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TRANSFORMING YOUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BRAND
Third Edition Irving Rein, Philip Kotler, Michael Hamlin, and Martin Stoller
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Professional
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To Martin Stoller, student, coauthor, and friend
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contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IX
P R E FA C E
XI
PA R T 1
Foundations of High Visibility Marketing
1
CHAPTER 1
The Branding Proposition
3
CHAPTER 2
Commanding a High Visibility Premium
15
CHAPTER 3
How the High Visibility Industry Works
33
CHAPTER 4
Distinguishing High Visibility Sectors and Hierarchies
67
CHAPTER 5
Who Are the High Visibility Consumers
91
PA R T 2
Strategies for Achieving and Sustaining High Visibility
135
CHAPTER 6
Strategies for Marketing High Visibility
137 vii
viii
HIGH VISIBILITY
CHAPTER 7
Misconceptions of Brand Building
161
CHAPTER 8
The Four Steps of Brand Transformation
199
CHAPTER 9
Delivering the Brand
249
CHAPTER 10
Publicizing the Brand
281
CHAPTER 11
Sustaining the Brand
307
CHAPTER 12
Managing Brand Identity in an Ever-Changing Marketplace
345
INDEX
359
acknowledgments
A
book on a subject as complex and all encompassing as personal and professional branding is accompanied by a great deal of support. We are particularly indebted to Ben Shields who not only edited and researched the book but who was also instrumental in developing many of the new ideas. Our researchers, Nicholas Lalla and Jill Greenfield, were a great help in the researching of the material and suggesting topics for exploration. Charisse Villamor and Allen Liberato also conducted research and provided some early drafts of cases. Gregory Pang was helpful in the last stages of the manuscript in doing the detail work that is so critical to a finished product. Rita Lutz was always available to support the book project. Irving Rein would also like to thank Northwestern University’s School of Communication for the leave that released him for time to complete the book. We also would like to acknowledge the help of Epixtar Corporation, a U.S.–based call center services company, for conducting the phone interviews in Chapter 6. We are also grateful to the personal and professional brands in all sectors of life who continue to discover and invent new ideas and sometimes outlandish responses to the need to be well known.
ix
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preface
T
he search for high visibility is a worldwide phenomenon. It wasn’t so long ago that visibility seeking was limited to high profile entertainers and sports stars. But today, as more sectors—such as business and the professions—have come to rely on visibility building, there has been an incremental leap in the number of visibility aspirants. As more aspirants have sought to become brands, competition and the pace of market fragmentation have increased, threatening both visibility aspirants and established personal brands. In High Visibility we address the growth of visibility seeking and the contribution of visibility and strong personal brands to competitiveness and opportunity generation in a systematic format. The reader can expect a discussion of how people are seeking to become compelling brands, how culture and trends have affected brand building, and the problems and solutions for achieving brand recognition. Central to the book’s foundation is the concept of transformation, the process that aspirants typically undergo to become personal and professional brands. We take the reader through all the stages of the transformation process, including brand generation, testing, refinement, realization, distribution, and sustaining. When done reading the book, aspirants and established brands alike should not only understand the drivers of transformation but also the transformation strategies that are likely to be most effective in their particular cases. When we wrote the first edition, our primary goal was to convince a very skeptical marketplace that high visibility marketing and communications were becoming a sophisticated industry. The first edition was well received for presenting new insights into how visibility is achieved. It also xi
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HIGH VISIBILITY
drew criticism from some for not taking a stronger position against the perceived machinations of the visibility-building industry. Some critics saw the marketization and industrialization of the celebrity industry as an ominous trend. They found it acceptable that physical products are marketed by a highly sophisticated industry, but they did not want to see people marketed as celebrities. Our aim was to analyze what was happening, not judge it, although we included some criticisms of the current state of the industry that we observed. Times have changed. In the years that followed, which included a second edition, visibility seekers have increased in number. In addition to person marketing with its support system of agents, media, and “product” developers, we are seeing more people struggling to develop personal brands on their own. They are buying books on how to succeed in business, how to stand out in a crowd, and how to develop as a brand. The acceptance of the marketplace of person branding has been remarkable. Our aim is to interpret this trend and show the methodologies by which personal and professional branding are accomplished. This new edition is substantially changed from the first two. The critical sections on transformation have been reworked and updated to reflect the changing marketplace. Another important change has been the integration of technology into the book and particularly the use of the Web and other nontraditional communications channels by visibility aspirants. Most importantly, the book now reflects the different motivations and needs of the various seekers of high visibility. Visibility means different things to different people, and the quest for visibility often depends on sector, potential audiences, and personal goals. A well-known actor will use different strategies than a local small-business owner. However, while the costs and scope may vary by sector, they are both in the personal and professional branding business. In this edition, we discuss the vast range of visibility seekers and their special requirements and needs. It has been a special pleasure to reconceptualize this book, which has drawn so much feedback and has occupied an important part of our professional lives.
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PA R T ONE
foundations of high visibility marketing
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CHAPTER 1
the branding proposition
S
ir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Corporation, head of more than 150 enterprises, is launching his Virgin Mobile cellular phone service in Sydney, Australia. He is riding shotgun in an armored carrier, streaming headlong into the center of the business district. A quick right turn and he breaks through a Virgin Mobile banner. Branson, dressed in combat gear, alights from the carrier and in a symbolic gesture cuts the chains constraining four actors garbed in competitors’ themes and slogans.1 The crowd gets it. This is a new era for mobile technology on the continent of Australia. A confident Branson leaps back onto the armored carrier and conducts a full-scale sales presentation. Jennifer Lopez, pop music and film star, is the head of multichanneled brand that is well known for its clothing and fragrance line but also includes restaurants. In 2004 her total business operation grossed $300 million.2 Squeezed in between dance rehearsals and album promotions, she races to a brainstorming session on her new clothing line. The cable channel MTV is filming, and it catches Lopez in the creative process.3 Lopez was clearly the leader as she quizzed designers, made comments about consumer tastes, and clearly established herself as the boss. When the session’s over, she exits to her next scheduled appearance, which can range from a meeting on her jewelry line or a discussion with her personal manager about a tour. Stephen Glass, who was exposed and dismissed for fabricating stories for the political and social commentary magazine the New Republic, is making a dramatic return on 60 Minutes after five years of anonymity. He sits across from correspondent Steve Kroft and is 3
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HIGH VISIBILITY
explaining how he came to become a consummate liar. Glass, who by now has graduated from Georgetown Law and is beginning a new career, is eager to explain his psychological need to please that ended in his dismissal. He is promoting his book The Fabulist, a thinly disguised novel about a Washington reporter who fabricates his stories.4 By first re-creating himself and then promoting the new Glass, the former journalist is joining a long line of seemingly disgraced celebrities who have managed to find an avenue back either as writer, religious convert, motivational speaker, or radio talk-show host. As the lights go off and the camera shuts down, 60 Minutes moves on to the next story, and Glass is moved offstage to possibly contemplate the next step in his strategy to reemerge. The chairman, entertainer and fashion designer, and former journalist turned lawyer and fiction author are worlds apart, but they share a very powerful bond: high visibility. For Richard Branson, high visibility is a strategic tool that has made his personality inseparable from his products. His privately owned Virgin Group has businesses ranging from planes and trains to music and mobile phones. He, like Donald Trump (The Trump Organization), Bernard Arnault (LVMH), and Oprah Winfrey (Harpo Productions), has used his celebrity status to sell his wide array of products and services, including broadcast stations and television programming, airlines, mobile telephony, and soda pop. Branson manages a whole support system of policy planners, ad agencies, and media advisors who work behind the scenes to orchestrate the production of his image as a quirky, yet accessible exhibitionist. Branson’s public image is the result of careful crafting by hardworking ghost writers led by his main spokesman Will Whitehorn and Branson’s own meticulous preparation, practice, and willingness to take risks. Richard Branson’s transformation is as deliberate as the manufacture of his products and the delivery of his services—calculated to use his high visibility to bring the buyers to his brand. Jennifer Lopez is a study in high visibility too. She has pursued it for most of her life, desiring it so intensely that she has conscripted an army to help her capture it: coaches, costume designers, press agent, nutritionist, choreographer, trainer, sponsors, venue agents, and an overall management firm that handles her brand. In the process, she has become a multichannel brand, undergoing a series of transformations from dancer to actress to singer to fashion designer. Aided by her “support system,” her name is marketed throughout the world as her movies, albums, and clothing propel
THE BRANDING PROPOSITION
5
her J Lo brand into high visibility. Her transformation into a powerful brand is no accident; all that is in doubt is how successfully she can translate it into the rewards she seeks. For author Stephen Glass, high visibility was invaluable as a superstar journalist; but once discredited, it was unintentional, undesirable, and instantaneous. Though it was thrust upon him, Glass slipped into his new role of repentant journalist as if he has played the part all his life. The endless parade of celebrities in distress across society’s landscape has taught him the script before the events unfold: the agonizing voyage for forgiveness, the book, the talk shows, and the Hollywood film. The wheels of the celebrity-making machine are unstoppable when it comes to crisis. Glass, shifted to another level of visibility, is transformed—from high-profile journalist to public curiosity. Glass’ story, while lamentable, demonstrates the resiliency of the visibility model. In the new celebrity world of second chances, he has managed to come back by using his past problems to create more visibility. And while his efforts were not a complete success, he did receive a book contract, a coveted appearance on 60 Minutes, and possibly a return date with the media in a new role. For the chairman, entertainer, and former journalist, high visibility has different impacts and different rewards. For Branson, high visibility means not only more sales of his products and services but also national prestige as a knighted member of the Queen’s court. For Lopez, high visibility is the magnet that enables her to extend her brand into different sectors of the entertainment and fashion industries. For Glass, visibility is both a curse and a means of salvation.
THE IMPORTANCE OF VISIBILITY This book is about how people go about seeking higher visibility in their social circles, professional sectors, or broader geographical arenas. It examines the techniques they use to enhance their visibility. It’s about how people use transformation theory and practice to build a successful brand in their chosen fields. And it’s about what can happen when high visibility is not handled properly. Historically, there have been a number of terms that describe the high visibility search. They include fame, star, icon, and celebrity. The terms imply a standing out from the crowd and the ability to command attention or receive a premium for services. However, with ever-escalating levels of competition in all sectors, it became obvious that these terms are inadequate to
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HIGH VISIBILITY
describe the means of attaining high visibility. There are two reasons why. First, for most sectors, attaining visibility has become a highly sophisticated process. Second, all kinds of people today are seeking to become brands. We know of brands from the product world: Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and thousands of others. We know of brands from the place world: New York, Silicon Valley, Venice. We know of brands from the cause world: Greenpeace, Red Cross, Smokey the Bear. It’s no wonder that people are seeking to build their personal brands. Commercial marketers have taught us how to build brands. They create stories about the product, advertise the product, develop events around the product, and write news stories about the product. All this to deeply imprint the product in the minds of some target audience so that it is well understood, recognizable, desirable—and recalled when buying decisions are contemplated. Each person is different and will have an image in his or her social and professional circle whether or not he or she has done any conscious brand building. But an increasing number of people are turning to conscious brand building. The salesperson who wants to rise higher and get the attention of senior management. The professor who wants to develop a specific expertise to gain respect and some high-paying consulting engagements. The singer who develops a certain look and style so that he or she can stand out from the crowd of a thousand other singers. When a person succeeds in sculpting a distinctive brand, that person is well known to the target audience, has long-term staying power in the marketplace, is clearly and meaningfully differentiated from competitors, and enjoys a corresponding pay premium for his or her well-knowness. Aspirants can find themselves in a number of stages in their search for visibility. They may be an aspirant just starting out in a sector, a local star who is already established, a celebrity who is known far and wide, or even an icon who has risen to the top of a sector. In every case, the ultimate goal for all these high visibility aspirants is to develop and sustain a strong and identifiable personal and professional brand image. To become a brand requires not only differentiation from competition and recognition by the marketplace of such a status but also undertaking the process of transformation that will enable them to create a powerful personal and professional brand. Why is high visibility so important, and why are so many individuals seeking it? In an increasingly competitive marketplace, it is the single factor that explains the difference between a competent surgeon and one who earns seven figures and appears on talk shows to plug his or her latest
THE BRANDING PROPOSITION
7
book. It also can spell the difference between a first rate but modestly successful business consultant and one who is paid $100,000 for a keynote speech. Understanding the high visibility process can also explain how some performers are in the spotlight and how they fade almost instantly while others reappear in a new sector. A principal benefit of visibility is gaining attention. In an age when people, places, and things can be mass manufactured and easily made into commodities, name recognition becomes one of the few saleable factors that can bring a premium in a competitive marketplace. As Terry Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer of Federated Department Stores, Inc., observes of the fashion sector, “You’ve got a better chance getting in the door with a product under a celebrity name as opposed to an unknown designer name.”5 High visibility is a differentiator that can fill concert halls and jam professional meetings. Despite these advantages, high visibility is not without controversy. There are a number of objections: • “I don’t have the self-confidence to do it.” • “If you have the talent, the marketplace will discover you.” • “Visibility exposes you to a terrible downside including derision from colleagues and friends, intrusion on private life, and threat of scandal.” • “My professional business sector does not allow celebrity generation.” • “High visibility will pull the leader away from his or her primary task: running the company.” • “I’m just a small player. Only movie and sports stars can afford it.” All of these objections have largely been answered by the marketplace. For example, there is little evidence that aspirants can rely simply on lucky breaks to emerge in a sector. Elvis Presley was cleverly managed by Colonel Tom Parker, George W. Bush relied primarily on Karl Rove for his transformation, and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was transformed by a platoon of advisors and image consultants. The objection that visibility will distract from job performance is a caution to the decision-making process that determines the pursuit of high visibility. The decision to use visibility as a leveraging tool depends on the sector, goals, and the desired positioning of the organization that will become symbolized in the leader’s visibility. Bad judgment on the part of the board, egocentric behavior by the leader, or fall-off performance6 after achieving a high level of visibility
8
HIGH VISIBILITY
are questions of management and need to be viewed as teachable and controllable issues. While strategic use of visibility is still an issue for some aspirants, society has already voted for personal and professional branding. Imagine if books, music, sports, movies, television, or even video games had no identifiable stars. What would happen to the revenue for all these industries? For example, 2.295 billion books were sold in 2004, generating $28.6 billion in revenue.7 Worldwide music sales in 2004 exceeded $29.4 billion with a 26.3 percent increase in music DVD sales.8 Domestic and foreign box office receipts of Hollywood films were over $25 billion last year.9 The sports industry is a $375 billion industry10 that is largely dependent upon brand names such as David Beckham and Shaquille O’Neal. There’s little question that names like Stephen King, Julia Roberts, and Yao Ming are major contributors to audience interest. In the business and professional world, Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, alternative medicine Dr. Andrew Weil, and Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Sachs are examples of the power of personality branding. Star power fuels sales worldwide, and without it major industries from film to heart surgery would become mere generic products with little appeal. This increasing reality encourages the development of new stars and the need to sustain old ones. But not all brands have a worldwide audience, or need one. University professors, politicians, and preachers make lectures, speeches, and sermons available for download and playback on iPods because it connects them to clearly defined audiences 24/7. Bloggers and podcasters become sensations with little investment, positioning themselves as expert authorities on gadgets, a particular music genre, or Michigan politics. The ultimate purpose: Visibility creates adherents, customers, and fans and generates opportunity. Without it major industries from film to investment banking would become generic products with little distinctive appeal. But so too would the real estate agent in Des Moines who competes with a bev y of agents for buyers’ attention and business. And the increasing premium attached to visibility coupled with advances in technology that make communicating relatively easy and inexpensive mean that more and more people are competing to be seen. It is no wonder that personal and professional branding has spread into every sector of American life. So great is the value of visibility that transformation practices now reach into business, sports, entertainment, religion, the arts, politics, academics, medicine, and law. Visibility is what every aspiring actress wants and what every unknown professional seeks. It
THE BRANDING PROPOSITION
9
is the crucial ingredient that makes lawyer X the most sought after in town, talk-show host Y the most popular in her market, and surgeon Z the most highly paid in his city. This is the new world of high visibility, where individuals with basic skills in their field can be elevated to a level of visibility unimaginable at any other time—and be compensated with unimaginable rewards. For some people, the search for high visibility is not deliberate but accidental or the result of some wildly outrageous talent. The tales of stars that are discovered on street corners or simply marry well abound in popular culture. Celebrity makers and storytellers make the process even more elusive by describing the celebrity transformation as if it were a magical event. These modern-day “Merlins” do not accurately reflect what is happening in today’s celebrity culture. High visibility has married business—information and entertainment channels can now transmit images at a rate and capacity never before known or understood—resulting in opportunities for those aspirants who want to use their name as a brand and as a marketing tool. The search for high visibility is a reflection of the pressures of a crowded and competitive marketplace. A name can give a product greater recognition and credibility to attract and retain new business. The rush in most businesses and professions to create a brand distinction around a name is going to further increase as companies acknowledge the power of visibility and its ability to create free news coverage and dedicated customers. When Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., became the target of antiexpansion communities and prolabor forces were appalled at the company’s treatment of its employees, criticism mounted at the increasingly powerful worldwide giant. After a period of denial, CEO Lee Scott was chosen to lead the Wal-Mart counter-charge against its critics. An expert in logistics, he was such an unlikely candidate for the brand spokesperson role that a Wal-Mart director said of him, “I don’t believe Lee ever thought so much of his job would include communicating with the outside world.”11 As a result of the board’s decision to make Scott the leader of Wal-Mart’s aggressive reemergence as a corporate citizen, he spoke to a wide variety of audiences, elicited interactions with high profile critics, and all of this was coordinated with leadership meetings, advertisements, and appearances on television.12 In the end, Scott’s visibility campaign redefined Wal-Mart, which needed a singular voice that could be identified, held responsible, and serve as the ethical face and contact person for this retail empire. Despite the obvious rewards of visibility seeking such as in the Wal-Mart example, the pursuit has pitfalls—anyone who has been associ-
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ated with a highly visible person knows there can be intrusions and even threats. Becoming visible means that the media will not only glorify acts but magnify sins. In extreme cases such as Martha Stewart or Michael Jackson, the lights glare and threaten to ruin careers. In interviews, stars often question the limelight, and some stars seem destined to fill slots in tabloid TV shows and newspapers as hopelessly bedraggled and entangled in media controversy. Such disasters notwithstanding, most of the complaints appear insincere. In interviews with well-knowns, high visibles in all sectors chose visibility over ordinariness. This choice is not surprising since we are a star-based culture in which the rewards and benefits of high visibility overshadow anonymity. When comedian Chris Rock arrives at Cold Stone Creamery after closing—bangs on the window, and begs for his own custom ice cream creation—the store opens. For the rest of us, it is back home for low-fat supermarket brand ice cream and defrosted Christmas cookies. The very appeal of visibility has nurtured a strategic change in visibility marketing. Depending on the sector choice, there are many options for the seeker and manager of visibility making. Aspirants can set off on their own—self-teaching, managing, and publicizing their own career. The advent of infomercials and the Internet has introduced cost advantages never before available to the beginner. A step up is using coaches, agents, publicists, and other professionals on a selective basis. In some situations the pursuit of visibility is fully industrialized with a team of experts managing every step of the ascent. The strategic steps of the personal and professional branding process are the subject of this book. Two themes dominate throughout: First is the change process—the process of transforming people into the desired product; and second is the equally important proposition that the visibility search can be systematic and not dependent on happenstance.
THE PYGMALION PRINCIPLE Flower girl becomes a lady. When Henry Higgins, the main character from George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion made so memorable by Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, realized his breakthrough, he was beside himself. Why was Higgins so excited?
THE BRANDING PROPOSITION
11
Because he realized that he had successfully transformed a coarse cockney girl into a well-spoken, well-mannered fixture of high society. Higgins, undertaking the remanufacturing of Eliza Doolittle on a gentlemen’s wager, was motivated not by greed but by pride, by the desire to show Colonel Pickering that he could do the undoable. The rewards—for himself and his pupil—were mostly intangible: vindication, self-discovery, broadened horizons. Today, the stakes in transformation have soared. Still, similar Pygmalion principles are at work: that people can be transformed into personal and professional brands. The notion of transformation goes back to antiquity. In Ovid’s ancient myth, Pygmalion, a young man who hated women, was “bent on forming a perfect woman and showing men the deficiencies of the kind they had to put up with.” 13 Visualizing the perfect woman, he began to sculpt her. As she took shape, he began to fall in love. But because the stone statue could not respond, Pygmalion grew morose. This drew the attention of the goddess of love, Aphrodite, who was intrigued by this new kind of lover. One day, as Pygmalion lovingly caressed the statue, Aphrodite brought the stone to life. As is the custom in such tales, the two lived happily ever after. Fortunately for Pygmalion, there was divine intervention to ensure a happy resolution. In Shaw’s modern recasting of the myth, divine intervention is replaced by human intervention, namely the actions of a transformer, Henry Higgins, professor of phonetics. In Shaw’s view, transformation is enabled by changing the subject’s language and appearance and conducting some strategic staging. Shaw had advanced the idea of transformation—but only so far. In his Pygmalion, the transformation was an amateur venture. The transformer, Higgins, undertakes his task on a whim, a wager. Today, there is an entire industry that manages the business of transforming unknowns into brands, sculpting virtually every element of personality, appearance, and character that is possible. For example, “lifestyle designers” have recently emerged who “for as much as $450 an hour”14 serve as image consultants to aspirants who seek an identity uplift. Even white-collar criminals who have a marketable redemption story can engage the services of a specially designed speaker’s bureau that will represent their interests (www.theprosandthecons.com). This new version of Pygmalion is industrialized and operates not by whim but by design, not for pride but for profit. In fact, the ability to transform people into brands has become so sophisticated, and the rewards of high visibility have become so awesome, that the Pygmalion principle is now at work in virtually every area of life.
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HIGH VISIBILITY
THE POWER OF VISIBILITY Most Americans are invisible. Each of us has a small network of people who know us, in our workplace, our neighborhood, our place of worship. It might be fifty people, a hundred, or five hundred—a far cry from those whose high visibility earns them the privilege to vacation on private islands, slip in side doors at theaters, glide about in stretched limousines behind smoked glass, and book entire restaurants for an undisturbed meal. For most of us, life rarely holds such pleasures. But what is happening in society is this: As our power to distribute images expands, the ranks of the highly visible are growing rapidly, and those who understand the transformation process utilize it to enhance their opportunities and rewards. Thanks to modern communications technology, society’s capacity to create visibility has grown a thousandfold. Television, radio, film, cable, magazines, billboards, satellite dish receivers, and now the personal computer, Internet, cell phones, and other mobile technologies— all help make it possible to transmit images worldwide or to target very narrow markets. Inspired by the modern concepts of product distribution, enabled by transportation and sophisticated communications and marketing tools, we have developed the ability to create, in Daniel Boorstin’s terminology, well-knowness15—and to blanket the world with it. When Boorstin first proposed his theory of the power of communication technology to create “artificial fame,”16 the practical knowledge about how it could be accomplished was far less sophisticated than it is today. Little was known about how particular individuals could be forced through the visibility-generating machinery or about how to take maximum commercial advantage of their resulting celebrity. In the last half-century, many of the processes that Boorstin first suggested have become knowable and doable. We now can answer crucial questions about branding: What exactly are the roles of consultants, mentors, coaches, advisors, agents, managers, promoters, and headhunters in the celebrity-making process? How is audience appeal measured, and how are audiences attracted and used? How is the highly visible brand engineered and delivered to audiences? How do the common misconceptions of great talent, magnetic charisma, the right attitude, incredible luck, electric personality, and perfect timing obscure the path to high visibility? What are the strategies needed to transform visibility seekers into brands? How is high visibility sustained over time? What are its rewards? Its costs?
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The focus of High Visibility is on answering these questions and, in doing so, analyzing and applying the role, impact, and processes involved in creating and marketing personal and professional brands.
THE URGENCY FOR HIGH VISIBILITY In today’s highly competitive society, becoming well known is a necessity in many sectors. A lawyer in a large law firm is centered on his or her performance in various places where he or she is on display—in court, bar conferences, media interviews, professional association dinners, trusteeships, and directorships for charities and universities. The importance of venue performance is repeated in accounting offices, locker rooms, diocesan headquarters, charity boardrooms, and legislative hallways. Today for the visibility-conscious professional, a distinctive brand is the ultimate accomplishment. Well-knowness has evolved into brand identity, and brand identity in today’s society means power and money—not just to its possessor but also to businesses, institutions, political parties, causes, entrepreneurs, and charities. High visibility has become a marketable commodity that has attained tremendous commercial value around the world. People in all walks of life no longer find it strange to consider making radical changes in their lives and images in order to gain a high profile and its inherent power. To be marketed successfully, individuals need to obtain control of their images and make decisions based on a thorough understanding of the high visibility industry. This book is structured to take the reader through the process of understanding, managing, and delivering visibility. Chapter 2 will discuss the importance of the visibility premium; Chapter 3, how the high visibility industry is constructed; Chapter 4, the relationship between visibility and marketing; Chapters 5 and 6, the consumers for the visibility marketplace; Chapters 7 and 8, how aspirants are transformed; Chapters 9 and 10, how the visibility image is distributed; and Chapter 11, how visibility is retained.
NOTES 1 _____, “What Happens When Richard Branson Comes To Sydney . . . .” www.capital.com.au/html/monthly2.htm, viewed June 12, 2005. 2 Lola Ogunnaike, “For J. Lo, Multitasker, A New Taste for Privacy,” New York Times, March 1, 2005, p. E3.
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3 _____, “Jennifer Lopez Beyond the Runway Fashion Show,” www.dexigner.com/ fashion/news-g3742.html, viewed July 4, 2005. 4 _____, “Stephen Glass: I Lied for Esteem,” CBS News, August 17, 2003, www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/60minutes/main552819.shtml, viewed on June 12, 2005. 5 Teri Agins, “With Her Own Line, Pop Star Rides Rise in Celebrity Fashion,” Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2005, p. A1. 6 See Ulrike Malmendier and Geoffrey Alan Tate, “Superstar CEOs,” 7th Annual Texas Finance Festival Paper, February 2, 2005, ssrn.com/abstract=709861; David Yermack, “Flights of Fancy: Corporate Jets, CEO Perquisites, and Inferior Shareholder Returns,” AFA 2005 Philadelphia Meetings, March 2005, ssrn.com/abstract=529822; Edward P. Lazear and Sherwin Rosen, “Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum, Labor Contracts,” Journal of Political Economy 89(5), 1991, pp. 841–864. 7 Hillel Italie, “The same old story for publishing: More books, fewer sales,” Associated Press, May 16, 2005 (Lexis Nexis). 8 _____, “Worldwide music sales drop 1 percent in 2004, despite music DVD growth,” Evening Standard, January 17, 2004 (Lexis Nexis). 9 Greg Hernandez, “MPAA’s Chief: 2004 Healthy,” Daily News of Los Angeles, March 16, 2005, p. B1. 10 _____, “Man U possibly the first of many takeover bids,” Toronto Star, May 17, 2005, p. EO2. 11 Ann Zimmerman, “Wal-Mart Boss’s Unlikely Role: Corporate Defender-inChief,” Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2005, pp. A1, 8. 12 Ibid. 13 Edith Hamilton, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes (Boston: Little, Brown, 1940), p.108. 14 Robert J. Hughes, “Who Did Her Personality?” Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2005, p. W1. 15 Daniel Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events (New York: Atheneum, l961). 16 Boorstin, p. 47.
commanding a high visibility premium
CHAPTER 2
F
ew would argue that Oprah Winfrey, the self-made owner of Harpo Productions, receives a premium for her services—Forbes named her No. 1 on its “Celebrity 100” list.1 Her own television show reaches 21 million regular daily viewers in 130 countries, and she also produces Dr. Phil. She publishes O magazine, manages a stake in the women-centered cable network Oxygen, and edits another magazine, O at Home.2 The Oprah Book Club created dozens of literary bestsellers and has established new authors and reestablished old ones. Her personal charity “Oprah’s Angel Network” builds goodwill by providing grants for scholarships, schools, and homes for underprivileged children, and an interactive resource Web site, Oprah.com, attracts 2 million viewers a month. Her empire has made her a billionaire and arguably the most visible woman in America. The Winfrey brand did not start with a bang. When she moved to Chicago from Baltimore to launch a morning show, there was little foreshadowing of her success. The initial word was that she was difficult to work with and her erratic behavior might short-circuit her career. It was not very long, however, before her image began to take shape and her brand became distinct from the competition. Winfrey every morning like clockwork delivered an upbeat, enlightening, and usually useful message to what became a devoted audience. Winfrey’s style—which is based on honesty, sincerity, and empathy—connects with an audience worried about their children, confused about how doctors treat their families, and baffled by Wall Street’s jargon on financial planning. She finds the experts and is often willing to become a test case for their experimentation, and she continues, despite her enormous wealth, to appear engaged by the latest fad of diet experts, the twist on recipes by gourmet cooks, and the comforting advice of financial 15
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planners. Winfrey has not only branded a middle-class lifestyle programming but, because of her careful staging and ability to manage exposure– “You don’t see her doing commercials or selling Oprah perfume”3–she demands a premium from the marketplace.
WHAT DEFINES A HIGHLY VISIBLE PERSON? As a result of her high visibility, Winfrey attracts tremendous attention wherever she appears in public. People turn their heads to see stars such as Winfrey who “stand out from the crowd.” Many of us have had our lives enhanced and disrupted by celebrities. People often define their lives by where and when they have encountered them. Who are these people that command such attention while most of us scarcely even cast a shadow? There are many person-types that are somehow associated with visibility: heroes, leaders, legends, idols, stars, superstars, icons, and celebrities. In earlier times, low visibility, for most citizens, was generally regarded as the normal state of affairs. The exceptions—victorious generals, daring heroes, popes, mystics, religious leaders—were people elevated into high visibility by their deeds, birthrights, or leadership of institutions. These heroes were well known for their merits: fighting the Romans, delivering the rain, saving a nation from bankruptcy. The leader was well known for his or her “charismatic” appeal and ability to inspire. It is not that these heroes and leaders lacked rudimentary understanding of promotional techniques. They understood very well that images and symbols had power, and they employed them effectively to exert control over their publics. It was not by accident that Richard became the Lion Hearted, William became the Conqueror, and Napoleon was indelibly enshrined in the public memory by the artist Jacques-Louis David, who in his paintings so glorified the military leader that Napoleon became a fixture in schools and museums worldwide based on David’s theatrical portrayals.4 In the lexicon of history books and heroic images, these are famous people who are permanently immortalized in our cultures. Today, the terms that we use to describe the highly visible—celebrities, stars, superstars, icons, business gurus—are very different. Intrinsic to their meaning is the fact that high visibility, that is, well-knowness, has become a viable commodity all by itself. It can stand by itself, independent of accomplishment, sacrifice, or heroics. This disconnect of achievement and visibility made terms such as celebrity less desirable to sector aspirants.
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The term celebrity, for example, comes from the Latin celeber, meaning “much frequented” or “thronged.”5 The Oxford English Dictionary defines celebrity as “a person of celebrity, a celebrity person, a public character”6—hardly an illuminating definition. Some definitions emphasize numbers, such as “a celebrity is a person (or name) who is known by a larger number of people than average.” The Celebrity Register hints at a popularity dimension when it suggests that “a celebrity is a name which, once made by news, now makes news by itself.”7 Another definition uses the same theme but with the twist of anonymity: “A celebrity is a person who is known by people whom he does not know” or is “a person who is talked about.” Most of the definitions concentrate on reputation, praise, and popularity. In some cases, the definition revolves around the short-lived, ephemeral quality of celebrity. There is the implication that memory is a crucial dimension, that celebrity tends to be fleeting, less permanent than fame or greatness. The traditional definitions of celebrity and other visibility terms fail to illuminate the core essence of high visibility in the twenty-first century: its growing commercial value. Can the high-profile name help sell McDonald’s hamburgers, Omega watches, or Suntory Whiskey? Can he attract a large audience to the charity ball? Can she draw media attention to her own pet political cause? These questions not only demand that highly visible people play a critical profit-generating role in all sectors but also suggest that visibility seeking is a widespread and growing goal in our society. We think of a person with high visibility as someone whose name has attention-getting, interest-drawing, and profit-generating value. This terminology allows us to consider at once the well-known mutual fund manager, the star attorney, the local mayor, the situation comedy star—all as players in the high visibility marketplace. It encompasses Dr. Tim Johnson, whose medical practice now reaches millions on network television; Michael E. Porter, the definitive authority on competitive advantage; and Deepak Chopra, the otherworldly guru to the stars. It includes Rudolph Giuliani, whose faltering reputation was recast on September 11, 2001, as a leader of international prominence, and Diane Keaton, who is an actor that has risen, fallen, and risen again. The use of the term brand in the person marketing field is a natural outcome of the search for a premium for one person’s services.8 First, it is a more encompassing and acceptable term for people in sectors such as business and the professions who are uncomfortable with terms such as celebrity, star, or icon. Second, the concept of brand has more marketing theory, tools, and applications from the commercial world in contrast to prior visibility terms, which had been developed with historical figures and entertainers.
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Third, as high visibility became more of a profit-generating and managed institution and the relationship between products and people became more apparent, branding has become a defining term that signals a successful aspirant’s quest for visibility in his or her sector. The bottom line is that an increasing number of people are deciding to work on becoming meaningful brands to specific target publics.
WHY THE PREMIUM? Why is high visibility so sought after? Because attaining it generates substantial rewards for the personal and professional brand and the members of their support systems.9 The highly visible personally achieve a degree of privilege, power, pay, and perquisites that make achieving and sustaining visibility compellingly attractive. Many of the high visibility brands are talented, intelligent, and deserve to be at the top of their field. The difference is they have decided to convert their skills into a highly visible brand that differentiates them from the competition. Consider, for example, the pay differential or premium that a film celebrity confers—that is, the difference between what a celebrity earns as a celebrity, and what a he or she would earn in his or her best use as a noncelebrity. For example, what would Adam Sandler earn if he could not be a comic actor? This pay differential has two economic drivers. First, high visibility often rewards aspirants merely for choosing to compete in high risk/high profit sectors. An athlete with certain physical skills might excel equally in soccer or skateboarding. Soccer superstar David Beckham, specializing in the more globally visible sport of soccer, earns a premium—mostly from endorsements—over what he would have earned in the less internationally visible sport of skateboarding. Second, high visibility earns a premium because aspirants are better known than other members of their professions or sectors. It could be argued that Beckham is not the best player in soccer, but his premium is based on a number of factors—his male model looks, his fashionable movie star outfits, his ability to marry an international symbol of pop culture like Posh Spice, and his not inconsiderable ability to perform under pressure during penalty kicks. This Beckham package was so attractive to Real Madrid that the Spanish football team reportedly paid English Premier League mega-club Manchester United (MU) “a sum of $41 million for his services.”10 There are other players that Real Madrid could have bought with comparable or superior talent for less money. But in terms of
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marketability, visibility, and worldwide fan base, Beckham is a special brand. It is calculated that because of Beckham’s enormous fan base and brand recognition that Real Madrid, despite their status as arguably Europe’s premiere championship team, needs him to fulfill their strategic plan to become a global brand. It was estimated by the marketing consulting firm FutureBrand that “Beckham could shift 5 million of those [Man U.] fans to Real’s side.”11 Beckham receives a premium for his services because he converts fans from other teams, fills stadium seats in Japan, connects with other Madrid stars Renaldo and Zinedine Zidane, and in doing so redefines the world soccer economic model.
How Much for a Pretty Face? There are few professions that are branding their services more effectively globally than plastic surgery. Americans in 2004 spent $8.4 billion on nearly 9.2 million cosmetic plastic surgeries and procedures.12 Botox injections alone more than doubled from 2001 to 2003 in what could only be considered a gold rush to correct nature’s mistakes.13 In South Korea, “Parents make their kids get plastic surgery,” according to Dr. Shim Hyung Bo, because they “realize looks are important for success.”14 In Japan, students, working women, and homemakers commonly pick out new body parts from glossy catalogues.15 In response to heightened interest in and mainstream acceptance of plastic surgery, the field has become fiercely competitive. In such an environment, what choice does a plastic surgeon have but to increase his or her premium? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the average cost of a face lift in 2004 was a little over $5,000, a tummy tuck close to $5,000, and breast augmentation over $3,000–fees that do not include operating room facilities, anesthesia, or other related expenses,16 which could easily increase the price by over a third. Prices, of course, can vary wildly depending upon the visibility—which can include the location, specialty, and celebrity clients— of the plastic surgeon. In order to create a premium, there are a number of specific strategies that can be used. First is using the media to drive business, and this means giving doctors exposure through various media outlets. Reality shows such as Extreme Makeover and MTV’s I Want a Famous Face use plastic surgeons to remake show participants. The surgeons who appear in such media venues have the opportunity to broadcast their work to a wide audience and have a built-in promotional vehicle. What is critical is that the surgeon be located in a place where it is likely that he or she will be discovered. This strategy is inappropriate for a plastic surgeon working in Oklahoma City while places like Beverly Hills and Palos Verdes are literally crawling with producers. It is more likely that the surgeon in local markets would appear on the local news, write a newspaper column, or be available for call-in radio shows.
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The second strategy is targeting the markets that have historically paid the visibility premium for services. There are a couple of restrictions here. The first is working in a community where there is discretionary income and the second is working in a community where there is a demand for the services. Places like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and other metropolitan cities are more likely to produce these opportunities. This strategy might include joining the right country club, giving to the proper charity, and spending the requisite time to build relationships and obligations. A third strategy is using traditional advertising and nontraditional communications channels like public relations, Web sites, and various other forms of paid promotions—even billboards, as practitioners do throughout Asia—to attain and sustain visibility. This strategy is the most common, and it requires not only niche marketing but also being able to distinguish an individual from a large number of competitors. The fourth and final strategy is to create an image around a service that is distinct from others—for example, building a spa-like environment or featuring some service that competitors do not offer, or leveraging the goodwill associated with a celebrity endorser. In some cases, female plastic surgeons appeal to their gender by not only claiming they have a special relationship with them but also creating environments that reflect a feminine perspective. In the end, all of these strategies require choices and a certain amount of time and money. After graduation a plastic surgeon faces business building, niche marketing, and visibility generating to establish a practice. Each generation of plastic surgeons finds themselves in a more competitive market with patients who are very particular and of whom almost 50 percent have multiple procedures. A cosmetic plastic surgeon who is board certified is probably able to do very good work. How much they can charge over the generic fee for their services is almost totally related to their ability to create a premium.
This is no less true of other sectors, although the performance statistics are measured differently. What Diane Sawyer receives for a speech for a major convention versus what Topeka’s top newscaster commands constitutes Sawyer’s visibility-generated premium. What celebrity syndicated radio financial advisor Bob Brinker commands for his services versus what another well-trained and experienced financial planner charges is Brinker’s visibility-generated premium. The premium is sometimes subjective but nonetheless real to the buyer. Santiago Calatrava, the high visibility architect who designed the Athens Olympics Sports Complex, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and numerous other award-winning buildings and bridges, can demand a
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premium for his architectural services based on his name and achievements. A real-world test of such a premium is the proposed 115-story Fordham Spire overlooking the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The developer is paying Calatrava a large premium for his services and also charging the buyers a premium to live in Calatrava’s building.17 While there is skepticism as to whether the proposed spirelike, tallest building in the United States will ever be built, the decision to pursue the project revolved around the architect’s reputation and whether it truly will bring in extra dollars and buyers willing to pay for his visibility. We are generally quite willing to pay this “visibility premium,” to reward those who take the risks to become the well-known people we so love to revere or revile. It is largely the size of this premium that motivates so many aspirants to join the quest for name recognition despite the high risks. Forbes’s annual “Celebrity 100” list18 shows that the rewards to aspirants who succeed are tremendous indeed, not just for them but also for the people surrounding them. At such astronomical salaries—Judge Judy Sheindlin earns $28 million per year; Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter makes $25.5 million a year; movie director Steven Spielberg, $80 million a year; and model Heidi Klum, $7.5 million19—parents, spouses, lovers, children, all benefit from the pay, privileges, and reflected glory (as well as inevitable envy, jealousy, and resentment). Also dependent upon their prodigious cash flows are those who develop and promote them. Publicists, agents, coaches, personal managers—all derive their incomes from helping produce and sustain their success. All said, high visibility confers economic and psychological benefits to members of a far-flung (and continually expanding) support system. But visibility is not merely a reward unto its possessors and their intimates. It also helps to meet the crucial public need for icons, role models, and reference persons. Highly visible people provide stories, entertainment, diversions, uplifts, and moral instruction. Through them, we enjoy vicarious emotions and experiences rarely found in our daily lives. Historically, magazines with well-known people on the cover attract more attention than such cover subjects as buildings, computer equipment, and even luxury items like exotic automobiles.20 The well-known face is likely to deliver more sales, encouraging higher premiums for well-known people. On a more basic level, most of us would hate living in a society without names or brands. Recall the “no-name” entities of the past: the “no-name” NBA champion Detroit Pistons; generic peanut butter; no-brand gas. Such commodities are strongly identified for their very lack of identifying characteristics. But how many people would like a genuinely
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no-name government, unidentifiable TV stars, or a wholly generic life? The very idea strikes a strong chord of uneasiness and distaste in our visibilityadoring world. Finally, high visibility meets the needs of institutions for representatives and advocates. Charities, schools, sports teams, and institutions of all stripes compete for attention, funds, and markets. To the extent that they can adopt, create, or flaunt some well-known (and, one hopes, dramatic) personality as a brand extension, they can more successfully achieve their goals. In such cases, the person becomes an icon for the entire institution. Thus, Oracle benefits when CEO Larry Ellison decides to become a business star. Revlon cosmetics sell better because actor and spokesperson Halle Berry and her qualities mingle with the perceived qualities of the product. Universities seeking funds tout the names of their Nobel Prize winners or celebrated graduates to give donors a sense of the exciting and prestigious. In many cases, universities use sports coaches to personify their marketable qualities. The contribution that high visibility can make to institutions is clearly displayed in the large number of television preachers who make up the “electronic” ministry. Celebrity evangelists such as Trinity Broadcasting Network founders Paul and Jan Crouch, Kabbalah spiritual leader Rabbi Eitan Yardeni, and Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell invested heavily in the recognition of their names. They are every bit as leveraged into promotion as film and sports stars. Where would they be—what would they be earning—if they were only as visible, as well known, as the local corner minister or parish priest? The same could be said for cult religious leaders such as Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon who attracted—and in turn were boosted by—huge media exposure. Despite his death, Hubbard’s message endures through celebrity members such as movie and television stars Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Jenna Elfman. And Moon’s worldwide ministry is so influential and controversial that its followers have come to be identified as “Moonies.” How does this affect the impact of these leaders’ messages of religious faith? Personal name recognition is essential for spiritual leaders, and it is virtually their paramount marketing tool. How many audience members even know the names of the celebrity preachers’ organizations? How many contributors say, for instance, “I donate to the Crystal Cathedral?” Not many. The vast majority say, “I give to Robert Schuller,” who speaks weekly to a vast television audience from the Crystal Cathedral. The contributions flooding into Schuller and his compatriots reaffirm the power of people
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standing for whole institutions and the importance we have come to place on person-images.
Branding the Donald His name is everywhere—Visa cards, labels of bottled water, every building he develops, the personal coat of arms he created for himself, his own successful TV series The Apprentice, and his latest venture, Trump University. Billionaire Donald Trump has been the ubiquitous Samson of American real estate for more than two decades. In America, Trump is synonymous with wealth, prestige, excess—and stands at the pinnacle of American business with ventures in real estate, gaming, entertainment, and personality branding.21 How did Trump build such a strong brand around his name? His launching pad was his New York real estate ventures where he expanded upon his father’s prominence. What made Trump stand out was his relentless pursuit of visibility and a set of personality characteristics that defined his brand. Instead of hiding behind his desk and quietly planting stories about his next real estate venture in the business section, Trump was brash, aggressive, and always self-serving. His first marriage with Ivana Marie Zelnickova was actually a break-out move on his part. For the first time, he and the glamorous Ivana were visible at all the right parties, charity events, and other high visibility venues. His subsequent breakup and marriages to Marla Maples and Melania Knauss reinforced his image of luxury, excess, and materialism. Trump, like English and French kings, could afford to attract and discard beautiful women because he had supreme power, money, and celebrity. Another link to his brand identity was his building of his signature Manhattan skyscraper, the Trump Tower—a shimmering bronze icon that through its sheer audacity placed Trump in a league apart from his competitors. He was reminiscent of a new breed of entrepreneur, aristocrats who were accountable to no one and unlike Louis XIV actually made a living. That combination created a halo effect for his other ventures—golf courses, gambling casinos, and hotels. All could charge the visibility premium because they encompassed and distributed his brand to his customers. While he’s had his setbacks—near bankruptcy, chronic financial problems with his casinos—he has enough brand equity to overcome obstacles that others would find daunting. His reality television show The Apprentice has enjoyed overwhelming popularity because Trump is willing to exhibit his style to a mass audience. When he waves his arm and pronounces “You’re fired” to a crushed aspirant, audiences find this thrilling, while in more ordinary circumstances they would be appalled. The brand is no more evident in his ability to attract new business. He has multiple projects in Chicago and Las Vegas and seemingly has plans for
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many others in cities across the United States. His name is so visible that his ex-wife, Ivana, has brand-named a competitive condominium called “Ivana” in Las Vegas. Whether Trump is giving an online lecture on “The Trump Way to Wealth,” appearing as a guest on Days of Our Lives, or promoting a $100,000 “Live Like Trump” sweepstakes, he has perfected a brand that is differentiated, demands a premium, and has multiple uses.
Perhaps most important is the fact that high visibility serves the same function for Trump that it serves for people in all walks of life. The most visible lawyer in the small town; the most well known young manager at the national sales meeting; the most recognized ingénue in the regional theater troupe—each will advance further in their careers than their peers as a result of their higher visibility.
High Fat Brand Extension Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, sell a super premium product with their super premium names. They originally positioned themselves as two New Yorkers who landed up in the clear, pristine Vermont land of healthy cows. For years ice cream lovers were inundated with Ben and Jerry’s market positioning as unpretentious do-gooders who sold the wackiest, richest, and self-proclaimed healthiest ice cream in the world. Today, after being bought out by food giant Unilever for $326 million, they still serve as goodwill ambassadors all over the world for Ben & Jerry’s.22 A customer can buy Ben & Jerry’s in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Malta, Israel, Hong Kong, and many other countries.23 As a testimony to their ability to use their visibility as a brand extension, they have started up a Ben & Jerry’s partner shop, a store that not only combines an ice cream counter with a catering business but is also operated by Second Chance/STRIVE, which is dedicated to restoring the long-term unemployed back into employment. In addition, the two have promoted innovations in environmental preservation, reducing global warming, voter registration, and other global-conscience activities.24 What Ben & Jerry did is remarkable. In building the Ben & Jerry ice cream brand, they were unrelenting in focusing their attention on two goals: The first was to build an ice cream brand that was novel and consistent with purity and free of preservatives. They invented, packaged, and institutionalized the fantasy of mixing ice cream with chocolate bars, fruit, nuts, fudge, caramel, and every other possible topping. Second, early in their venture, they incorporated into their business objectives a social mission initiative that gave their entire enterprise a motive greater than profits. While ice cream will never qualify as a health food, they managed to brand theirs as a socially responsible dessert. Moreover, no matter the financial ups and downs of their enterprise, they were consistent and always on message, and they were not only
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able to sell their company for a premium price but they were also able to maintain and expand the visibility of their name.
HOW IS THE PREMIUM ESTABLISHED? Robin Saunders invented a new premium category. A former Florida State University dance student, she built a counter-brand in the staid profession of investment banking. After moving to London, Saunders proceeded to partner with powerful financiers, make sensational and often bold deals, and establish herself as a star player in a heretofore male dominated industry. In contrast with the traditionally austere London financial world, Saunders stood out. The combination of her remarkable financial skills, affable sociability, and unerring taste in clothes and jewelry differentiated her from the good ole boys network. While it engendered both admiration and hostility from competitors and the media, it was a successful union of skilled financial strategies and visibility. No one had ever really seen this strategy executed in such a glamorous manner. She worked nonstop on deals, sailed on Prince Rainier’s yacht, and was credited with generating nearly $25 billion in transactions.25 After much success, some of her deals collapsed, and there were predictions of her ultimate exit from the exclusive club she redefined. That was not going to happen. Saunders is emerging again as a premium brand. She continues to pursue major financial deals with the promise of high rewards and receives attention even in her pursuit of a comeback, as a headline from The Observer exclaims: “City Intrigued as Golden Girl Plots Comeback.”26 Sector stars, whether in banking, law, medicine, or sports, benefit from the combination of their sector performances and the expansion of Hollywood-like treatment by their audiences and the media. The Hollywood model is the marriage of entertainment and fame building to create and sell highly visible star culture, which may include products with a varying shelf life, strong emphasis on personality, style, and substance, and luxurious, sometimes excessive lifestyles. These products often appear to be manufactured under mysterious circumstances by shadowy figures working for high rewards. In the Hollywood model, the emphasis is on product development, coaching, story building, drama, public relations, and capitalizing on free media. While popularly and critically perceived as more of an ephemeral curiosity than a genuine industry, the Hollywood model is drawing upon a
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huge system: celebrity restaurants, private clubs, boutiques, funeral homes, hotels, doctors and dentists, dressmakers and tailors. Few places illustrate the depth of the visibility industry’s support systems better than West Los Angeles. A trip through Santa Monica’s Upper Rustic Canyon resembles a television commercial for the state of the art in military tactics applied to home protection: ominous warnings of killer dogs, roving guards, and piercing alarms. To keep the lines of communication secure and free from fan interference, unlisted phone numbers and answering services abound. Traveling celebrities own private planes and arrange for limo-to-runway service never encountering the everyday inconvenience of travel. These support services are becoming available to visibility aspirants in all sectors and are driven by the premium that they can extract from the marketplace.
THE SPREAD OF THE CONCEPT In Hollywood, person marketing is an established, institutionalized form of life, the accepted way that highly visible persons are created in the entertainment sector. But crucial to the growth of the visibility industry worldwide is that, just by the force of its presence, the Hollywood model of visibility building causes pressure for imitative behavior in Aspen, Colorado; Tallinn in Estonia; and Fishguard, England. Hollywood’s visibilitygenerating strategies—widely portrayed in Hollywood films and network television—have been absorbed throughout the world. The ubiquitous and popular reality show American Idol, the rise of Britney Spears from pop celebrity into a risqué MTV generation idol, and Will Smith’s universal likeability—all are lessons in brand development, Hollywood style. All contribute to the public’s awareness of, and predisposition to use, Hollywood techniques. Much PR activity came out of New York, but it was Hollywood that codified and disseminated PR more efficiently than any other institution in the world. While Hollywood films were seeding the global consciousness with notions of fame building, the support systems that Hollywood helped develop were expanding, spreading visibility building know-how across the country. PR firms, agents, local promoters and managers, publicists—these agencies, formed in part to serve the entertainment sector in local markets, naturally sought to apply their skills to clients in sectors besides entertainment. These two factors—the awareness of visibility building as a practice, and the availability of the expertise to accomplish it—spread the Hollywood model, raising profiles of more and more sectors of life.
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Moving aggressively, the ad agencies, PR experts, publicists, dressing consultants, image designers, and charity coordinators have since permeated almost every area of global culture. The result is that the once dominant Hollywood star-making model has been superseded by its offspring—a worldwide, multisector system to generate high visibility and create brands. It is a system already well entrenched in the sports and political sectors, and it is growing rapidly in the business, religion, science, academic, and art sectors. The trend seems clear, illustrated by everything from the publicity campaign for Asia discount airline carrier AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes to the society page profiles of architect Frank Gehry: The proficiency, penetration, and saturation of the visibility industry is a testimony to the speed of the Hollywood model’s dispersion and the need of the marketplace for their techniques.
Mel Gibson’s Premium The Passion of the Christ was a surprising box office hit. The movie, which cost $30 million to produce, has grossed worldwide over $600 million.27 The movie’s superstar director, producer, and principal investor was Mel Gibson, who won double Oscars for Braveheart and is a certified action star of his generation. His task was to market a religious film on the crucifixion of Christ, which is R rated and subtitled in Latin and Aramaic. The financial and cultural success of the film is not only an example of guerilla marketing but also an example of how a star’s brand can gain attention and create controversy for a film that might otherwise be overlooked. To the general public, Gibson’s commitment to Christianity was not well known. To meld his personal brand with the movie, he appeared on talk shows, gave many media interviews, met with religious leaders—in doing so, he conducted a form of trench warfare to gain attention for the film. The film was attacked on three counts: anti-Semitism, violence, and historical accuracy. All three accusations served to generate free publicity and word-of-mouth visibility for the film. The debates by themselves—which usually included Mel Gibson versus rabbis, some Christian leaders, media figures, and even Hollywood insiders—created anticipation for the film. In the world of predictable storylines, where biographies are carefully vetted, lifestyle pieces are painstakingly crafted, and images are often chiseled to a plan, the specter of Gibson laying bare his innermost beliefs was compelling and different. “What will he say next?” was the tease that kept people interested in the film and its promotion. In response to a question by Diane Sawyer on Primetime on whether he was crazy or a genius, Gibson chose to answer in a colorful, if unrelated way, “I think I’m somewhere between Howard Stern and St. Francis
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of Assisi on the scale of morality.”28 Gibson kept the film in play with an all-out blitz, brewing media controversy and stirring audience interest. What would the film have grossed without Gibson? While it is impossible to know the answer to that question, it could be surmised that it would have been a lot less. Religious movies have not historically been box office successes.29 In the competitive age for media space, high profile generates interest. For the public, often barraged with a multitude of conflicting images, Gibson’s brand was able to lift his product out of the ordinary and transform it into a special event.
Fueling the cycle is the public’s belief that achievements are not achievements unless they are reported in the media. The media, even at the most local level, has become the validating mechanism for accomplishment, a sort of society-wide imitation of the high school football quarterback’s rifling of the local paper’s sports section to see if he’s mentioned. For many of us, the public reporting of the achievement becomes more important than the achievement itself. Not only is the Hollywood model moving out into local markets but local markets are becoming increasingly sophisticated in transforming the ordinary into the visible, and the visible into the highly visible. As a testament to the go-go nineties, New York City publicist Lara Shriftman and socialite Liz Cohen decided to test the limits of celebrity making. Young, rich, and well connected, the two ran a successful PR firm that launched a variety of products—from mobile phones to $1,000 pumps. What if they could find an unknown person, cloak her in designer clothes, deliver her to the most exclusive parties, limo her to movie and theatrical premieres, and, in general, leak to the press her hotness and prominence? The subject was a twenty-five-year-old English woman named Alice Larkin, who worked in a Betsey Johnson boutique. In a short period of time, she was giving quotes to gossip columnists, being interviewed on her hairstyle by Vogue, and was arguably an A-list star.30 What did everyone get out of this? For Larkin, the answer is easy—access to unimagined social events, the potential for lucrative modeling, and perhaps a coupling with a wealthy socialite. For the two transformers, it was a demonstration of how visibility can be built with craft and networking. In the end, it came crashing down when Larkin broke up the marriage of a well-known socialite couple and was unceremoniously dismissed from the New York social scene. Larkin did marry the husband and perhaps that was the premium.31 In this age, creating a star may well be easier than controlling one. While transforming shop girls into stars is a fairly mild manipulation of the system, using similar techniques in such sectors as politics has trig-
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gered intense controversy. After all, manufacturing stars for entertainment purposes seems far less offensive than manufacturing elected leaders. The same concerns exist in other high visibility sectors such as science and medicine, where pressure on individuals to achieve well-knowness has spawned such aberrations as lawsuits between French and American researchers over who should receive credit for discovering the AIDS virus. In this spread of personal and professional branding throughout the global culture, an important change has occurred. Visibility building in its original form relied on systematically refining aspirants who had been randomly discovered. Today, however, we are moving from this “discovery” model to a breeding model, to a system that transforms unknown aspirants into highly visible individuals in much the same way that Sumo wrestlers are grown in Japan or ballerinas are built in Russia. All over this country, from Fame-type high school talent banks in New York City to ice-skating schools in Denver and gymnastics camps in California, we are breeding the highly visible rather than discovering them. For example, for decades, towns that wished to brand themselves to stimulate commerce, inventoried their assets and then selected or discovered talent. A central element in the standard formula was the iconic female symbol of the town: 1. Stage a competition to select the local beauty queen. 2. Have her pose with avocados, prize cattle, or other local attractions. 3. Promote the beauty queen in an elaborate stage show featuring local talent. 4. Promote the now beauty icon to the local media as a centerpiece for stories about the region and its products. 5. Repeat the formula to achieve the next level of visibility–whether it be state, regional, national, or global. Today, however, the Pygmalion principle has transformed fishing derbies and strawberry festivals across America. The most important changes are being made in the participants themselves. Future anglers and strawberry queens are identified in elementary school and herded into clinics and summer camps for training. In some places, seminars are conducted to instruct town leaders in talking to the media, and acting lessons are given to the most archetypal, quaint, colorful members of the town, creating, on demand, a visibility showcase. Festival organizers are combining manufac-
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tured characters with the marketing formulas designed by consultants, selecting the most appropriate festival colors, designing logos, and manufacturing cheap peripherals for on-the-spot sale to tourists. Ultimately, the whole spectacle can be packaged for sale to regional and state television, with T-shirts, beach balls, and logo-imprinted Frisbees available for sale through late-night direct-response TV commercials.
TRANSFORMATION AND THE QUEST That aspirants can be molded and transformed into successful brands and command a premium for outsized performance is a key concept in our visibility culture. The changing demands of a broader, more saturated, and savvier marketplace are both an opportunity and a warning to prospective aspirants. In such a competitive environment, those seeking and those who have attained visibility are commanding a premium from a marketplace that values and is willing to pay for their products and services. At the same time, easier entry into the visibility industry and a recognition by aspirants that the premium is worthwhile has created unprecedented competition. In order to attain and sustain the premium, aspirants must understand the structure of the high visibility industry. The next chapter addresses how this people-as-brands industry functions.
NOTES 1 Edited by Peter Kafka, “The Celebrity 100: Sorted by Pay Rank,” Forbes, www.forbes.com/lists/2005/53/Pay_1.html, viewed June 18, 2005. 2 Edited by Peter Kafka, “The Celebrity 100,” Forbes, www.forbes.com/maserati/ celebrities2004/LIRO0ZT.html?passListId=53&passYear=2004&passListType= Person&uniqueId=O0ZT&datatype=Person, viewed June 18, 2005. 3 Quote from Jim Andrews, IEG Sponsorship Report editorial director. See Angela Phipps Towle, “Celebrity Branding,” www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/ television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2030984, viewed July 5, 2005. 4 Annette Grant, “Life is Short, but Good Publicity Lasts Forever,” New York Times, June 26, 2005, p. 27. 5 The Wedgewood Dictionary of English Etymology (London: Tribner & Co., 1872), p. 60. 6 The Oxford English Dictionary (London: Ely House, l970), p. 211.
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7 Earl Blackwell and Cleveland Amory, The Celebrity Register (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), p. V. 8 Chris Grannell and Ruwan Jayawardena, “Celebrity Branding: Not as glamorous as it looks,” brandchannel.com, January 19, 2004, www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=76, viewed July 5, 2005. 9 See Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook, The Winner-Take-All-Society (New York: Free Press, 1995), for a discussion of how the premium economy creates powerful distortions in the marketplace. 10 Michael Elliott, “Brand it like Beckham: The World’s best-known sports star follows the money,” Time, June 23, 2003, www.time.com/time/columnist/elliott/article/0,9565,460400,00.html, viewed July 4, 2005. 11 Ginanne Brownell with Emily Flynn, Hideko Takayama, and Ronna Kelly, “Brand It Like Beckham,” Newsweek, June 30, 2003, p. 88. 12 Jennifer Warner, “Cosmetic Procedures Become Even More Popular: Focus Shifts to Nonsurgical Cosmetic Procedures like Botox, Restylane,” WebMDHealth, March 18, 2005, my.webmd.com/content/article/102/106655.htm, viewed June 18, 2005. 13 _____, “A Body of Work,” USA Today, July 29, 2004, p. 8D. 14 Chisu Ko, “Peer Pressure Plastics: Kids gotta have it too,” Time (Asia), August 5, 2002, www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/printout/0,13675,501020805–332098,00. html, viewed August 10, 2004. 15 _____, “Cosmetic surgery remaking face of Japan,” Associated Press, October 9, 2003, www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1065703777168_18/?hub= SciTech, viewed August 10, 2004. 16 _____, “2004 Average Surgeon/Physician Fees: Cosmetic Procedures” from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, www.plasticsurgery.org/public_education/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/ security/getfile.cfm&PageID=16163, viewed July 5, 2005. 17 David Roeder, “Calatrava Spire Faces Some Tall Obstacles,” Chicago Sun-Times, July 27, 2005, p. 77. 18 See www.forbes.com/celebrity100/ for the Forbes “Celebrity 100,” edited by Peter Kafka, June 15, 2005. 19 See Forbes’ “The Celebrity 100: Sorted by Pay Rank,” www.forbes.com/lists/2005/53/Pay_1.html, viewed July 5, 2005.
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20 _____, “1,574 Covers,” People, April 12, 2004, p. 186. 21 Dan Roth, “The Trophy Life,” Fortune, www.fortune.com/fortune/subs/article/0,15114,607690–2,00.html, April 5, 2004, viewed July 19, 2004. 22 Michael Kinsman, “Ben & Jerry’s Real Scoop on Business,” San Diego UnionTribune, April 3, 2004, p. C1. 23 www.benjerry.com/our_company/international, viewed August 8, 2004. 24 See Kinsman. 25 David Fairlamb, “Going South at Germany’s WestLB,” BusinessWeek, August 13, 2003, www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2003/ nf20030813_6631_db039.htm, viewed October 14, 2005. 26 Richard Wachman, “City Intrigued as Golden Girl Plots Comeback: Robin Saunders is burying Boxclever blues with a mega-deal,” The Observer, June 19, 2005, p. 3. 27 www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=passionofthechrist.htm, viewed June 13, 2005. 28 _____, “Primetime Live Mel Gibson’s Passion,” Primetime Live (ABC), February 16, 2004 (Lexis Nexis). 29 For example, the 1988 The Last Temptation of Christ directed by Martin Scorsese grossed domestically a little under $9 million. See www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=lasttemptationofchrist.htm, viewed June 13, 2005. 30 Vanessa Grigoriadis, “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” New York Magazine, December 7, 1998, www.angelfire.com/celeb/millers/ny_power_grrls.html, viewed July 29, 2004. 31 entertainment.iwon.com/celebgossip/pgsix/id/08_31_2002_6.html, viewed August 9, 2004.
how the high visibility industry works
CHAPTER 3
T
he ballroom door opens. It’s 10:00 P.M., and Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, has arrived to address hundreds of top executives who have been waiting patiently in the Maurya Sheraton Towers in New Delhi to hear Gates speak on his company’s latest global initiative.1 Gates, the richest man in the world, has given his computer company’s seemingly faceless identity a brand. Much of the new brand stems from Gates’ transformation as he altered his image to provide a face for the cutting-edge products of Microsoft. Originally, he was perceived as the iconic computer genius, appearing in public in lumpy suits, hunched over, trying desperately to see through his smudged glasses. Today, after years of Microsoft success he looks like a successful CEO of a dominant but userfriendly company. He not only dresses more fashionably, he moves with studied self-assurance. He expresses his ideas publicly with confidence and seeming ease. Bill Gates, once the shyest man in the world, now meets with heads of state, trades jokes with David Letterman, builds a $50 million technologically perfect home, is a world-class philanthropist, and publicly expresses his feelings for his late mother. Gates’ high visibility has become one of Microsoft’s principal weapons in redefining the company not as a monopolistic behemoth but as a warm, facilitating force in our lives. For support, Gates has it all—speechwriters, event managers, photographers, PR staff, marketing experts, drivers. Some might consider Gates to be somewhat extravagant, assembling so large a personal staff. But he has good reason. As Microsoft’s chief visionary, he is committed to high visibility—a commitment requiring that his image be distributed on television and in print, through interviews, live and Web-cast speeches, guest columns, expert testimony, and charity appearances. By assembling 33
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different experts, he takes advantage of the opportunities offered by a powerful industry. It is an industry that serves more consumers than WalMart, employs more people than the airlines, and is as important to the national economy as agriculture. It is an industry that is everywhere yet is mostly unseen.
WHAT IS THE VISIBILITY INDUSTRY? The classical meaning of the term industry is a collection of people, materials, equipment, and processes that together produce an output that has value to a market. Just as the auto industry consists of workers, tools, and designs that turn materials into cars, the visibility industry consists of specialists who take unknown and well-known people, and design and manufacture their images, supervise their distribution, and manage their rise to high visibility. Consider these examples of the industry at work: • Senator John Kerry, upon deciding to run for president, did not set out on his quest alone. His campaign was run much as a national corporation is, with a Washington headquarters coordinating the operations of field offices strategically situated throughout the country. Supporting Kerry were press secretaries, professional speechwriters, media coaches, advertising agencies, career political consultants, TV commercial directors, fund-raising experts, direct-mail specialists, and many others whose job it was to increase Kerry’s well-knowness and design an effective image. • Francis Yeoh heads the $4.2 billion YTL Corporation, arguably Malaysia’s most international company with interests in power and utilities, cement, real estate development, hospitality, and e-business. When YTL took over Wessex Water in England from scandal-plagued Enron, Yeoh hired the Three Tenors to perform in Bath in a gesture of thanks designed to generate goodwill among his new customers, who were nervous about the flamboyant Asian.2 Yeoh relies on more than hiring celebrities to project a positive image of his vast company. While many managers in Asia shun the spotlight, Yeoh hired PR consultants, speechwriters, and event organizers to coordinate media exposure, assure that his public statements have relevance and impact, and place Yeoh and YTL in every important gathering of
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influential public- and private-sector leaders. The effect is for Yeoh to brand his conglomerate through his identity. These industry specialists, working to fulfill the public’s great demand for their product, help make the visibility industry one of the largest anywhere. Star power drives many of our industries. Such items as record and book sales, concert revenue, and $1 billion in ticket receipts for movies like Titanic and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone3 are the more obvious indicators of the industry’s size. Car sales (Britney Spears for Toyota Vios and Pierce Brosnan for BMW), stocks and bonds (Charles Schwab and Warren Buffett), cosmetics (Liz Hurley for Estee Lauder, Uma Thurman for Lancome), and the vast majority of other products and services offered in our culture are equally as dependent on celebrity endorsement. It is impossible to put an exact number on the industry’s gross sales, total employment, or taxes paid because they are so intertwined with the products themselves. But we know that if it disappeared tomorrow, dropping dramatically in audience interest would be the music industry, television programming, professional sports, lecture circuit speakers, and leader-driven churches. Law firms and ad agencies, dependent on “name” partners, would suddenly be competing just on their merits. Charities, lacking spokespeople, would experience declines in contributions. The fashion industry, dependent on “name” designers, would atomize. The entire consumer goods and services sector, so celebritized in recent years through the use of endorsers, would have to find a whole new way to attract consumer attention. But the visibility industry does exist, and its function is clear: to design, create, and market faces as brands and to produce and sustain them in all sectors. The worldwide distribution of personal and professional brands from John Kerry to Francis Yeoh demonstrates the industry in its present state, but it did not reach this level of sophistication overnight. What are the stages through which the visibility industry evolved? What are the subindustries and occupations that make it up?
THE EVOLUTION OF THE VISIBILITY INDUSTRY The industry has evolved through four stages: the cottage industry stage, the industrial stage, the factory stage, and the decentralized stage
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1900
Figure 3-1:
1920
1940
1960
1980
1990
Cottage Industry Stage
Late Industrialization
Early Industrialization Stage
Decentralization Stage
2000
Evolution of Visibility Making
(see Figure 3–1). The first three stages represent increasing degrees of centralization and sophistication. The fourth reflects the diffusion of communication and technology. Each still exists, to a greater or lesser degree, in the contemporary world.
Cottage Industry Stage Throughout modern history, before the well-knowness of celebrityhood had replaced achievement-oriented fame, high visibility was created by small mom-and-pop operations that, together in a patchwork, formed a cottage industry. The few professionals that existed were usually in the service of royalty and the church, hired to spread the glory of their employers. Fame seekers in the cottage industry stage were largely on their own. Today, many aspirants are striving for high visibility in the same relatively primitive way, using the cottage industry resources shown in Figure 3–2. Typically, “talent” is recognized in a young female vocalist, who is encouraged by family and friends and eventually trained by coaches. Along the way, she arranges for a composite of semiprofessional photographs, and she prepares write-ups of her background, previous engagements, and abilities. She contacts venue managers who own or manage bars and nightclubs, and she asks for a chance to sing. If turned down on all fronts, she may alter her style and start again; or, in extreme cases, she may even begin singing for free on the streets of large cities where crowds gather to hear free entertainment. Most likely, our aspirant will drop out of the visibility industry altogether—a product that did not make it off the drawing board.
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Family and Friends Teachers Aspirant
Venue Managers
Audiences
Photos Write-Ups
Figure 3–2:
Cottage Industry
Still, some modern aspirants do use cottage stage strategies quite successfully. Considered “auteurs” in the arts, entrepreneurs in business, or gadflies in politics, they rely on their own energy and initiative to put their own master plans into action. John Sayles, the critically praised director of independent films such as Matewan, Eight Men Out, Lone Star, and Sunshine State, has perfected cottage industry strategies in the film sector. Maintaining complete creative control of his films, Sayles, in addition to writing and directing, has a hand in production and editing and even appears in small parts. He also maintains economic control of his product, often funding the low-budget projects out of his own pocket, getting actors to work for deferred payments, and going on long publicity tours to pitch his films. Despite these competitive disadvantages, Sayles has achieved critical acclaim as well as high visibility among a widening public. Even international brands can utilize cottage industry tactics. Nobel laureate Professor Milton Friedman was well known for his barebones operation. He had a longtime secretary who handled his arrangements, and he never used an agent. Both Sayles, and to a lesser extent Friedman, illustrate the major characteristics of the cottage industry stage of visibility making: 1. The aspirant’s major backing and support comes from colleagues, family, and friends, and organizational support comes from tiny staffs. 2. The aspirant is heavily dependent on self-training, self-initiative, and perseverance. 3. The aspirant initially may lack both an understanding of the nature of markets and information about what the market is looking for and makes little if any use of visibility industry specialists.
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4. The extremely low cost of entry encourages a flood of aspirants to compete for the available slots. It is a buyers’ market, with the aspirants’ being dependent upon venue managers whose selection criteria are highly subjective. 5. Successful products or services are the key means by which aspirants move up the celebrity pyramid. 6. Word of mouth is important in spreading the aspirants’ reputation because their use of media is underdeveloped or sporadic. 7. The aspirant arranges for venue appearance without the use of intermediary specialists.
Early Industrialization Stage In the second stage of the industry’s development, specialists emerge— talent agents, personal managers, publicists, professional coaches, and financial managers—who are able to judge aspirants’ talent, develop their potential, solicit interest from venues where they can perform, and negotiate salaries and fees (Figure 3–3). In this stage, the first specialist an aspirant may retain is an agent, publicist, or lawyer. If the aspirant begins to achieve some visibility, he or she might hire a personal manager to handle his or her personal and financial affairs. The personal manager in turn might hire publicists, professional coaches, business managers, accountants, lawyers, and investment specialists, and he or she might also manage the aspirant’s relationship with the agent. The publicist, in turn, will work with the communications media to disseminate the aspirant’s image and name to
Talent Agent Communication Media Personal Manager Aspirant
Publicist Professional Coaches
Audiences Venue Managers
Financial Manager
Figure 3–3:
Early Industrialization Stage
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39
venue managers and audiences. The hope is that this promotion activity will help the aspirant’s talent agent locate more opportunities for his client. All of the specialists above also exist in the industry’s next level of evolution, the factory stage; in the early industrialization stage, however, they simply have not yet reached full professional status. The soliciting of these specialists’ help, and the coordination of their efforts—that are central to this stage—are often handled by the aspirant. Decisions and strategies evolve moment to moment, more on an as-needed basis than as a result of a comprehensive strategic plan. Visibility development in this stage is definitely more the work of firefighters than architects. Although not fully developed, early industrial stage tactics can be very successful. Consider the late celebrity trial lawyer Johnnie Cochran, who utilized industrial stage tactics. Cochran’s visibility was so powerful, observed an opposing counsel, that “when he shows up in a courtroom he has impact. . . . That celebrity appeal adds a value to the case that is very, very difficult to counteract.”4 Among his many strategic moves: 1. Cochran expanded the normal distribution of a lawyer’s traditional mom-and-pop product—personal injury defense—by opening branch offices. While some large law firms have used early industrial stage strategies to provide services in corporate law, Cochran’s strategy stood out because the branches revolved specifically on his own name and fame. 2. Cochran used market pricing strategy to capitalize on his visibility premium and attract clients to his branches. 3. Cochran appeared on a number of stages—law schools, television shows, political events, legal conferences—to build his visibility all over the country. 4. Cochran used professional publicists as spokespersons and to help manage his personal and law firm’s image. 5. Cochran carefully assembled a consortium of specialists around personal injury law that had enough brand equity to justify the slogan as “America’s Law Firm.” 6. Cochran’s industrial stage tactics built around his visibility were so effective that his law firms retained and actively promoted his name after his death as a powerful marketing tool for new business. Another example is Asian-based software entrepreneur Joey Gurango, a former Microsoft executive who is branding himself as an entrepreneur
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and commercial software outsourcing expert. After several ventures in the software application industry and his stint with Microsoft, he founded a new firm—WEBWORKS OS—specializing in commercial software outsourcing services. Having recognized the value of high visibility from his time with commercial software vendor Great Plains and later Microsoft, Gurango immediately hired a public relations firm that would be responsible for promoting his personal brand.5 He also negotiated a joint venture agreement with a firm specializing in event management to promote him as a successful entrepreneur and public speaker who trains would-be entrepreneurs. Gurango is prominently featured on the WEBWORKS OS Web site (www.webworksos.com), and bimonthly electronic newsletters feature his perspective on software development trends. International news releases are distributed via PRWeb. He is also a regular columnist for ComputerWorld Philippines and Enterprise magazine, providing additional hits for potential clients who “Google him.” As a result, Gurango’s strategy is to shape a global brand that distinguishes him as an authority in technology entrepreneurship and commercial software outsourcing services. For aspirants ranging from lawyers to entrepreneurs, the early industrialization stage model of visibility development incorporates the following features: 1. Aspirants design their own self-promotion strategies, frequently taking advantage of linkages to existing institutions, and often using pricing and marketing techniques. 2. The stage is marked by the emergence of a limited number of specialists such as talent agents, personal managers, publicists, professional coaches, business managers, and venue managers. 3. In many cases, the specialists operate on a need-fulfillment basis, dealing with crises as they occur; they run small-scale operations, and they vary greatly in their level of competence. 4. Aspirants are often early entrants into sectors they’ve pioneered, and as a result, they are able to attain media coverage that would not be available in a more mature market. 5. Much of the aspirant’s opportunities are controlled by venue managers, who conduct fairly active searches for qualified clients.
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Late Industrialization Stage Two key developments characterize visibility in the late industrialization stage: The operations of industry specialists grow more sophisticated, with master organizations appearing to coordinate their services, and the control of the celebrity-marketing process passes from the aspirant into the hands of others. New specialists emerge such as costumers, photographers, hairstylists, makeup artists, communications experts, psychologists, marketing researchers, and commercial marketers—all ready to assist in the process of transforming unknowns into knowns, and translating that high visibility into profits. Concurrently, the specialists who emerged in the cottage and industrial stages—agents, personal managers, publicists—are improving their craft and becoming more systematic and knowledgeable. Professional associations form to protect and promote specialists’ interests and offer training; a few even initiate licensing and certification procedures. Some specialists, notably agents, build large firms with national and sometimes international coverage and connections. Various complementary specialists link themselves into networks and embark on joint ventures. Transformation budgets grow larger, and more sectors of the society now draw upon the machinery of the industry. An excellent example of the late industrialization stage of visibility is the Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB). Many think of WSB and other big-name speaker bureaus as little more than agents for management experts and retired CEOs, former government officials, and inspirational speakers, among others. While agent services are the principal part of what these large bureaus do—pushing up speaking fees to the delight of speakers and the consternation of organizers—WSB goes much further. Operating on the same principle that made Detroit the assembly line car capital, WSB’s factory employs specialists to market speakers but also to help event planners and organizers to conceptualize, plan, and implement events. Although most speakers come to WSB as well-known figures in their own right, earning a living by making keynote speeches and day-long seminars is a whole new universe. Often these aspirants are provided the training necessary to make them compelling speakers able to hold an audience. Personal appearance consultants are brought in to remake an outstanding business school professor into an energetic speaker able to deliver meaningful content to widely varying audiences. News and feature stories are commissioned with public relations agencies, and speakers are drilled on how to deal with media, and answer or deflect tough questions. The bureau offers a complete service that emphasizes testing procedures, strategic market planning, and targeted implementation.
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Visibility makers now use the same celebrity factory techniques to launch business leaders, politicians, artists, sports figures, and many others. The factory system’s purpose is straightforward: to launch aspirants in much the same way that professional marketers work for major consumer goods companies to launch new products. The system is geared to target the aspirant’s potential audience and characteristics, the aspirant’s brand concept and story are refined and positioned for the market (value proposition), and dress, appearance, and behavior (often referred to as extended identity6) are designed to reinforce the aspirant’s role and type. In its late industrialization stage, the industry has most if not all of these characteristics. 1. The industry has attracted a large number of specialists including agents, personal managers, publicists, and specialists that characterized the industrial stage. 2. The various specialists have organized professional associations to protect and promote their interests, and in some cases have established rating, licensing, and certification requirements. The result is higher (though not formidable) barriers to entry and an increase in specialist skill levels. 3. Rather than being controlled by the aspirant, strategy and tactics are handled by independent managers, or by large vertically integrated firms that have national and international coverage and connections. As a result of this expansion, these firms are prepared to spend larger budgets to launch or support aspirants because visibility can translate to a return on investment. 4. Brand development has professionalized sectors including entertainment, sports, politics, art, business, and religion. 5. Aspirants and celebrities alike at this stage routinely give away not 10 percent of their income but up to 35 to 40 percent of their income to support the various specialists who surround them. In fact, speakers’ bureaus like WSB typically receive 15 to 20 percent of professional fees they generate for their speakers by arranging engagements. If the bureau puts in a lot of coaching, training, and promotion for an up-and-coming aspirant, the fee could be as much as 35 percent. When an event organizer acting as a bureau goes even further and produces
HOW THE HIGH VISIBILITY INDUSTRY WORKS
Industrial Stage Personnel plus Market Researchers
43
Media
Product Planners Specialty Coaches
Aspirant
Venue Managers
Audiences
Advertising Specialists Publicity Agents
Venues
Venue Consultants Business Managers
Figure 3–4:
Late Industrialization Stage
an event, additional fees and profit sharing may be involved. In the late industrialization stage, visibility production begins to echo even more subtle aspects of modern manufacturing and marketing. There is less random guesswork and more marketing research and design, and decision making is guided by projected return on investment. As a result, there are fewer errors and more planning. Packaging, pricing, advertising, and distribution are all fully integrated into a strategic process intended to achieve a visibility premium. In an ideal late industrialization stage, the visibility industry has identified consumer needs, developed a corps of experienced managers, and established a repertoire of visibility-generating formulas based on experience, financial analysis, and research (see Figure 3–4). In all these ways, it resembles traditional business practice. Its ultimate objective is to generate substantial returns to stakeholders involved in the personal brand-building process. In the visibility industry’s next stage, however, tradition is augmented by innovation and dispersion.
The Decentralized Stage During most of the industry’s early years, each visibility sector was largely concentrated in a special location—be it city, state, or region. Just as Las Vegas represents gambling to high rollers, aspirants in other sectors had to journey to these locations if they entertained any hope for success. Among them, two cities in particular were almost unavoidable: for the aspiring film actor, Hollywood; for the aspiring businessperson, fine artist, sculptor, ballet star, stage actor, or opera singer, New York (see Figure 3–5).
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NY (theater; art; ballet; opera)
LA (film) New Orleans (jazz)
Figure 3–5:
Decentralization Stage
Today, New York, Los Angeles, and London remain major cities for certain visibility sectors, but thanks to modern communications technology, along with tremendous increases in information and transportation speeds, the industry has evolved into a fourth stage: decentralization. In the decentralized stage, other cities begin to enjoy reputations as headquarters for visibility activity in specialized sectors (see Figure 3–6). Chicago is a great market for breeding commodities traders, actors, and personal injury attorneys. San Francisco leads in the sprouting of highly visible lifestyle gurus. Berlin is recognized for its symphony orchestra. Prague attracts aspiring technology entrepreneurs. Tokyo is a center for anime artists, and Seoul is where the latest, hottest fantasy role-playing and online strategy games are developed.
Seattle (public art)
San Jose (IT; (iceskating venture capital) and skiing) Denver San Francisco Colorado (new therapies) Springs LA (film) (bicycling) San Diego (swimming)
NY Chicago (comedy Washington showcase; (national commodity politics) brokers) Nashville (country music)
(theater; art; ballet; opera)
Austin (IT; music)
Figure 3–6:
Decentralization Stage—Later Stage Cities
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With prestigious regional theaters establishing themselves everywhere, the young drama actor no longer needs to live in New York, London, or Paris. Fashion designers don’t have to work in Paris or Milan either. Opera singers can train and perform in Dallas, Pangkor Laut, or Bath. Sports aspirants can emerge out of scores of colleges and training centers in Serbia and Montenegro (basketball), Russia (tennis), Brazil (soccer), and the Dominican Republic (baseball). In one of the clearest demonstrations of decentralization, technology and the wide diffusion of support services allow aspirants to attain visibility from virtually any geographic base they like. MTV makes local celebrities in Moscow, Bangkok, and Tel Aviv regional and even internationally known artists; management gurus deliver keynote presentations via streaming video and podcasts; and world-renowned surgeons using video conferencing technology participate in sensitive operations half a world away with a worldwide audience. Not only is the visibility industry spreading out in space, it is also spreading out in time. In the past, aspirants drew the industry’s attention when they came of age. Today, moving from the discovery model to the breeding model, the industry extends the production cycle of new high visibles backward, beginning the transformation process at ever earlier ages. This evolutionary development, combined with new strategies to sustain the lifespan of celebrity careers, allows an ever greater potential for visibility’s rewards. At the same time, it’s never too late to begin to leverage celebrity as people live longer and take on whole new careers two, three, and more times over a lifetime. Clearly, the developing of visibility is a fast-growing industry. Each year, more and more people become involved in producing powerful personal brands, more ways are found by businesses and institutions to use them, and more satellite industries spring up to service them. From the agent training academies of Creative Artist Agency (CAA) and International Creative Management (ICM); to the burgeoning business in celebrity endorsements (the Gap’s endorsement contract with singer Lenny Kravitz and Reebok’s multiyear deal with Yao Ming); to visibility specialists such as stylist Sharon Gault, who can command a starting fee of $2,500 per day for commercial shoots7; to event management specialists earning fees of $20,000 to produce a one-day, high-profile conference, the visibility industry is booming. Unlike the growth profile of traditional industries, all four stages of the visibility industry still coexist today: personal and professional branding still operates as cottage industries in most sectors, in the early and late
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industrial stages as the aspirant profile matures, and in an increasing number in the decentralization stage. Although the level of sophistication of the visibility creation process varies from sector to sector, overall sophistication is on the rise. Successful aspirants rarely remain in one stage; as cottage industry strategies propel an aspirant to higher visibility, industrial stage strategies will be attempted. A successful early industrial stage aspirant may be absorbed into a late industrial stage system, or an unsuccessful aspirant may move through the stages in reverse.
THE INDUSTRY’S STRUCTURE Just as the auto industry depends on the tire, steel, glass, and paint industries to help produce cars, the visibility industry draws upon several industries in order to turn unknown aspirants into its products. Figure 3–7 shows the major participating subindustries whose services the industry must coordinate in order to produce and promote personal and professional brands. Not every subindustry utilizes every sector, of course. Religious aspirants have been slow to turn to agents; some aspirants who have, such as business executives, do not yet contract for manufacturers to reproduce their likenesses on dolls and lunch
Publicists PR Firms Advertising Agencies Marketing Research Firms
Newspapers Magazines Radio TV Film
Theater Music Halls Dance Halls Movie Studios Sports Arenas
Publicity Industry
Communication Industry
Entertainment Industry
Representation Industry
Visibility Industry
Appearance
Agents Personal Managers Promoters Endorsement Industry
Legal and Business Services Industry
Souvenir Manufacturers Clothing Manufacturers Games and Toys Manufacturers
Figure 3–7:
Costumers Cosmeticians Hairstylists
Lawyers Accountants Investment Counselors
Coaching Industry Music Teachers Drama Teachers Speech Teachers Modeling Teachers
Structure of the Visibility Industry
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boxes. But as high visibility continues to spread, new sectors make use of more of the subindustries all the time. What are the subindustries?
The Entertainment Industry The entertainment industry consists of all the organizations involved in producing entertainment and entertainers. Working within it are actors, actresses, directors, producers, makeup artists, wardrobe advisors, film editors, musicians, photographers—all dedicated to advancing the art of illusion. The traditional media of film, radio, and television are not the limits of the entertainment industry. Today, the visibility industry makes increased use of such entertainment venues like museums (as platforms for charity appearances), county fairs (to afford in-the-flesh exposure to audiences), basketball games (to perform during half-time), and many others. The industry has deep roots in Hollywood—now emulated in Tokyo, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Sydney, London, Berlin, and Paris—and many of the component industries (whose descriptions follow) began as support services of the entertainment sector.
The Representation Industry The representation industry includes all those who solicit for or negotiate engagements for their clients for a fee, typically a commission. Formerly confined to the entertainment and sports sectors, the ranks of the representation industry are swelling as its activities spread rapidly into every sector of life. The members of the representation industry operate at very different levels of skill and creativity often due to undefined boundaries and an ever-shifting set of circumstances and players. The standard for power and definition in the representation industry was established by Jules Stein and his protégé Lew Wasserman, designers of the entertainment giant MCA. Under Wasserman, MCA packaged movies, television programming, music, and all sorts of consumer products, and it took over ownership of broadcast stations and Universal’s movie studio. Other agencies expanded the MCA model such as Michael Ovitz, former CEO and cofounder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Ovitz not only was the king of packaging talent and stories to the networks and studios, he also brokered billion-dollar deals involving Sony and Matsushita. Although Ovitz struggled through a series of humiliating reversals as an executive, entrepreneur, and investor–deal maker after leaving CAA, like Stein and particularly Wasserman he had a vision of the representation industry that generated great wealth for both his clients and the agency.
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An updated view of a successful agent is portrayed in the HBO series Entourage, where actor Jeremy Piven plays the aggressive, fast-talking, and consummate deal maker Ari Gold. In this depiction, the agent is highly successful, and every moment of his life is dedicated to his client’s and his own advancement. Of course, not all agents or managers achieve this level of success for their clients. Woody Allen portrayed (if comically exaggerated) the less successful type of agent in Broadway Danny Rose. His character represents a stable of woeful performers, including a blind xylophonist, a one-legged tap dancer, a parrot who sings “I’ve Gotta Be Me,” and a fumbling hypnotist who can’t snap his subjects back out of their trances. Rose barely makes a nickel for his clients, or for himself. Although fictional, Rose illustrates the wide range in skill levels of all the different types of representatives: agents, personal managers, and promoters.
The Agents Agents get jobs for their clients—often a large group of clients who may each only command a small part of the agent’s time. For all but the most highly visible, aspirants tend to need agents more than agents need aspirants. This is because agents function as filters, buffers between aspirants and those who employ them. Their compensation is a percentage (often 10 percent but in special cases going as high as 35 percent) of the clients’ earnings. In more recent times, agents have moved toward more professionalism by holding conferences, staging anniversary banquets, starting newsletters such as ATA (Association of Talent Agents), and generally attempting to upgrade their public image. • An agent’s most important function is to find work for the client. This includes scanning opportunities; phoning or visiting booking agents, venue managers and producers; and making the case for the client, negotiating the terms, and facilitating the client’s appearance at the time and place of the engagement. • Agents also feed information to their clients about what is happening in the client’s sector. Whether it is advice on which teams are looking for players, or where clients should eat or be seen at, agents must be conversant with the sector’s rules and conventions. • Agents also provide advice and coaching help so that clients become more marketable. Agents offer pointers on effective dress, speech, deportment, and strategy. The agent may urge their clients to obtain more training from specialist coaches.
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• Agents will also try to arrange introductions to the right people. Most agents have a network of acquaintances and influential people to whom they may introduce the client. • Agents may also arrange publicity for their client. The agent may invent events or stunts to create greater client visibility, or the agent may recommend a publicist for the client to employ. • Agents will also attempt to line up other opportunities for the client. They will try to generate endorsements and/or book trade shows, speaking engagements, commercials, and other exposure opportunities. All six functions—finding work, passing on information, advising and coaching, arranging introductions, publicizing, and finding other opportunities—are rarely performed by most agents. Most agents try to sell their existing clients as they are. It is the rare agent who takes such interest in his clients to put in the time to improve the product as well as sell the product. Nevertheless, as the visibility industry becomes more sophisticated, “total service agents” become very important to their clients, playing the role of surrogate father, mother, brother, or sister, offering friendship and guidance, and handholding. In the entertainment and sports industries, firms create partnerships, and they produce and serve as product packagers for their clients. This integration trend is likely to spread to other sectors as business and professional aspirants expand market opportunities.
The Supreme Representative The late sports visionary and IMG founder Mark McCormack was regarded as “The Most Powerful Man in Sport.” 8 His name and organization became a personal brand for comprehensive sports representation that still endures today. His career began representing golf luminary Arnold Palmer, and that partnership—sealed with a handshake—defined modern sports representation. IMG today still represents McCormack’s initial clients—aside from Palmer, they include such sports legends as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, JeanClaude Killy, and John Havlicek—as well as new superstars like Tiger Woods and Maria Sharapova and more than five hundred other athletes. It also represents companies and organizations in a variety of ways. Clients such as Brooks Brothers, the International Olympic Committee, and the Nobel Foundation provide testimony to the promotional and marketing impact of IMG, as well as its evolution. Today, IMG employs 2,100 people 9 working in seventy offices in thirty countries, and it is the largest independent producer of sports television in the world, distributing content to over two hundred countries covering more than that many sports.10
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The firm does much more than represent athletes and negotiate their contracts. A subsidiary, IMG Licensing, is the largest trademark and licensing company in the world, generating $5.6 billion in worldwide retail sales of clients’ licensed merchandise.11 In addition, approximately eleven thousand athletes of all ages from seventy countries attend its sports academies annually. As part of the integration trend in the representation industry, IMG and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) formed a partnership in 2003 in three key areas: lecture representation, entertainment property licensing, and corporate client marketing.12 There is a new supreme representative at IMG: Ted Forstmann, who bought out McCormack’s family after his death. The new emphasis is on replacing McCormack’s sports culture leadership with more traditional business practices. Bob Kain, president, said of the transition, “We grew up on a gut feel. We are now much more of a corporate environment.”13 The new structures of many representation organizations are a long way from the simple handshake and agreement that began IMG’s rise to global power. However, the tension between the necessary handholding and insider relationships that built empires like IMG and the strictly business model have yet to be resolved. When Tom Cruise in the film Jerry Maguire is forced out of his agency and starts his own smaller firm, he has one client. The defining moment of their relationship was when his client was injured during a critical National Football League (NFL) game and Cruise sprinted down to the field and telephoned his client’s moment of recovery to his anxious wife. “Show me the money” can come in different packages, and representation is still about personal relationships.
The Personal Managers These specialists represent fewer clients than agents but do so more comprehensively. Personal managers often orchestrate their clients’ complete lives: answering their mail, investing their money, buying their real estate, planning their schedules, placing their children in schools, even hiring the gardener and firing the maid. A personal manager is less regulated than an agent and can charge up to 15 percent for services. The traditional role of the personal manager was expressed by Danny Goldberg, chairman and CEO of Artemis Records and president and CEO of Sheridan Square Entertainment: “I was part negotiator, part public relations man, part idea man, and part therapist.”14 Sid Bernstein described his personal manager role for the late singer Laura Branigan this way: “wet nurse, shrink, accountant, and handholder.”15 The role of personal manager has been evolving in the last decade as they, like larger agencies, have moved into producing. Large management firms such as Brillstein-Grey Entertainment and The Firm not only provide
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traditional personal management services but produce films, television shows, and take co-ownership stakes in their ventures. The expanding reach of management companies is evidenced by Brad Grey, formerly of Brillstein-Grey, who once was the co-owner of a production company with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and now is chairman and CEO of Paramount Studios.
The Promoters These individuals and firms arrange and promote events, be they firetrap club performances of unknown rock groups, financial seminars in convention centers, or world heavyweight title fights in Las Vegas. The promoter does not work for the client on a permanent basis but has contacted the client or the client’s agent for that particular engagement. Promoters are primarily interested in signing and promoting performers who will attract a profitable audience or in some cases simply fill a hole in the schedule. The key difference between promoters and traditional agents and personal managers is that the promoter is taking on substantial risk by financing or guaranteeing the production of aspirant performances. Promoters will raise the money from investors, sponsors, and audience members, hire the necessary personnel, produce the event, and hope that their profit projections are accurate. Agents, personal managers, and some promoters work primarily for the aspirant, or “seller.” They should not be confused with booking agents, venue managers, and casting directors, who represent buyers. Booking agents run their own businesses and are hired to find talent for theaters, concert halls, or business conferences, and they receive a commission for their services. Venue managers work for the venues and are salaried employees; they often contact the performers or their agents directly. Casting directors find the right people to cast in specified roles for film studios, theaters, and advertising agencies.
The Publicity Industry The promotion industry includes a host of individuals and firms that are skilled in boosting aspirant visibility through the skillful generating of publicity. Populating this industry are personal publicists, public relations firms, and advertising agencies, all of which rely heavily on the work of market researchers. Personal publicists were, in fact, the first celebrity promoters—individuals with a flair for writing and for generating attention for their clients. Originally called “press agents,” they were employed to get their clients
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“ink,” and this meant feeding the columnists, planting “legitimate” stories, and even creating stunts. Many were former journalists, whose ties to their ex-employers helped their clients gain publicity. Public relations firms are another important arm of the promotion industry. PR firms were started to defend and promote individuals, corporations, and public-sector organizations to the public, legislators, and other influential interest groups. The World Health Organization (WHO) engages Weber Shandwick to communicate the impact of obesity on Europeans. The firm also helps the pharmaceutical industry promote stem cell research by disseminating public opinion surveys. Today, large public relations firms such as Weber Shandwick, Hill and Knowlton, and BursonMarsteller strive to raise the visibility of individuals, organizations, cities— and countries—using such tools as press relations, product publicity, corporate communications, lobbying, and client counseling. Others focus on managing and alleviating crisis reporting, such as when a company is alleged to have engaged in illegal acts. Newer firms are changing the meaning of “full service.” The Susan Magrino agency, for instance, has PR, brand development, and event management divisions. There is also a more targeted form of PR that specializes in individuals in addition to companies. These smaller PR firms take on aspirants and established stars and celebrities and provide them with access to various forms of media, event management, and marketing and other promotional opportunities. An aspirant may for a monthly retainer buy a firm’s time to establish a position as the high visibility taxicab owner in a metropolitan area or to generate awareness for an author who wishes to expand to opinion columns and become a desirable speaker. This is a vital area for aspirants who wish to break down the barriers in their sector and is particularly appealing to professionals, small-business owners, and local and regional entertainment and sports talent. Advertising agencies constitute the largest branch of the promotion industry, responsible for touting hundreds of thousands of products, services, persons, places, ideas, and causes. As one of the largest subindustries, total expenditures of all media in the United States hit $141.1 billion in 2004, an increase of almost 10 percent over the previous year.16 The industry is changing rapidly and fast moving into the digital age as Americans spend more time on the Internet. According to Knowledge Networks, Americans surf the Internet for 15 percent of their total media time, a number other researchers say is underestimated and could be at least 30 percent. The Internet marketplace is growing with blinding speed, as Forrester Research predicts online brand advertising to be as much as $12 billion
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by 2010—up from $5 billion in 2005.17 The rapidly evolving advertising marketplace represents a real opportunity for aspirants with limited budgets to break into markets that were previously far too expensive. For the advertising agency, it signals a major shift in how profits will be generated and the importance of balancing the traditional advertising profile while moving into the new media environment. The ad industry is staffed with media experts, art directors, marketing researchers, account executives, and others. Many advertising agencies are now accommodating the new media age with Web site managers, Internet advertising experts, and software engineers. The advertising industry is also one of the largest employers of highly visible people, using them in four basic ways: • Actors, dramatically demonstrate a product or service • Spokespeople, employed over a long period of time to promote products and services, often become very closely identified with the advertisers • Testimonial providers, having used a product or service in their careers, attest to its quality or value • Endorsers, when not necessarily having used a product or service, lending their names or likenesses to the products Person advertising, while fast growing, presents a whole series of controversial issues. From the aspirants’ point of view, endorsements can create overexposure, tarnishing their images with their audiences. From the advertiser’s point of view, should the image of the product be risked on the fallibility of a single person? Nevertheless, endorsements and testimonials have become so lucrative that a special branch of the publicity subindustry has emerged to manage them. Although the various components of the promotions subindustry partially rely on creativity and improvisation, they depend more on proven techniques, formulas, and research, gathering information about audience demographics, needs, perceptions and preferences, venues, media costs, and geographical markets. For this, they often rely on marketing research specialists to provide information.
The Communications Industry How do we know highly visible people? In many cases, we know them entirely through the media. Images, products, and stories—most of what
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we consume of the person’s product—are distributed through media channels. The finest strategy, deftest timing, most brilliant story use—all will fail without the help of the channels of the communications industry. Countless aspirants have had all the elements of transformation and marketing operating in sync, only to fail spectacularly because they failed to come across effectively through the media. Former first lady and now Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was regarded as intelligent, dynamic, hardworking, and disciplined by colleagues and close friends, but on TV, she was often perceived as cold, detached, and manipulative. These perceptions of her made it difficult for her to rally popular support for her activist approach to being first lady. As a senator, she has been careful to present a softer, more accommodating image to other senators and voters alike. Network television, cable, radio, film, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet have each developed specialized ways to take advantage of the evergrowing public interest in personalities. Magazines such as People and Us, national live telephone call-in shows such as Rockline and Larry King Live, “infotainment” TV venues such as Entertainment Tonight, and the scores of TV talk shows, official Internet sites and countless other Internet blogs, podcasts, and chatrooms, all cater to the industry’s needs. Those who understand these forums have tremendous advantages; those who don’t are constricted to live encounters and small local markets.
A Model Mom Kathy Ireland became well known as the 1990s supermodel who regularly appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated ’s popular swimsuit issues. Today her name is more familiar to working women than to adolescent men. Her brand, Kathy Ireland Worldwide (KIWW), is positioned as “a best friend to working mothers”18 as she sells office apparel, home furnishings, and other products designed for the working mom. The former model has made a science out of two concepts—the great reach of media and the Internet, and the appeal of a powerful brand linked to physical attractiveness and a strong maternal image. The story of her transformation and success is rooted in her identification of her target market: mothers who are busy, looking for balance, and desiring to retain their feminine individuality. In doing so, Ireland is particularly skilled at filling every channel of communication with her name and merchandise that can reach her target audience. She distributes her personal message through the global reach of her award-winning Web site, kathyireland.com, which is interactive and enables Ireland to not only communicate with her target markets but also to find out what they want. In addition, her products are distributed in thousands of retail stores, online, and through her book,
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Powerful Inspirations: Eight Lessons that Will Change Your Life.19 Ireland has built important strategic partnerships—she calls them “cherished brand partners”—that serve to extend her brand. They include such firms as online retailer FurnitureFind.com, Arrow Home Fashions, Tinwood Ventures, and Alta Window Coverings. She is also highly visible in not-for-profit activities20 and is often booked as a motivational speaker by women’s and other groups. She finds her target audiences through both new and traditional channels, and she sells them the product because her familiar name, Kathy Ireland, is now a premier brand that has attributes that are credible and linked to her core family market.
The Appearance Industry With image so critical to personal and professional branding, the appearance business is one of the industry’s fastest-growing components. Makeup specialists always were important to the entertainment sector, and they have rapidly branched out into other sectors such as businesspeople who are demanding a greater share of the grooming business’ services. The alteration or enhancement of appearance is now handled not merely by hairstylists and makeup artists but also by clothing stylists, color consultants, image coordinators, dermatologists, and plastic surgeons. A competitive environment has fueled a race to look younger and better in all sectors. The marketplace is forcing the aspirant who wants to remain competitive to spend more money and go beyond cleansers and moisturizers. More than just the transformation of facial appearance and body shape is industrialized. Maintaining your physical appearance now includes trips to the nutritionist and a personal chef. Nutritionists can charge anywhere from $250 to $300 per session while personal chefs cost $1,000 to $3,500 per week. If you decide a personal shopper can save you time and make better decisions, they can cost from $500 to $750 per day. There are, of course, personal trainers that range from $100 to $250 per hour for a house call, and this can be an every-other-day experience to maintain the image.21 Wherever one travels or lives, communities of would-be professionals advising would-be aspirants abound. Together they support a global image industry that enables aspirants to match the appearance requirements of their sectors.
The Coaching Industry Who is it that actually designs an aspirant’s transformation? Depending on the sector, the strategy design may be in the hands of an agent, personal
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manager, campaign manager, gallery owner, family member, or the aspirant. Singers need singing lessons, politicians need speech lessons, tennis players need serving lessons. Of course, not everyone who seeks to improve a skill aspires to be highly visible; but many do, and this critical task of improvement falls to the coaching industry. The coaching industry is expanding at an extraordinary rate for several reasons. As visibility sectors have become better understood than before, more information has become known about which images succeed and which fail. The rise of media has reduced but not eliminated aspirants’ chances to hone their images in low-cost, low-risk, small venues. Accidentally finding someone to help you perfect your baseball swing, polish your courtroom presentation style, or improve your bedside manner has given way to sifting through a huge market for formal coaching services. In any city, one can find lifestyle consultants for sports aspirants, presentation coaches for executives, freelance singing and dancing teachers for entertainers, and image consultants for lawyers. Of course, many of the coaches and trainers who supply these services still operate in the cottage industry stage, but the size and sophistication of the coaching sector is growing. Salaries for experienced speech consultants range from $100,000 and upward. A customized speech can easily cost $5,000 to $10,000, and the hourly rate for advice is between $250 and $500 per hour, depending on the sector, location, and situation. With so much profit potential, some coaches have founded schools to train the most talented or the most moneyed: Communispond trains public speakers, Julliard trains singers, Second City trains improvisational comedians. Driven by economies of scale, it is inevitable that a franchise system of coaching will emerge on the model of Berlitz or McDonald’s, where particular styles of training are proprietary features.
The Legal and Business Services Industry Most aspirants do not know much about managing themselves as businesses; few have the time to learn. According to Rita Tateel, president of The Celebrity Source, “Time is their most valuable commodity. There are so many people that want a piece of a celebrity’s time that they have very little of it to share.”22 Considering that many are suddenly confronted with the need to manage large amounts of money, invest it wisely, develop legal entities such as corporations, and prepare estate plans, it’s not surprising that most aspirants turn to lawyers, accountants, and investment advisors. The standard visibility earnings curve demands it. There are a number of
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issues that are critical to the management of aspirants that revolve around the issue of protection. Not unlike a lottery winner, they are subject to elaborate stock deals, unusual Bermuda insurance packages, or startup companies that are the friend’s of a friend. In all these cases, it’s the legal and business services industry that has to talk the client out of leaping into a treacherous arrangement and in doing so must make sure they keep their job by not insulting the now-established brand. Seeing the potential in this area, some law and accounting firms have specialized in providing services to entertainers, sports figures, and politicians. Many established brands have, in fact, turned over all aspects of their finances to be managed by firms that for an often considerable fee “receive all their income, pay all their bills, manage their myriad investments, purchase their insurance, pay their taxes, and even shop for their houses and find them good deals on their cars.”23 But financial managers go beyond even these functions. As Marvin Snyder, a former tax accountant who had acted as business manager for Ed Asner, Lily Tomlin, Kenny Rogers, John Ritter, and many others, described it, “The business manager serves many purposes. He is a personal advisor and a psychiatrist, because when you deal with money you’re dealing with something that seems to be a disruptive force, something involved with the celebrity’s marriage, family, children, girlfriend. Depending on how strong a relationship you have with the client, the celebrity may divulge things to you that he doesn’t talk to other people about.”24
The Endorsements and Licensing Industry With the visibility industry growing more sophisticated, no longer can aspirants themselves pursue endorsement deals, record contracts, or rights agreements. Expert help is crucial. This is because the image of a star, like the proverbial hog in the slaughterhouse, is cut up and used in many ways. Tools-of-the-trade endorsements are used when stars endorse items used in the course of their work—for example, Anna Kournikova endorsed Adidas and Yonex products. Non-tool endorsements involve products they don’t depend on—for example, Kournikova endorsing Omega watches, Lycos, and Berlie lingerie.25 The other major use of star images is as an attention-getting device displayed on manufactured goods. These practices can generate profit far above a star’s main activity. Venus Williams, with a competitive record that places her at the top of her profession, earns millions of dollars per year, but the bulk of her gross worth comes from product endorsements and other media outlets. Her brand is
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delivered through endorsement contracts with American Express, Reebok, Wilson, McDonald’s, a reality show on ABC Family with her sister Serena, and an interior design and decorating company named “V Starr Interiors,” based on her full name, Venus Ebony Starr Williams.26 A similar strategy is that of rock star Lenny Kravitz, who is not only a prominent endorser like Williams but has also become a designer of private homes and is considering launching his own décor line. By maximizing their high visibility to enhance income and create new business opportunities, Williams and Kravitz illustrate an effective visibility model using their major performance platforms, tennis and music, as launching pads, demonstrating that high visibility can be a beginning, and not an end. Manufacturers of products from clothing and perfume to video games and coffee mugs show little interest in low visibility aspirants and often license brand names to sell their products. In these instances, companies pay a fee to stars to attach their name to their products. As mass marketers, companies prefer the faces and names of stars, such as Celine Dion perfume and The Olsen Twins’ fashion line for Wal-Mart. The overriding consideration for the product developers and retailers is the ability of the name to ensure consumer interest and trust in the brand without the expense of a large-scale advertising campaign.27 When successful, the strategy can almost merge the product’s perceived qualities with the star’s ( Joe Montana for RZ Trainer; Jimmy Buffett for Margaritaville Restaurant and Nightclub; 50 Cent for Reebok). Other manufacturers create games centering on stars—John Madden’s football video game series—or manufacture dolls and toys with their likenesses—Hilary Duff and Shakira have popular dolls. The operating principle: the power of visibility. A lunch box bearing the likeness of a children’s TV star will far outsell a comparable generic product. The key from a marketing standpoint is that the person’s likeness will draw the attention not just of their fans but also of many consumers who are not members of the main audience, yet are still liable to be influenced in their purchase decision by their familiarity with the star’s image. While there is controversy over whether a star’s association with a product will sustain over a long term, there is little question that a high visibility face attracts attention. The edge is that when Snoop Dogg endorses Nokia, people take notice, and there is a greater chance that they will spend more time listening to his message.28 The use of endorsements and licensing has expanded dramatically precisely because it is a powerful way for a manufacturer or service provider to distinguish its product and service from those offered by competitors.
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It is not a substitute for a good product, significant pricing advantage, or a timely breakthrough. It is about attention, visibility, and competing in a market accustomed to relying on well-knowness to distinguish particular products from a competitive array of offers featuring similar attributes.
Selecting the Right Endorser The decision to use a star for a product endorsement is loaded with possibilities and dangers. An endorser brings to the product two advantages. 1. Name recognition: The endorsement of a product by a famous name creates attention. 2. Name association: The star’s qualities are often intermingled with the product’s. Once a company decides to hire an endorser, a number of issues arise. What is it about the endorser that will produce a favorable image and increased sales? Historically, a company considers product fit a critical factor. When actor Samuel L. Jackson endorsed Barclays, a large U.K. bank, he was initially portrayed talking intellectually walking down a country lane. The advertisement, part of Barclays’ “Fluent in Finance” campaign, was in many cases successful in opening new accounts and winning awards but was dropped as the bank didn’t want the Hollywood tough guy to become the face of the brand.29 There is also the risk that the endorser will be accused of using steroids, abandoning his or her family, or engaging in some other unacceptable social behavior. Despite the potential downsides for celebrity endorsement, companies are willing to gamble on controversial but high reward endorsers such as in the case of conservative fashion brand St. John Knits International Inc. making star temptress Angelina Jolie the face of the company. In analyzing the choice, Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor Associates, observed, “Maybe she’s not as nice as some of her fans would like her to be. But in branding it’s better to have a bit of an edge, because you get more attention.”30 A company or an organization by associating with an endorser is tying its product to that image—and vice versa. When it works, the rewards can be great, such as in the case of golfer Arnold Palmer, who successfully endorsed Valvoline Motor Oil for years. Since the decision to buy oil is largely male, Palmer represented a recognizable low-key, trustworthy everyman, and that sold oil. Likeability and knowability are also important considerations.31 Individuals who score high on both of these scales should yield impressive endorsement results. A survey commissioned by Golf World Business magazine clearly demonstrated that Arnold Palmer remains the most-liked golfer anywhere. He was ranked at the top of all three categories: familiarity, likeability, and credibility. It’s not surprising that at age seventy-one Palmer agreed
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to a twelve-year endorsement contract with Callaway Golf.32 Similarly, Priceline.com signed William Shatner as spokesperson because he is an internationally revered cult figure. Priceline.com made their commercials featuring Shatner—including one in which the plot was a competition for the job of spokesperson with fellow Star Trek icon Leonard Nimoy—a prominent feature of its Web site. Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong has made a string of endorsements for products like Coca-Cola, Subaru, Nike, and Bristol-Myers Squibb—Discovery Channel spent more than $27 million on Armstrong in 200533—and these endorsements are successful even if a limited number of American viewers actually watch his sport. His personal story is so compelling and inspiring that his image has transcended his sport and has made him an American icon. However, even a blue-chip, sure-thing storyline can be threatened such as when a book was published alleging that Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs,34 which was later followed by an alleged charge from a French newspaper that he used the drug EPO during his first Tour de France victory.35 Still and rightly so, many agencies consider facilitating celebrity endorsements a major component of their service offerings. Another factor that influences the selection of an endorser is cultural trends. While for decades, controversial personalities were thought to threaten a product’s credibility, there is a clear trend today toward utilizing unconventional endorsers. Despite his reputation for defamatory lyrics, rapper Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” was so appealing to Apple that it used the lyrics in an iPod commercial before it had acquired the rights to do so. Eminem and his recording company sued Apple, and the legal dispute generated controversy. Celebrity madam Heidi Fleiss, after being accused of conspiracy, tax evasion, and money laundering, continued to endorse a line of lingerie and sleepwear. As markets become increasingly diversified, a wider array of types of celebrities has potential for product endorsement. The traditional “nice” endorser has been joined by bikers and rappers to create a more accurate reflection of current audience lifestyles and values. Another crucial factor in endorsement is exposure management. In some instances, a popular personality will find many product lines that are interested in paying for their “hotness.” As tempting as these situations may be, they could easily lead to audience wear out. What constitutes overexposure? There are two issues here—when products conflict and when the buyers grow tired of the endorser. The prudent company will monitor both factors and pay particular attention to long-term endorsements that may no longer pull for the products. The use of endorsers has also become an issue in sectors like medicine, law, and business as well. The intense competition among hospitals has produced an array of advertisements heralding star liver specialists and heart transplant miracle workers. Many hospitals feature pictures of their stars and claim that the doctor has branded minimally invasive gall bladder surgery. In
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the legal profession, names appear in most channels: print, cable, the Internet. There is hardly a sector of life that has not been influenced by personality endorsements, and they will continue to expand because it is a powerful weapon in competitive marketplaces.
The Visibility Service Industry Many new businesses have sprung up to serve the visibility industry. One such firm is Celebrity Service International, Inc., which operates in both the United States and Europe and whose main function for over sixty years has been to closely track the movements of celebrities in various sectors. Their service is access to celebrities. Subscribers are entitled to receive tracking bulletins, access to a telephone research service, a Hollywood event date book, and an online directory, which includes an extensive list of entertainment industry businesses.36 Other companies will help arrange—for anywhere from a few thousand to up to $100,000 a week—a vacation in a home owned by a highly visible. Overseas Connections is one such firm, and it operates three Web sites listing the alternatives.37 Richard Branson’s Necker Island Villa in the British Virgin Islands, Jane Seymour’s St. Catherine’s Court Manor at Bath, England, and Mick Jagger’s Villa in Mustique, in the Caribbean38 are among the homes available. Another firm directly generated by the visibility industry is Celebrity Impersonators by Elyse, a modeling and talent agency that provides looka-likes to ad agencies, weddings, and corporate outings. Other businesses sustain themselves by playing off the visibility world: publishers who specialize in “Where Are They Now” type books or such items as the New York Celebrity Locator, which will tell fans where their favorite star resides; even purveyors of high-quality goods who solicit a star-based clientele (such as the Manhattan butcher who is in such high demand that there is a long waiting list to become his customer). Even more numerous than these specialists are the businesses and entrepreneurs of the visibility support industry. As people rise in visibility, they acquire two types of support personnel, one for when they are at home and the other for when they are away. The home-office staff consists of the agent, personal manager, PR person, and others whose roles are fairly defined and who operate out of a fixed address. Still, the highly visible are, by nature, mobile and generally travel a great deal. In the case of international brands, the money may be available to transport their home support staff wherever they go, but because many cannot afford the huge cost of bringing their staffs with them, a whole cottage
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industry has sprung up to service their needs on the road. Ranging from seamstresses to dentists, these individuals offer discretion. Because today’s more aggressive media routinely discard old-fashioned rules of fair play, the highly visible live in constant fear of the indiscriminate information leak. The treatment of a common venereal disease, for example, could end the sports hero’s pursuit of lucrative endorsement contracts; a children’s television star’s insomnia relieved by an ordinary prescription of sleeping pills could chill career prospects; the world-class model coping with an outbreak of acne could face a flood of canceled modeling contracts. For these simple problems, as well as to fulfill unusual or illicit requests, brands—both at home and on the road—rely on special support personnel to keep secret potentially embarrassing, or threatening, information. Accompanying this growing service sector are the personnel of limousine companies, bodyguard and security firms, exclusive resorts, four-star restaurants, health spas, and many others whose clientele is made up largely of the highly visible. In total, their contribution to the overall economy is incalculable. What’s changed about the visibility industry is that it’s now become more transparent. Once perpetually hidden from view because its infrastructure did not want to expose the tricks of their trade, it is now everywhere. On talk shows all across the country, stars, their personal managers, and support staff personnel are happy to reveal their secrets of success. In fact, the support staff has become highly visible themselves such as in the TV shows Extreme Makeover, which features star surgeons and dentists, and Rock Star: INXS, American Idol, and Fame, which encourage the average viewer to make the star. In this star-driven culture, children’s camps solicit and encourage budding stars to be discovered by talent scouts, basketball coaches, and space scientists. As a result of these trends, the public is increasingly tantalized by the allure and innerworkings of the industry. The visibility industry has now woven itself so deeply into the fabric of our economy and culture that it cannot be ignored. Each year at the Academy Awards, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences intones, “We are members of a great industry.” Yet, the at-home audience is often skeptical. They understandably feel that no one who spends time, acting, or hobnobbing with the stars should be speaking about the rigors of working within an industry. Building automobiles and selling life insurance are industries. Shooting a film on the French Riviera is fun and simply doesn’t seem to have the earnestness and regularity of an industry. The fact is that the movie business is an industry, part of the far larger entity called the “visibility industry.” Before one may
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fully comprehend this industry, before one can learn to operate inside it, one must understand where visibility brands exist, where they fit, and how long the spotlight lasts.
NOTES 1 _____, “Bill Gates’ INDIA Visit: The. NET Emphasis,” Dataquest, September 27, 2000, www.dqindia.com/content/ebiz/etrends/100092701.asp, viewed August 10, 2004. 2 _____, “Asia’s Power 25,” Fortune, August 9, 2004, p. F–10. 3 Chris Isidore, “Hollywood shrugs off slump: First decline in U.S. box office in 12 years not a worry as big hits, DVD sales continue to roll in,” CNNMoney, February 27, 2004, money.cnn.com/2004/02/19/news/companies/ oscars_studios/, viewed August 10, 2004. 4 Megan Kamerick, “Johnnie Cochran Brings Big Name to N.O. Plaintiff Legal Firm,” New Orleans City Business, October 13, 2003 (Lexis Nexis). 5 Author interview, November 9, 2002. 6 David A. Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler, Brand Leadership: The Next Level of the Brand Revolution (New York: Free Press, 2000). See discussion of Brand Identity, Core Identity, and Extended Identity. 7 See Crystal Wright, “Become a Celebrity Makeup Artist,” www.makeuphairandstyling.com/home/become_a_makeup_artist.cfm. 8 Rob Hodgetts, “Kingmaker: Mark McCormack,” BBC Sport, news.bbc.co.uk/ sport1/hi/front_page/2367813.stm, November 1, 2002, viewed August 14, 2004. 9 Brett Pulley, “The Barbarian at the First Tee,” Forbes, July 4, 2005, www.forbes.com/celebrities/global/2005/0704/050.html, viewed July 5, 2005. 10 www.imgworld.com/, viewed August 14, 2004. 11 network.imgworld.twiihosting.net/publish.sps?syndicatorguid={EEE2D9C8– 6E5C–45B4–96B3-EFB68003EAE8}&rmasiteinstanceguid={771F6397– 1F79–44F3–813B-A75F039A004B}&rmapageid=25&SectionID= 5868, viewed August 16, 2004. 12 www.imgworld.com/history/2000.sps?iType=5415&icustompageid=8810, viewed July 5, 2005. 13 See Pulley.
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14 Jon Pereles, “A Rock Manager’s Day: Study Of Life on the Run,” New York Times, July 14, 1986, p.14. 15 Sarah Crichton, “The Making of Laura Branigan,” Harper’s, July 1983, p. 22. 16 _____, “U.S. Advertising Market Exhibits Strong Growth in 2004: TNS Media Intelligence/CMR Reports a 9.8% Increase for Full-Year Ad Spending,” www.tns-mi.com/news/03082005.htm, viewed June 20, 2005. 17 Fred Vogelstein, “Yahoo’s Brilliant Solution: By figuring out how to make brand advertising work online, Terry Semel is on the verge of creating the 21st century’s first media giant,” Fortune, August 8, 2005, pp. 48–49. 18 www.kathyireland.com/MediaCenter/index.htm, viewed June 20, 2005. 19 Kathy Ireland, Powerful Inspirations: Eight Lessons that Will Change Your Life (Galilee Trade, 2004). 20 _____, “Kathy Ireland: A Brief Biography,” www.1greatcelebsite.com/ Kathy_Ireland/biography.htm, viewed June 20, 2005. 21 www.eonline.com/Features/Features/Maintain/ss3.html, viewed August 20,2004 22 George McQuade, “The Art of Working with Celebrities Is Not As Easy As It Looks—There Are Rules to Follow,” ArriveNet Member Editorials, June 13, 2005, editorials.arrivenet.com/ent/article.php/4802.html, viewed July 5, 2005. 23 Donald R. Katz, “Smart Money,” Esquire, January 1986, p. 37. 24 Author interview with Marvin Snyder of Dusty, Snyder, Inc., February 11, 1984. 25 _____, “Anna can keep winning off the court: Endorsement dollars should keep flowing to Kournikova while she struggles for first pro victory,” CNN, July 8, 2002, money.cnn.com/2002/07/05/commentary/column_sportsbiz/anna/, viewed July 11, 2005. 26 _____, “Venus Williams has designs on decorating business,” Associated Press, November 12, 2002, www.venusandserena.homestead.com/news111202.html, viewed August 14, 2004. 27 Teri Agins, “New Reality: With Her Own Line, Pop Star Rides Rise in Celebrity Fashion,” Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2005, p. A1. 28 For more information on the ability of celebrities to attract attention, see Louise Story, “Forget About Milk and Bread. Give Me Gossip!” New York Times, June 13, 2005, p. C1. 29 _____, “Last campaign to feature Samuel L. Jackson,” Marketing Week, May 13, 2004, p. 12.
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30 Teri Agins, “A Fashion Conservative Teams Up With Tattooed Starlet,” Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2005, p. B1. 31 Likeability and knowability are discussed in detail in Chapter 5. 32 _____, “Golf Notes September 6,” Golf Today, www.golftoday.co.uk/news/ yeartodate/news00/notessept6.html, viewed August 16, 2004. 33 Paul Hochman, “Logo on the Go,” Fortune, August 8, 2005, p. 22. 34 David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, L.A. Confidentiel: Les secrets de Lance Armstrong (La Martiniere, 2004). 35 Samuel Abt with Lynn Zinser and Lawrence K. Altman, “Armstrong Is Accused of Doping,” New York Times, August 24, 2005, p. D1. 36 www.celebrityservice.com/services.html, viewed August 16, 2004. 37 David Kirby, “Want to sleep in Charo’s bed? Simply make a reservation,” Chicago Tribune (Classifieds), August 16, 2002, www.chicagotribune.com/ classified/realestate/renting/chi–0208160355aug16,0,5308461.story?coll= chi-classifiedrenting-hed, viewed August 16, 2004. 38 To view “Celebrities Home for Rent,” visit www.travelersdigest.com/ celebrity_homes_2.htm.
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distinguishing high visibility sectors and hierarchies
CHAPTER 4
I
magine a New Year’s Eve party thrown by a wealthy Southern Californian. The guests include: • Rod Stewart, popular but aging balladeer • Serena Williams, world top-ranked tennis player • Finn E. Kydland and Edward C. Prescott, Nobel Prize–winning economists • Dr. Paul Ridker, one of the world’s leading experts on arterial inflammation1 • C.K. Prahalad, prominent business strategist and author • Diane Sawyer, TV journalist • Usher Raymond, R&B superstar How might the other guests at the party behave? Many of the younger guests would be starry-eyed, hovering by Williams and Usher. Slightly older guests would pay attention to Sawyer because of her popularity as co-anchor of the ABC News show Primetime. Still-older guests would respond to Stewart, reliving, through his presence, memories of the past. Although Kydland and Prescott are Nobel laureates, they will be listening more than talking; few guests will have heard of them. Senior executives in the crowd will want to speak with Prahalad, a best-selling author. Hardly anyone will notice Dr. Ridker, although among researchers in his field, he is known far and wide, indeed. The New Year’s Eve party illustrates several important points about visibility. Each sector of society—entertainment, academia, business, sports, journalism, the professions—has its own constellation of highly visibles. 67
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These people are not always known outside of their sectors, but within their sectors they command recognition, respect, and rewards. Personal and professional brands in certain sectors—notably entertainment, sports, and politics—will be visible to a broader public beyond their own sectors because their performances reach more people and generate more news. The superstars in these three sectors—Clint Eastwood, Beyonce Knowles, Tiger Woods, Mia Hamm, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush—will tower over stars in other sectors no matter how high the others stand within their own sectors. Such is the status hierarchy among sectors. Many visibility seekers overlook a central consideration of how to tailor themselves to particular sector conditions. A good marketing plan requires that aspirants in a given sector consider its unique opportunities, rules, and restraints. Too often, aspirants rush into their quests for visibility without surveying the territory. Avoiding false starts and poor plans involves understanding the visibility sectors and hierarchies.
The Visibility Sectors People gain visibility in a number of ways: through occupational achievement, demographic leadership, distinctive personality and lifestyle, inheritance, accident, and sensational behavior. Occupational achievement is the most common route. Every field has a pyramidal structure with most members, especially the new ones, standing at the base. At the middle level are practitioners who have attained some level of skill and repute. A few stand at the very top: in office productivity software, Bill Gates; in mass communication, Rupert Murdoch; in fashion design, Vera Wang; in financial markets reporting, Michael Bloomberg, who converted his financial star power to become mayor of New York. Every field, no matter how visible or obscure, produces its own brand leaders. High visibility is also achieved by leaders of demographic groups, which include women, men, blacks, Hispanics, gays, socialites, and others. Each group has a need for leaders, even icons, through which to present itself to the world and to set an example for its members. Rush Limbaugh is a brand name in the New Right’s traditional-values movement; Martha Burk, chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO), is one in the women’s rights movement; American Association of Retired Persons (A ARP) CEO William Novelli serves the same purpose for the senior citizens’ movement.
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Some people attain high visibility through their unusual personalities or lifestyles. Jim Carrey first rose to fame because he displayed unusual physical comedy skills in the television show In Living Color and films such as Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb & Dumber. Buckminster Fuller—best known for his geodesic dome—excelled in many occupations (architect, businessman, mathematician, engineer), but he never became preeminent in any one of them; his visibility rested on a personality that continuously challenged the status quo. Bob Dole, Burt Reynolds, and Ralph Nader all received critical acclaim in their careers for their work in politics, film, and consumer advocacy, and they shifted into the role of high visibility media personality. Dole became a spokesperson for erectile dysfunction, Reynolds was the host of ESPN’s Reel Classics Sunday night movies, and Nader resurfaced as a perennial candidate for president. Another lifestyle sector with its pantheon of heroes is the “counterculture.” Over the years, this subgroup has included Bohemians, beatniks, hippies, punks, and cyberpunks. The conservative trend of today’s culture has actually accentuated this sector’s visibility opportunities especially among the young, but it endures. Abbie Hoffman, Alan Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Ram Dass, and Timothy Leary were all celebrated for their promotion of new values and unorthodox lifestyles in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, the alternative culture of good health and natural living is celebrated by such highly visible stars as Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Bernie Siegel. Most of the earlier generation lifestyle stars relied on self-promotion skills, amplified by the praise of their followers, rather than on the services of professional publicists. But today it is not unusual for alternative stars to routinely appear on network talk shows, speak at highly visible venues, and write best-selling books. Other people acquire well-knowness derivatively through being born into a well-known family. Prince William is one of the world’s most popular royals in part because his mother was the late and extremely popular Princess Diana. All members of the Ford, Rockefeller, and Kennedy families gain instant visibility; a few enlarge their well-knowness because they skillfully build their inheritance (Fidelity’s Abby Johnson), or misuse it (Max Factor heir and convicted rapist Andrew Luster). Visibility seekers cannot create inherited fame; managing it to their best advantage is something they can do. Another route to high visibility is to be an arbitrary beneficiary—or victim—of coincidence. W. G. Sutter discovered gold in California. John Bobbitt became visible as the victim of his wife’s slicing vengeance, a tale that persists because it evokes unspeakable revulsion. In contrast, some
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people attain visibility because they are proactive in placing themselves into positions to respond to a situation. Economics professor and author Robert J. Shiller predicted the speculative bubble of the 2000 stock market crash in his book Irrational Exuberance,2 which was published almost simultaneously with the bursting of the bubble. Finally, some people gain visibility by performing sensational acts. David Blaine executes elaborate street magic—such as enduring starvation and isolation while suspended in a glass box over the River Thames for forty-four days—and comes across more as a rock star than a magician. Others thirsting after celebrity have climbed office towers, dogsledded to the North Pole, or sailed around the world in a rowboat hoping for a book contract or at least a headline in the local newspaper. Some even commit murder to gain attention, a motive frequently cited by psychologists to explain the actions of many assassins. Each path taken to high visibility has certain implications. Inherited or accidental celebrity provides an initial kickoff; sustaining and expanding it is often difficult or impossible. Sensation-staging tends to produce very brief periods of high visibility but often involves high long-term costs. For most people who deliberately seek high visibility, the intentional routes are obviously more productive. (One can deliberately achieve leadership of a demographic group, but no one can “create” wealthy parents.) Of all the possible sectors to become visible in, some are better candidates for deliberate brand-developing strategies than others. Ten sectors in particular contain the bulk of brand-developing activity: entertainment, sports, politics, culture, business, religion, science, the professions, academics, and technology. At the top of the list stands the entertainment sector. Here, high visibility is axiomatic: Entertainers earn their living by attracting attention. The better known they are, the larger their audience, and the greater potential for a premium. Not surprisingly, entertainers were among the earliest users of the machinery of visibility seeking. Needing to constantly manage their image with audiences, entertainers depend heavily on publicists, agents, managers, and coaches. In sports, aspirants must possess certain minimum physical and mental abilities before they can even hope to compete. Still, there are many strategic decisions athletes must make to position themselves for the greatest visibility. One involves the market the athlete chooses to attack. For example, large marketplaces such as baseball in America, soccer in Argentina, cricket in India, and hockey in Canada are excellent places to target visibility campaigns. Although former Manchester United goalie Tim
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Howard was a major story in England, he did not receive the same visibility in his home country of America. In contrast, Australia, a land of beach lovers and surfers, has found an icon in their champion swimmer, Ian Thorpe. Politicians, who need well-knowness in order to win elections, use all available visibility-generating resources, including political consultants, public relations experts, media contacts, advertising agencies, marketing research firms, and political-party resources. Entertainers may have their bodies reworked and their stories changed at will; their publics almost expect it. But politicians must be extremely careful about how much of their image-making strategy is revealed to the public. Members of the art and culture sector—consisting of writers, poets, artists, intellectuals—also use self-marketing strategies. Compared with the past, when artists and writers often labored anonymously (often becoming well known only posthumously), today’s art environment is active in branding, and many institutions use artists to improve their images, producing new opportunities for artists and writers to earn commissions and gain exposure. An example is the economist Robert Kuttner who is a prolific author and has benefited from the arts and culture machinery. He is the cofounder and coeditor of the American Prospect, a quarterly of liberal politics and policy, with a special emphasis on democratic foundations.3 But his biggest venues are his regular column, “Economic Viewpoint,” published in the international business magazine, BusinessWeek, and books such as Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets.4 Aside from print, his commentaries are aired on National Public Radio in America. Kuttner’s exposure through these highly visible communication channels has raised his profile, making him not only a popular speaker on economic policy but also a branded economic authority who explains economic issues in easily understandable terms. Even in the highly conservative religious sector, success depends to some extent on image building among one’s peers and superiors. Because religions are organized hierarchically, every sect produces local, regional, national, and sometimes international “well-knowns.” The aspirants at each level compete for the limited positions at the next level: Priests compete for the post of bishop; bishops for archbishop; archbishops for cardinal. But even in this highly conservative sector, success depends to some extent on image building among one’s peers and superiors. Transformation in the religious sector, however, has to be handled delicately. Institutional codes of propriety have to be observed; besides, making worshippers aware of celebrity making may invite only condemnation.
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The business sector has seen an evolution in its complement of heroes and leaders. Once it was considered dangerous and undignified to pursue fame building. But today, despite criticism of CEOs who focus more on image building than substance, the trend in modern business is for chief executive officers and other senior managers to pursue visibility as a means of generating opportunity for their companies—and themselves. In this sector, it is critical that business interests and the leader’s visibility strategies and communication channels are carefully aligned. Ed Zander, CEO of Motorola, is a good example of a top executive who does this well. Zander is skilled at building his visibility within the Motorola community and also at communicating his vision to the broader technology market and its key analysts. Visibility will only continue to grow as an important instrument of the business leader despite occasional criticism of celebrity CEOs. So too will the trend toward focused visibility in specific segments. These developments are fairly recent. A quarter century ago, David Finn of the PR agency Ruder, Finn, Rotman, Inc., felt compelled to argue in the Harvard Business Review that, to boost their own and their companies’ stocks, business leaders should seek the public limelight rather than shun it: That a great many business leaders do care [about society’s welfare], there can be little doubt. The problem is that they hide their human qualities behind a mask of corporate anonymity. . . . Leadership [means] exercising the courage to create an environment that reflects a top executive’s image of the way he or she wants to do business. It means resisting the temptation to be inconspicuous and anonymous in order to avoid reporters’ questions and public gossip. Sometimes corporate leaders act as if they feared a raised eyebrow more than a deficit.5 The science sector has a long history of spawning well-known names: Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Pasteur, Freud, Curie, and Einstein. Visibility building in science is accelerating, as Margaret Mead, Jonas Salk, James Van Allen, Judah Folkman, Stephen Hawking, and many others have been partially aided by celebrity industry techniques. Even though their discoveries originally inspire their well-knowness, the value of visibility for scientists’ sponsors is so huge that more and more visibility development is taking place. As competition for vanishing research funds increases, institutions are encouraging, or actively building, the visibility of their scientists. The expansion of the sector has also produced celebrity science
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whistleblowers such as Dr. David Graham, medical officer at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, who became a media star in his opposition to Cox–2 drugs. Transformation and image building are expanding rapidly throughout the professions as well. Frank Gehry (architecture), David Boies (law), and Mehmet Oz (heart surgery) are successful examples of this trend. Their pursuit of high visibility is not compensation for lack of talent but rather a reflection of a new competitive reality: Possessing the skill qualifications is no longer enough to guarantee high levels of visibility. The entire academic sector has become more visible as educational institutions seek higher visibility and the media search for experts. University public relations departments pound out press releases extolling research findings, unusual classes, and faculty appointments to commissions and foundations. Slowly, the range of permissible visibility-generating activities available for academicians is widening. The nuclear physicist who not long ago would have been hired by a university only to staff the department now is profiled by the alumni magazine, lectures to wealthy alumni, and is trotted out to impress prospective freshmen. Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Stanford University, is well known as an intellectual property expert in the new-media environment.6 Aside from the usual academic papers published in prestigious journals, Lessig maintains a Web site (www.lessig.org) that provides access to research, news, and a blog (www.lessig.org/blog) that offers Lessig’s perspectives on new books, politics, and law. He also writes a monthly column for Wired magazine, and he has published a number of books including Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace.7 Lessig frequently testifies as an expert witness in celebrated court cases, further reinforcing his brand as the cyberlaw authority. As a result of all this credible exposure, he dominates the cyberlaw space and repays Stanford with his visibility.
Branding Barbeque Chicken Pizza Wolfgang Puck, an Austrian coal-miner’s son, is one of America’s most branded and influential chefs. Puck’s cornucopia of skills in the kitchen has turned into a cluster of businesses whose revenues exceed $219 million a year.8 His reach, though, extends far beyond his own restaurants: Spago in Beverly Hills, Granita in Malibu, and Chinois on Main in Santa Monica, and his chain of fast-food outlets and frozen food products. Using distribution channels such as cookbooks, videos, his informative Web site,9 and frequent appearances on television’s Late Show with David Letterman, Good Morning America, and The Food Network, Puck has grown into a familiar smiling face
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to millions of Americans who have never even set foot in his collection of restaurants. Capitalizing on the free exposure of media and delivering his message in many different channels, he expanded the reach and impact of the groundbreaking cooking pioneer Julia Child. Puck has packaged himself as a visionary—inventing a signature cooking style that combines and reverses normal expectations of food ingredients and recipes. One of his trademarks is a personal-sized pizza bedecked with delicacies ranging from caviar to smoked duck. In addition, he has de-emphasized the ethnicity of ritual cuisine on Passover and Christmas, expanding their appeal by infusing the traditional food with an eccentric, unmistakable flair: Tex-Mex turkey. Rising to the top of his sector, Wolfgang Puck has inculcated ordinary dining with a new perspective—branding incongruous eating experiences. In doing so, he has spawned a school of branded chefs including Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, and Rachael Ray. Some bang the pots louder than others, tell jokes that have sexual overtones, or reveal intimate details of their life while cooking. They still owe their blueprint to Wolfgang Puck.
IMAGE MAKING IN THE SECTORS One can view the various sectors in three general groups based on the intensity of their image-making activity. The first group consists of those sectors whose members do the least to seek or promote public visibility, usually because traditionally, image making has been perceived to offer little in the way of financial, social, or ego-related reward. But with institutions now making greater use of personalities, new conflicts have been created. Members of this group now have to make conscious decisions about seeking visibility and trading off costs and rewards. A research biologist may earn a large supplemental income by becoming a science “popularizer” in the media but at the same time risk losing the esteem of professional colleagues. Members in these sectors must decide whether they are trying to please themselves, their colleagues, or the general public, for these three audiences cannot always be satisfied simultaneously. A second group consists of sectors whose members could benefit greatly from high visibility, but where organized image-making machinery is in the maturing stage. This is the case with doctors, lawyers, architects, and other professional groups. Architects stand to gain more clients if they go on public-speaking tours, write articles for the right magazines, gain high office in their professional society, and in other ways market themselves and their practices. Although these sectors are catching up quickly to entertainment and sports, their image-making activity is likely to be
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sporadic, even amateurish. Aspirants often attempt to promote themselves without the benefit of professional guidance, as is typical of the cottage industry stage. They may occasionally buy the services of a marketing researcher, marketing consultant, or public relations firm, but not with enough continuity or commitment to expenditure. The third group of sectors consists of those whose members derive substantial benefit from image making and where sophisticated machinery is already in place. One such sector, of course, is entertainment, whose members benefit from successful image making. Another is the business sector, in which many chief executives would benefit from image creation and for which image-creating resources are available (speechwriters and media and appearance consultants, for example), but in which there is still some resistance to using them. It’s getting more difficult to differentiate the sector and the intensity of the image-making activity as the rewards of visibility become more attractive. For example, CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a highly visible practicing physician. He holds two important positions: chief neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital and Grady Memorial Hospital, both located in Atlanta. But it is Gupta’s role as CNN medical correspondent that provides his real visibility—to millions of households. The youthful looking Gupta, who rarely dons a doctor’s white coat on television, thus emphasizing his approachability, has become the face of authority in health matters. The combination of CNN’s reputation as a first-on-the-scene news network and Gupta’s seemingly torn-from-the-medical-journals analysis of medical issues has created a medical brand that is compelling in its immediacy. Aside from his work on CNN, Gupta is a columnist for Time magazine and a medical reporter for TNT’s ER.10 Perhaps the strongest testament to Gupta’s brand status is his successful crossover from medical authority to mainstream personality. In 2003, People magazine called him one of the “Sexiest Men Alive,” and USA Today enshrined him as a “pop culture icon.”11 Transcending the intensity of his traditional sector, he has given a young and empathetic face to the staid and often frightening image of medical practice. While intensive transformation and image-building activity is accelerating in all sectors, it is doing so at different rates, for the following reasons: 1. Image making can contribute more in sectors with low or ill-defined skill requirements. For example, people with little or no skill can enter politics; image makers in this case can be of great
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assistance. Modern artists can also benefit from image making; the skills required to compete in this sector are so variable that we often need filters such as art critics to differentiate among them. On the other hand, a violinist, whose craft is evaluated on more specific criteria, cannot hope to become famous unless possessed of a virtuoso level of skill. 2. Image making can contribute more in sectors that command a high level of public and media interest. People have a high interest in entertainment, sports, and politics; aspirants in these sectors command more media coverage. The media need much material to fill their daily time and space requirements. Dramatic imagemaking stories are an accepted tradition in these sectors. On the other hand, the public has little interest in such very specialized sectors as flower design competitions, quilt making, or dogsled racing; and these sectors do not reward their leaders with nearly enough money to justify image-making activity. However, individuals within these sectors can become highly visible through more intimate, specialized, and sometimes more cost effective communication channels such as word of mouth, trade publications, sector-specific events, and Web sites. 3. Image making can contribute more in sectors in which many aspirants compete for too few positions. So many able actresses compete for roles in Hollywood that image-making investments can often make the difference. Conversely, so few people compete to become the leading scholar in the history of Liechtenstein—for which the financial and other rewards are comparatively minimal—that any competent individual could achieve this reputation without much image-building activity. 4. Image making can contribute more in sectors that require an extensive amount of promotional activity for success. For example, politicians cannot win elections simply by converting a few voters into supporters. The workload required to reach the necessary numbers of people is so great that politicians need image-making help—to research public attitudes, write strong speeches, produce events, and prepare television, radio, and newspaper advertising. 5. Image making is likely to expand in sectors in which image-making professionals can earn more. Professional transformers and image
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makers concentrate on sectors in which their skills command high prices or where their own visibility can generate substantial opportunity. Because entertainment, sports, and political aspirants compete for high stakes and image making can contribute to their success, image makers are more common in these sectors. As sectors such as the professions, business, and religion become more industrialized, they too attract more image-making professionals.
THE TOWER OF POWER High visibility does not have a single fixed dimension. On the contrary, the degree of well-knowness among the highly visible varies greatly. Usher Raymond is far better known than the leading expert on arterial inflammation, just as Serena Williams is more visible than any Nobel laureate in economics. Raymond and Williams stand higher because of their sectors’ visibility and broad appeal across market segments. To understand the visibility hierarchy, we need to recognize that wellknownness has two major dimensions: space and time. The first question asks how far the aspirant’s well-knowness reaches. Is it only local visibility, or is it regional, national, or even international in scope? The second question concerns how long an aspirant’s well-knowness lasts? Is it for only one day, a week, a year? Is it for a generation? Or is it forever? These two dimensions combine to create at least twenty types of high visibles (see Figure 4–1). Type 1 is the person who made news for one day in his town, such as a swimmer who rescued a boy from drowning. Type 8
Levels in the Visibility Hierarchy
Visibility Reach International
4
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20
National
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Regional
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Local
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One Day
One Week
One Year
One Forever Generation
Visibility Duration
Figure 4–1:
Visibility Hierarchy
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is the person whose name makes news around the world for a week; for example, Dr. James Goodrich and Dr. David Staffenberg, who separated the heads of conjoined twins. Type 9 is the local person who enjoyed high visibility in his community for a year; a good example would be the town’s mayor that year. Type 15 is the person who achieves high visibility in one country that lasts a generation; an example would be cricket star Subhashchandra Gupte, who was well known in the British Commonwealth but not elsewhere because cricket is principally played by former British colonies. Type 20 is reserved for those rare souls who have achieved the peak of fame: They are known all over the world, and their high visibility lasts forever. Generally, they have been borne along by perpetual institutions such as religions, cultures, or nations: Jesus Christ, Buddha, Herod, Catherine the Great, or George Washington. Clearly, Type 1s have the least visibility, and Type 20s have the most. Furthermore, a high visible’s fame increases as he or she moves from the lower left of the hierarchy to the upper right. However, it is not possible to compare the relative fame between someone in the upper left or lower right. Is someone whose name reaches the whole world for one day better known than someone who is remembered forever in only his or her local community? More reach and more duration mean more fame, but their relative impact cannot be compared easily.
VISIBILITY REACH The reach, or space over which an aspirant’s name is known, can be portrayed as a pyramid (see Figure 4–2). The base of the pyramid consists of many invisibles. Just above these are people with local visibility—those who
International Visibility National Visibility Regional Visibility Local Visibility Invisibles
Figure 4–2:
Visibility Reach Pyramid
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are somewhat well known in their own local areas. Above them are people with regional visibility whose names are known beyond their own immediate areas, such as throughout the South or on the West Coast. Above them are still fewer people with national visibility, who are in turn overshadowed by people with international visibility who are well known in two or more countries. In the typical visibility sector, the base of invisibles is very broad, and the higher levels thin out rapidly until only a few people are left commanding the highest visibility. The shape of the pyramid also alters as the sector matures. In an emerging sector, such as mountain climbing, many amateurs would be found, with just a few professionals who are well known primarily to the amateurs. As interest increases in the activity, more aspirants enter the base. This aspirant invasion means that the pyramid will develop more interim levels of visibility. Profit-seeking entrepreneurs will enter the sector to promote events, launch trade magazines, and organize fan clubs. They will try to immortalize certain mountain climbers, to create legends that will inspire others. Eventually, the sector will stabilize with a certain breadth (number of entrants) and height (number of visibility levels). The highly visible in most sectors are well known only to members of those sectors. Robert J. Biggins, president of the National Funeral Directors Association, is very well known in the funeral industry but virtually invisible to members or audiences of other sectors. The general public has very little interest in the elites of these sectors. But other sectors have high cross-sector appeal; their elites will be widely known. For example, actors and athletes who reach the top of their respective sectors are likely to be well known to a very high percentage of the general public. The activities in these highly visible sectors have inherent interest to the general public, a major reason why transformation and image-making machinery operates full time to create events and news about aspirants in these sectors. Now let’s take a closer look at the people who occupy each level of the pyramid.
Local Visibility Every community, no matter how small, has its own visibility pyramid— people who are better known than others. It includes the leaders of the community’s major institutions: the mayor, leading banker, lawyer, physician, businessperson, football coach, and social host. Others are well known because they fill out the community’s story needs, such as the local “bad girl,” “bad boy,” “Scrooge,” “playboy,” “philanthropist,” “eccentric,” “young
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widow,” and “leading athlete.” Conveniently, the local visibility process is abetted by the local media who constantly search for stories to tell. In the past, most local aspirants did not seek visibility; they acquired it as a by-product of their occupations or lifestyles. But increasingly, local aspirants are turning to professional transformers, image consultants, and marketing professionals to help increase their well-knowness. Local aspirants who aim for higher levels of visibility, though, frequently have to leave their communities to succeed. The local singer or painter often moves to the larger cultural centers, and the local politician to the state capital or to Washington, D.C. Local luminaries are in many ways more meaningful models for the people in their communities than those who are well known on the national level because they are accessible to the people around them.
Regional Visibility Every major city contains well-known people that span its borders. A good example is radio and television newscasting, which by its very definition is region based. Each city has its newscasters, who are well known within the city and surrounding areas. Other regional aspirants may be drawn from the ranks of business leaders, politicians, artists, fashion trendsetters, and small-college athletes. Regional aspirants who aspire to higher visibility can use their regional visibility as a stepping-stone. Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, a low-cost, no frills Dublin air carrier, has high visibility in Ireland, which is launching his reputation as a competitor in the worldwide airline industry. His regional identification is so strong that he can use it in Europe as a lever to service more airline routes. Some aspirants make the jump from regional to national not by climbing the ladder within their sector but by crossing over to a more popular, active sector, at the same time using their regional base to acquaint larger markets with themselves. A good example is regional star and personal injury lawyer John Edwards, who began operating in the political sector as a less-than-one-term senator but elevated himself to national visibility by running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Using his national run for political office, he began to establish himself as a strong national political celebrity. In doing so, he became even more highly visible as a candidate for vice president. Although he wasn’t elected, his name became familiar to many Americans. In moving from the legal sector to politics, he managed to move from local to regional to national prominence.
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National Visibility Three types can be pinpointed. The first are sector types: well-known to people within their sector but hardly recognized by others—including national heads of associations and major corporations. Also found on the national level are extra-sectoral types, who are well known to many people outside of their primary sector. Typically, they occupy a high position in one of the highly visible sectors, particularly entertainment, sports, or politics. Even here, a distinction can be drawn between those perceived as primarily national stars and national superstars. Mark Teixeira, first baseman for the Texas Rangers, earns close to $4 million a year and is a star, but New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez is a superstar who earns $25 million. In the literary sector, successful novelist Jonathan Franzen is a star, while multisectored, legal brand name John Grisham is a superstar. Melvin Gordon, chairman and CEO of candy maker Tootsie Roll, is a business star, but Michael Dell, a college dropout who dominates the PC industry, is a business superstar. A third type of national visibility is the accidental celebrity, one who took a seemingly unintentional route to high visibility. Among them are people who have committed a sensational crime, participated in an unusual event, or won a major contest. For most of these accidental national celebrities, however, high visibility is short lived, and its rewards are insignificant. Examples are convicted murderer Scott Peterson or Mandy Block who was hit by a bat as she circled the bases at Milwaukee’s Miller Park in a sausage costume.
International Visibility Because of changes in communications technology, people who were once merely visible to their national market now have access to the global market. The Germans now know many of the names in the Indian film industry as a result of the rapid expansion of Bollywood and increased attention from global media. Similarly, U.S. citizens now are becoming increasingly familiar with global sports stars such as Belgian tennis player Justine Henin-Hardenne. Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming has become a brand that has attained a worldwide audience. His status as a former No. 1 draft pick of the National Basketball Association, coupled with his access to a billion-person market, has brought him lucrative endorsements with such global brands as Apple computer, Visa, and Nike. These endorsements work to further extend his celebrity. The Beatles in the early 1960s are an outstanding example of cross-sectoring international visibility-building
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hysteria. The difference today is the ease in achieving such reach and the large number of distribution channels worldwide that facilitate such strategies. Major film and music stars (and, increasingly, television performers seen in foreign markets) may achieve international prominence as the medium in which they are distributed is exported all over the world by communication satellites and the Internet. Current political and religious leaders such as Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, and Pope Benedict XVI also enjoy an international prominence because they head major world institutions, and are multichanneled throughout the globe.
VISIBILITY DURATION The highly visible differ not only in how widely they are known but also in how long they are well known for. There are one-day, one-week, one-year, and one-generation people who become visible in a specific time frame. In rare instances, there are people who become legends and are remembered for all time.
One Day Pop artist Andy Warhol once observed that in the future, everyone will be a celebrity for fifteen minutes, an allusion to the explosion of print and broadcast media, which must incessantly fill their space and time with people stories. Reporters—and bloggers alike—are always looking for interesting stories about people; to them, everyone and every story is potential grist for the news mill. It takes only a reporter or a dedicated blogger to create a one-day phenomenon. The man who rescues a boy from drowning; the woman who wins the state lottery; the educator who wins the best-teacher award—all are known for a one-day event. They will get a headline in the local newspaper or sometimes in the national press. After that, their visibility quickly fades and they are forgotten by the public at large. But the one-day phenomenon remembers. They don’t easily forget that they were once the talk of the town, recognized by others in supermarkets or because of a flood of media coverage. And some of their friends remember too. But the main feature of one-day visibility is that it is usually nonstrategic: that is, it is not easily translated into material advantage or reward.
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Recently, the media have been shifting to interviewing and featuring a higher proportion of unknowns in all sectors, rather than just wellknowns. As audiences develop an insatiable appetite for new faces, they become more interested in seeing “ordinary” people who have accomplished or been involved in something novel. This fits Andy Warhol’s speculation that more people will have a chance to be instant celebrities in the coming years. Why are there one-day stars? The main reason is that certain stories have to be continuously played out to the public, for a wide variety of purposes. In any news day, there are slots for human-interest stories, medical breakthroughs, unexpected disasters, or heroic rescues, or even the category “someone you should know.” The media needs to find people daily to fill these roles. The result is an avalanche of people and events that are recognizable for a short period of time but then easily forgotten. But for the person featured—the brave fireman, the innovative doctor—the story is over in one day; there is no profit advantage to anyone, either the medium or an institution, in sustaining the event or person.
One Week Some people are thrust into the public spotlight for more than one day, especially if they are part of an unfolding drama that transfixes the public. The woman who is on trial for murdering her lover; the man who has advanced virtual reality; the politician who is steeped in scandal—everyone wants a daily report on the progress of the trial, recovery, or investigation. Eventually, a resolution is reached. The public is satiated, satisfied, or disgusted. And one-week stories go back, if they can, to their ordinary lives. Reality series, talent shows, corporate board CEO overthrows—all have been a bountiful source of one-week storylines. Often, once the event has concluded, these seven-day wonders fade as well. The actual length of the “one-week story” depends on several factors. The media will draw out the saga if it continues to sell and new developments occur. If it is a favorable story involving an important institution, it may last longer, as the institution drives the story forward for its own commercial purposes. One-week visibles have more commercial viability for branding purposes than their one-day counterparts. The mere length of the story and the fact that often some major institution is involved in the storyline creates opportunity for branding purposes. Noted criminals, defamed politicians, embittered spouses, frustrated CEOs—all at one time
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or another have hit the public-speaking circuit, become television or radio personalities, or fronted for products.
One Year Each year, some people stand out as the personalities of the year, managing to evoke extremely high levels of media attention or public interest. They make the cover of the Time “Person of the Year” issue, or People magazine’s “Most Interesting People of the Year” issue, or they are among the few chosen for the year’s major Nobel Prizes. Clearly, 1927 was Charles Lindbergh’s year, as 1984 was Michael Jackson’s with the release of his album Thriller. In the political world, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris had her year, as did Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. In the literary world, Anne Rice of vampire fame had her year, and so did Friday Night Lights author H. G. Bissinger. The entertainment industry’s nod to one-year celebrity is usually an acting award such as the Golden Globe, Emmy, or Oscar. Oscar winners bask in the glory and enjoy the benefits of being the year’s winner, including increased media coverage and a hefty increase in their standard fees. One-year personalities usually retain their visibility for more than one year—but in one of those years, they achieve a peak of public recognition that is usually not repeated, but has potential for launching a platform for a permanent brand. Major time landmarks—month, year, decade—are important in the minds of audiences, just as is the desire to know who is on top. This supplies the media and institutions with the incentive to promote certain people as the month’s, year’s, or decade’s most prominent. That’s why the drivers use a variety of selection criteria: those who made it big quickly; those who took decades to make it but finally are recognized; those who head a sector that has just discovered; and those who had a special event occur in a long career.
One Generation A small elite enjoys visibility for a whole generation. They are the generation’s heroes, movers, shakers, idols, and icons. From Elvis Presley to Nelson Mandela, they define their eras. During their eras, their future status as permanent celebrities may be widely assumed. But predicting who will gain a lock on the memory channel is not easy. History provides a perfect case: that of Antonio Salieri, the villain of the film Amadeus and one of the most popular music composers of his day and age. A contemporary
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of Mozart, Salieri had hoped that he, and not Mozart, would live in people’s memories. But he was mistaken. Hardly anyone in subsequent generations heard of him or of his music, a circumstance predicted by Salieri who, upon learning of Mozart’s death, extolled, “It is a pity to lose so great a genius, but his death is a good thing for us. If he had lived longer not a soul would have given us a bit of bread for our compositions.”12 Salieri, indeed, was a one-generation symbol. Sometimes, the generational images are kept alive by institutions. Stanford University classmates Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, founders and namesakes of one of the world’s largest technology companies, HewlettPackard, died a number of years ago, and retired much earlier. This is a fact. But their company, by continuing to use their names, promoting their principles in its advertising, and constantly chronicling their humble origins and the founding of Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto garage, has continued to fuse their image with the company’s. While the name was changed in a merger with Compaq Computer to HP, management continues to capitalize on the entrepreneurial roots of the company and its founders on its Web site, which includes a virtual museum tour of the founders’ career. Skillful promotion can extend one-generational earning power. Though her great hits were in the seventies, Patti LaBelle capitalized on her generational star power by reemerging as a nostalgic tour performer reprising her great hits such as “Lady Marmelade,” promoting her own fashion line on the Home Shopping Network, and speaking and appearing at company and association functions. Often the heroes of one generation try to stretch into the next by changing their style and content, not always with success. The singer Sting began his career with the enormously successful English rock band The Police in the early eighties and made a successful transition into a viable solo performer after the group disbanded. Although his career has spanned decades and encapsulated varied musical genres from rock, to pop, to jazz and world beat, Sting has remained popular and marketable to fans from his early Police days until the present generation. Collaborating with young pop performers like Craig David and acting in cameos for prime-time series like Ally McBeal have extended Sting’s reach. Nevertheless, while Sting has never fully regained his former market share, he is among the most persistent and innovative of the generational icons.
Legends Legends remain famous beyond their time; indeed, their visibility lasts for all time. But the process through which legends are created is changing. In
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the past, many popes, kings, presidents, and generals came and went; only a few achieved immortality. These were people whose ideas or deeds shaped history, who inspired awe among the “mere mortals.” They seemed to be gods or at least demigods. Their visibility has often been built upon fictions that cannot be separated from fact; nor does it matter. John and Jackie Kennedy were portrayed as the contemporary equivalents of King Arthur and Lady Guinevere in Camelot, but the reality is closer to B. B. King’s song lyrics “She Don’t Move Me No More.” We have a need to venerate certain people, to turn them into legends, even myths. But today, as heroism gives way to branding, people will begin to enter the memory channel as legends as much as a result of their marketing savvy as their achievements. Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones are certainly highly talented and will undoubtedly become legends as much for the successes of their brilliant image-building tactics as for their blues-based rock ’n’ roll music. Ralph Lauren, who branded a preppy style clothing line and branched out into eyewear, home furnishings, and restaurants, is guaranteed legend status. Unlike Ransom Olds, who lent his name to a now-extinct automobile, Oldsmobile, Lauren took advantage of his branding opportunities, creating the Polo signature and staying consistently within his brand’s conservative image.
The Up-and-Down Legend of Jack Welch He has been called “a heroic form of CEO,” “the world’s greatest business leader,” “the manager of the century,” and “CEO of the century.”13 When the General Electric (GE) CEO retired in 2001 after forty-one years of service and twenty years as the chief executive, he had grown by some estimates a $25 billion company into a $130 billion company.14 As a result of his success, when Welch retired, he was rewarded with a lifetime compensation package that included “access to company aircraft, cars, office, apartments and financial-planning services.”15 He was paid $7.1 million for his autobiography, Jack: Straight from the Gut, which he donated to charity.16 The legendary former CEO was a popular and well-paid speaker at business conferences all over the world. And organizers were happy to retain him. Having Welch in a lineup of speakers guaranteed the success of most any meeting. Welch seemed permanently enshrined as a business legend. But on March 4, 2004, Welch’s reputation began to unravel. The Wall Street Journal reported that top editors of the Harvard Business Review had made a written request to their publishing press, the Harvard Business School, that editor Suzy Wetlaufer be removed from her position.17 The editors claimed that Wetlaufer had lost the confidence of editors as a result of an affair with one of her interview subjects—Welch—leading to a review of the magazine’s
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ethics policy. A week later, a follow-up article announced that Ms. Wetlaufer had resigned, citing a controversy regarding a conflict of interest in her leading the publication.18 This second article also said Welch had helped Wetlaufer fight to keep her job, a move that likely exacerbated the situation at the Review, and raised questions about Welch’s judgment. Things would soon get worse. Welch’s marriage to his second wife, Jane, broke up, and in court filings details of Welch’s expansive retirement package became public knowledge, angering GE investors. The package included a laundry list of amenities, most notably a Manhattan GE-owned apartment, security, and a wide range of tickets to events and country-club membership fees. The apartment was said to rent for $80,000 a month, and the use of the GE jet was estimated by experts at $291,869 monthly.19 As the revelations peaked and pressure mounted, Welch announced in an editorial page letter published in the Journal two weeks later that he was asking GE to eliminate everything in his retirement package except for what was considered the usual office support customary for his predecessors.20 For use of other company facilities and services, Welch said he would pay GE up to $2.5 million a year. The act did little to revive Welch’s reputation, however, because it appeared to be done under duress. Meanwhile, the messy divorce battle continued to be waged publicly with the effect that other well-known CEOs came under scrutiny. Welch eventually reached an agreement with his second and now former wife and married his former editor, Suzy Wetlaufer. For some, the legend of Jack Welch was tarnished forever because of the controversy. For many others, it was a short-lived downturn in a highly successful career. Welch has worked hard at rebuilding his image. He wrote a second best-selling book with his new spouse Wetlaufer,21 embarked on a grueling publicity campaign, and continued appearing at major universities and conferences for high-level executives. He has also softened his image in his public appearances and is more willing to speak of his personal feelings, struggles, and relationship issues. Welch’s reputation is likely to sustain for two reasons: 1) His achievements at GE were permanently enduring and enabled him to maintain credibility with his core audiences under duress; and, 2) He adapted to the changing communication circumstances by capitalizing on what he does well—writing, speaking, and advising.
In a society divided into many classes, specialized occupations, and diverse interests, it is hardly surprising that our analysis focuses on the different visibility sectors, for each has its own rules and conventions that must be factored into any aspirant’s marketing strategy. The entertainer is free to endorse popcorn, appear on Entertainment Tonight, and own a private jet. In contrast, the scientist will be hard pressed to justify any of these activities and will probably want to continue publishing in the traditional
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journals to maintain sector credibility. As society’s values and interests change, so do the sectors with the most visibility-generating potential. One-week aspirants need to be carefully managed to break out of their status as mere media curiosities, and the brand of the year needs to worry about overexposure and lack of long-term visibility. All of these factors should be weighed in the personal and professional branding plan, but above all else, aspirants must realize whom their marketing is ultimately directed toward: an audience. Potential brands need clients to seek them out, people to watch them, consumers to buy their products, and fans to talk about them. The next chapter places the audience into the marketing equation.
NOTES 1 Alice Park, “Heart Mender: After cholesterol, the most important cause of heart attacks is the killer Paul Ridker identified,” Time/CNN.com, www.cnn.com/ SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/science.medicine/pro.pridker.html, viewed October 6, 2004. 2 Robert J. Shiller, Irrational Exuberance (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000). 3 _____, “Robert Kuttner,” Leigh Bureau, www.leighbureau.com/ speaker.asp?id=192, viewed August 24, 2004. 4 _____, “The School of Cooperative Individualism: Where the idea of liberty thrives!” www.cooperativeindividualism.org/kuttnerbio.html, viewed August 26, 2004. 5 David Finn, “Public Invisibility of Corporate Leaders,” Harvard Business Review, November/December, 1980, p. 107. 6 _____, “Lawrence Lessig,” Leigh Bureau, www.leighbureau.com/ speaker.asp?id=117, viewed on August 25, 2004. 7 Lawrence Lessig, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (New York: Basic Books, 2000). 8 Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. Company Profile, biz.yahoo.com/ic/56/ 56519.html, viewed October 6, 2004. 9 Puck has a Web site combining personal image building, dinner menu samples, and current events (www.wolfgangpuck.com). 10 _____, On CNN TV: “Anchors and Reporters,” www.cnn.com/CNN/ anchors_reporters/gupta.sanjay.html, viewed June 28, 2005.
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11 Ibid. 12 Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Eric Bloom, vol. V (New York: St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan, 1954), p. 941. 13 Robert Walker, “Overhauled: Why Jack Welch Isn’t God,” robwalker.net/ html_docs/welch.html, viewed August 26, 2004. 14 Harris Collingwood and Diane L. Coutu, “Jack on Jack,” Harvard Business Review, February 2002, p. 88. 15 Matt Murray, Joann Lublin and Rachel Emma Silverman, “Welch’s Lavish Retirement Pact Angers General Electric Investors,” Wall Street Journal Online, online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1031522344613392915,00.html, viewed August 6, 2004. 16 _____, “Welch Has Book Deal With HarperCollins,” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2004, p. 1. 17 James Bandler, “Harvard Editor Faces Revolt Over Welch Story,” Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2002, p. B1. 18 James Bandler, “Harvard Editor’s Deal Further Irks Review Staffers,” Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2002, p. B1. 19 Murray. 20 Jack Welch, “My Dilemma—And How I Resolved It,” Wall Street Journal Online, September 16, 2002, online.wsj.com/PA2VJBNA4R/article_print/ 0,,SB1032130853752348115,00.html, viewed October 6, 2004. 21 Jack Welch and Suzy Welch, Winning (New York: Harper Collins, 2005).
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who are the high visibility consumers?
CHAPTER 5
T
ommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, and Michael Kors all evoke in consumers images of their designer fashion brands. In a high-stakes industry defined by fierce struggles for the minds of an ever-shifting marketplace, Hilfiger is among the most strategic and highly visible. His pursuit of an identity for his brand is all about audience. The rise of Hilfiger was slow and deliberate. Starting with a $150 stake in an Elmira, New York, jeans venture, Hilfiger rose through a partnership with Mohan Murjani of Vanderbilt jeans to eventually form his own Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.1 Targeting the young consumer, Tommy Hilfiger clothing was priced at the low end of designer clothes and was positioned as conservative or preppie American. He adapted to the 1990s by adding a hotter, urban look to the line and moving into women’s clothing and perfume. Hilfiger’s search to create name recognition for his clothing brand was always intense and consumer centered. He reached his audiences by targeting image opinion leaders such as fashion writers, designers, and entertainment celebrities. In the 1990s, Hilfiger dressed prominent rappers such as Snoop Doggy Dogg and LL Cool J and helped create a television show entitled Tips (a trends, influences, and personalities report) in which he was featured interviewing recording and film stars on their wardrobe choices. But that was last century, and now Hilfiger found himself in a struggle to attract a new and ever-shifting audience. Traditional designer fashion houses such as Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein and new celebrity-driven fashion lines such as Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Sean John and Russell Simmons’ Phat Farm presented stiff competition. In searching for the new wave, Hilfiger was caught in the middle and had difficulty appealing to either audience. As 91
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a consequence, his gross revenue and net profits began to decline, and there were questions about the future of his fashion line.2 Hilfiger’s response was to introduce the H Hilfiger collection, a sophisticated line of work clothes designed for professionals. He also added Karl Lagerfeld’s gallery business to reposition himself as a competitor to Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, Liz Claiborne, and other conservative brands. In order to revive his cutting-edge personal brand, he became the host of The Cut, a reality series about aspiring designers. The show’s announcement gave Hilfiger a burst of publicity and allowed him to showcase his new consumer focus. Hilfiger understood that the combination of adapting his personal visibility and his product line to the changing cultural trends of his target audience was necessary to reignite his company’s fortune.
THE ALL-IMPORTANT CONSUMER No industry can exist without customers. In modern-day manufacturing and marketing, finding the customers and matching them to the right products has become an all-consuming passion. It is a passion so complete that many products are now fine-tuned to the most subtle variations in customer needs, desires, and expectations. The results can be impressive, as the discovery and segmentation of markets assumes a sophistication that is mathematically precise. Ask BMW for a comparison of buyers for a 330i and a 760i, and a mountain of data emerges to distinguish the two buyer groups on the basis of attitudes, lifestyles, and buying approaches—with estimates that project the numbers and needs of automobile buyers ten years into the future. Ask the Red Cross how Americans feel about making charitable contributions, and they produce a Harris poll on age groups, income levels, and the status of competing charities. Ask the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) how many people tune in to the first fifteen minutes of one of its programs, and accurate, comprehensive information spews forth. But ask the data collectors if former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar can transition to the role of elder statesman after his party was voted out of power three days following the tragic Madrid bombings, whether former investment banker Frank Quattrone, convicted on criminal charges of obstructing justice and barred for life from the securities industry, can regain a measure of the visibility he once enjoyed, or why actor John Travolta made a spectacular comeback after being written off by critics and the computer screens go blank. “Audiences are too fickle,” say the analysts. “They change their
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motivations all the time. There are too many variables. You just can’t predict which brand they’ll buy.” Often, the so-called experts’ discussions on audience perceptions and attachments degenerate into esoteric discourses on magic, charisma, presence, or luck. The aspirant cannot afford to be distracted by these misconceptions. In order to effect the transformation that will bring the aspirant and the market together, the aspirant must fully understand the market by answering the following questions: Who are the consumers— the audience members—that make up my market? What kinds of people are they? What do they want and get from me? The relationship between well-known personalities and audiences has always been controversial. The cliché that “only the public can make a star” expresses the popular myth that audiences capriciously decide whom to celebrate. While it’s indisputable that audience tastes do change, and that some visible people are unceremoniously abandoned and others launched without warning or apparent cause, the relationship between the visible and the fan is far more understandable and predictable than common wisdom claims. To best predict consumer preferences, image makers must understand the different levels of interest and intimacy that audiences bring to their relationship with their clients.
Michael Moore Brands Outrage Michael Moore is inexorably linked to controversy, and his success in marketing this image has made him a highly recognizable brand. The director of such documentaries and films as Roger & Me, Canadian Bacon, and Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore is so strongly associated with an anti-big business confrontational style that the term “Moore-esque” is used to describe other movies, books, and public opinions that have his stylistic imprint. Branding imparts a set of identifiable attributes that make a product distinctive to and easily recalled by its audience. It is therefore a significant sign of star power when the personal characteristics of an individual and his or her body of work become the standard of comparison in the field. Moore has achieved that level of brand awareness by focusing on historical events and adding an often argumentative, theatrical, and disturbing edge. He editorializes his chronicles, but unlike his other overtly partisan counterparts, markets them through mainstream media channels and hires professional public relations experts like Chris Lehane—former vice president Al Gore’s press secretary—to orchestrate his work to the media.3 He screens his documentaries in large commercial venues including the Cannes Film Festival, leveraging celebrity endorsements, often scandalous claims of
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improper, immoral or criminal activity, and quick-cut editing and professional camera work to sensationalize historical and political events. Moore also generates free media publicity by aggressively arguing on talk shows and other public forums his films’ point of view while refusing to appear with critics.4 He is so well branded that in the 2004 presidential election he became a lightning rod for Bush detractors and the focus of some supporters of Democratic candidate John Kerry. As a result of all the attention, for a time many thought Fahrenheit 9/11 was a sure Oscar winner after capturing the Palme d’Or, Cannes’ top honor. His failure to win the Oscar is a backhanded testimony to the power of his brand as it clearly infuriated many of the voters. In managing to successfully combine his brand with two seemingly opposing objectives—the making of historically based documentaries and box-office appeal—Moore has discovered a new distribution channel for controversy—mainstream movie houses—and his name and product could be labeled the “mass distribution of outrage.”
THE AUDIENCE INVOLVEMENT SCALE Ultimately, the visibility marketing costs must be recouped, whether by encouraging audience members to purchase records, attend sermons, buy tickets to games, undergo cosmetic surgery, or attend a seminar. Because of this, the visible person’s ability to move audiences from low levels of interest to more intense levels of involvement is critically important to the marketing plan’s success. To show how different types of audiences can best be used by the industry, the Audience Intensity Ladder (see Figure 5–1) places audience members on a scale according to the intensity of their involvement. Even though those people on the extreme ends of the scale—people who have no interest in high visibility at all, and fanatics obsessed with it— are of potential use to the industry, image marketers are far more concerned with those whose interests are somewhere in between. Just as aspirants occupy a status pyramid based on higher and higher visibility, so can audience members be placed on a ladder of increasing interest in, involvement with, and dependency upon branded personalities.
“Invisible” Consumers Everyone has an Uncle Fred or Cousin Jane who not only disdains the latest pop stars but who seems to live behind a visibility-proof shield. A mention of former Friends star Jennifer Aniston or Tonight Show host Jay
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Ensnared Entourage Insiders Interactives Collectors Seekers Watchers Invisible Consumers
Figure 5–1:
Audience Intensity Ladder
Leno invites only blank stares, indifference, or even hostility. Fred and Jane symbolize the least-useful audience on the ladder: invisible consumers, who are indifferent to media packaging, dislike identifying with personalities, or lack the capacity to idolize. They may have had heroes during childhood and adolescence, but they “grew out of it,” seemingly slamming the door on star worship forever. But invisible consumers are not nonconsumers. In reality, the star interests of invisible consumers are just so far out of the mainstream as to appear invisible. The bulb collector who worships the host of a PBS gardening show, the technology hobbyist whose leisure reading includes the latest insights into HDTV display technology and dreams of meeting Dado Banatao, the creator of the first IBM-compatible chipset, and the student of early Scandinavian communities in Minnesota who yearns to meet John Carter who has written the definitive work on book collecting are all star consumers but in less well-known sectors. Other consumers hidden from brand developers are those who worship in unusual ways or places. These people may not go to the movies, but they are first in line at the women’s club luncheon honoring a pioneer traffic-flow designer. They dislike entertainers, yet they seek out locally
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celebrated ministers. They appear visibility-less, but they are really just invisible because of their sector’s obscurity. A person who is truly devoid of all interest in all high visibility is rare.
Watchers Many people will consume high profile personalities if the price charged and commitment required is low. These are watchers, people who may flip the remote to five or six television channels a night, who read Newsweek, or who go to an occasional blockbuster film or play. Their visibility-consuming behavior is passive. They are observers, not aggressive seekers. With the increase in such celebrity-based programming as Access Hollywood and The Ellen Degeneres Show, the ranks of the watcher class have swelled. Watchers, already predisposed toward personality worship, can be seen by the marketer as prime targets, ready to be maneuvered into becoming active visibility consumers.
Seekers Watchers who feel a stronger attraction to personalities may move from casual/accidental viewing toward more intentional contact. They begin to seek out star performers. They eagerly attend their favorite singer’s concerts, politician’s speeches, and artist’s gallery openings. When it’s not possible to experience the performance “live,” they settle for the next best thing: the singer’s albums, the politician’s book, the artist’s poster reproduction. Of course, not all such purchases are made by visibility seekers; Brazilians may listen to “Madalena” because they love the song, not in conscious homage to singer Gilberto Gil. Yet the visibility appeal of performers is the main reason why many do buy recordings, especially when they choose the Gil CD over a different performer singing the same piece. Seekers, as active consumers, spend the most money on personality brands. This earns them the undivided attention of the visibility industry, whose tracking methods are based on sales. It’s a fair exchange: In return for their higher expenditures, seekers receive a reward, whether it is enjoyment of the sacrifices that their worship entails, enhanced self-image, or improved fantasy life. Seekers drive to concerts in rainy weather, wait in long lines for playoff tickets, and wolf down hurried dinners in exchange for closer seats at the Marketer of the Year dinner. Each act demonstrates commitment, earning the seeker a psychological return on his or her investment.
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Collectors The class of audience members known as collectors not only attends events but also consumes physical reminders of the person and the event. The souvenirs and memorabilia they treasure include everything from Kennedy half dollars to a No Doubt T-shirt to a business lecture program autographed by CNBC SquawkBox host Mark Haines. Manufacturers and retailers of personal and professional brand merchandise give collectors ample opportunities to express their dedication. Collectors can obtain merchandise at events, through mail order, or via high-tech delivery systems. Why do collectors collect? On one level the motivation is fairly straightforward: to express appreciation for the experience, to preserve it by giving it a physical manifestation that keeps the experience tangible and fresh. Although some collectors are less fans than investors, buying out of an expectation that an item will multiply in value, many collectors would never dream of parting with their prizes. They gain great enjoyment by communicating with others who feel the same way. The attendance and enthusiasm at collector “swap meets” are evidence of the strength of this attraction. Ultimately, collectors achieve a sense of physical closeness to the brand that seekers do not experience—and offer the marketer a chance to multiply the earnings.
Interactives One step up the ladder, interactives are distinguished by their need to receive communication from the star, and to occasionally send it back. Not satisfied with anonymously watching the concert, attending the race, or buying the T-shirt, they want their idols to recognize them as people. Seeking reinforcement and comfort in the company of those who feel as intensely as they do, interactives at this level in the past have banded together to form clubs, but today that tradition is transforming. The climate has changed for the often self-organized group of interactives that, through membership, sought a more personal relationship with a star, to a more indirect system employing current-day technology. This “technoadoration” is fostered through the vast number of personality-based Web sites available on the Internet. Although the popularity of the organized club is changing, interactives may still pursue a closer relationship with their idols by chatting online or by maintaining unofficial Web sites dedicated to them. Many stars have come to realize that these “chats” and Web sites may
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be used to market themselves and their product to build an interactive base. The Internet has become so important that highly visible people in all fields regularly update their sites with personal information and experiences, so that their interactives keep returning.
Online Visibility Diaries Blogs were born from the desire for self-expression, the desire to interact with like-minded individuals, and the drive to personally argue a perspective. But they also service another purpose: to blunt the perceived bias of traditional news organizations that while committed to impartiality decide subjectively which news and opinions they publish or air. Blogs are Web logs or Web journals that are updated daily, hourly, or even every few minutes. They typically focus on a specific area of interest.5 Many movie stars and pop musicians utilize blogs to communicate directly with their fans, and so do political partisans, CEOs of large corporations, and physicians. Singer and songwriter Moby is credited with bringing techno music to the mainstream audience. He is both a successful artist and businessman. His success is derived in part from the development of innovative ways to interact with and develop a loyal cadre of fans. Much of this effort revolves around his interactive Web site, where Moby blogs, announces and makes awards, rewards fans with collectibles for their insights and loyalty, and allows them to trade information among themselves and with the artist. At the mobyhotel, virtual guests check into their own rooms and interact with other guests. The site also provides links to related commercial sites “teany” and “littleidiot.” Forbes named the site one of the best celebrity blogs.6 Magazine editors employ blogs because they actively involve readers in discussing and arguing points of view. For example, when readers subscribe to BusinessWeek, they gain access to Web-only content, including various blogs. Individuals employ blogs to argue personal viewpoints, from the arts to public policy, and in so doing often raise their own visibility. University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds is a good example. Reynolds’ blog, instapundit.com, provides links to other blogs, traditional news reports, and other online content. Instapundit.com has become a switchboard for global political perspective, and it is frequently visited by traditional media reporters for quotes and story leads. All the attention has helped Reynolds in other ways. He owns a small record company called WonderDog Records that he promotes on his bio, which also includes information on his own part-time music career. Blogs are another example of how technology can drive visibility making. In the case of blogs, new stars are born and are often faceless, anonymous writers, who are able to identify key market areas and become spokes-
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persons. The danger for the traditional brand makers is that the supply and demand curve is out of balance. Bloggers are becoming such rapid stars that they threaten to flood the market and diminish the value of agents, promoters, and other marketers.
Insiders Near the top rung of the audience intensity ladder are those who move from communicating with the star through interactive-type activity, to an even closer relationship. In the 1970s, today’s insiders were often known as “groupies.” These audience members may cross the barrier that separates celebrities from audiences and achieve visibility in their own right, such as the case with Cynthia Plastercaster. (Ms. Plastercaster achieved her celebrity by casting the genitals of popular male entertainers in a mixture of plaster and alginate, which are now available online on her own interactive Web site, complete with Flash animation.) In the seventies, some groupies were known to sleep with stars, offer them drugs, or hound and harass them until admitted—however briefly—into their inner circles. Mostly, though, insiders seek to achieve the ultimate form of identification, to penetrate their idol’s security shield and see the world from the star’s perspective. The insider’s compulsion to be close to the brand is observed in all sectors of life. When management brand Michael E. Porter agrees to a corporate presentation, a select
