While the origins of personal branding can be traced as far back as ancient civilisations, the term wasn’t officially coined until the 90s, when management expert Tom Peters wrote an article for Fast Company headlined, The Brand Called You. Defined as the intentional, strategic practice of outlining and expressing your value, personal branding is no longer the preserve of celebs, influencers and high-profile figures seeking to shape their public image. Like it or not, it’s everywhere.

This is partly due to a greater understanding of how and why personal brand works. The concept of mere-exposure effect, for instance, indicates a psychological bias towards people who repeatedly ‘show up’, and is backed up by stats such as Forbes’ findings that 82% of people trust companies more when their leaders have an online presence. But there are also more ways than ever to showcase your personal brand – from Substacks to side hustles to LinkedIn hot takes.

Jasmine Bina, founder and CEO of strategy agency Concept Bureau, sees this evolution as part of a wider societal shift in attitudes to individualism. “There’s a throughline where we are becoming more and more self-reflective culturally, so it’s less about aligning to mass appeal and more about finding your niche,” she says. “And so much introspective therapy-speak has come into our language. We’re drawing into ourselves more and more as a culture, so the natural conclusion is that personal brand will become more important.”