My Brand
In the mid-nineteen-eighties, the Chris Westphal brand was solidly established: country-dwelling father, husband, and writer, dabbling in real estate. It was a solid, multi-faceted brand.
But the inevitable maturation of children, then divorce, severely disrupted the market for the Chris Westphal brand domestic services. Meanwhile, and despite diligent marketing efforts, the creative services division, in charge of novels, screenplays, teleplays, short stories and essays, enjoyed only limited market penetration since a surge in television writing.
Like Univac, Studebaker, or Borders Books, the Chris Westphal brand appears to be less viable in today’s fast-paced, social media driven environment. So I’m selling out to Amazon.
Independently, Chris Westphal has tried to establish a social media presence by creating a blog, along with accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and X
(formerly Twitter). But the brand has been weak in exploiting these platforms. I’m confident that Amazon can do it better, as they have proven innumerable times.
I’ll leave it up to Jeff Bezos and company, assisted by AI, to revamp the Chris Westphal brand and bring it into the 21st century. They’ll likely begin spinning off or shutting down the various components of my brand, and streamline what’s left.
Five years from now, I probably won’t even recognize myself. Instead of renovating run-down houses, my Real Estate Division may be building strip malls in Atlanta, or managing slums in Cleveland. With Amazon’s AI-driven market analysis tools, the possibilities are endless.
There may be a somewhat brighter picture in the creative realm, in this era when “content is king.” It’s apparently a different type of content than I’ve been creating for the past few decades, though, so I suspect the dark comic novels and off-kilter essays will have to go, in favor of cookbooks, vampire and zombie tales, romances, or business books with titles containing the word “Tips.”
Then, there is the personal side. I suppose my adult children will be badgered to review my various attributes, and I hope I get at least four stars in most areas. It’s hard to predict what features they will identify as the most useful, however. The emotional support? The free housing and food? Will conversation be mentioned? Travel? Would they choose me again? I think so, but the marketplace is fickle, and there are a so many choices out there that it’s hard to say. I will give my wife five stars, and I hope for the same from her, however I realize that the algorithm may reject these mutually favorable evaluations. Trustworthy reviews are very important for brand reputation.
I hope that the Chris Westphal brand remains relevant, even if I, Chris Westphal, don’t, but there’s no way to predict that. I’m sure that Paul Newman always thought he’d be remembered as a movie star, but now he’s just a name and a picture on jars of spaghetti sauce and cartons of lemonade. Jimmy Dean was a country singer before he was a brand of sausage. I don’t know what role I’ll have, either. Maybe Amazon will let me stay on in a limited capacity, with a broad-sounding title: Goodwill Ambassador, or Chief Inspiration Officer, or Director of Possibilities. Because I am, after all, the brand.
