Celebrity clothing lines: establishing fans while building the brand

Question:  If you’re a celebrity, what can you do to make even more money, explore your creativity and develop a broader fan base?

 

Answer: Start your own clothing line.

Whether we believe it or not, we’re influenced by celebrities every day. We watch them on TV, listen to their songs on the radio and God forbid, read about them on perezhilton.com. But above all of that, we are drawn to them because most of these celebrities are fashion icons. We love their hair, their make-up and their expensive designer duds. So it’s only natural they realize this admiration and decide to make a quick buck off of it.

These clothing lines are no best-kept secret, though. Celebrities thought of the idea long ago, but it seems like more and more of them have caught on to the idea and have taken it to the next level. Those at Couture in the City noticed yet another celebrity caught on to the buzz. Everything from the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Jessica Simpson lines to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Sean John and Justin Timberlake’s William Rast brands have reached a variety of consumers nationwide.

 

Although these five celebrities are five of many who have jumped on the clothing line bandwagon, they all, in my opinion, have three important things in common: they know their consumers, what their consumers want and how to get it to them.

 

Fashion message vs. PR message

 

I can’t help but look at these three things from a PR perspective and compare them to our three most important criteria when delivering a message: knowing your audience (consumers) your objectives (what consumers what) and channel (how to get it to them.) These celebrities had to establish these three criteria in order to launch a successful brand just like we in the PR industry must establish our three criteria in order to deliver a message to the appropriate publics.

 

The Perfect Example

 

Take Mary-Kate and Ashley, my personal role models since I was 6. These women have captured girls’ attention across the world and have developed one of the strongest fan bases I have ever seen. They knew they could launch a clothing line for tweens (girls ages 7-12) and toddlers and see a positive response. (Knowing the audience)

 

They also took into consideration what these girls want, so they marketed trendy clothes made for smaller bodies, along with everything from matching headbands to nail polish. (Knowing the objective)

 

But most importantly, Mary-Kate and Ashley knew they could market their line at Wal-Mart because it was affordable and available to key consumers. (Knowing the channel)

 

Although launching a successful brand isn’t easy, I’m sure most of these celebrities will tell you it comes down to the basics. I think it’s the same for us in the PR industry. Once you sit down and decide who you want to reach, what you want to accomplish and the best ways to get the word out, the rest will fall into place.

 

Check out last Christmas’ “Magic of Macys” commercial to see some of the celebrities mentioned above.