Meteoric singer Adele’s abstinence from social media adds a mysterious old school element to the platinum-selling singer’s reputation that hardly any of her peers can afford. (Thank heavens, you know, Frank Sinatra didn’t tweet.) Adele gives in once in a while and lets traditional media get a glimpse of her so her fans can hear her voice when it’s not singing. The star gave an interview to Time magazine — hey, she’s on the cover — and revealed that she doesn’t like to be thought of as a brand. It’s a dirty word in Adele’s vocabulary, reserved for toilet paper and chips, not artists.
“There’s personality in an artist,” Adele explains, “and if you’re expecting people to let you in and give themselves to you, you have to be a whole package.” Thing is, that’s what every brand strives for in the 21st century — to have a personality, to be the whole package, 360 degrees around as ad giant Ogilvy explains. That’s why branding agencies, despite what Adele says, write articles like Personal Branding: What We Can Learn From Adele. Adele knows she’s a brand — she’s just not somebody else’s brand. She’s her own thing, the whole package.
