We live in a culture of entertainment, a society in which being entertained is so highly valued that at times it seems that if something isn't entertaining, it should be avoided or ignored. The demand for just about everything to conform to the standards of entertainment has, in the last few decades, extended to the person. You have to be entertaining, or you will be avoided or ignored.
Therefore a small industry has arisen to help you develop your personal brand. As you know, big corporations spend millions to develop brands with flashy logos that encourage consumers to view the corporation and its products as exciting, cool, edgy, etc. Well,, if products need brands, why not individuals? Inevitably, "branding coaches" have started popping up offering advice on topics such as "Here's what it takes to be the CEO of Me, Inc." Most of the advice comes down to this: figure out your strengths and then figure out how to market them, thereby creating a public relations image for yourself.
This approach is generally oriented toward career management, but there is also a much larger (and somewhat harder to spot) process of self-branding going on in contemporary society. People have always used consumer products such as their cars and clothing to advertise who they are, but in recent years that process has accelerated. These days many high end houses are built not only to display the owner's wealth, but also to assert claims about who the owner is: "I am the master of a Tuscan villa", or "I am royalty" (I see lots of houses these days with turrets, which I suppose might be useful if you need to defend your house in a siege, otherwise they are just a way of saying, "I own a castle").
