From the author of Build Brand You · MELT University
Run your career like a startup, and launch it in the toughest entry-level market in a generation.
The Book
The case, the system, the stories
Fourteen chapters on operating like the CEO of a startup whose only product is you — from a marketer who’s built brands for Coca-Cola, Aflac, and college sports’ biggest stages for 26 years.
ePub + PDF here · Kindle edition on Amazon
The Playbook
Where you do the reps
The book makes the case; the CEO Student Playbook is where the work happens. Fourteen modules, five trackers, a message library, and a 90-day implementation plan.
Fillable PDF · Only available here
The Store
Pick your path
The Book · ePub + PDF
Build Brand U, Too — Ebook Edition (ePub + PDF)
$12.99
View & buyPrefer Kindle? Get it on Amazon →
The Playbook · Fillable PDF
The CEO Student Playbook for Build Brand U, Too
$9.99
View & buyDelivered by email immediately after checkout.
Digital Bundle
The Book + Playbook Bundle — Build Brand U, Too (Digital)
$19.99 $22.98
All files delivered by email immediately after checkout.
Why buy here? The Playbook is not available on Kindle — this is the only place to get it, and the bundle. Everything is digital and arrives by email minutes after checkout. Reading on Kindle? Get the book’s Kindle edition on Amazon, then come back for the Playbook.
MELT University · Private Coaching
Build Brand U Blueprint
One-on-one brand coaching with Vince Thompson — four engagement levels, every one built around you, and every one includes the book and workbook.
Elevated
The Ph.D.
One on One CEO Coaching
For the executive whose personal brand moves markets.
Request the Ph.D.Payment plans available on Office Hours, The Seminar, and The Masters · Seats are limited — Vince accepts a small number of clients each year.
About the Book
You are the product
Build Brand U, Too is written for the hardest entry-level market in a generation — where AI reads the resumes, a thousand applicants chase every posting, and a degree alone doesn’t open a single door. Its premise is simple and demanding: stop thinking like a student and start operating like the CEO of a startup whose only product is you.
Across fourteen chapters, Vince Thompson lays out the full operating system — positioning language a stranger can repeat back in thirty seconds, a digital footprint that works for you, a resume built for the six-second scan, and an outreach engine of warm leads, pitch emails, and the handwritten follow-up almost nobody sends. Every chapter ends in concrete action, and the CEO Student Playbook is where that action lands.
Inside the fourteen chapters
- 01 You Are the Product: Adopting the CEO Mindset
- 02 Brand Language Architecture
- 04 The Blind Date Resume
- 05 LinkedIn: Your Career Operating System
- 09 The Pitch Email: The Polite Ego Sell
- 11 AI as Your Career Multiplier
- 14 Emerging Economy Opportunities
Where it started
Build Brand You: Insights For Pursuing Your Dreams
The book that launched the series — a step-by-step guide to the network, the resume, and the mindset you need to win your first job. Available on Amazon in print, Kindle, and audiobook.
Inside the Playbook
Nothing stays an idea
14
Action modules
5
Built-in trackers
90
Day implementation plan
2+1
Outreach a day · coffee a week
Baseline and Day-90 self-assessments, the CEO of You dashboard, a message library of proven outreach templates, and a certificate of completion. Every chapter of the book ends with concrete actions — the Playbook gives each one a place to land.
The Author
Vince Thompson
Vince Thompson is the founder, chairman, and CEO of MELT — the Atlanta agency behind campaigns for The Coca-Cola Company, Aflac, the Georgia Lottery, and the biggest stages in college sports. A 1984 Auburn graduate who got his start in the sports information office and as a sports editor at The Auburn Plainsman, he built MELT into one of the nation’s largest independent sports, entertainment, and culinary marketing agencies.
Through MELT University, his award-winning internship and career program, he has coached thousands of students into the industry. This book brings that coaching to a new generation.
“The graduates who come out on top aren’t the ones with the best GPAs — they’re the ones who stopped waiting and started operating.”
The Agency
Powered by MELT
MELT is the Atlanta-based sports, entertainment, and culinary marketing agency Vince Thompson founded in 2000. For twenty-six years its team has built campaigns for some of the most recognized brands in the world — and through MELT University, its award-winning internship program, it has trained the next generation of marketers along the way.
This book, the Playbook, and the coaching on this site all come from that work.
The Coca-Cola Company · Aflac · Georgia Lottery · College Sports’ Biggest Stages
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