Is Hiring A Celebrity Brain Surgery? No But You Can Lose Your Mind!

I am often drawn to all of these so called experts that have LinkedIn pages that are chock full of self created experiences and “expertise.” It’s almost comical. Whether they are at a big firm or a boutique agency, do they really understand what the client needs? Or is it a classic example of a middleman working for a commission?

I see this stuff all day long. Broken companies limping to me with the failure that was created by an outsourcer taking a check and not doing the job. With crowdfunded companies becoming more and more of a reality in the small and emerging business sector looking for celebrities to lead the way, they are like ducks flying over a duck blind, easy prey!

But it isn’t just the emerging businesses that are being taken for a ride when it comes to celebrity acquisition. I was speaking with someone just yesterday with a serious CV working with several Fortune 100 companies in the past, having zero idea of what they were doing. This is both a blessing and a curse!

The curse is that as in most things in life, history does repeat itself. So, a mid level CMO making uneducated decisions on who to utilize for their celebrity talent needs and which famous person best fits their objects and demographics will be destined to feel that pain of failure over and over again! This addiction to stupidity is curable but it would take an act of Congress for most of these early adopters on doing things the wrong way, to right the ship!

Additionally, I am finding PR agencies so addicted to a celebrity’s social media scores they forget to understand how the word INFLUENCE is derived and utilized. Reviewing someone’s thoughts in 144 characters or a picture of a product in their social media feed does not make a truly influential program all the time! I must be getting old because every time I get a new business call from a PR firm, it feels like I am speaking to one of my kids, no disrespect to my kids. I don’t blame this on poor parenting or even sub-par training programs at the agencies that hire these newbie professional PR experts. Nope, I place the blame on the universities and colleges that are having PR and social media classes taught by former “executives and industry leaders.”

Most of the professors at these colleges couldn’t explain why Honey Boo Boo wouldn’t work for a company selling education! They would have zero practical application when it comes to buying Talent or even knowing how a celebrity campaign works.

So in the end, hiring a celebrity isn’t brain surgery, but the more and more I listen to the uninformed I am convinced that maybe that’s just what the doctor ordered. Otherwise I just might lose my mind!

I am often drawn to all of these so called experts that have LinkedIn pages that are chock full of self created experiences and “expertise.” It’s almost comical. Whether they are at a big firm or a boutique agency, do they really understand what the client needs? Or is it a classic example of a middleman working for a commission?

I see this stuff all day long. Broken companies limping to me with the failure that was created by an outsourcer taking a check and not doing the job. With crowdfunded companies becoming more and more of a reality in the small and emerging business sector looking for celebrities to lead the way, they are like ducks flying over a duck blind, easy prey!

But it isn’t just the emerging businesses that are being taken for a ride when it comes to celebrity acquisition. I was speaking with someone just yesterday with a serious CV working with several Fortune 100 companies in the past, having zero idea of what they were doing. This is both a blessing and a curse!

The curse is that as in most things in life, history does repeat itself. So, a mid level CMO making uneducated decisions on who to utilize for their celebrity talent needs and which famous person best fits their objects and demographics will be destined to feel that pain of failure over and over again! This addiction to stupidity is curable but it would take an act of Congress for most of these early adopters on doing things the wrong way, to right the ship!

Additionally, I am finding PR agencies so addicted to a celebrity’s social media scores they forget to understand how the word INFLUENCE is derived and utilized. Reviewing someone’s thoughts in 144 characters or a picture of a product in their social media feed does not make a truly influential program all the time! I must be getting old because every time I get a new business call from a PR firm, it feels like I am speaking to one of my kids, no disrespect to my kids. I don’t blame this on poor parenting or even sub-par training programs at the agencies that hire these newbie professional PR experts. Nope, I place the blame on the universities and colleges that are having PR and social media classes taught by former “executives and industry leaders.”

Most of the professors at these colleges couldn’t explain why Honey Boo Boo wouldn’t work for a company selling education! They would have zero practical application when it comes to buying Talent or even knowing how a celebrity campaign works.

So in the end, hiring a celebrity isn’t brain surgery, but the more and more I listen to the uninformed I am convinced that maybe that’s just what the doctor ordered. Otherwise I just might lose my mind!