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To be “Will Smithed” is now a <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Will%20Smith">thing.</a>

Will Smith spent two decades building himself into one of the world’s biggest movie stars. If his initial success as a family-friendly rapper and sitcom star were lucky breaks, everything that <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/will-smith-november-cover-profile">followed was by design</a>. And it worked.&nbsp;

Can a single impulsive, emotional moment really derail two decades of success? Yes. Particularly when someone’s actions are at odds with their personal brand. Will Smith built his career - and his brand - playing “the good guy” in blockbuster movies like “Men In Black” and “Independence Day”, a role Smith effortlessly carried over into his professional life off-screen, always ready to throw himself behind a good cause and a sought after guest on the late-night talk show circuit.&nbsp;

Until recently, Smith was also mostly absent from the supermarket tabloids or glossy gossip magazines. I don’t recall seeing bold headlines while waiting in the checkout line about Will Smith having wild tantrums on movie sets or abusing production crews. Exactly the opposite: by most accounts, Smith held himself to the strictest professional standards and was always accommodating to his fans. The charismatic likeability Smith displayed was the core of his personal brand - and no hustle.

…but it was an image Smith consciously worked hard to project and protect. “I am a Black man in Hollywood,” he wrote in his autobiography, Will. “In order to sustain my position, I can’t get caught slipping, not even once. I had to be perfect at all times.”

It wasn’t only Will Smith’s personal brand that suffered. An entire Smith Family Brand felt the sting. For several years Smith, wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, and their three children have been delivering <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/02/movies/will-smith-family-oscars-slap.html">unique, emotionally-revealing reality-style programming</a> across an expanding number of platforms. On their Facebook show “Red Table Talk” and in front of 11 million followers no subjects were off-limits, from Will’s efforts to lose his dad-bod belly to racial identity to the Smiths’ marriage. Oh - and the Smiths sold some stuff, too. Son Jaden’s Just Water brand was stocked within eyesight and when working on his dad-bod, Will wore clothes from his Bel-Air Athletics brand (this family knows leverage). A growing empire firmly rooted in Smith’s now questionable authenticity.

Not to sound like a movie trailer, but - cue the dramatic music - can Will Smith repair his personal brand and get his career back on track? The momentum Will Smith and his brand had going into the Academy Awards came to a loud, screeching halt the morning after. He’s no longer welcome at the Oscars (with the show’s length, that might be a blessing in disguise) and I imagine some high-profile projects are probably now on-hold, with studios feeling hesitant about Smith’s brand marketability in the multiplexes.

The problem, as I see it, with maintaining personal brand authenticity is a person is not a product. Consistency is a key component of a brand and easier to maintain when there’s an exact recipe, predictable formula, or a blueprint. People, on the other hand, are unpredictable - never a strong selling point for any brand - because our emotions, circumstances, or personal beliefs push us to take risks, act impulsively, and yes, occasionally stumble.&nbsp;

Still, as offensive as The Slap was to so many it wasn’t exactly a Mel Gibson-sized meltdown. Fences do need mending, and the Smith Family was sharing and healing before a sympathetic fan base long before The Slap. The family’s unique social media infrastructure exists for the sole purpose of them “putting it all out there” - a virtual safe space where confession isn’t only good for the soul, it’s good for the brand.&nbsp;

Over the last two decades, Will Smith saved Earth from alien invaders, restored mankind after a zombie plague, and kept New York City safe from a giant space cockroach. He might just have what it takes to save his career.

Start with the basic building block of all narrative.

In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing.

You Do You. Until You Don’t. Brand Authenticity Gets Personal.