Celebrentrepreneurs
Two of this last centuries great entrepreneurs, Henry Ford and Michael Dell, became the great entrepreneurs they are simply on one idea. That idea wasn’t an invention or some new product. The automobile and the computer had already been invented. Ford and Dell became entrepreneurs because of their innovative ways to sell an already produced product. Ford took the automobile and mass produced it and made the car available to the masses. And Dell took the computer and changed the way people got their computers by producing them made to order. Sometimes all a great entrepreneur needs is a new way of selling things.
Over the weekend I read an article on Lauren Conrad, of MTV’s ‘The Hills‘ fame, in the Wall Street Journal. The article reminded me of how Ford and Dell created their empires on selling a new idea. In the past a brand had always been associated with a tangible product. But now there are new celebrentrepreneurs out there that are making a brand out of themselves. Most notably, Lauren Conrad and Kimora Lee Simmons are out establishing their names as a brand simply by being visible. Both women have their own, highly rated, reality tv shows and both have their own fashion lines (among many other products and ventures). They are also getting their brand established by attending events throughout New York and Los Angeles. And, as the WSJ article mentions, attending the events is not as glamorous as E! or Entertainment Tonight may suggest. Attending the events is a job for them, they have to schmooze and can’t be put into a situation where the media can provide bad press. In the end, everything they do is to establish themselves as a brand. Their lives have become their marketing plan. They are innovating the way they spread the word about their ventures by making their lives available to the public where everything they do is a commercial for their fashion lines.
In today’s world where everything is accessible at the touch of a mouse button the new entrepreneurs need to innovate the way they market their ventures. Opening up one’s life to the world and getting one’s name out their as the established brand is becoming the new way that up and coming entrepreneurs can let the world know about their ventures be it through a major tv network or youtube.
Tags: Innovators, Kimora Lee Simmons, Lauren Conrad, The Hills
