(Or How to be an overnight success in 10 years or less)
Amy Schumer is the new “it” girl.
She’s the comic who said, “I am a woman with thoughts and questions and sh*t to say.”
In short, notable highlights include:
- Amy has her hit show on Comedy Central.
- Her video sketches go viral.
- She’s done a guest appearance on The Bachelorette
- She’s been the host on the MTV Movie Awards.
- She’s been on the cover of GQ.
- Her new movie Trainwreck, which she wrote and stars in, has Hollywood buzzing.
On top of that, social media (her Twitter account has 1.4 million followers) is obsessed with her videos, skits and candid comments. All in less than 11 years. Like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, we just can’t seem to get enough of her.
The Amy Schumer School of Branding
Digging deeper to get inside Amy Schumer and five distinct traits seem to float to the top of the heap. Five qualities that have helped her rise to the top:
- Be outrageous
- Be the most honest person in the room (by “honest” here, we mean a straightforward candor and, in Amy’s case, with a bit of rebelliousness such as “I know I shouldn’t but I will” thrown in for good measure)
- Embrace what God gave you (she plays with her own attributes, good or bad)
- Be the voice of the unspoken (in her case, it’s women and their thoughts about themselves, their sexuality, their weight, etc.)
- Have a definite point of view (Amy is very definite about where she stands — or who she’s willing to sleep with)
Your Brand: Amy Schumer Style
If you have a brand, it works like this:
- Be outrageous (do or say something unexpected — a variation of going big or going home)
- Be the most honest one in the room (As a brand, speak a truth others may be avoiding since it’s very likely crossed everyone else’s mind too)
- Embrace what God gave you (embrace the things that make your brand different)
- Be the voice of the unspoken (in your case, ask yourself, “Who are the customers who are overlooked, unrepresented yet passionate who could, along with you, become a movement for something new and relevant?”)
- Have a definite point of view (in other words, middle-of-the-road vanilla only wins as ice cream, but being vanilla doesn’t win in life. So choose a viewpoint and be committed to it.)
So, now that you’ve been inside Amy Schumer’s brand approach, are you ready go all the way?
Amy Schumer photo credit: CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com