• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 23, 2012

imc² Partner and CMO Ian Wolfman sure knows a thing or two about branding. And so does his mom. At the end of his case study presentation at MediaPost’s Social Media Insider Summit in Key Largo, Wolfman ripped off his natty, business-like attire, to display a blue t-shirt underneath emblazed with his “@imwolfman” coordinates, and then proceeded to point out that his mom named him Ian Michael precisely because she had a “sense of humor” and wanted him to be known as, “I am wolfman.”

Therapy sessions aside, the identity sticks and the branding schtick works, because you certainly do remember his name and his handle, even if you might avoid using it during certain lunar cycles.

None of that explains how the wolfman brand relates to what Wolfman the branding expert says are the most important tenants of modern day branding, which he enumerated as:

• Credibility (Resonates with my values)

• Care (Understands my needs)

• Congruence with Values: (Delivers on its promise)

Well, Wolfman was pretty credible, and he did seem to care, but he definitely did not deliver on the promise of being a wolf-like man, but that could yet happen, this evening, aboard the Summit’s dinner cruise. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, January 2012 is one of those months known as a “Full Wolf Moon,” which appear, “when wolves howled in hunger outside the villages.”

Alas, Jan. 23rd also happens to be a new moon, which means there will be plenty of star-gazing on the Summit’s boat ride tonight, but probably not many wolves to look at, man.