In the local blogosphere there are few people with more controversial or powerful brands than Seth. With 32 000 unique visitors a month to his blog 2Ocean’sVibe, (many of whom are loyal returning readers) and the means to seriously support or damage a brand. Seth has managed to build an online persona that brands like Puma, Woolworths and Ray-Ban will pay to be involved with. He was recently featured in You Magazine, meaning that his brand is moving into the offline press as well. So much so that The Cape Royale offered him a place to live purely for being associated with his online personality (and this is where I cornered him to ask my vague questions about how he did it).

While a normal conversation around personal branding tends to centre around having a presence online, and being aware of any negative content that may come up in your Google CV, Seth makes for an interesting case study in terms of what is possible. He embraces controversy and makes a living out of being outspoken, entertaining and somewhat controversial (*ahem Idols judges ahem).

Building the Persona

Seth emphasised a few times that the past 7 years have been quite unplanned, and that things have just evolved along the way. Something he did have, was a clear idea of where he wanted to end up. “Work is the sideline, live the holiday” was how he wanted his life to be.

“I decided that I would be the poster brand for that lifestyle, I mean no one else has nailed it, travel agencies have tried unsuccessfully. As I was choosing brands to be associated with I thought about that. I’d always been passionate about brands, that’s just who I am.”

Seth is lucky enough that the kind of stuff he is passionate about also happens to sell; “sex and magic” is how he referred to the content on his homepage, sharing also that the content you share online defines you. He does a Google search for 2Ocean’sVibe at least once a day to see what comes up. 

The translatable advice Seth could share for the rest of us is that we need to define ourselves based around our passions and show these to the world.

Seth's choices have worked out for him and he can offer brands quite a lot based on the trust readers have in him. Writing for a brand provides them with an endorsement, excellent rankings based on his blogs own search power and more exposure than you could get from a 30 second radio advert, which costs roughly the same amount.

“You know what else you get for R10 000, a 30 second radio ad, where does that get you? Nowhere.”

Public vs. Private Brand

When it comes to Seth, his professional and personal presence is powerful and completely intertwined. While he sees that there’s no way his online persona could represent him as a whole (he describes his online persona as having a certain “forced flamboyance”), Seth does point out that his writing covers things he would probably only have said to his close friends.

“Because of the larger than life vibe about Seth, it can be used to your advantage” something which is needed for his cheeky and somewhat irreverent style. And sometimes for smoothing over things with The Muse, his girlfriend “babe it was just Seth”. The one thing that has bothered him in the past is the perception, given that he often features attractive women on his blog, that he is a chauvinist.

“People throw around the word chauvinist sometimes, and while Seth may be mentioning a woman’s bum, like the French worship their woman, it may be misunderstood. They actually do worship their women and I’m very much like that.”

It seems there are some drawbacks to building a dramatic persona, but Seth says he’s learned to get over the negative feedback with time. “It does bother me when people don’t ‘get’ 2Oceansvibe".

He feels that when people meet him they realise there’s a difference between the character he created and the reality. “It was only when the blog really started taking off that I started encouraging the Seth brand, taking the photo's etc.”. 

2Ocean’sVibe is the Bigger Brand

While the blog has very much been driven by the Seth character “mouthpiece”, he believes that the 2OceansVibe brand is much bigger and stronger than just that today. An interesting point given that the blog was originally driven by the character.

I asked him if he had ever considered selling the blog, and if this would be possible given the importance of the Seth character. 

“This isn’t something I’ve thought about – you could work on some kind of phasing out scheme, maybe in time there will be 7 writers, maybe I would guide it. It’s something I will be thinking about but you’ve caught me slightly off-guard.”

Seth did point out that a quarter of his traffic comes from search, while 55% represents returning and loyal visitors. Given these stats it seems there is a portion of his readership that are there today for the content irrespective of the character (although it’s tough to separate the two). His readers do hold him accountable for what he writes about - but irrespective of this he believes he owns the Seth brand. Encouraging controversy isn't necessarily the best way for all of us to build our brands (especially outside of the blogosphere). There is, however, much to be said for presenting ourselves in a way that is in line with our goals. You can read Lyndi's tips for more advice on how to do this. 

Also check out:

• 4 Tips for Personal Branding
• Reputation Management for Bloggers
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