Saturday, March 10, 2018

Paulette Yagopian for the elections

Well, here's a confusion - after years upon years of marketing herself as "Paula Yacoubian" it turns out that the TV host-social activist apparently was born under the name of Paulette Yagopian. Normally it should not matter, except it does! In terms of personal branding, now as someone in the communication field, I see a huge discrepancy between the two characters (even if they are one!). The late Sabah was Jeanette Feghali no longer, Fairouz is not Nohad Haddad anymore, but Paula Yacoubian - the public and personal brand- had to resurrect her original name for the elections.
Apparently, in the new law, photos of the candidates have to be put on the ballots, because otherwise, whereas "Paula Yacoubian" is recognized as a brand, the person behind it is not someone the public knows or recognizes.
When Lebanese actress Liz Sarkissian wanted to start a career in Egypt, she was advised to have a more Arabic name, so she went with the name Iman, only for everyone to keep calling her Liz Sarkissian, so much that a movie critic told her to brand herself as "Iman, formerly known as Liz Sarkissian".
Would you vote for Paula Yacoubian? For Paulette Yagopian? They are the same, but actually very different.
Now, assuming Mrs Yacoubian/Yagopian makes it to the parliament, which name will she be known under?