Person(al) marketing - learning from Madonna

People are brands. Just like companies and organizations. Without realizing it, we are constantly marketing ourselves to the outside world from a very early age.
We need this skill – we are per definition herd animals and need to position ourselves in order to survive. Some people excel in personal marketing. What distinguishes them from others? Answer: they perceive themselves as a one-person empire and act accordingly implementing classic marketing tools. How do they do it?

Let’s look at Madonna (the artist).

Madonna decided two decades ago that she wanted to be a famous entertainer.
She analyzed her strengths (dancing, trend setting); her weaknesses (singing voice, no start up capital); opportunities (club circuits, people that where willing to help her/give her a shot); threats (many competitors, not well connected).
She formulated her unique selling point as catchy boogie tunes combined with an energetic dance performance. She identified her target audience as trend setting clubbers, DJs and talent scouts. She launched her “Madonna” brand in trendy NY clubs, making sure the routine was fresh and cutting edge.
She focused on playing many gigs and working the club scene, building her presence, name recognition and network. It resulted in a contract with Warner Bros. with the hit “Like a Virgin”.

For the last 20 years, Madonna has cleverly redefined her product to ever-changing tastes of a fickle audience in both music and presentation (packaging).
Over the years, the product Madonna changed from rude to prude – currently being the spiritual, talented wife-and-mother who embraces the Kabbalah.

Each product has by nature a limited life span. Madonna handled this by creating a clever product mix of music, books and merchandise.
She leverages her motherhood by successfully launching five children’s books with a sixth one in the pipeline. A side effect is getting the Madonna brand across to the next generation of CD and music files buyers. her brand is so strong, that even the news that her books might have been written by a ghostwriter, didn't impact the sales.
In January 2006, her next album “Defying Gravity” is scheduled to be released which will coincide with the launch of her perfume. The perfume deal alone has a reported value of $ 9.5M.
Overall, her ROI is threefold: the obvious monetary rewards that she reaped over the years (net worth in 2005 > $ 350M); the status of “Queen of Pop”, firmly placing her at the pinnacle of her industry; the label “icon” which ensures her eternal presence in the chronicles of the global music and entertainment history.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/53/KMJ4.html

Few of us will ever reach the level of success that Madonna enjoys. But each one of us can learn from her – by following her example and marketing ourselves.

Marketing Monaco

Monaco is a Mediterranean country the size of Central Park, surrounded by France on three sides. It has been independent for 700 years, not taken the short occupation by Napoleon into account. In 1297, the buccaneer Francois Grimaldi seized the fortress of Monaco from Genoa, by posing as a monk.
In 1863, the Grimaldis founded the Societe des Bains de Mer, which built and runs the country’s Spa and Casinos. For the next 80 years, the country has a reputation of being a sunny place for shady people.
When prince Rainier came into power, he implemented a clever marketing plan to make Monaco prosperous.
He rebranded the country from unsavory to glamorous through his marriage to the beautiful
and rich movie star Grace Kelly from then on known as Princess Gracia.
The wedding itself (sponsored by MGM which paid for the wedding dress) was a PR success – 30 million viewers worldwide.

The entertainment segment was created with the establishment of several annual festivals, tournaments and events, such as the Monte Carlo Television Festival, tennis tournament, Formula 1 Grand Prix, Red Cross ball, Rose Ball and the Circus Festival.

The Societe des Bains de Mer was reshaped and currently owns and operates four casinos, four luxury hotels, twenty restaurants and nightclubs, a health spa, a conference center and a golf course.

The tax haven segment is the result of the transformation of Monaco in a fiscal paradise by liberalizing of the principality’s taxation, corporation & banking laws resulting in no tax on income, capital, investment transfers or share transactions.
Out of the 32,000 inhabitants, only 6,000 are Monegasques; the rest hails from 122 countries, most predominantly from France and Italy.
Especially France is not too happy about this – calling the Disney-like country a lure for money-laundry and white color crime. For the non-Monegasque residents, the country not only ensures that they don’t have to pay taxes in their home country, but it also guarantees absolute safety due to a network of surveillance cameras.

The real estate segment is the result of Rainier’s relentless and successful efforts to reclaim land from the sea. He expanded Monaco’s area by one fifth and allowed the building of high-rises obtaining the nickname “the building prince” in the process.

By shrewd marketing, Rainier was able to turn a country on the brick of bankruptcy into one of the richest in the world. Due to the colorful antics of its female royalty and its tax exiles, Monaco hasn’t been successful in shaking off its kitschy and slightly tacky image.
The new ruler is very much aware of this – he announced that he wants to make
It is will be interesting to see how Rainier’s successor will market the country in the near future and coming years.
He announced that he wants to clean up Monaco’s image, shaking its shady and operetta-like reputation. He wants to be a modern and dynamic leader of a respected country.
Unfortunately, he started his reign by announcing having a child out of wedlock just before his official inauguration, followed by hinting that more announcements of this kind might follow.
Time will tell if this was a savvy move on his part or just another colorful episode in the history of this scandal-prone principality.It will be interesting to watch how Albert will manage and market Monaco.

Is there such a thing as too much PR? Ask Tom Cruise

In order to promote their movies, actors seek the limelight – the more media coverage the better. The audience cannot get enough of the loves and lives of the famous, so the system works and leads to mutual satisfaction.
But something interesting is happening with the media coverage of Tom Cruise.
Tom is a well-established A-list actor who is perceived as a good actor in decent movies and liked for his humanitarian work. So far, so good. Mr. Cruise got married, adopted two children and divorced in what seemed to be an amicable way. It was known that Tom is a member of Scientology, but until recently it didn’t tarnish his all-American clean-cut image, so the Tom Cruise brand kept in tact.

In his notorious interview with Matt Lauer on the Tonight Show, high school dropout Tom Cruise attacked psychiatry (informing his host that he didn’t know what he was talking about) and lashed out at Princeton-educated Brooke Shields and author of the book “Down Came the Rain: A Mother’s Story of Depression and Recovery” for taking post partem anti-depressants. He went on advocating Scientology and vitamins as the cure.
Brooke Shields reacted with a well-crafted response in the New York Times stating: "if any good can come of Mr. Cruise's ridiculous rant, let's hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease." It definitely increased her book sales, an effect for sure not intended by Tom Cruise. Politicians also took notice: New Jersey’s acting Governor Richard J. Codey reacted by ordering Cruise to stick to acting and stop upsetting sick women. There is even a boycott petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/
Scientology also reaped the results of the media exposure: their official web site shot up 263 percent to reach 375,000 visitors per day and Google listed Scientology as the 10th fastest gaining query for the week of June 27.

To promote his new movie “War of the Worlds”, Tom appeared on one of the best media outlets – Oprah. For somebody who has been in the business for decades and who is quite media savvy, his performance was disastrous. He sort of “attacked” Oprah three times, announced his engagement to Katie Holmes, who is young enough to be his daughter and dragged his fiancee forcefully on stage and jumped on the couch like a four-year old. It completely missed the mark of promoting his upcoming movie. The media reacted by labeling the engagement a PR stunt, especially since Katie is starring in the just released movie “Badman begins”. A People poll found that 62% believe the romance is a publicity stunt. A Star cover story asked: "Are they faking it?" and even The New York Times got in on the debate with a story headlined "I Love You With All My Hype."

At the London premiere of “War of the Worlds”, Tom was the victim of a prank show by being sprayed with water from a water pistol. Tom started a whole discourse with the prankster calling him a “jerk” and pressed charges against the four men involved in the prank. Especially the European media labeled Tom as too serious, humorless and over-reacting.

Tom’s image has been tarnished and his persona is being ridiculed; blogs discuss “TomKat” with relish. The Tom Cruise brand has suffered so much that it spawned satirical websites – the latest being http://www.tomcruiseisnuts.com/

So what happened? The reason is the change in Tom’s PR team. In the beginning of 2005, Tom fired his long-standing publicist, Pat Kingsley, and Tom’s sister Lee Anne De Vette now heads the new team. After his Oprah appearance, his publicists bombarded him and his sister with calls begging them to “tone it down”. His new team is also working overtime emphasizing that his relationship with Katie Holmes is “genuine” and will be sealed in a Scientology wedding.
From a PR perceptive, Tom Cruise needs to evaluate his situation carefully and had to decide on a course of action before his personal brand is so tarnished that his bottom line will suffer. The writing is already on the wall: although “War of the Worlds” is doing well at the box office, Cruise’s performance received a lukewarm reception. His planned performance in “Mission Impossible III” was cancelled when the project was postponed indefinitely. Fiancee Katie Holmes lost out on the main lead in the next Badman movie.
In contrast to popular opinion – there is such a thing as too much PR.

The VNR Dilemma

VNR stands for Video Network Release. It’s footage produced by a company or organization and sent out to be aired, just like press releases are sent out to be published.
Produced in broadcast news style, VNRs relay the news of a product launch, medical discovery, corporate merger, new strategies or markets directly to television news decision-makers. They decide if and how to use the video and audio material - in full or in edited form. Most major television stations in the world now use VNRs, some even on a regular basis.
So what is the problem?
These video clips are 1) indistinguishable from traditional news clips and 2) are sometimes screened unedited by television stations. If the original producers or sponsors – the companies and organizations that pay for production and distribution – are not identified, the viewer perceives it as a news item.
The problem started in April 2004 when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put out a VNR praising the benefits of the new Medicare bill. The PR professional was featured as the spokesperson signing off with “In Washington, I’m (full name) reporting”.
This resulted in a spate of articles - The New York Times, , The Wall Street Journal, Adweek, PRWeek, Advertising Age, Broadcasting & Cable and other publications all addressed the issue of Video News Releases (VNRs), Satellite Media Tours (SMTs) and broadcast PR.
The FCC joined the debate. Its commissioner, Jonathan S. Adelstein, gave a speech warning against video news releases and so-called experts, from chefs to celebrities, who appear on news shows to endorse particular products without disclosing they are being paid by marketers for their efforts.
So how can a marketer or PR practitioner handle a VNR properly?
1) Treat it as a press release – make it truthful and to the point
2) Make sure you identify the sponsoring company or organization
3) Make sure you have legitimate and compelling spokespersons – an expert should be an expert!
4) Select a reliable and ethical VNR producer and distributor
5) Make sure that TV stations airing the VNR identify the source
6) Make sure that you include unique footage
7) Make sure you have your (local) facts and statistics in place