Rockstar to Rock Bottom
C’mon. After all that you mean to tell me that you just got yourself kicked out of the band?
This one hits home with me because I have a good friend that made it to LA for the original tapings of the INXS Rockstar TV show. He made it to the top 25 before being cut. But it’s what it took to get him that far that I remember most…and to see the eventual winner JD Fortune throw it all away, well, that’s just annoying.
Here’s what one must endure just to make the first cut of a show like Rockstar (you know, the show that was rebranding the band INXS). First, you have to audition, or in our case, since my friend missed the auditions, send in a taped audition. The audition has to cover everything from your actual singing, to your entire life and background summed up in just under 2 minutes. Not an easy task.
So, I produced an audition tape for friend with a couple of other friends in the business. One was a director, the other a motion designer and editor. Together, we created a killer 2 minute reel that showed off the talents of my friend.
A week later, I got a call from the casting director from Rockstar. They wanted to interview him over the phone. So, a week later, the phoner takes place. Then, another week goes by and I get another call from casting. They like my friend and want to see more tape on him. So, we create another reel for him, this one longer than the last and covering more background. We send that tape in. Another week goes by. Then I get another call. Casting likes him, and they want to present him to the producers, specifically, executive producer Mark Burnett. Another week goes by. Burnett likes him and wants to send a contract. Another week. Contract comes. Man, is it ever binding. And I mean BINDING. Lawyers are involved. More weeks go by. Everything is sorted out, and we send in the contract. Another week. Finally, they want him in LA in 2 weeks. Another contract arrives. This time, it’s twice as thick and ten times as BINDING as the last one. Lawyers. Back & forth. Another week.
Finally, contracts are signed, plane ticket arrives.
My friend goes to LA, stays in the production hotel. Can’t contact or speak with anyone while he’s there. Complete silence or you’re out. No cellphone or you’re out. No blogging or you’re out. Basically, do what we say or you’re out.
My friend complies with all this. Now all he has to worry about are the actual live auditions in front of Mark Burnett, hosts Brooke Burke & Dave Navarro, and the entire INXS band themselves. No pressure. The band means this…the band needs this…just performing in front of a superstar rock guitarist, a supermodel, the show creator, and the actual band you are trying to front, who has everything riding on this comeback (after the tragic loss of their original singer Michael Hutchence).
Now, both my friend and JD Fortune went through all of this together. All the same stuff…contracts, hotel, auditions, everything. Only my friend only makes it through to the second round, makes top 25 before being cut. JD makes it through to the top ten, films 13 weeks of TV shows, and is finally crowned the winner.
The eeriest thing was how much JD actually sounded like Michael. It was haunting. He was a great pick to win. So, JD wins the show, gets the gig, records a very good album that has at least 2 top ten hits on it, tours the world for 23 months.
Dream come true, right? I guess, until you become so annoying you get the boot.
Band brand wins. Band brand singer…?
Too bad. Now where’s that audition tape again??
~ Steve Glum
http://perezhilton.com/2009-02-18-lifes-a-bitch
Burger King Does an About Facebook
Burger marketing and brilliance aren’t often mentioned in the same sentence (OK, maybe Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” was close, but that was a million years ago).
I am talking about Burger King and the Whopper Sacrifice Challenge, which basically flipped Facebook’s mega-brand social network positioning and created a truly innovative and charismatic approach to…alright, I will say it…selling burgers.
Yep, selling burgers. Or more succinctly, selling the Burger King brand.
How? Drop 10 Facebook friends, get a free Burger King Whopper.
When I first read about this, I must say that I was like “removing friends from your Facebook? To get a burger? What are they thinking? WTF? That’s exactly what FB doesn’t…want…you to do…WAIT A MINUTE!! (That’s when I had the AHA moment). BK didn’t want you get MORE friends, they weren’t telling you to SEND along some make-believe virtual burger icon to your network (that would be too easy, too predictable, too freaking boring)…NO, they wanted you to axe some people! Get rid of some friends, swap some chums! Upon further investigation, not only did I want to drop some friends, I also:
1.) Wanted to see the entire campaign played out.
2.) Wanted to meet the people behind it.
3.) Wished I had thought of it first.
We have all heard about or are involved in some form of the latest social networking crazes…Twittering, Facebooking, YouTubing, etc…but this idea took all that to a new level — so much so that Facebook and BK were at odds — FB taking issue with the fact that BK twisted around and kind of violated the company’s policy about friend removal (FB allows you to remove friends without informing them, BK was telling you to do so).
BK’s promotion, by design, flew in the face of that policy and in doing so, achieved something that FB didn’t like — they got people’s attention. 82,000 of them to be exact, with 230,000 friends being kicked to the curb of the drive-thru.
Facebook resisted this use of their real estate, and Burger King pulled the plug. But the brand “damage” had already been done.
I love this kind of thinking. The brand-bending. I want to meet Russ Klein, BK’s CMO. I wanted to give BK’s agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky a fist-bump. Talk about consistent and edgy brand-maneuvering. Klein’s crew took a brand that had been searingly over-cooked for years, over and over, and cooked it “their way”.
Well-done. (Not the burger).
~ Steve Glum
Brand Obama: An American POV in Canada
Mobile post ~ Enthusiasm and blowing snow…Obama’s marketing machine hits Canada…Very interesting here today in Canada as the country anticipates and welcomes US President Obama for the first time.
On virtually any news station, the reporters are not shy about hopes that PM Harper “will learn something” and “can pick up on Obama’s charisma and personality while he’s here for the day”. I find this to be quite interesting and something that would only probably happen in America during the Bush years (hoping that a visiting dignitary would rub off on our president) .
Canadians are as excited and hopeful about Obama as we Americans, it seems.
Obama brand strength is here in full-force. There are people carrying full life-sized cutouts of Obama, setting them up anywhere from the streets to the suites, and taking pictures with it.
Obama tshirts, Obama coffee beans, and Obama burgers were being sold before he even got here. Even though there’s no public appearance scheduled (just a press conf), thousands of people are here lining the streets along the motorcade route.
~ Steve Glum
Great Wolf Lodge
The development of Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, Canada is the single largest project Ripley Entertainment has ever constructed.
This all-inclusive, indoor waterpark resort opened in April 2006 at a price tag of $130 million. Adjacent to the whirlpool on the Niagara Gorge, it boasts 406 suites, restaurants, a full Aveda Spa & Salon, and an indoor waterpark with 2.5 million litres of rides, slides and wet family fun.
I wrote the brand introduction marketing platform & PR strategy, developed breakthrough creative, supervised the Sneak Peek media preview, and produced the Grand Opening media VIP event, launching Canada’s largest indoor waterpark resort to great success and fanfare.
The launch creative centered around a campaign called “Soak Yourself”, which “owned” the water and fun categories in our consumer’s eyes through repeated use of blue watery backgrounds and sopping-wet type, and was focused on two primary targets — moms and tweens. The dual target created what I like to call the “Nag & Drag” marketing factor, whereby tweens “nag” their parents to take them to Great Wolf Lodge, while the mom’s are gung-ho to “drag” their kids there. I achieved this through a series of tactics that pinpointed my targets with my advertising and made it easier to say YES than no to a visit to Great Wolf Lodge.
I must admit that the television creative I produced was done quite well, with just the right amount of family fun, excitement and water gags, making it memorable among everything on TV at the time.
The interactive campaign that mirrored the TV was also very well received and went on to win “Best Interactive Campaign” by Ontario Tourism.
Voted #1 “Best for Families, Canada” by Trip Advisor 2009 Traveler’s Choice.
Voted “Best New Business” by Tourism Industry Association of Canada.
Steve Glum interviewed by Martin Lindstrom
Steve Glum is interviewed for the Martin Lindstrom Video Report in NYC during the launch of Martin’s new book Buy•ology (http://www.martinlindstrom.com).
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! TV Spots
This is the first of four spots I produced during the 2008 Ripley’s campaign. One of them went on to win “Best TV Spot” at IAAPA’s Brass Ring Awards, the International Marketing Awards, smoking the competition.
They were really done for fun, just taking old vintage footage (the whirling dervishes, as I refer to them, a bunch of old dudes doing crazy stuff then smoking to prove they did it), and layering some silly music on top. I really just did them as a low-cost spot for in-room TV, promotional spot TV, and online.
Somehow they caught on beat out the entire field at IAAPA…LOL!
A Lesson in Shockingly Odd Marketing
A Lesson in Shockingly Odd Marketing
Branding your brand.
A must do if you are going build your brand’s foundation for the future. Sure, it may be living today, but will it be thriving tomorrow?
Your brand is NOT in your hands, but in the hands of your consumer. If you are a marketer, you are merely the keeper of it for the short period of time that it’s under your watchful eye. It’s your job to serve your brand up to your consumer, and let them digest it on their own terms. What will they do with it? How will they grow it, tweak it, mold it, bend it?
Once you know that, your task has begun.
~ Steve Glum
Ripley’s Comes in First…Twice
So I took home a couple of First Place awards for my international marketing efforts this year for the “Freaking Out Families” ad campaign. In this case, I won Best TV for “Wait for It” and Best Outdoor for “Come See What Noah Left Behind”. It was cool because Ripley’s had never even been nominated before, and I was a finalist in four categories, winning two and running-up in the other two.
The best part was my work was up against the big guys — the biggest attractions in the world — with bigger budgets (certainly more than I had spent) and I still came out on top.
The best part was to have my brand recognized as a real player in marketing. The story appears below.
Ripley Entertainment Takes Home Two First Place Trophies in International Marketing Awards Competition
Orlando, Fla. (PressExposure) December 03, 2008 — It’s been a fruitful year for the marketing department at Ripley Entertainment. For the first time ever, the worldwide authority on the weird and bizarre, as a corporate entity, made it to the finalist category in an international marketing competition and was good enough to take home two first place finishes.
The Brass Ring Awards highlight originality, creativity, and excellence in marketing among professionals in the industry worldwide and is sponsored by the International Assn. of Amusement Parks & Attractions (IAAPA), the world’s largest amusement industry trade association with more than 4,500 members in 90 countries.
Ripley Entertainment, with more than 70 attractions representing 11 different brands in 12 countries, with more than 13 million in annual attendance, competed in Class 4, which means it was up against the most attended attractions in the world, including the Disney, Universal, Six Flags and Busch theme parks.
Ripley collected first place in the “Best TV Commercial” category for “Wait For It, a” 15-second commercial that was a playful mix of archived footage, silly music, and funny, full-frame comments. It was used on broadcast and cable TV, in-room television, online, and on video monitors.
A first place was also earned in the “Best Outdoor Advertising” category for the “Come See What Noah Left Behind” billboard. The winner was part of a multi-layered campaign that used striking images from the Ripley archives combined with quirky headlines and the iconic Ripley logo. In addition to the Noah board, headlines in the campaign included “Actually It’s Rude NOT to Stare,” “Proudly Freaking Out Families for 90 Years,” and “All the Stuff Mother Nature Swept Under the Rug.”
“We had never been a finalist in the IAAPA Brass Ring Awards before, so these wins are big for us. It means that Ripley’s has been recognized by our peers as a real player in marketing, in the industry in which we operate,” said Steve Glum, VP Marketing of Ripley Entertainment.
In 2008, the 90-year old company, under Glum’s leadership, created its first fully-integrated, multi-platform, international, translated advertising campaign, used by many of the 32 Believe It or Not! odditoriums worldwide.
“As we expanded internationally and broke ground on our new locations in Bangalore, London, and New York City during the last couple of years, the need for a consistent look and feel in marketing materials had never been greater,” said Glum. “We created a simple campaign, with a nod to both past and present, bringing Ripley’s weirdness and brand DNA to the world. Elements included print ads, brochures, rack cards, TV commercials, t-shirts, business cards, webisodes, and online banners. The campaign was translated into English, Spanish, French, Hindu, Croatian, and Greek.
Ripley’s Times Square Grand Opening
The opening of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Times Square in NYC was a triumphant return for the brand. Ripley’s had been in NYC in the 30’s, then again in the 70’s before shutting down for the second time.
In 2007, we returned to NYC and I produced a huge Grand Opening media event. Red carpet, paparazzi, celebrities and a cast of BION freaks that left New York buzzing for weeks.
At the same time, I debuted the brand’s new “Freaking Out Families” marketing campaign in Times Square on billboard space located immediately above the Ripley’s Odditorium to coincide with the Grand Opening.
It was a perfect storm of marketing and public relations, with all elements working in tandem to create a mega brand launch.
Stars Jenny McCarthy, Kelly Osbourne and Carmen Electra lit up the opening, giving the brand a glossy lift like it had never seen before.
The coverage was spectacular, with celebrities posing with BION performers prompting headlines in media like “Ripley’s is Cool” and “Beauties and the Beasts”, which was exactly my objective in the first place.
In order to fully compliment the brand revitalization strategy I had put in play 12 months before, Ripley’s had to have some cool factor, and this was definitely a giant step in the right direction.
Ripley’s Piccadilly Circus Grand Opening
An amazing Grand Opening I produced for our latest and greatest Ripley’s Believe It or Not! location in London. The event was spectacular, with international paparazzi and worldwide stars showing up in great numbers to walk the Ripley’s Red Hot Burning Coals carpet, doing interviews, and posing for pictures.
As well, a huge list of BION performers and freaks showed up to mingle and pose with superstars Kelly Rowland, Jennifer Ellison, and Katie Price (pictured here with a throng of photographers). Media coverage was extensive, launching the Ripley’s brand in London for the very first time in its 90 year history.
This picture is of Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child and Lizardman on the red carpet, while Lizardman show offs his ability of twisting a corkscrew up his nose and out his throat…a classic moment during the opening.