They come with their own loyal armies of fans – in the millions. Fans who will support their [creative] direction no matter what occurs and crush any ‘haters’ before you can say “Gaga ooh la la”.
Celebrities ARE brands as well as heroes and they are inextricably intertwined with popular culture, in fact – they ARE popular culture and consumerism rolled into one; a two headed beast you could say; programmed to dominate and win.
So, perhaps it is a no-brainer for brands to be looking to celebrities for inspiration, influence and ultimately creative direction?
Recently we’ve seen the following ‘new hires’ hit the industry headlines:
Lady Gaga, Creative Director – Polaroid
Victoria Beckham, Creative Director – Range Rover
Will.i.am, Director of Creative Innovation – Intel
Swizz Beatz, Creative Director – Reebok
And let’s be brutally honest here, we’re dying to know what it’s like in the meeting room when a celebrity Creative Director is present?
Are we to assume that a celebrity Creative Director is given a brief and tasked with coming up with ‘the big idea’? Or, is it more a case of the celebrity rocks up to a meeting and points at one of three already crafted propositions and contributes a much anticipated nugget such as ‘I like this one – but make it shiny’?
It’s a mystery that shall remain a client-side secret because let’s face it, agency-side, there is a distinct lack of celebrity Creative Directors working on pitches right now…
That said – if however, The Dubs were looking to employ a celebrity Creative Director, a quick straw poll in the London office reveals the fantasy list to be as follows:
Yep. Analyse that.
I am however thinking there is a methodology brewing here somewhere and it isn’t too dissimilar to de Bono’s six hats.
What if we replaced said hats with our celebrities and their associated traits and see what happens creatively?
Hmm, ‘bad idea’ – oh, now there’s a phrase a celebrity Creative Director may never be told…
