Laura and I go back a few years; we attend the same church and have gone on a mission trip to South America together. I found out after noticing her gone from church for a while, that she had made it onto the 19th season of the CBS show Survivor:Samoa. When she returned, I offered to set her up with an online presence with the goal of building a personal brand; something she wanted to leverage post-show to do public speaking engagements.

I knew the show would pick up speed quickly, so we hit it hard and fast: Twitter, Facebook Page, IMDb profile, website/blog. Because of the legal restraints and CBS imposed media blackout on all cast members, Laura wasn’t allowed to actually blog till after the show, but she was welcome to Twitter and Facebook.We used both of those to network, and build a fanbase through frequent interaction, and by leveraging these we  organized a migrating “Survivor Party” that moved every week, frequently packing out the venues they were held in. Her combination of charm, personality, and transparency, helped her cement relationships with her fans on a personal level.

We lined up a local photographer and shot a number of promotional photos, one which was a geometrically straight on shot that I used for her website. We shot it with her leaning on some appleboxes, and then masked it out. That along with a few other handpicked shots were used for promotions, and b/w headshots that she would sign and hand out to fans.

Laura is Hawaiian, so for her website I wanted to do something that would be a balanced representation of her feminine side, and the tough girl that landed the spot on the show. We ended up going with a flower motif, and sand/ocean tones that complemented we wardrobe in the shot.

All in all, her personal branding has been a success, and it’ll be fun to see her continue to leverage that in future endeavors.

www.lauramorett.com
twitter.com/lauramorett
www.youtube.com/TheLauraMorett
facebook.com/TheLauraMorett