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  And what about this? Celebrities even influence the names we choose to give our children. In 2009, according to the Social Security Administration, the names growing fastest in popularity were Malia (the name of President Obama’s older daughter) for girls and Cullen (the surname of the heartthrob vampire protagonist in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series of megabest-selling books and blockbuster movies) for boys. Sharing the number one spot were names of two other Twilight characters, Jacob and Bella (okay, to be fair, Jacob and Isabella have been popular names for more than a decade, but it’s no coincidence they rose to the top the year Twilight mania reached its peak).19 Also on the rise in 2009 were such famous names as Khloe (as in Kardashian), Scarlett (as in Johansson), Violet (the name Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner gave to their daughter), and Valentina (as in Salma Hayek’s daughter) for girls; and for boys, Jett (the name of John Travolta’s late son), Romeo (David Beckham and Posh Spice’s newborn baby), and Maddox (see above). Among the names disappearing from the top-hundred list—as the careers of their namesakes either imploded or faded away—were Lindsay (as in Lohan) and Tori (as in Spelling).

  Making us feel like celebrities or royalty (or some unholy combination of the two) has long been a marketing strategy of choice within the travel, hospitality, banking, and gaming industries. These companies know full well that none of us likes to think of ourselves as mere ordinary citizens. That’s why, for over thirty years, American Express has trotted out its celebrity “members,” including Robert De Niro, Jerry Seinfeld, Quincy Jones, and, most recently, Tina Fey to lure customers into its exclusive “club” (which, of course, isn’t exclusive at all—anyone willing to pay the exorbitant annual fee can join). Creating this illusion of exclusivity has been so effective that companies of all stripes are trying to seduce us with everything from “preferred member” upgrades and priority statuses to sapphire cards, silver cards, gold cards, platinum cards, and titanium cards to presidential limousines, Emerald Club memberships, and executive elite suites—the vast majority of which, I might add, are advertised by some famous face or another. Remember the funny American Express commercial from a few years back in which Tina Fey gets shut out of the executive airport lounge and almost misses a chance to sit down with none other than Martin Scorsese . . . that is, until a cheerful airline employee informs her that, not to worry, her AmEx Green Card allows her entry! The message of ads like this is Buy our product or use our service, and you can enjoy the same status, perks, and even fame as your favorite celebrity.

  “Thanks to marketers and reality TV shows that have shown access to excess, VIP status has become more attainable,” confided a Las Vegas nightclub impresario I spoke to. “It has nothing to do with social status. It’s purely monetary, a form of peacocking—a momentary experience of elitism.” He sighed. “You have to wonder, is it really worth it to pay six hundred dollars for a bottle of thirty-dollar Grey Goose vodka, just to feel like a celebrity for one night?”

  I admit it, even a marketing guy like me isn’t immune to these tricks. For more than a dozen years, I’ve been traveling the world with Lufthansa Airlines. Because of my chaotic traveling schedule and innumerable frequent-flyer miles, I’ve long been one of the airline’s top-rated members. Recently I checked in at the Zurich, Switzerland, airport and proceeded to the first-class lounge, where the hostess politely informed me that because of internal changes too boring to go into, I was now two thousand miles short of becoming “a member of the club.” I’d been demoted to the “Senator” level, and I wasn’t happy about it. Hey, I didn’t want to be a senator! Like George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, I wanted to achieve the most elite flying status there is! Even though I knew the whole club thing was a marketing tactic carefully devised to seal my loyalty to Lufthansa, I still felt the sting of rejection and inadequacy. How pathetic can you get, Senator Lindstrom? I wondered.

  I Feel Pretty

  A poster bearing life-sized images of actresses du jour Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart greets me as I walk into Sephora, the global cosmetics chain. It’s a promotional ad for their new film, The Runaways, which chronicles the mid-1970s evolution of rocker Joan Jett and her grungy all-girl band. According to the ad copy, “These Make Up Essentials were used on the set of ‘The Runaways,’ to re-create the film’s smoky-eyed 1970s look.” It would seem that the collection’s three products are key to achieving dark, smudgy lids—the epitome of rocker-girl chic.20

  In short, what this ad is saying is that young women can not only get the look of Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, but they can also channel Joan Jett herself. It’s a one-two punch: the cosmetics secrets of an iconic rock star, plus those of hip young celebrities playing iconic rock stars!

  I don’t know, they all look like burned-out baby raccoons to me.

  Those aren’t the only famous faces you’ll find in the Sephora aisles. There might be roughly 250,000 products in the store, but my eyes can’t help but be riveted to the back wall where I can make out the oversized letters spelling out, “The Doctors.”

  Since the boundaries of celebrity are bulging at the edges, why shouldn’t Sephora promote a celebrity doctor or two? Let’s take a look. First up is celebrity dermatologist and best-selling author Dr. Nicholas Perricone, MD, who “recommends”—i.e., advertises—not only an assortment of high-priced skin-care products and kits (his RX3 antiaging regimen retails at $603) but also a line of “nutriceutical” dietary supplements—Dr. Perricone’s special blend of ninety-nine nutrients that allegedly enhance our health, optimize our energy, and help us manage our weight. Garbed in a white medical smock, Dr. Perricone, who has appeared on Oprah, Today, and 20/20, has been featured in virtually every major newspaper and can be seen regularly on QVC (naturally, he also has a popular blog, an impressive Twitter following, and even his own iPhone app) and looks uncannily like David Hasselhoff’s wiser, sterner brother (the one who refused to go into the water because it was bad for his skin). Some of Dr. Perricone’s wrinkle serums and moisturizers are even packaged in old-fashioned brown bottles like you might see in an old apothecary, to emphasize the “medical” feel. Celebrity tinged with nostalgia, anyone?

  The famous physician’s “Camera Ready” box is an ensemble that trumpets “Dr. Perricone’s celebrity secrets for creating luminous, youthful, gorgeous skin.” Among other things, the box includes “Neuropeptide Facial Contour, a true Hollywood must-have,” which, at $325 an ounce, also serves as a “red-carpet-prep secret weapon.”21 Next to the shrine to Dr. Perricone sits the skin-enhancing beauty line promoted by another celebrity doctor, Dr. Dennis Gross. Gross is consistently featured in fashion and beauty magazines including Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar—at least according to his Web site, where, in another nod to the power of exclusivity—or at least the illusion of it—we are invited to join the “Beauty VIP Club.”22 In short, it’s star doctors telling us how we can look like a star. What could be more persuasive than that?

  The infiltration of the medical profession within the beauty industry would seem to be the ultimate seal of approval, the equivalent of getting the go-ahead from an actual general practitioner. Which is why, more and more, consumers are seeing the reassuring stamps “Doctor-Recommended” and “Dermatologist-Approved” atop their medicine bottles and skin-care products. There’s even an entire brand known as Physicians Formula, but when you go to its Web site, there’s not a doctor in sight.23

  Yet who are these famous doctors and dermatologists who go around giving their seal of approval to various medicines? What are their credentials, exactly? Good question. A quick glance at the bottle’s small print says nothing (except in Germany, where many brands get around this problem by announcing, “Approved by Doctors’ Wives”). The truth is that all pharmaceutical companies employ well-compensated physicians as advisers; and many doctors even sit on cosmetics company boards. In other words, the doctors and dermatologists who “approve” these products are usually positioned to reap some of the company’
s profits. Still, companies are more than happy to keep these doctors on their payroll. Why? Because as we’ll see later in this chapter, recommendations from “experts” are worth their weight in gold.

  Back at Sephora, the lure of celebrity picks up again two aisles later, with a line of skin-care products created by Philosophy, a brand whose Web site proclaims it is “adored by celebrities, dermatologists and most importantly, their customers.”24 Many of Philosophy’s clever product names are borrowed from Hollywood, like Dark Shadows (after a popular vampire-themed soap opera from the 1960s and ’70s) and Miracle Worker (after the Oscar-winning movie). And nearby, the LORAC brand (which bills itself as the “Red Carpet authority”) Hollywood Insider Collection offers an “All-access pass to Celebrity Make-up Artist Carol Shaw’s Red Carpet beauty tips and tricks.” The ad copy continues: “Carol hand-picked her favorite LORAC must-haves for this essential makeup collection that contains Perfectly Lit in Spotlight, Couture Shine Liquid Lipstick in Vintage, Baked Matte Satin Blush in Hollywood, Special Effects Mascara, and the exclusive Bronzed Bombshell Eye Shadow Trio. Get behind the scenes beauty with LORAC’s Hollywood Insider Collection!” These ads whisper (or shout), These are the products that all your favorite celebrities are using. Why aren’t you?

  I Am a Celebrity and the Brand Is Me

  Believe it or not, we’re still not finished at Sephora. And what better place to see celebrity marketing in action than the perfume aisle, where among the brands for sale are perfumes named after Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Elizabeth Taylor, Shania Twain, Britney Spears, Faith Hill, Gwen Stefani, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Beyoncé Knowles (who, incidentally, also appears in ads for Pepsi, Verizon, Samsung, L’Oréal, Vizio, Nintendo, American Express, House of Deréon, Samantha Thavasa handbags, and Crystal Geyser water).

  On the male side, there are colognes attached to the famous names Justin Timberlake, David Beckham, Usher, Tim McGraw, Andre Agassi, and even Donald Trump. “We are confident that men of all ages want to experience some part of Mr. Trump’s passion and taste for luxury,” said Aramis president Fabrice Weber.25 Actually, it appears they don’t. In one of the few cases where putting a celebrity name on a product didn’t work, a few years after it hit the shelves, according to one gimlet-eyed blogger, Donald Trump for Men could be found on clearance at T. J. Maxx for $8, down from $48.26 The latest scent? Eau de Bruce Willis, which the manufacturer describes as the “manliest scent in the world,” an aroma that allegedly captures the actor’s “strength, self-assurance and single-mindedness.”27

  Of course, celebrity branding is nothing new in the multibillion-dollar fragrance industry. Decades ago, perfume companies and advertisers realized that a famous name could goad consumers into forming an intimate connection with a brand. And at the same time, celebrities realized they could potentially earn many millions of dollars licensing their names and images to a fragrance. Quick—can you name the most successful celebrity perfume of all time? Answer: it’s Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds, with more than $1 billion in sales to date (typically, with this sort of arrangement, a celebrity takes anywhere from between 5 percent and 10 percent of a fragrance’s total sales).28

  Celebrities have long been aware of their value not just to fragrance and beauty companies but also to fashion designers. Giorgio Armani, the Italian designer (now a celebrity in his own right), got his start by setting up a Los Angeles studio and recruiting celebrities to wear his outfits, thus helping to create today’s obsession with the outfits celebrities wear to the Oscars, Golden Globes, and countless other awards shows.

  In recent years, however, celebs have taken this even one step further, as fading stars have realized that owning and launching their own product line can not only be lucrative but can help breathe new life into their careers. For Jennifer Lopez, who’s licensed her name to a handful of scents, this tactic has paid off staggeringly well. In 2006, according to Forbes’s list of the twenty richest women in entertainment, sales of her fragrances not only accounted for $77 million of her net worth of $100 million,29 but they gave JLo the added visibility and publicity boost that undoubtedly helped her end a dry period and snag a series of producer gigs as well as roles in the films Monster-in-Law and, more recently, The Back-up Plan.

  A fragrance executive who had been involved in the launch of a global celebrity’s line of perfume once told me an interesting story. The famous singer/actor in question had never worn cologne in his life (sssshh!) and hadn’t a clue what he was doing, so fragrance company representatives visited the star at his home in search of inspiration. They went from room to room, jotting down notes about his sense of style and design (which weren’t much to speak of, according to my friend) in an attempt to figure out both the values he projected and what he symbolized to his worldwide fan base. From there, the fragrance reps went back and created an assortment of scents. The star selected one, and the rest was all profit. The bottle and “the juice” cost next to nothing to produce, but thanks to the celebrity brand name, people were happy to shell out $60, $80, $100, or more for a few mere ounces of it.

  Of course, celebrity brands are inordinately successful in other product categories, too. If you were to ask a group of fifteen-year-old kids today who Paul Newman is, most of them would answer, “a salad dressing” or “lemonade.” That’s because in 1982, after Paul Newman retired from his long film career, he rolled out a small Connecticut-based packaged foods business with his friend, the writer A. E. Hotchner. Having started the company on a whim, Newman had anticipated sales of roughly $1,200 annually; instead, over the past twenty-six years, Newman’s Own has made close to $300 million (which it has distributed to various charities).

  Then there are those countless celebrities who don’t just create and sell a brand but are the brand. David Bowie was the first big pop icon to use classic marketing tactics to brand (and rebrand) himself. Just as successful brands like Pepsi, Old Spice, and Nike are constantly revamping their packages, redesigning their logos, and reinventing their public images, in 1973, at the height of his fame, Bowie shed his multiple identities as a glam rocker, a disaffected friend of Warhol, and Ziggy Stardust. Good-bye Ziggy, hello, well, you name it. On the cover of Diamond Dogs, Bowie appeared as half male, half canine. For his next album, he’d transformed himself again into an elegant, if unsettling, Aryan persona known as the “Thin White Duke.” During his late-1980s world tour, when Bowie announced to his fans it would be the last time he would be playing “old material,” “it was a huge public relations success, prompting sales of his newly re-mastered albums to skyrocket.”30 And as any lucrative brand would be clever to do, several years later, in 1997, Bowie issued “Bowie Bonds,” asset-backed securities of both current and future revenues. The deal (and the attendant PR) netted the singer a cool $55 million up front.31

  Madonna, of course, is another master at the art of personal rebranding. Most people are aware that she’s gone through quite a few “looks” over the years, but what most people don’t know is how strategically and shrewdly she works to project a new “brand image” of herself with each of her new musical releases. Whether it’s the good girl gone to seed, a virgin dressed all in white, a spirit attired in Kabbalah beads, a pale, Michigan-born version of Marilyn Monroe, a cone-breasted robot, or a yoga-obsessed UK expatriate, the way she transforms how others see her is nothing short of marketing genius. As Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios, was once quoted as saying, “She is always evolving: she never stands still. Every two years she comes up with a new look, a new way of presenting herself, a new attitude, a new act, and a new design. And every time it is successful.”32

  Now I’m going to let you in on how she does it. For each new CD, Madonna creates a collage of magazine photos, illustrations, and news stories about the latest and most cutting-edge trends in today’s—and tomorrow’s—culture. Rumor has it that she and her creative and production team then proceed to create a persona, to which they tailor everything from the CD c
ase to the clothes she wears to the rhythm of the actual music. This is one way Madonna manages to maintain her strong brand while simultaneously remaining culturally relevant, even one step ahead of the game. It is also why her audience never perceives her as getting old (as evidenced by the fact that the number of teenagers in her audience is legion, even though she’s old enough to be their mom). It’s also how she manages to remain, in some respects, “out of time.”

  This is exactly how many successful brands are created. Trust me, I’ve used these very same techniques hundreds of times. I’ll ask a large consumer group to rip out photos and headlines from magazines to illustrate a “feeling” or a “sense” or a “value” that a client is looking to instill in its brand, then present the collage to a design company. In fact, I’ve often asked CEOs and CFOs if they could pick a person whose business and marketing acumen they admire and from whom they think they could learn valuable lessons, and nine out of ten say, “Madonna.” Why? She’s able to reinvent herself and react instantaneously to trends. As a result, her fans are emotionally engaged not just with her music but with the brand Madonna.