Building Britney Spears...

Ever wonder how Britney Spears achieved such fame and success? Why did she make the choices she did and so on and so forth?

Walt Mueller posted a brilliant and insightful article on this issue on his blog (dated 12/15/05, and can be found at http://www.cpyu.org/page.aspx?id=76960). Here is that post:

Let’s do it again!

Here’s something very interesting. . . . . and it has to do with how pop stars are made. Yes, that’s right, made. When I was at the Kid Power marketing conference last May I sat in on a seminar by a gal from Jive Records. She wasn’t just any gal. She was the gal who claimed responsibility for creating and masterminding the Britney Spears phenomenon (are you sure you want to admit that?!?!?). Her seminar was titled, “Grabbing Kids Attention in a Competitive Marketplace: Creating the Next Pop Icon.”

Today I went back to find the notes I scribbled furiously during that seminar – I’ll tell you why in a minute. My notes reminded me that she showed us a DVD of an artist they’ve signed to the label who they were marketing to kids. Remember, the conference was about marketing to kids ages 2-12. I made some notes about how the video clip was very sexual and that it objectified women. She then showed a clip of Britney Spears that chronicled her evolution as a pop star. My notes read, “scary and sexual.” She then went on to tell us what the record company did when they met Britney at age 16 back in 1998.

First, they put her out in the public eye as an all-American girl. She was featured in ads for Claire’s Accessories in the Just Nikki Magalog for girls. Included was an offer to kids. Kids who responded got some free Britney Spears music. They also sent out Spears samplers with Scholastic Book Club orders. You know that group. They sell books to elementary school kids. Other strategies included giving out a CD sampler at Sunglass Hut, enclosing a free CD inside Seventeen magazine, placing Spears in a Hilfiger ad campaign just after her first album was released, and the placement of a flyer in the back pocket of new pairs of MUDD jeans. Brilliant, huh? It’s all about saturation, or, as the gal from Jive said, working to “cut through the clutter to grab kids’ attention.” Well, it worked. As of May of this year, Spears had sold 60 million records over the course of her career.

In hindsight, what did the folks at Jive records learn about creating a pop star? Here’s what the gal at the conference said: First, you’ve got to have an artist who’s willing to take risks and be unpredictable by pushing the envelope. Thanks for that bit of advice. Now the rest of us can accurately predict that emerging pop stars will be unpredictable, or in other words, always pushing the envelope with new surprises coming around each corner. Second, your artist has to understand his/her audience. Sounds like prerequisite for effective cross-cultural missionary work to me. And third, you have to maintain “edge.” Since kids are naturally in the process of breaking ties from mom and dad, they want their own music and their own stars. How did that work with Britney. We were told that she was initially a darling of mothers of young girls. But as those young girls grew up, they didn’t want to be listening to music that soothed mom’s ears and worries. So, Britney started the process of going over the edge, over and over again. In the words of our friend from Jive, Britney’s success – and the long-term success of any pop star – is that – and I quote – “she’s constantly pissed parents off.”

So now you know Jive Record company’s little secret. So why did I go back to dig around and find my notes from that seminar? Because there was an article in yesterday’s USA Today about an emerging new 16-year-old pop icon by the name of Chris Brown. Somehow that name sounded familiar. My notes told me why. After telling us about Spears, our seminar presenter asked the question, “Who’s the next pop icon on the horizon?” Then she told us. A young man by the name of Chris Brown. She then went on to lay out Jive Records’ plan to unleash young Mr. Brown. It includes turning him into the next Usher.

Why am I telling you all this? Because now you know how the plan works from the inside out. Keep an eye on Jive Records as they do it all over again. Invite your kids to watch along with you.

It feels good to be manipulated, doesn't it? So what is popular isn't really popular because people like it...but because marketing gurus flood us with their 'stuff' so much that we think it's popular.

Fascinating.

*reposted from my myspace blog, original dated January 9, 2006.