Paris Hilton is a brand in herself. But the public image the drink-driving sex-tape starlet has generated isn’t exactly wholesome; it’s not necessarily the kind of perception you would want people to have of you. So when we saw Blue Banana, a UAE-based Web site offering gift experiences, was promoting its “Brand You” workshop using the airhead heiress as an example, we were skeptical.

We set out to meet Marissa Woods, managing director of Brand and People, which conducts the workshop for Blue Banana. She starts with a quick explanation of how Paris Hilton’s image is a party-girl, living-it-up kind of brand, leaving us suitably reassured about the wisdom behind the workshop. Woods also explains how Oprah, Nelson Mandela and other famous personalities have become personal, individual brands.

“Brand You is about breaking first impressions down,” says Woods. “An impression is a combination of appearance, grooming, traits, and the way you present your core values,” she explains. “It’s about how you present yourself to the world.”

For the “Brand You” program, which will set you back 750 dirhams, participants are first put through a self audit. This audit is both rational and emotional, we are told. It is about measuring yourself up against your peers. The participant fills a survey, which weighs up traits like smile, voice control, posture and gestures against one’s peers. The statements are simple, the options ranging from below-average to six-star. In fact, the process seems so rudimentary, you get impatient to get ahead, and move beyond the screamingly obvious.

The session might not get too profound, but it certainly could get real nasty, as friends and colleagues (anonymously, and surely gleefully) are asked to list how they feel about you and your personality. This perception is then mapped against your own understanding of where you stand, so you can measure the difference.

Then the process of defining you as a brand starts. Woods and co. tell you how you can maximize your strengths. “There is no formula for branding a person,” says Woods. She then lists the seven C’s, which are, at the very least, guiding principles for branding a person. These are: communication, credibility, charisma, confidence, creativity, competence and collaborative stance.

Each C is present throughout our daily lives and interaction with others, Woods explains. A person wanting to come across as warm and friendly would have a voicemail message that reflects this, for example.

On the non-verbal front, nodding and smiling are important aspects of a person’s brand, she says. Nodding shows understanding if used in moderation, while an overdose might make you appear eager to please. “[The concept of self-branding] is about the three words you want people to use when they describe you,” says Woods.

While you might not associate the concept of self-branding with statistics, Woods furnishes us with some facts that make us at least sit up (posture) and take notice (attention to detail). She shows us a pie chart that explains that your look contributes up to 55 percent to the first impression you make on people; the way you sound makes up 39 percent of that first impression, and content (what you actually say) contributes a measly 7 percent. A first impression is made in 30 seconds, and that impression can last for up to 21 further interactions.

Working on your brand can pay off, or at least provide a pay rise, at work. Woods says you are 25 percent more likely to get promoted if you wear make up to work. We assume this applies less to men.

While the facts are interesting, the workshop is likely to leave you with three things – enhanced awareness of your shortcomings, a curiosity about who your friends really are, and a whole lot of paperwork. “Brand You” seems like an earnest effort, but most of what it teaches seems like common sense, the sort of advice you might get from a frank talk with your best friend. Unless, perhaps, that friend is Nicole Richie.