Brand managers say 'Happy Birthday, Michael Jackson'

Sheetal Patel - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai

Michael Jackson

No matter how pathologic it sounds, the death of Michael Jackson has given a new lease of life to Hollywood's economy. As in life and in death, everyone associated with the King Of Pop is busy using his brand name to build up their balance sheet. On August 29, MJ would have turned 51.

When he died few weeks ago, the music industry re-launched many albums of Jackson and overnight a few of his songs booked top slots of charts. So much so that even eBay, iTunes and Amazon saw a surge in demand related to Jackson products and merchandise.

Just three days after his son's death, Joe Jackson was spotted on CNN's Red Carpet casually plugging his new record label, Ranch Records. Joe is also lining up Michael's children for a world tour as The Jackson Three in 2010.

Promoting the dead is a very big market in itself. A dead tangible product has all the attributes that are required to make a brand. Barry Silverstein, a marketing consultant and co-author of the McGraw-Hill book, The Breakaway Brand gave his take on the trend to a leading marketing magazine recently.

"I believe using dead celebrities as part of a marketing program is both a short and long-term strategy. It is a short-term because marketers can capitalise immediately on a dead celebrity, who dies, but it's long-term because, as has been proven with Elvis Presley, a dead celebrity's aura can live ten, twenty, or fifty years, thus providing a marketer with an ongoing path to profits." he says.

According to a Televisionpoint.com Intelligence Unit (TIU) report, the top 20 dead celebrities generated $ 412 million in 2007 and a whooping $ 532 million in 2008. Firms like CMG Worldwide and the Richman Agency (now a part of Corbis) buy the intellectual property rights of dead celebrities.

CMG boasts Babe Ruth, James Dean, Jesse Owens, Marilyn Monroe and Rosa Parks, among its clientele. While the Richman Agency has few from non-glam world, CMG and Corbis receive 20 per cent of the profits from any endorsement.

Barry says, "Once a celebrity is gone, they will never act, sing, dance, speak, or perform again and that makes every collectible and every image associated with that person truly valuable." He explains with Elvis Presley's example.

Presley has still not lost his substance and stands firm in this highly competitive world of dead celebrities. According to TIU, around 5,00,000 people visit Presley's home every year and the number is going up only.

Presley has already sold 100 million record albums and around 600 million commemorative Elvis US postage stamps were sold after 20 years of his death. But with Michael Jackson's untimely death, Presley's top slot seems to have found a close competitor.

The media also crashes in on the trail. You simply have to look around at all the ratings-boosting coverage of MJ's death for current evidence. Time magazine has been particularly quick on the uptake. Its special commemorative issue on Jackson sold more than 1.2 million copies.

Even merchandise licensees from around the world have successfully tuned into manufacturing and distributing products using celebs who have passed away. In 2008, Elvis Presley Enterprises was sold by Elvis' daughter, Lisa Marie, for $ 100 million.

It should not come as a surprise therefore if tomorrow it is Michael's Jackson's images and stamps. In the past, Princess Diana dolls had become icons of the Princess after her death. They can still be bought for $ 200 from the Society for the Preservation of History.

Speaking about Marilyn Monroe, more than 40 years after her death, licensing her famous poses and pout have made more than $ 50 million in fees for Anna Strasberg, the wife of Monroe's former acting coach, and her business partner.

Marilyn Monroe's images alone have pulled in more than $ 35 million since her death and $ 15 million in 2008 alone. In 2004, American businessman Robert Sillerman paid Lisa Marie Presley $ 100 million for an 85 per cent stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. And not to miss out on the Monroe frenzy to entice consumers, Mercedes-Benz still features Monroe in some of their ad campaigns.

On the digital front, Twitter and Facebook are first ones to break the news of Jackson's death. Twitter saw up to 5,000 Jackson-related messages being posted per minute and eventually his death emerged as the most discussed subject on the portal. Facebook saw a similar response; with the number of postings tripling during the hour after the news of Jackson's death broke.

In the country too, many events and programming has been centered around Jackson. On August 29, Fox History & Entertainment will premier Devotion, a never-before-seen documentary that takes a candid look at the man behind the enigma, from his debut in the industry through the recent memorial service in Los Angeles.

Vh1, the international music channel from Viacom18, is commemorating Jackson's death with a special on-ground initiative and a contest to find out who is the greatest fan of the legendry musician. The channel has begun 'The Search for Indian's Biggest Michael Jackson Fan' recently.

Also in what can be easily termed as musical history, Seagram's Royal Stag has created a special video 'Make it Large - A tribute to Michael Jackson', to be released on music channels across India on the August 29.

A celebration could not be larger than this one where the best of Indian musicians come together to pay tribute to the genius that is Jackson. Written by Vishal, composed by Vishal and Shekhar, produced by Red Chillies Idiot Box, and directed by Samar Khan 'Make it Large' features Shankar, Shaan, KK, Shreya Ghoshal and Michael's closest dance likeness in India-Prabhudeva.

The video also features testimonials on Michael Jackson from Bollywood's hottest talent; Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Anoushka Sharma, Shahid Kapur, and Yuvraj Singh.