When teen superstar Justin Bieber posted his 300-word rant on Instagram objecting to how the media covers his life, his health and everything else, the media did a figurative head nod.
Here’s another celebrity with thin skin in the midst of a digital and life meltdown.
But, I don’t see it that way.
Justin Bieber was using his direct access to more than 36 million fans to vent about the things that were frustrating him. That’s the essence of the Justin Bieber brand: simultaneous experience of life and music with an intensely loyal tribe of Beliebers.
Justin’s message lines up with his passion. That is at the core of creating powerful Brand Stories.
Here at BuzzCloud, we’ve been talking about the importance of telling your story from the Top Down. And Justin is a good example of that. But you need to have the infrastructure to keep the story alive and on-target — a dedicated team who can carry out the story across a variety of channels that make sense for your brand and your audience. You’d have to be living under a rock to think Justin doesn’t have a solid team around him. So what’s the deal?
Where I think the train got away from Justin is the absence of strategy and teamwork to help take his story to the next level, or evolve it to what Justin the 19-year-old should be saying or doing, versus the messaging that was created for the blossoming 13-year-old Justin. In other words, the best stories evolve. The media took the authentic transparency that they are always demanding and went negative — is Justin about to fall over the edge, he can’t be controlled, and on and on.
The Bieber brand team deftly created a juggernaut. With this media flameout, there’s a question about whether this team can adopt the new ways of thinking and sharing to keep Justin Bieber’s story on track.
Note that I don’t say in control. That’s the old model. The new model is about sharing stories — negative, positive, funny, sad, mean, true, untrue — so they become an infectious part of the online conversation. And for a star like Justin, the explosion of the wrong story (which lingers and lives on the Interwebs forever) could have a negative impact on his brand, long-term. The bottom line for any brand is do what it takes to OWN YOUR STORY.
Taylor Swift (Photo credit: Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer)
Just ask Taylor Swift.
A recent New York Times article pointed out that there is danger ahead for Swift. Her image is eroding and she hasn’t done anything specific. She just feels creepy, all of a sudden. People point to this month’s Vanity Fair article, and her seemingly loveless love life.
Now people are asking whether Taylor Swift, the pop queen who has dressed nicely and behaved well in public, is bad for women, if she has what it takes to be a cross-over pop artist. Alarmingly, Swift’s “Q Score” has dipped far from its peak in 2010:
According to the marketing evaluations company Q Scores, Ms. Swift’s popularity rating, which takes into account familiarity (about 8 out of 10 people surveyed knows who she is) and appeal, peaked in 2010 at 30 out of 100. Presumably, Ms. Swift was reaping the benefits of the Kanye West debacle, when he interrupted her acceptance speech for Best Female Video by barging onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2009.
But her popularity score has since dropped by a third, to 20 this year, the lowest it’s ever been, though still 4 points higher than the average score (16) in the performer category.
“She’s not doing the kind of numbers that an advertiser would really love to see,” said Steven Levitt, president of the marketing company, noting her trajectory.
Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift may appear to occupy a solar system light years away, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the same thing can’t happen to your brand.
A good story, and mastery of the toolkit that allows you to share it in meaningful, authentic ways, is an essential part of how to stay relevant today. The cautionary tales of Justin and Taylor should serve as incentive to ask yourself what steps you are taking to ensure that your story is compelling enough to keep the attention of the right people? There will always be noise in your space — how well does your brand play in that environment? Does it get drowned out, or are you amplifying your voice in ways that matter and resonate with your audience?
Ask yourself, What is making my story interesting? No one cares about your new widget. No one cares about hearing your message delivered the same way, over and over. The media in every market is in the business of creating attention, and if you are saying the same thing the same way, over and over, they will stop listening.
(Even with Swift and Bieber — the media could care less about what they had to say, and went with what their own version of the events taking place.)
The challenge for every brand is how to keep the story fresh and to grab attention without losing the message.
Without a good plan, you end up not owning your story.
It sure looks like Justin is working hard to keep ownership of his. And he will have to, but it shouldn’t be THIS hard.
Maybe it is it true that he’s entering the familiar tailspin of so many teen pop stars before him.
Personally, I think he is different, and I hope I am right.
Maybe I’ll direct message Justin on Twitter. He follows me. Smart kid.
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