Wael Mckee on Why Personal Branding Goes Beyond Company Logos, Taglines, or Corporate Campaigns
When most people think about branding, their minds go straight to companies, logos, and products. But Wael Mckee, luxury branding specialist and founder and Creative Director of the creative agency Mars Vision, argues that this perspective misses the real driver of influence: personal branding.
Mckee believes that personal branding has been misunderstood. “Some people think personal branding just means a website or social media account,” he says. “But true personal branding is much bigger, it’s how people perceive you when they search for you online, how they connect your name with your values, and how your personality becomes your brand.”
According to Mckee, the beauty of personal branding lies in its simplicity. Unlike corporate branding, which involves navigating the visions and approvals of countless stakeholders, personal branding starts with something much more tangible: the individual.
“With corporate branding, you spend months trying to assemble a personality for a company. With personal branding, you already have a personality; we just need to work with it and bring it forward,” he says.
Wael Mckee
This philosophy draws from Mckee’s deep experience in luxury branding, where the best names in fashion, travel, and lifestyle built empires by being more than just businesses. “Think of some of the top fashion designers. Their names carried influence not just for their own brands but for everything they touched,” Mckee notes. “That’s the power of personal branding, it doesn’t just amplify who you are, it feeds any company or project you are connected to.”
Yet, he’s quick to point out that personal branding is not about chasing fame or becoming a viral sensation. “A viral post might make you famous for a moment, but without a personal brand, it fades quickly,” he says. “Real personal branding is about consistency, about people knowing what you stand for and trusting you.”
For Mckee, trust is the currency of personal branding. “If I search your name online and find nothing meaningful, you don’t really exist in today’s world. But if I find your website, your work, your story, then you have already started building trust,” he explains. Even something as simple as a bio on a landing page, he adds, signals longevity and credibility. “It means you have built something that lasts,” he says.
So how does someone build a personal brand? Mckee insists it’s not about inventing a personality but about refining what’s already there. “We are not creating who you are,” he says. “We are putting down your personality on paper and asking, ‘How do we show this to the world? What makes you unique, what value do you bring, and how do people connect with you?’”
Sometimes, that can be as simple as how one communicates. Mckee says, “The lesson is, your brand comes from who you already are, not from pretending to be someone else.”
In a region where networking has traditionally been emphasized, Mckee believes personal branding is the modern extension of that concept. “Networking used to mean just attending events and shaking hands. Today, your personal brand is your extended network. It’s what connects you to people even when you are not in the room,” he explains.
Ultimately, Mckee wants leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives in the Middle East to understand that personal branding is not optional; it’s essential. “Your personal brand doesn’t just help your company; it helps you. Even if you don’t have a company, your personal brand opens doors, creates trust, and gives you influence. It’s how the world knows you, and it’s how you last,” he says.
In his view, ignoring personal branding is no longer an option. “If you don’t define your brand, the world will define it for you,” Mckee warns. “And if you want to stand out, in business or in life, you can’t afford to leave that to chance.”
