Author | Raymond Motadi
The entertainment industry is a fascinating world full of glitz and glamour. A world that can provide instant phenomenon if achieved properly. This world is led by the idea of fame, from every music video to the different shades of the carpet. In this world Fame and wealth are twin souls put on display as a must have for those stuck at the bottom of the success train. You work hard to book yourself a seat in this train. Once you get that big break you’ve got to survive and in order to survive you have to decide whether you are a focused brand or a dysfunctional Brand.
Branding is a powerful tool that can decide the longevity of one’s career or company. It plays a vital role in marketing and in the entertainment industry. Branding begins with taking ownership of a specific logo or name. Ownership formulates distribution; it shows that one believes in the name enough to expose it to the world. Once an individual takes ownership of their brand they make a promise to their customer or in this case a fan. A brand is created in a way that it shows the fan what to expect from the artist. In the entertainment industry your brand has to be so focused that it gets you all the endorsement deals and makes you more profit.
Brand strategy is very important, you need to know the direction of your brand at all times. The kind of individuals you associate yourself with and the gigs you do are essential. There are certain things that can tarnish the artists’ brand, things such as associating with gossip and negative twitter trends about other celebrity Brands. Brands can also be tainted when celebrities meddle in negative remarks made against the ruling political party. Once a celebrity builds their brand with certain traits, they should ensure that they never derail from the initial intent.
Focused Brands are the cream of the crop. These are celebrities who keep earning all the endorsement deals that award them with cars and thousands of rands .People wonder as to how , not knowing that the first thing these celebrities did was take ownership of their Brand. These celebrities manage to stay relevant because they took that first step of ownership. Today they stand at the top of the fame chain. They get to fly business class and get vvip(very very important personnel) tickets to all the prestigious events.
A focused brand can operate on instinct or good guidance from elders in the entertainment business. Focused brands end up as entrepreneurs of their careers thus their managers trust them and they trust themselves. Egos can tarnish focused brands but gossip and hate tweets have no effect. They’ve managed to create such a prolific following that only a few people can turn against them when they are involved in any debacle.
Dysfunctional Brands are the slowly but getting there individuals so they kind of mess up a lot and sometime never make it to the focused brand level. Dysfunctional brands associate themselves with things that don’t suit the initial intent of their Brand thus causing unnecessary debacles. These brands often ride on the incandescence of other focused brands. Dysfunctional brands usually have exceptional talent and no direction so they kind of take hold of any gig that promises them exposure and profit.
This decision can sometimes deliver on that promise but in many cases it keeps them on a monotonous level that shows no chance of progression. A dysfunctional brand can manage to maintain if they are multitalented but when they have one talent or have booked one gig that they are comfortable with, they remain and seem one dimensional. Comfort tarnishes a dysfunctional brand.
The soul importance of a Celebrity Brand is their name, some may use stage names or their real names but as long as the name is catchy and influence worthy. International celebrity lifestyle has played a didactic part in Brand power. There are certain power Brands that are instantly associated with certain positive things when they are heard or displayed. Nowadays when one hears Bonang Matheba they instantly think Radio, print, retail and many accolades that ascend under her reign. These days celebrities have been given social media platforms such as twitter and Instagram that can quickly indicate the direction of their brand.
Social media platforms have managed to turn some ‘twelebs” with proper branding strategies into influential celebrities. Branding remains a valuable part in the entertainment industry. The advice that I can provide is to stick to your own lane as a public figure and stay humble. Don’t over advertise your brand but grab onto any positive publicity. Many young and old individuals with exceptional talent live to attain success within this entertainment business but before they can accomplish stardom they have to choose whether they want to be a focused or a dysfunctional celeb brand.
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