Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out - Softcover

Ecko, Marc

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1451685319 ISBN 13: 9781451685312

Publisher: Atria Books, 2015

Synopsis

From one of the most provocative entrepreneurs of our time, Marc Ecko reveals his formula for building an authentic brand or business in a compelling how-to guide that’s perfect to “educate the next generation of dreamers” (Kirkus Reviews).

As instructive as it is innovative, Unlabel empowers you to channel your creativity, find the courage to defy convention, and summon the confidence to act and compete in any environment.

This visual blueprint teaches you how to grow both creatively and commercially by testing your personal brand against the principles of the Authenticity Formula.

Marc Ecko shares the bruising mistakes and remarkable triumphs that reveal the truth behind his success, growing from a misfit kid airbrushing T-shirts in his parents’ garage to the bold creator of two hugely successful branded platforms—Ecko Unltd. and Complex Media. As Ecko explains, it’s not enough to simply merge your inner artist with business savvy, you must understand the anatomy of a brand, starting with its authentic spine.

With Unlabel, you will discover your own voice by overcoming fear, take action and deliver on your promises, understand why failure is essential, learn how your product or service makes people feel, and recognize if your nostalgia for the past is hampering your ability to envision your future.

Unlabel provides a bold and honest approach to building an authentic personal brand, and a roadmap for growing a bootstrap start-up into a sustainable business.

About this title

Review:

Author Note from Marc Ecko

I am a brand, but I am not a label. My brand is Marc Eckō. 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.

(1) (2) (3) (4)

About the Author:

Marc Ecko is an American fashion designer, entrepreneur, and artist. He left the safety of pharmacy school and—armed with only hustle, sweat equity, and creativity—turned $5,000 into a global corporation now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He is the founder of Marc Ecko Enterprises, a fashion and lifestyle company, and the founder and chairman of Complex Media, the world’s leading provider of fashion, entertainment, lifestyle, and product trends to young male tastemakers. Visit him online at BeingMarcEcko.com, Unlabel.me, or on Twitter @MarcEcko.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1451685319
• ISBN 13: 9781451685312
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304