FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
August 8, 2005
Andy Warhol on Celebrity
"In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes."
Warhol may have had it right during the heydays of broadcast television and mass marketing but in today's multimedia, culturally diverse and highly fragmented marketplace, you should subscribe to the wisdom of the Scottish artist Momus:
"In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people."
I recently spoke for a large state association and, while mingling with the crowd after my presentation, I noticed a line of people waiting to be photographed with a young man in a suit. I had no idea who this guy was, nor did he appear to be anyone "special." Being curious, I walked up and asked the last person in line what the hubbub was all about.
"He’s the guy in our association's billboards and TV commercials," she exclaimed.
Wow! Think about that. We used to line up to get Sinatra or Ted William's autograph. Now we jockey for position to meet the guy who appears in our local advertising. What does this have to do with business and being a fast company? Everything.
In the good old days we introduced a few new products or services and then tried to sell them to as many people as possible. We craved the holy grail of marketing: top of mind awareness. This way of operating finally produced way too many similar options and not enough time for people to evaluate and choose among them. It also tended to dilute the strength of the brand's relationship with its customers. Right, GM? It was simply too easy to switch to something new and "better."
Today the game is all about going deep, with highly relevant products and services and particularly information, into a unique subculture. Forget about things like reach and frequency. The future of branding is collaboration with -- and for -- a passionate subculture of like-minded people. It's no longer wise to be famous for fifteen minutes. Mass market celebrity is fleeting. Instead, become famous to fifteen people.
P.S. Stay passionate! And thanks Heath for allowing me to share my views with your audience.
Posted by Tom Asacker at August 8, 2005 11:43 AM | Category: blogjam 2005 |
3 Comments
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This is very true when you think about our individual blogospheres as well. When I talk about Jeff Jarvis or Seth Godin or Hugh Macleod or Dave Winer (etc etc) to people who aren't bloggers or into online marketing, I get blank looks.
"But they are FAMOUS!" I think...then I remember that they are famous to a very specific group of people, which is really, all that matters.
And for these 15 people its not so much fame that matters, but credibility !
Andy Warhol in 1979:
"I'm bored with that line. I never use it anymore. My new line is, 'In fifteen minutes everybody will be famous.'"