A sterling example of this identity creation is Beyonce, aka "Queen Bey". For some reason girls around the world adore Beyonce, even buying products that have the slogan "Beyonce has the same amount of hours in the day as you do". Sure, she is a mother, a singer, and sometimes and actress, but it is not like she has to struggle very hard to get something she wants. She is married to Jay-Z, one of the richest men in music business, and has been making money for herself since her times with Destiny's Child. I am not trying to diminish any of her accomplishments, just simply trying to comprehend how she turned into Superwoman in many people's eyes. Her marketing team is brilliant, creating enough of a buzz about the woman herself to allow her album to reach number one on the charts without a leading single or video. That type of success is unheard of today in the music industry, and it is all because her fans have bought the idea of Queen Bey.
After watching a short documentary produced by ESPN about football player Brian "the Boz" Bosworth, it is evident that sometimes creating an alternate identity for yourself can actually be detrimental to your brand. The Boz was a linebacker for Oklahoma in the '80s, an ostentatious, flashy guy who cut his hair and created controversy before every game. This image worked for him his first year, but eventually he became consumed in the brand and let it take over his life and cause him to lose his career. But along the way he was able to market himself and profit off of his anti-hero persona. His company produced shirts that contained anti-Boz rhetoric on them and sold them to opposing fans when his team would play them. Everyone in the stadium wore them because he was so hated. Although he did have astounding abilities on the football field, he let his agent and his marketing team control his life to the point that he was no longer Brian, but only "The Boz".
Seemingly ones of the only celebrities who does not let their social media accounts be monitored by a PR team is singer Rihanna. She constantly posts raunchy pictures of herself on Instagram, says vulgar things to people who talk trash about her on Twitter, and is always in the headlines for something. This works for her however, because she has accepted her role as the bad girl of hip-hop. She is almost the opposite of Beyonce marketing wise, but she has embraced this and gained from it gained many fans. I'm not sure if she and her PR team have decided this is the route she should take, or if she is a PR nightmare.
No comments:
Post a Comment