Discovering the World While Building Brands — Simone Sloan in conversation with Anouk Pappers
Anouk Pappers — brand anthropologist, author, and CEO of Signitt, was interviewed by Simone Sloan for her podcast ‘Your Business Greatness’. In this segment titled Discovering the World While Building Brands, Anouk shares her journey toward discovering brands and sharing their stories around the globe. She discusses the importance of the ‘reputation economy’ and how building a strong online presence supports professionals achieve their next business goal.
You can read excerpts of the podcast below or listen to it here.
“One of the stories my mother used to tell me was Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, so growing up I made up my mind that I had to travel the world. I realized that brands played a huge role in defining culture. Hence, I decided to tell the story of brands, with a focus on mission and purpose. This way I could understand countries, cultures, and people.
“I set out to travel the world — interviewing CEOs, CMOs, and business owners, and I started sharing their stories. In 2013, a CEO said to me, “it's great what you are doing for my brand, but I need you to work on my story - my personal story. My employees, stakeholders, journalists — everyone is starting to Google me, and I don't like what I see about myself online.” This opened my eyes to the world we live in — one which is defined by a reputation economy. Who you are, what you stand for — that matters much more than what you do.
“After realizing that 90% of the people I interviewed over the past years were men, I made it my personal mission to support women in leadership build their personal brand and get them out there — so they can achieve their next goals. Research taught me that when a man receives an award, he hangs it on the wall of their office. When a woman receives an award…she puts it in a drawer! So hence my mission to help women get the awards out of her drawer and onto the wall!”
