Reaching For The Stars

When marketing a product, company, or in my case a non-profit organization, there comes a time when you might want to leverage the power of a celebrity. Whether its through strategic and prime product placement in a film (such that any viewer will want to run to the nearest store to purchase whatever it was that Robert Pattinson was drinking instead of human blood in the latest Twilight movie); or scouting out that perfect celebrity spokesperson whose appeal spans the general and ethnic consumer markets, who actually loves your brand, and is 100% willing to develop an ad campaign with you without compensation; star power can move the masses.
[Sigh]
If it was only as easy as writing this paragraph. Celebrities are a rare breed and getting them to work and speak well on behalf of your product or company can be a daunting task.

I just spent three days in Los Angeles for work. I was there for an event that involved many moving pieces and targets, but whether it was the preparation before, the managing during, or the celebrating after, each step involved shielding my eyes from the blinding aura of the twinkling stars of Hollywood.

On Thursday night we went to dinner at a steakhouse called The Palm. The pre-event networking dinner involved multiple agencies and some of the Mommy bloggers who would be writing about the Charity the next day. The restaurant was located next door to Laker stadium, which was hosting one of the first games of the season. As I sat there, shifting and balancing conversations between diapers, access to healthcare and Big Macs, I kept sneaking glances of the big screen TV next to me, which pinpointed the bevy of celebrities present at the game. Heather Locklear, Zack Efron, and Jack Nicholson were all in attendance, all right next door. Oh, the potential excitement of actually running into the ranks of the glitteratti.

The next day the excitement increased when I actually came in contact with a set of minor celebrities. The following day, my work event involved three celebrities: Billy Bush, Dayanara Torres, and the one and only Ronald McDonald. Mustering up and managing these three people took several PR agencies, nannies, scripts, and security, all of which ultimately ended in minor chaos. My claim to fame that day, I got to help watch Billy Bush's children.

That night as the sun set over the Hollywood Hills, I woke up from a power nap and attended a "networking meeting" between the people I traveled with and a local event management company at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. I kind of rolled my eyes when I passed through the man with a clipboard, the garage full of the most expensive cars I had ever seen, and the lobby filled with strung out, super skinny, model-type figures. But when we went outside to the courtyard, the atmosphere became more relaxed and normal. That is, until I removed my focus from ordering a glass of wine and consuming it quickly, to looking around. To my right was John Legend and Nicky Hilton, in front of me Amy Pohler, Megan Mullaley, Rashida Jones, and other SNL cast members, catty-corner to them some Gossip Girls, and then to my left (my ultimate celebrity siting), Lindsey Lohan getting cozy next to Jason Segal (big tall comedian from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Man's Best Friend, and Knocked Up.)

Everyone around me remained pretty cool, casual and focused on their beverages. I, on the other hand, was star STRUCK. I think I actually wiped away a tear when I did a double take of Lindsey Lohan. What the heck?! Why was I so inspired, awe-struck, in-heaven?! This was ridiculous and actually with the exception of John Legend, I really wasn't that big of a fan of these people's work on or off the screen. I also don't think ANY of them would have made stellar celebrity spokespeople, especially for a Charity. However, as Lindsey walked by in her shimmery spandex revealing her stick thin legs, mile high booties, skull cap hiding her stringy blond hair, and leather jacket I suddenly felt like I had to have every piece of the ensemble.

When I got home I couldn't wait to tell my boyfriend about my amazing evening. As I rattled off the names, reliving the sheer bliss of seeing the celebrities at play, I realized that I was going to be greeted with the response, "I have no idea who any of those people are."
Yep.
Fact.
That is the person that I love.
He got a bigger kick out of my tweeny-bopper excitement than out of the celeb sitings. Alas, I had became a name-dropper, hoping to achieve some sort of recognition from being associated with the A-listers.

This sense of celebrity and name dropping can infect the work place just as much as it has my dreams the past couple of nights. Business can largely be a game of who's who and who you know. We also currently place an equal amount of celebrity status on corporate officers as we do on personalities like Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, and Branjenlina. (A for instance: when a certain CEO said "hello ladies" in my general direction during a recent gala, I almost swooned.) In business school, I was literally encouraged to pencil off every Friday as time for building key business relationships.

We live in a culture that will always be fascinated by the rich, famous, talented and troublesome; where success is aligned with celebrity status, and where we are encouraged to network to move into the upper echelons of society. We also praise those who have relationships with a celebrity, an officer, a politician, or an inside informant from the competition, as our unique gateway into an exclusive world. So, how as confident professionals who want to avoid the syrupy suck-up to the stars game, do we make our presence known in business decisions? Do we hope that someone will miraculously take notice of our talent? Probably not, because most likely you'll be waiting forever and be stuck in the rut of B playerdom for the rest of your corporate career.

Not all of us are bound for celebrity status in this world, and that's okay, because the B players are equally important in the fabric of corporate America as the A players. However, for those who have identified a differentiating quality in the way you work or what you produce, I encourage you to self-promote, rather than to rely on the associative properties of the stars. Individuals and products that work their way up without a celebrity spokesperson or corporate escort have a greater chance of making a lasting impact. Celebrities come in and out of favor; We applaud and boo them, dig into their scandalous behavior, and listen attentively only until their messages become irrelevant. When one comes into the limelight, another one's fifteen minutes of fame dwindles. (Trust me, you don't want to be on that ship when it is quietly forced out of the company.) Networking in business should be about education - we should learn from a leader's successes and failures, and take heed when navigating our own career trajectory.

On Friday evening, Jason Segal whispered to Megan Mullaley, "Don't judge me because I'm with Lindsey." (I overheard because they were standing right behind me.) This mistake in Segal's networking, especially when while running in such high-profile circles, could be devastating. And the last thing he or anyone wants is to fall out of favor with the funny people - because there will always be a place within the in-crowd for them. http://www.people.com/people/videos/whatyoumissedovertheweekend/


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