How Prince built a totally iconic personal brand

I won't beat around the bush - I love Prince Rogers Nelson, better known as just Prince.

I adore him, in fact.

Having been born in Prince's hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, I'd say I'm his second-biggest fan in The Attention Seeker office (second only to Nate, who has his lyrics tatted on his arms).

I was lucky enough to visit his home-turned-museum, Paisley Park, back in September. There, some rooms were fully dedicated to his most prominent eras.

Sure, you've got modern day stars with memorable eras like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Tyler, The Creator. But for Prince, his brand ran deeper than just fashion and lyrical themes.

Not only was he identifiable by his music and outfits, but everyday encounters of the human experience, such as colour, language, and symbols.

So how did Prince manage to build such a strong personal brand? One that's endured and kept his legacy alive for so many years?

'The purple one'

Real fans know Prince was his most purple across a few albums in the early 80s, most especially for his hit album 'Purple Rain'. Even still, that flashpoint early in his career made him synonymous with the colour and permitted him to embrace it for decades.

Colours are powerful. They get your neurons firing as you make connections where they otherwise wouldn't exist.

(In fact, as I'm typing this sentence, I'm staring at a green Woolworth's logo on a pack of cookies, yet it still reminds me of all the fresh food the store prides itself on.)

Several artists use colours thematic to their era or name (think The White Stripes or P!nk). But how often can you think of a colour and immediately link a single person to it?

The way Prince tied his brand to the colour purple is something few others have been able to do.

The name (and lack thereof)

Though he attached his name to two backing bands as 'Prince and The Revolution' and 'Prince and the New Power Generation', most knew these acts for Prince's name alone.

It makes sense, though: 'Prince' is short and sweet. It's a unique, single-word title that's easy to remember, similar to names like 'Madonna' and 'Cher', or brands like 'Nike' and 'Apple'.

For 7 years in the 90s however, Prince retired his stage name (which is also his real name) in protest of his contract with Warner Bros. Records.

For years, he publicly went by the name 'The Artist (Formerly Known as Prince).' He changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol (a marriage between male and female sex symbols, which later became his famous 'Love Symbol' logo).

It was an unprecedented act of protest, many seeing 'The Artist' as a bit of an oddball at the time. But as time's gone on, his actions have boosted his favorability as they resonated with a generation of young artists looking to challenge authority over art.

The most public example of this, of course, was Taylor Swift's masters dispute with Big Machine Records.

Eye have 2 give him credit 4 his spelling

Prince isn't the first or last artist to swap words out for single letters, digits, homophones or weird spellings. But unlike others who do it for a song or two, he committed to the bit for decades, both inside and outside his music.

He used these spellings in song and album titles like 'I Would Die 4 U' in 1984, 'Eye No' in 1988, 'Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic' in 1999, and 'This Could B US' in 2015.

But he didn't stop there - his written lyrics, album booklets, social media posts and even official press releases used his unique language. Everything he touched was so rife with his version of English, you wouldn't need to see his name in a sign-off to know he wrote something.

The spelling alone told you who the author was - now THAT is powerful.

Prince 4ever

Prince was a hard-working and highly prolific artist, and it showed through his commitment to a consistent personal brand.

Even as his outfits and lyrical subjects changed, those nonmusical elements that we see every day - letters, symbols and colours - never did.

If you or your brand can be like Prince and make human experiences in sync with your identity, then it becomes next to impossible for you to ever fade away.

-Devin, Copywriter