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The Passionate Voice

The Nostalgia of Brand Loyalty

March 23, 2017 • Agriculture, Career, Communication, Leadership, Making a Difference, Public Speaking, Social Media

Every person has an event they attend every year. When you get a new planner or pull out the ol’ calendar, its one of the first things you pencil in.
 
One of those events for me each year is College Royal. Its an annual event held at the University of Guelph put on by the students. It draws thousands of community members, former alumni and students to campus every March. And the best part? Its organized by the students for FREE for the community.
 
I got involved with College Royal when I was a U of G student, becoming President in my third year. And this year, my sister too was President – a (now) very cool family tradition. College Royal is like a community homecoming-alumni weekend wrapped into one, big event. You can’t attend without seeing someone you know and stopping to catch up.
 
As I was walking around campus this weekend, I happened to pass a man wearing a Holstein Canada hat. The hat had that recognizable logo that I know all too well – a logo I grew up with as a dairy farmer and member and became so loyal too after working for HC as well.
 
Its amazing how a brand you are loyal too can make you feel a certain way. I wanted to walk over to this complete stranger and ask him what his connection was to Holstein Canada. Was he a member/farmer? Did he know someone who is a member? Did he win the hat? I’m sure he would have found me a bit friendly forward, no intrusive? had  I approached him with all these questions.
 
We are oh so loyal to the brands we love and have an attachment too. I laughed at how a cow head on a hat could evoke a conversation with myself.
 
Bernadette Jiwa of the blog, The Story of Telling, also recently touched on this same idea of brand loyalty and it got me thinking further.
 
We associate our loyalty with brands because of how they make us feel. If we want to become experts in our respective fields, we should want people to feel the same way our favourite brands do.
 
Its like how the swoosh on our running shoe, the blue cow on an icecream container or the half-bitten apple logo on our iPhone makes us feel. The loyalty we have to brands and the nostalgia we associate when we see these brands, is how we as personal brands should resonate for others. People are their own brand, whether they like it or not. This is something I’m going to touch on at a talk I’m giving next Wednesday night as part of the Ag Women’s Network spring series events.
If you are trying to establish your passionate voice as an expert or are working to be that go too person in your field, ask yourself: how do you want people to feel about you and your work?
 
How do you make people feel?
How do you resonate with them?
What feelings are they left with?
Are they the same feelings every time?
 
These are the same qualities we associate with brand loyalty. Its important that just like that random cow head on a hat or the event you always look forward too every year, that you as a personal brand give off that same nostalgic, or dare I say warm & fuzzy feeling with the people and organizations you work with. 
[Photo Source]

Leave a Comment Agriculture, Career, Communication, Leadership, Making a Difference, Public Speaking, Social Media 2017, Ag Women's Network, Agriculture, Alumni Weekend, Apple, AWN, Bernadette Jiwa, Brand Loyalty, Branding, Business, Calendar, Career, Christina Crowley-Arklie, College Royal, Communication, Dairy Farmers of Canada, DFC, Expert, Extra Curricular, Feelings, Guelph, Holstein Canada, Homecoming, Icecream, iPhone, Logo, Loyal, Loyalty, Nike, Nostalgia, Organizer. U of G, Passionate Voice, Personal Branding, Planner, President, Running Shoes, Side Hustle, Social Media, Student, The Passionate Voice, The Story of Telling, University of Guelph

2016 {the year of many firsts}… and the best is yet to come in 2017!

January 14, 2017 • Agriculture, Career, Lifestyle, Public Speaking, Social Media, Travel

While we’re 14 days into 2017, I couldn’t look back on 2016 more fondly as a year that I considered ‘the best year yet.’

Until this year….. more to come on that so read on!

I made a commitment last year to make 2016 ‘different’ in everything I did – personal, professional, my business, my hobbies AND my attitude. One of those differences that inevitably fell into my lap was embracing firsts, something I may not have been so open too in the past.

Embracing ‘firsts’ teaches you so much about yourself – what your capcity is for courage, strength, spontaneity, adventure, experiencing news things that you’re not use too or comfortable with and just how open you (and your attitude) are to welcoming firsts, in the first place!

I really tried to continue living by the motto I shared back in my 2015 Year in Review, “Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone.” Some firsts last year weren’t easy, but man did they feel good after they were done, knowing I had set my mind to doing them!

To reflect on what some of those ‘firsts’ were for me and others close to me, I thought I would highlight some of the memorable ‘firsts’ from last year (there were surely more but not enough time to capture everything!):

  • Travelling with my family on our first out-of-province trip to receive our second Holstein Canada Master Breeder award in Banff, Alberta
  • Horeseback riding in the Alberta mountains
  • Hiked a mountain (Tunnel Mountain in Banff)
  • Explored many new towns, cities and destinations in our very own Ontario including the Muskokas, Bayfield, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lake of the Woods/Kenora and Bobcaygeon (home to the infamous Tragically Hip song!)
  • Worked with new clients both in and outside of agriculture – learning about new industries is fascinating (and what agriculture can learn from these industries is invaluable!)
  • My family started building their first robotic dairy barn, which will be completed this winter
  • Andrew and I took our boat through the Trent Severn Waterway liftlocks in my hometown of Hastings
  • I visited my first-ever cranberry and shrimp farms
  • Met so many new, amazing #girlbosses including Canada’s own Conquer Kit writer & speaker, Natalie MacNeil
  • Flew in a helicopter, experiencing the beautiful fall scenery of the Muskokas
  • Saw my mom featured on the cover of a national dairy magazine, The Progressive Dairyman (way to go, mom!)
  • Experienced many amazing new firsts at work as a Press Secretary, I feel so fortunate to do what I do in the industry I love
  • Saw the Northern Lights for the first time while visiting Manitoba last summer
  • ….. and the best “first” of 2016… Andrew and I found out we’re expecting a baby in 2017!

What I thought was the best year yet in 2016 is certainly going to be topped this year with the incredible gift that Andrew and I have been blessed with.

To be given the the gift of parenthood is going to be by far the greatest thing we’ve ever done come May, 2017 and we couldn’t be more ready (despite doing this ‘thing’ called parenthood for the first time!).

Let the countdown begin for the BEST ‘FIRST’ EVER coming up in 2017! 🙂

2015 Year in Review

Leave a Comment Agriculture, Career, Lifestyle, Public Speaking, Social Media, Travel 2016, 2016 Year in Review, 2017, Agriculture, Alberta, Baby, Banff, Blog452, Blogger, Blogging, Boating, Bobcaygeon, Business, Career, Change, Christina Crowley-Arklie, Communication, Conquer Kit, Cranberry, Cranberry Farming, Crovalley, Dairy, Dairy Barn, Discover Ontario, Explore, Fall, Family Farm, Farming, Firsts, Girl Boss, Hastings, Helicopter, Hiking, Hobbies, Holstein Canada, Horseback riding, Kenora, Lake of the Woods, Lifestyle, Liftlocks, magazine, Manitoba, Master Breeder, Muskokas, Natalie MacNeil, Northern Lights, Parenthood, Personal, Pregnancy, Press Secretary, Professional, Progressive Dairyman, Robot Dairy Barn, Shrimp, Shrimp Farming, Side Business, Side Hustle, Social Media, The Passionate Voice, Travel, Travelling, Trent Severn Waterway, Tunnel Mountain, Water, Year in Review





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