coNvErsatioNs With
sally
hogshEad,
creator of the
Fascination
Advantage
communication
assessment, is a
renowned
business leader,
marketer, speaker and
consultant.
Sally began her career in
advertising, where she
became the most awarded
copywriter in the U.S. by age
24. She worked on
campaigns for international
brands such as coca-cola,
godiva, mInI cooper and
nike. At age 27, she opened
her own ad agency and went
on to apply her practical
marketing strategies at
companies like Ibm, twitter
and the YmcA.
Her most recent book,
FASCINATE: How to Make
Your Brand Impossible to
Resist, was a new York times
bestseller. Sally also writes a
weekly column on issues
around personal and
corporate branding for
Inc.com.
62
PULSE
■
September 2018
sally hogshEad
Pulse: you began your career in advertising. What
influenced you to shift your career path, focusing
on personal branding and the resources that
allow individuals to connect with their
personal brand?
Sally Hogshead: For the first half of my career, when
I was a copywriter for brands such as Nike, MINI
Cooper and Coca-Cola, I learned that every brand has a
choice: either have the biggest budget or be the most
fascinating. That’s especially true for challenger brands
that must compete against a market leader.
The great brands knew a secret: It doesn’t matter how you
see the world. What matters is how the world sees you. This applies
to brands and to YOU too.
P: What motivated the creation of the fascination advantage
system and Personality test?
H: For over a decade, I had a torrid love affair with branding. As an advertising
creative director, I developed national campaigns for clients such as MINI
Cooper, Nike, Jagermeister, and Coca-Cola. During my advertising career,
I discovered that there is a pattern to captivating messages.
To fascinate someone, you must understand how they see you, and what
they value most from you.
This was a pivotal moment in my writing, and in my life. I stopped
researching brands and began to study people. In 2009, I launched the