Archive for the ‘Celebrity Branding’ Category

Betty White: Branding Lessons

Posted by Julie | May 7th, 2010

In case you’ve been living under a rock….Betty White, the 88 year old Emmy winning actress, is back with a vengeance.

Her re-popularity (if that’s a word) started with a Snicker’s commercial during the Super Bowl:

 

This spot and her performance in it, triggered a Facebook campaign to have her host Saturday Night Live. Over half a million people became fans of the Facebook petition page and she will be appearing this weekend as the SNL host.

What branding lessons can be learned from Betty White?
Keep reading »

Category: Celebrity Branding

The Sarah Palin Brand

Posted by Julie | April 5th, 2010

Fascinating piece in today’s NY Times business section on How Sarah Palin Became a Brand.

Whether or not you agree with her politics, I think you have to admire her brand-building skills.

From the very beginning of her vice presidential candidacy, I think that some of us were too quick to dismiss her.

As in all marketing, it’s extremely important to see your product not through your own eyes…but through the eyes of the potential target audience.

Keep reading »

Category: Celebrity Branding

Oscar Follow Up

Posted by Julie | March 8th, 2010

Well, I was wrong about Avatar taking best picture.

But I was right about this being a “year of small” as many lower budget films like Hurt Locker, Crazy Heart (yeah Jeff Bridges!) and Precious swept the awards.

Hard to believe that Kathryn Bigelow is the FIRST woman director to win an Oscar. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1633375/story.jhtml
But better late than never. And for a war film, and not a romantic comedy, no less.

Overall I found the evening a bit uninspired. I actually fell asleep at 9:30 and had to catch up on what I missed in this morning’s news.

For NY area viewers the fight between ABC (broadcasters of the Oscar’s) and CableVision left the consumers as the big losers, until a last minute reprieve straightened things out. Wonder how this will impact the CableVision brand.

That’s my point of view. What’s your twist?

What’s your take on the 82nd Oscar’s?

Category: Celebrity Branding

QuickTwist

Posted by Julie | March 5th, 2010

Who are your Oscar Faves?

This Sunday is the 82nd annual Academy Awards. In case you need a refresher on who is nominated, click here.

This year’s nominees are an interesting mix of big budget blockbusters  (Avatar) and smaller , more quirky pieces (An Education).

I think it will be hard to ignore the commercial success (and technical prowess) of Avatar- which I think will walk away with Best Picture. But I also think this may also be a year of the underdog as the national rejection of all things “big business” could permeate the voting.

I think we may see smaller films like Precious rewarded for best supporting actress (Mo’Nique) and Crazy Heart taking home the precious statue for Best Actor (Jeff Bridges).

What are your Oscar predictions? Who do you think will go home with the gold?

Join the conversation »

Category: Celebrity Branding, QuickTwist

QuickTwist

Posted by Julie | February 5th, 2010

Do these Tiger golf balls cross the line?

These Tiger Woods Mistress golf balls hit the news yesterday and according to the media have at least one of his alleged former mistresses up in arms.

What do you think? Is this a harmless “novelty” product taking advantage of an outrageous scandal or do you agree that there’s something darker at play here? Do these promote violence against women?

Personally I think they cross the line. I have a hard time with the notion of hittin women’s faces -even if it’s done in “sport”.

Wondering  if they will sell and who will buy them.

What’s your twist?

Join the conversation »

Category: Celebrity Branding, Product Branding

QuickTwist

Posted by Julie | January 15th, 2010

What is the late night shuffle doing to the Leno and O’Brien brands?

Join the conversation »

Category: Celebrity Branding, QuickTwist

QuickBite

Posted by Julie | December 23rd, 2009

“God, I’m 51 years old and I spent 30 years of my life doing things I didn’t want to do. The things you do to please other people! I said to myself, Well now I’m just going to have a good time. That was the most freeing thing.”

-Alec Baldwin in this month’s Wired Magazine in an article titled “Stay in the Game: The Fall and Rise of Alec Baldwin” where he speaks about his failures, his TV comeback, and how he looks forward to failing again.

I am a big fan of Wired and this month’s issue does not disappoint.

There’s a picture of Alec Baldwin on the cover in a fighting pose and a big black box that says “Fail. Why Losing Big Can Be a Winning Strategy”.

Along with Mr. Baldwin-Mike Tyson, Meg Whitman, and Bill Clinton talk candidly about some of their biggest failures and most importantly what they’ve learned from them.

As I mentioned in my earlier post Fail Harder, I’m also a big fan of failure. Not that I enjoy falling on my face. But I do think true innovation takes risk. And failure is a sure sign that you are taking risks.

What have you learned from failure?

Category: Celebrity Branding, Overcoming Obstacles, QuickBite

QuickBite

Posted by Julie | December 14th, 2009

(Tiger Woods) “is no longer the right representative for our brand after the circumstances of the last two weeks.”

-Global consulting firm Accenture this Sunday on their decision to end a six year endorsement contract as reported in Advertising Age

Will Tiger’s other sponsors (AT&T, NIke, Pepsico, EA Sports) also leave Tiger in his tracks?

Do you think they should?

Category: Celebrity Branding, QuickBite

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