Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out

Author Note from Marc Ecko

I am a brand, but I am not a label. My brand is Marc Eck . You too are a brand. Whether you know it or not. Whether you like it or not. A brand is not skin-deep. Labels are skin-deep, but a brand a true, authentic brand is made of blood and bones, muscle and organs. A brand has a heartbeat.

Unlabel explores the anatomy of a brand. And it uses the Authenticity Formula (1) to explain the cross sections of that anatomy. My brand started in my parents garage in Lakewood, New Jersey, where I spray-painted T shirts and sold them for $10 a pop. By understanding how to harness my fear (2) and separating perception from reality (3), I grew that brand to the tune of a billion-dollar retail business. I ve built skate brands, hip-hop brands, magazine and video game brands. I ve built brands that people literally tattoo on their bodies, which is branding in the truest sense. But the most important brand that I built was me, the personal brand that s from my guts to the skin (4).

My philosophy is simple: unlabel.

Not un as in the nihilist or negative sense of the prefix, but in the refuse sense of the meaning. Refuse to be labeled.

Fight their labels.

Ignore their labels.

Peel off their labels.

Unlabel and create your brand.

This takes work. In the same way that you do push-ups to exercise your body, you need to challenge yourself to shake free of the herd, find your own unique voice, and create your personal authentic brand.

Find your swoosh, your Apple, your Rhino.