A 'brand' new you: Don't just be a worker, be a brand!

These days, it's all about "branding yourself."

Like Paris Hilton, Brangelina, or any American Idol contestant, you've got to come up with a new, fresh exciting way to stand out from the crowd.

I don't know about you, but I find it somewhat annoying to be told that I have to turn myself into a brand to get ahead in life, instead of waiting for karma to reward me for being a good person. I'm a journalist, so I've made a few attempts to brand myself in 21st Century fashion -- like blogging here on WalletPop, for example. But for me and everyone else out there looking for work, how far do we have to go to be the human version of Coca-Cola or Pepsi?