The Media Phenomenon That Is Kim Kardashian

Famous For Just Being Kim

My daughter, who is an avid fan of the show, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” asked me how did Kim Kardashian become famous. My answer was that she, like a few others, is famous for simply being famous. Of course the answer was useless to my daughter but the truth is, it is the truth. And it is a phenomenon that only feeds on itself making her, and now her siblings, more and more famous, for doing absolutely nothing.

Oh I know, Kim was a fashion consultant, but no one seriously thinks that is what catapulted her to fame. She is known for being Reggie Bush’s girlfriend, for being in an infamous sex tape, for being on the TV reality show, and some know her as the daughter of the famous attorney who defended O.J. Simpson. But none of these things made her known, they all just add to her fame.

So as a publicist, whose clients dream of achieving Kardashian’s level of fame, I really should be able to answer my daughter and anyone else, as to what is the formula that made Kim Kardashian famous, without any acting skils, without any music skills, without any known entertainment or business skills. (And by the way, be sure you’re not mistaken, I too am a fan of Kardashian. Hey I’m a guy, so I’m not putting her down.)

The truth is there is no formula for recreating Kim Kardashian-like fame. The generally accepted truth in pr and publicity is that anybody can become famous, if only for 15 minutes as Andy Warhol pointed out. But it is also generally accepted that for that fame to extend beyond that time limit there has to be something of significance at root to keep it going. Some talent, some news angle, something that gives the media and the public something to grab on to. The known exception to this are people who are simply exceedingly famous or rich via birth right, Paris Hilton is simply fascinating for most because the average person can’t imagine a life of that much wealth and no responsibility. Prince Harry and William, for example are possible future kings and the children of one of the world’ most loved women, Princess Dianna. But Kardashian was not exceedingly wealthy, she is not more beautiful than a thousand other women walking around Hollywood, and she had no more scandal than so many other young women.

So my answer, my very unscientific but truthful answer to the mystery of Kim Kardashian’s constant publicity is that once she got lucky enough to get her 15 minutes, which was sparked by her friendship and hanging out with famous people like Paris Hilton, she and her team did do an excellent job of making sure that there has been a never ending stream of celebrity relationships, photo ops, the TV show was brilliant (and successful because again it fed into America’s fascination with people who live lives of seeming wealth and no responsibility), scandal (always a good way to keep interest), and by expanding the picture to include her sisters, it allowed for us to not overly focus on just Kim, which would have led to burnout.

So while Kim may not have obvious talents, she is indeed smart enough to know how to keep herself in the limelight. Good for her. But it is not the kind of success that is easily repeated. Sometimes, it is just a matter of the right time, the right look, and the right public mindset. Nothing more, nothing less.

And none of this helps my daughter understand the phenomenon of Kim Kardashian. But she will keep watching. And you know what, I won’t be turning away from any Kim news either.

In 2010 Becoming Famous (or Infamous) Is Easy

The New Year started with a bang.

2010 is finally here. Thank goodness. 2009 was one of the craziest years we’ve seen in a long time when it comes to publicity and public relations. We had Governors and affairs, athletes and affairs, celebrities and affairs (and violence), we had companies make major misteps, hoaxes, Miss USA controversy, you name it, and that’s not even counting all the political blow ups this past year.

Whew.

Can 2010 be any crazier than that? I seriously doubt it. But then again we now live in a world where anybody and everybody, and anything and everything is fair game. Do I think times are just crazier? Actually I don’t. I think it is simply a function of our new media realities. The thirst for information coupled with the myriad of ways to get it out there now, thanks to social media, bloggers, and the 24 hour news cycle on 100s of cable channels, compounded by everyone having video and photo cameras at their hand on cell phones, and it is easy to see why there appears to be so much more that is scandalous going on. I suspect as much craziness was out there in years past, including long past. But now nothing is private. And considering what people are willing to share, tweet, post on Facebook, and generally sell to the highest bidder or use to secure their own reality TV show gig, it is a virtual free for all out there.

Hey we shouldn’t complain I guess. After all, professional publicists are more needed and in demand than ever before. At least you would think so. And yet there are those who say with these new direct paths to the public – You Tube, Twitter, etc. – we are less needed. I guess it depends on one’s perspective and goals.

All I know is I am very glad to see the new year begin and I am anxious and eager to see if it can come even close to the publicity craziness of last year. If it can top that, you really have to wonder just where will all this open media will end.

Can Tiger Get Back To Golden Boy Status?

What was he thinking?

I have actually tried to resist writing about the Tiger Woods mess. Mainly because it has been so dominated by news coverage and commentary. But as a publicist the question I keep dealing with is what advice would I give to Tiger in handling this mess he has gotten himself into?

First of all let me say, I am one of those people who personally believes that being famous and rich does not mean the public has a right to know everything about a person. I do think Tiger and Elin deserve some privacy as they deal with this craziness. As a huge sports fan, I watched Tiger because of his skills in putting a small ball in a small hole better than anyone in the world. Not because I was under any illusion about who he was as a human being. As we know now, we really knew nothing else about Tiger. The same is true for all athletes, celebrities and the many politicians who we see on TV and sometimes think we know.

Secondly, let me say I hate what Tiger did. He hurt not only himself, but his wife, his children, his fans, his legacy. And he clearly has inner problems on many levels. But does this mean he cannot make amends and get past this? No. But it will take a very long time and a sincere effort on his part, in addition to some therapy. And as far as Elin is concerned, only she can decide whether to forgive him. But frankly, if I were her, I don’t see how it is possible.

But back to the path to redemption for Tiger. Well, first and foremost he has to come out of hiding. He has to have a press conference, not unlike the one Kobe Bryant held some years ago when he admitted to cheating on his wife. Obviously it would be better for Tiger if Elin was beside him. But I wouldn’t do that to her to be honest. He should face this one on his own. He needs to tell the public how many women and how many times, before more just keep coming forward, making this news every time, and he needs to TRY to give some kind of explanation. By explanation I mean admit to a problem, because it is obvious he has one. And make it clear he his seeking help, which he must really do. And of course he needs to apologize to Elin, his kids, the public, everyone. And if he can show some real remorse that would be great.

And then Tiger needs to do the real private work of actually getting that help and doing everything he can to repairing the damage to his family. It won’t be easy and that doesn’t mean his marriage to Elin will last or is even the right answer. But he still owes her more than money.

Finally, Tiger needs to get back on the golf course. I don’t agree with some that he should do this within days. I think that sends the wrong message that he is not taking this matter seriously and besides, there is no way he could focus. Even if he could, it gives the impression that what he did is not more important to him than a game. He should wait at least a month before playing, but not longer. The public knows him on that golf course, loved him on that golf course. And getting back to that, while doing the other things, will, in a long time, get people past this. IF he does change his behavior.

Of course, he has to win on the golf course. If he doesn’t, the mass speculation will be that his personal issues ruined his career. And the last chapter of that career will not be a good one. But should he get back to winning while proving he is a changed man, the public can and will forgive him.

But like I said earlier, ultimately the only public he should be really worried about are Elin and his kids.

Adapt or Die. (Not Literally) But You’ll Get The Point.

This is a truly fascinating video and shows just what an interesting world we are living in now and how much things have changed when it comes to getting our marketing and other messages to the world. When you consider these technological advances it is amazing to me that there are still people who think that marketing and public relations are still best accomplished using ideas and methods employed many years ago – like the usual newspapers and broadcast models.

Times are not simply changing, they have radically changed. We need to keep up, but equally as important we need to anticipate, so we’re not just responding on the back end.

Balloon Boy Saga Is A Success For Father

The media attention Richard Heene so desired.

There are a couple of important lessons to be learned from the whole “Balloon Boy” saga.

One of them is that the age old philosophy that says any publicity is good publicity is patently not true. Now that we know the whole thing was an elaborate hoax designed to lead to a reality show and that the father is likely to be prosecuted for it, we can see how a stunt gone wrong is more than a small problem.

The second thing we learned from all this is how gullible the mainstream media really is. This stunt got more coverage on CNN and some networks than major world issues deserving far more attention. They gobbled this thing up for the visuals, the unusual nature of what was supposedly happening, and the fact that a child was supposedly involved. It was indeed different, no doubt.

And the third lesson we gained is how long such a story can live, even when it turns out to be a non-story. The story essentially shifted to how could the father have planned something like this, with more curiosity now about the family than he could have ever dreamed of.

Which then brings all this full circle back to the first lesson, maybe then the father was right, any publicity is good publicity. There is no doubt in my mind, this family will get paid from this stunt. Maybe it won’t be a reality show, but some tabloid, some producer, some publisher, will want to capitalize on the interest and curiosity and pay them for the rights to this story. So despite any charges, there will be a monetary reward.

So do I think this is a tactic others should employ? No. But I do think it is just ironic that in the end, the father will get everything he wanted out of this stunt. Sure some of it will be unpleasant. But along with his 15 minutes of fame, don’t be surprised if he is rewarded handsomely.

A strange world we live in, indeed.

Can Publicity or Marketing Make Or Break A Career?

In my business I come across a lot of talented people, either musicians, actors, producers, or other entertainers. And very often I, like you, have to ask the obvious question, why is this person not the biggest name in their field when they are so much more talented than certain other people who are on the covers of magazines or album covers and movie posters, and who have far less talent?

The answer, as self-serving as it may seem, is marketing and publicity. It is what separates the wanna-be’s from the household names.

Don’t get me wrong. Talent is certainly important. Or looks or some other intangible factor that can truly separate someone from the pack. Because no matter how much publicity a good publicist can get for a person, if there is nothing there for the public to latch on to, then there is no way to sustain the attention. A publicist can bring the spotlight but the client has to be able to do something to merit the light staying on.

But with that being said, truth be told, a good publicist can take a mediocre talent and keep the spotlight beaming for a long time, though not indefinitely. The flip side then is also true. Great talent, managed improperly and lacking proper promotion is just great talent. Stardom or fame comes when talent (or some other commodity like beauty or sex appeal or uniqueness) meets the spotlight which marketing and publicity can bring to a client. As I said clubs and garages are full of extremely talented singers, as good or better than a Britney Spears at the minimum (who let’s face it is not all that talented) but who languish outside of the media and public mass glow because there is nothing done to set them apart, to draw the attention their way.

I am not saying a publicist is all powerful because we are not. But I am saying that talent alone never has been the key to a successful career. Ideally talent and marketing are there in equal parts. And neither is strong enough without the other. But I can certainly say that talent without publicity means nothing. Is the converse also true, that publicity without talent or that other tangible “thing” also worthless? No. It is actually possible to be famous with nothing. Uh, have you heard of Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian?

Let’s just say both talent and solid pr are ideally present but to anyone trying to make it without marketing or publicity, don’t plan on anything resembling a long career. I do come across people, especially musicians who believe all they need do is work hard on the music and fame will come. And I always give my best advice that no matter who you hire, get someone going on your marketing and publicity.

Unless your goal is limited success.

Hollywood and Roman Polanski: A Misplaced Love Affair

Roman Polanski, Hollywood's new cause.

As a Hollywood publicist I do encounter a fair amount of ego in my day. Comes with the territory. But I have to say that for the most part, you might be surprised how many people I deal with or come across who are anything but ego driven, and are instead just good ole’ down to earth people who happen to be pursuing a career in the world of entertainment.

But either way, what does happen when you live in this world of glitz, glamour and media, is that people sometimes lose track of what is real and equally as important, how they, and we, in Hollywood are perceived. That most of America already thinks California in general, and Hollywood in particular, are far left extremists is a given. (Although again, people might be surprised at how un-extreme we really are, and that there are a large number of conservatives in this state – after all, we do have a Republican movie star Governor, and we did give America another poster child for conservativism, Ronald Reagan).

Strangely, we seem to accept almost anything and anybody, as long as there is celebrity involved. Which brings me to the point of this posting.

Roman Polanski.

Frankly I think a lot of people in Hollywood are so caught up in the celebrity of Polanski that they are ignoring the reality of what he did and how their defense of him will impact the country’s perception of who they are and who we are here in Hollywood.

Polanski, despite his supposed brilliance as a filmmaker, is a child rapist who has never paid the price for his crime. Not the real price. A month and a  half in jail and living like a King in Europe is not punishment for raping a 13 year old. And it does not, and should not, matter that many years have passed since the crime. Until he pays for it, accounts for the action, the crime has not been dealt with.

That Polanski is being defended by Whoopie Goldberg, Harrison Ford, Harvey Weinstein, Debra Winger, and so many others, is clearly the result of being enamored with his celebrity and talents more than ensuring a message is sent that no matter how long it takes, when someone rapes a child, they will pay the price. Proof that this is about celebrity is in the lack of this kind of public outcry from the Hollywood elite when someone non-famous is tracked down for crimes committed decades ago. For example, our country has prosecuted those who attacked civil rights workers in the 60s many years after the crimes, when the perpetrators were very old men. No argument from Hollywood about that. And there shouldn’t be.

No this is about defending a celebrity. And from a pr perspective it sure is hard to spin these misplaced pronouncements of indignity. Especially when they are so very out of touch with reality.

A Brave New Digital World

One of the toughest tasks I encounter these days is trying to get clients to recognize that the media landscape is vastly different today than it was yesterday and especially a year or more ago. So many want to still focus primarily on the traditional media and getting coverage in the main newspapers and the like. But today companies and personal images rise and fall in a matter of seconds on the Internet when before the power for such an impact was in the hands of those few editors and reporters at key publications and broadcast outlets. One of the best videos that demonstrate the change I am talking about is below. It really is mindboggling to watch and see how different things are in such a short period of time. Makes you wonder where it is all going.

A Publicity Triple

The "Incident" heard around the world.

So much talk about Kanye West, Taylor Swift and Beyonce. The VMA’s never had it so good. It is what I call a publicity triple. Hell it is almost an inside the park homerun when you consider all the other media and shows that have benefited from the “incident” where Kanye West stole the microphone from the sweet Taylor Swift, only to be rescued and restored by the hero, Beyonce. My hat is truly off to the publicists on this one.

I know a lot of people are still thinking this was a completely real event. But frankly I think believing such is giving Kanye way too much credit for thinking this through and how it could benefit so many. Despite all the hoopla and “negative” attention directed at Kanye, something he has never had a problem with, indeed he fosters a notion of being edgy, this event was a win for everyone involved, and I mean everyone (except maybe the public’s sense of civility, but that is different matter).

Kanye is no worse off for the incident. Indeed he has gotten more ink and broadcast coverage for this than he has in a long time. That so many, including the President, are calling him boorish, doesn’t matter. It is not a departure from his semi-bad boy image and indeed could help him solidify that and sell more records. So more potential benefit than harm.

Taylor Swift comes out of this as America’s innocent darling, more so than even before. She gained fans because of it and she certainly got more attention for the incident than she would have simply for winning the award. It solidifies her as America’s darling. So no harm to her. And indeed I bet she sells more as a result as more people are curious about her if they didn’t know her before.

Beyonce. Well come on. She was the hero in this mix. She comes off as completely gracious and thoughtful. Again, nothing but benefit to her.

The VMA’s. Have the VMA’s ever gotten this much publicity since, well since the last Kanye outburst?

And then there is the media, the newspapers, Jay Leno, all the other places that had great topics to talk about. You know the more I think about it, this really is an inside the park homerun and not a triple. The only reason I don’t call it a grand slam publicity stunt is that it has a negative component. And unfortunately that relates to the fact that for some people there are issues of civility and even racism that have surfaced. Twitter for example had a large number of people who went racial on Kanye doing this to Taylor. Unfortunately, those idiots exist and unfortunately for many they don’t realize how the publicity worked for all involved in this affair.

But with that aside, I do have to say, as long as you had someone willing to be the villain, like Kanye, who enjoys that role, it was pure publicity genius.

There’s A Seismic Shift Happening in the World of Marketing and PR

For every breakthrough and revolution, there have surely been those who doubted the seismic shift that was right before them.

I suppose we could even go back to Christopher Columbus and his “discovery” of the new world and the concept of the round versus flat earth. Naysayers persisted even as the proof was before them. And the same surely held true for all of our major technological breakthroughs, even the Internet, as some thought it was a fad surely to fade away into obscurity. But even with that history of slow-to- accept-the-shift-people throughout time, I am still fully amazed that there are people in business who simply do not realize how much of a shift has occurred in the area of marketing when it comes to the advent and usage of the social media networks, including Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Linked In, Stumble Upon, even Delicious and Digg. I come across clients, and potential clients, weekly who think it is a waste of time to put real effort into these outlets, preferring instead to put all their efforts into traditional media and marketing. My guess is these are the same people who doubted the power of e-commerce when it first began, figuring it had no chance.

If you are one of those people who doubts that the days of traditional marketing being concentrated in the same old power base of off-line media, then I implore you to do whatever it takes to wake up on this one, before you fall way behind. Domino’s Pizza for example, learned the danger of ignoring the speed and depth of the social media world when it chose to at first ignore the video of its two employees spitting on food and doing other silly things, hoping it would just die down. A day or two later the company decided to put out its own You Tube video apologizing for the actions of the two, but by the time it did, the video had gone completely viral and had been seen by literally millions of people.

That in essence is the power of this new media world we live in. Power to influence is no longer concentrated in the hands of the few with money. Blogs, microblogs, e-zines, and anyone with a camera and a You Tube account can make an impact today that could only have been possible the old fashioned way just a couple of years ago. Your brand can rise or fall in terms of public perception as rapidly as it takes a video to go viral or a Twitter post to exponentially be spread around the Internet. And these are the days when stars are born on the Internet, simply because they have enough followers for marketers and others to sit up and take notice. How could a Tila Tequila or an Obama Girl exist without the social media? They could not. But take a pretty girl and a million followers on My Space or You Tube and a star is born, not because some network plucked her from obscurity, but because she made herself and the network had to notice. The mediums of influence are now partially reversed in terms of power.

This is not to say that traditional media is dead. Not at all. But it is to say that if you do not recognize that traditional marketing is not the only source anymore and that the social media is the new influencer then you are like those of old who missed the trend even when it was staring them in the face.