. This is what he has learned from Coca Cola.

Charlie was determined to be involved in the music industry and previously had tried to be an artist, DJ and producer but everything failed.

Branding is everything. It let’s your audience know exactly what they’re going to get

He was self-educated in new media and wanted to showcase himself as one of the only people in the industry that could do so many things at a competent level.

To do this he created the "Being Charlie Sloth" show which was successful in America because of his understanding of branding.

Charlie Sloth on uniforms as branding: "When you see a policeman you know what they do"

The DJ explains how you can use an outfit as part of your personal or product's brand

Uniforms are important for identifying/ understanding a person or product.

Every last detail of the Charlie Sloth brand has been thought out : dress, talk, his conduct on social media etc. He has created a perception of what you expect from Charlie Sloth.

Once you know your audience and they know you, you can play with your brand and adapt it.

Charlie's full talk on YouTube

Work hard and persevere - nothing happens overnight.
Define your own standards of happiness and live by them.
Find that ONE thing you're passionate about, excel in that and everything will fall in line after that.
You have to try things out and make mistakes and get things wrong. That's important.
Do you. There's only one of you. If you try and imitate someone else, you're always going to be in their shadow.