High Visibility: Making and Marketing of Celebrities [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Hollywood's star system pervades global culture. While there are tens of thousands of aspiring actresses in film capitals around the world, only Reese Witherspoon can command $18 million a picture. Whether you sell real estate, defend criminals, lift faces, opine on the economy, or consult to managers, you are among millions of others aspiring to reach the peak of your profession. And why not? In these and many other endeavors, the top fraction of 1% receive a disproportionate share of the rewards.

The Third Edition of High Visibility can help you win this star system. Having just completed reading the book, there were four sections that particularly caught my attention:

* Chapter 4's Visibility Hierarchy introduced a compelling way to chart an individual's visibility on a two dimensional scale mapping visibility duration (from a day to forever) against visibility reach (from global to international). I found this a useful way to assess one's position in the hierarchy and to consider one's future.

* Chapter 5's 22 Major Storylines highlighted popular media story concepts such as "success/failure/success" or "the big break" illustrating them with individuals who fit these storylines. This list struck me as a very useful way to brainstorm story ideas for editors and writers.

* Chapter 6's four basic charisma strategies fascinated me. Detailing approaches such as "The Impressive Stranger" or "Charisma Through Audience Mastery" I was struck by the example of how Scarlett Johansson's performance in Lost in Translation helped her emerge from the pack.

* Chapter 11's Visibility Life Cycles presented seven standard patterns of visibility which reinforced to me the evanescent nature of fame -- highlighting the need to adapt effectively in order to maintain visibility.

While I was flattered that Chapter 6 began by recounting how I've tried to generate visibility over the years, I found the concepts and anecdotes presented here offered me new and thought-provoking insights.

If you're aspiring to reach the top of your profession, High Visibility is a must read.

NOTE: The remarks which follow discuss the updated third edition of a book first published in 1987 and then revised ten years later. Be aware of the fact that several of the other Customer Reviews are of earlier editions.

As the authors explain in their Preface, "In High Visibility, we address the growth of visibility seeking and the contribution of visibility and strong personal brands to competitiveness and opportunity generation in a systematic format....Central to the book's foundation is the concept of [begin italics] transformation [end italics], the process that aspirants typically undergo to become personal and professional brands. We take the reader through all the stages of the transformation process, including brand generation, testing, refinement, realization, distribution, and sustaining." Here are some of the questions to which the authors respond brilliantly:

1. How to break through a cluttered, fragmented, and global marketplace?

2. When doing so, how to manage and balance the demands of the private-public self?

3. How to prioritize public and private goals and aspirations?

4. How to achieve visibility more cost-effectively?

5. How to formulate an appropriate high visibility strategy?

6. How to integrate technological decisions with that strategy?

7. How to inventory your talent threshold and, when doing so, be realistic?

I greatly appreciate the authors' provision of all manner of reader-friendly sections and devices which both summarize key points and facilitate convenient review later of those. For example, Figure 3-7 (page 46), which illustrates the "Structure of the Visibility Industry"; a boxed check-list (page 75) which identifies and then briefly explains the reasons why intensive transformation and image-building activity, while accelerating in all sectors, are doing so at different rates; another boxed check-list (page 146) which identifies and then briefly explains five focal areas of the cultural environment that are especially important to monitor; and finally, for present purposes, a brief but revealing review (page 287) of the publicist's ten most major functions.

Near the end of their book, the authors discuss business executive Ed Brill and wellness doctor Steven Lamm who have successfully adapted to the new visibility environment by combining their talents with visibility practices and principles. Others who also aspire to do so must focus on two critical issues: "First, no matter how the competitive environment changes, aspirants must pay close attention to the fundamentals of high visibility marketing as they are the centerpieces of any plan. Second, aspirants must be aware of the future challenges that impact the process of attaining visibility and be prepared for powerful responses." The authors then suggest five key principles to guide and inform such initiatives.

For several reasons, this third revised edition of High Visibility is far superior to earlier editions. First and obviously, the authors have the substantial advantage of perspective on what has happened (and not happened) during the last 19 years as more and more people have absorbed, digested, and then applied the core concepts provided in the first edition. Also, as a result, the authors have much more material to work with as the number of opportunities and venues to establish high visibility has so rapidly increased. Finally, the authors have taken full advantage of their opportunity to revise, refine, and develop those core concepts in much greater depth, using current or recent examples previously not available.

High Visibility is a brilliant achievement.

"High Visibility" sheds light in to the sometimes opaque world of publicists and celebrity marketing. Case studies from many different people from all walks of life (atheletes to porn stars)who sought to be in the lime-light are examined throught this book. Why are certain personalities still being sought after since 20 years while others fade away from our memories after only one week? There are many answers but not detailed enough.

I found the most interesting part to be "The Technique of Transformation". Here the authors discuss and show different examples of how a "dying star" made a comeback by redefining their personality and what they represent. Some people are forced to change after a scandle or a peak in performance and must exploit the media in order to thrust their client back on center stage. How the publicist propaganda machine works to take advantage of both print and visual media is explained but I feel it should have been much more detailed. They stopped right when it was becoming very interesting. Then again, maybe this was part of the marketing plan to create more demand for the "High Visibility II".... just joking.

It is a book that all marketing people should read as almost all of the concepts from marketing personalities can be transfered to all products in any industry.