Several years ago, Steven Spielberg made a fetching film about the anti-hero con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. Titled Catch Me If You Can, it starred Leonardo Di Caprio. The consummate chameleon, Abagnale’s knack was once celebrated this way:

“Frank Abagnale could write a check on toilet paper, drawn on the Confederate States Treasury, sign it ‘U.R. Hooked’ and cash it at any bank in town, using a Hong Kong driver’s license for identification.”Abagnale, now a security consultant, was a virtuoso identity manager. His mindset is making a comeback . . . and not in criminal circles either.

The roots: We’re well along in knowing when it’s smart for me not to be me. When junk mail comes spiraling our way, we sidestep. That is, we understand at an early age how to customize our identity and create templates that better able us to control our time and the quality of our experiences.

Social networking has profiled us to a fare-thee-well.  Like helpless drones, we find our identities indelibly, hammered and soldered through every datum we upload and link. A localized site such as Foursquare intensifies and rewards sculpting a personalized identity to an incredible extent.

However, as public certainty about people and the details of their lives rises, a vanishing sense of mystery is a consequence. Not to mention a fundamental decline in joy in life. Being such an expressly known commodity is at odds with how people grow and learn. A lot of life is spent trying on and sizing up fresh identities – be they heady philosophies or airy fashions. X-raying teenage behavior is ever worthwhile. It usually spotlights where society would stake out new directions, were it not saddled with controls and obligations. For today’s teenager, being in the neutral zone is really cool. Not saddled with a fixed identity, exploration is both easier and more rewarding. Maybe it’s a fictitious “you” . . . but it’s a you that you’re willing to accept, if only to learn the thrills, consequences, and challenges of certain behaviors.

We’re all conscious of identity theft, but identity trashing is also on the rise.Assuming an “a.k.a.” alias, people drop into a site and create a vibe in a world you can’t control, but you can influence in marked ways. If you know what to do, you can both assert yourself and step back.

Anonymity has another angle and can work in a different direction. What happens when a highly regarded and influential organization – such as MENSA International – weighs in on an issue of the moment? Here we’re talking about individuals with stellar credentials who, in this application, gather authority through anonymously being a part of a greater whole. This sort of bigger-than-one group weight is somewhat like those 10 Nobel laureates who signed the Einstein-Russell Manifesto challenging nuclear proliferation.

Having too clear and predictable an identity is out of step with the character of a warrior pioneer.That’s another aspect of our new nomadic selves. Constantly leaving clear tracks is out of step with staying flexible and fluid. Perhaps when you document yourself so exactly, you spend more time defending what you’ve become than experimenting with the richer, broader person you could be.

We hear so much about brands profiling consumers. Are their manufacturer success stories that do just the opposite and engage consumers to be experimental and free-spirited?

What personal-experience tips can you offer about assuming an identity to gather information about competitors?

Do companies do enough to appeal and stimulate a consumer’s sense of fantasy and exploration?

Tags: anonymity, brand profiling, Catch Me If You Can, Einstein-Russell Mainfesto, Frank Abagnale Jr, identity theft, identity trashing, Leonardo DiCaprio, MENSA International, neutral zone, Nobel laureates, social networking, Steven Spielberg, U.R. Hooked, warrior pioneer