Part 1: The Publicist: Unofficial Recipe by Max Clifford
Mr Clifford gives good yet unethical examples of what it mean to be a Publicist.
Part 2: What do others say…………
What links do PR and Celebrity share? According to Mark (2011), Hollywood stars can live up or down to their stereotypes. But more significantly, celebrities can also be invaluable to promoting a good cause.
When celebrity endorsements work, they work well. And for non- profit organisations, associating the charity causes with celebrity can be of huge benefit, normally in terms of raising income. Take a look at Jade Goody and the impact she had on raising the awareness of cervical cancer (Slee, 2012).
However celebrities can also become figures of love/hate relationships. If you were to enter the name Jade Goody into Google search engine in 2007, the search results would look something like this – Racist, Bigotry and Bullying. Ethically, this is something companies would not want to be associated with, but then again, despite the love/hate relationship, ‘celebrity’ does bring high levels of media and public attention.
With that in mind, here are some general tips both PR practitioners and organisations for successful celebrity relationships:
- You should be thinking, someone out there must be genuinely interested in our cause.
- For most charities or organisation, Hollywood is an alien world, therefore it makes sense to enlist a translator, someone to manage the relationship between celebrities and the organisation
- You want to manage celebrity relationships the way you would manage any high-profile client, whether it’s a large donor or a corporate partner.
- All too often, people forget that high-profile personalities are artists. And because they’re not policy wonks, they may have a unique way of looking at something and crystallizing it in a way that a policy wonk couldn’t. Engage with that.
- When you put an idea in front of them, you want to come off as someone who’s savvy, someone who’s not going to send a 10-page email but a smart, short request that will make them think, Oh, this person gets my life. They get my schedule. This makes sense.
Adapted from Mark (2011).
Part 3: isaacmahuma say………….
Similar to other forms of communication tools, social networking sites and press releases, the use of celebrity or celebrities in campaigns is similar to corporate social responsibility. Assuming the celebrity has some form of personal interest or share similar ideas and values of a cause, I would suggest celebrity relationships are probably one of the most effective ways of reaching target audiences. Mainly due to the high levels of media and public attention they are able to attract.
However the risks, time and investment to firstly get a celebrity suggests that it’s a tool only very large companies can utilise, this is particularly evidenced within the professional sports industry. For example, the relationship between professional golfer Tiger Woods and Nike to reported to be worth $35 million a year (Jovic, 2012). However the risk involved with celebrity relationships was similarly evidenced by Tiger Woods. After accusation of infidelity in his personal life, companies associated with Tiger Woods found themselves revaluating those relationships. But considering the levels of investment in the initial relationship, it seem a significant loss of money, time and effort.