When we talked about Gaga this week, I couldn’t agree more with Eric. She is everywhere! Whether it was Monday in class, yesterday when I visited the Harper’s Bazaar exhibition at the ICP Museum, today’s opening of the very bizarre Gaga’s Workshop at Barneys New York or for the Very Gaga Thanksgiving special on ABC tomorrow, she never stops entertaining.
Gaga is a huge social media star, she constitutes a case study in itself. She is the most popular user on Twitter, reaching 16 million monsters this November. She was also the first person to hit 10 million fans on Facebook (now counting more than 45 million fans), as well as 1 billion views on YouTube, according to Mashable. I know, I know... quality versus quantity but go to visit Gaga’s Facebook page yourself; you will agree with me that she has both and she really owns her audience like no one else! The keys to her success: she – or should I say her team – is updating the platforms with new and creative content like videos, posts, you can even buy music and subscribe to her newsletter. Also the extravagance and style of the star certainly helps to keep the conversations. Oh and talking about branded entertainment, who can tell me how many products you can identify in her 9.5 minute music video, Telephone?
And this isn’t it; did you know that she recently partnered up with social gaming company Zynga to launch GagaVille, a Gaga-themed offshoot of Zynga’s hit game, FarmVille? I admit, I am a huge fan of the Lady.
As Lady Gaga exemplifies, the key to success is to strike as many chords with your audiences as you can, and stay as connected to them in many different ways as you can. The advice may seen simple, but it's much easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteThat's because it takes a lot of work, talent, ingenuity, and perserverance to make and maintain multiple connections with your audiences simulatneously.
You write, "I know, I know... quality versus quantity ..."
ReplyDeleteWhat about quality and quantity? Whether you like her or not, I'll argue that Lady Gaga delivers both in spades. Call her a Madonna copycat, if you must take the Devil's Advocate position, but who else has captured the global attention of an entire generation (and beyond) by tapping into the most powerful medium available at this point in history: social media.
Let's take a moment to look at each as brands.
I'm a product of the Madonna generation, and I believe that Madge's brand will retain its iconic position. Lady Gaga and Madonna are similar brands, yet their messages are slightly different, directly targeted to slightly different audiences and delivered using different mediums at different times in the product lifecyle. (If this language isn't making sense, check out the Week Eight Lesson Module).
Madonna, for example, has had, and will continue to have, minor pitfalls during her product lifecycle. And she'll continue to tap into various IMC channels to strengthen and repair the parent MADONNA brand, and introduce various Madonna-related brand extensions (new albums, concert series, film projects) along the way.
Lady Gaga's brand is in a different stage of the product lifecycle, but she's doing the very same thing as it relates to reaching core audiences.
Lady Gaga is tapping into social media in the same way that Madonna (and Michael Jackson, for that matter) tapped into MTV in the mid-1980s.
Have you all seen the Lady, a.k.a. Stefani Germanotta, in this clip from her days at NYU?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM51qOpwcIM
Even Allie Chandler got into the groove at Gaga's Workshop at Barneys. Check it out:
ReplyDeletehttp://gagasworkshop.com/share/4920
Haaaha Eric, I love Allie's picture!
ReplyDeleteWow her video from NYU projects a totally different image of her. I couldn't help thinking what would the brand looks like if she has stayed Stefani Germanotta? There is no doubt, Lady Gaga was created as a powerful marketing tool. And you are right, just like Madonna was in the good old days.