Kanye West’s breakup with Gap Inc.
reflects a broader trend of celebrities seeking more control over the brands they create or support.
Mr. West belongs to an elite group of superstars with the following and the resources to plausibly succeed without a major consumer goods brand as a partner, but celebrities who continue to work with brands also claim new roles and influences in these relationships. According to some celebrity marketing experts, celebrities as a whole have been bolstered in part by the rise of social media, which offers them direct connections to their fans.
“Kanye has a very unique take on a lot of things, so it’s hard to really call him a representative of a movement,” said Doug Shabelman, CEO of Burns Entertainment, a company that matches celebrities with businesses to get endorsements and other opportunities. But in this case, Mr Shabelman said the friction between Mr West and Gap was part of a larger development in the world of celebrity marketing. “It’s a trend in terms of talent, celebrities, musicians, influencers, wanting to wield more creative control than they’re given,” he said.
Mr. West “doesn’t need these companies,” said Anjali S. Bal, associate professor of marketing at Babson College. “And we see a lot of celebrities saying, ‘Yeah, I don’t need you because I have a big enough brand that I can do it myself.’ And they do.
Gap is ending its partnership with Mr. West, saying the company and the rapper and designer are not aligned on how they work together, according to a memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. West officially informed Gap on Thursday that his fashion brand Yeezy LLC was ending its partnership with the clothing chain. A letter from Mr West’s lawyers said Gap breached the agreement by not delivering clothes and opening retail stores as planned.
The moves follow Mr West’s complaints on social media about the Gap deal and a similar pact he struck with Adidas. AG
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An Instagram clip last month showed Mr West, known as Ye, telling Gap executives: “You really have to give me the position to be Ye and let me do what I think, or I have to think somewhere else. ”
In recent years, celebrities have created a host of now well-known businesses.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop has become a household name since its inception as a newsletter in 2008. And actress Jessica Alba co-founded eco-friendly consumer goods company Honest Co.
in 2012, with the company going public in 2021.
More recently, tennis champion Naomi Osaka launched a media company last year called Hana Kuma in partnership with SpringHill Co., an entertainment company co-founded by LeBron James.
Kim Kardashian said last week that she was launching a private equity firm focused on investing and building consumer and media companies with a former Carlyle Group associate. Inc.
It’s not one or the other when it comes to the types of relationships celebrities are looking for.
As well as Mr. James’ production company and stakes in other ventures, the basketball great also has trademark deals, including a lifetime endorsement deal with Nike. Inc.
But stars who sign deals with established brands want more of a say. Some have openly stated that they leave brands, for example, when they feel that these brands do not reflect their values. Runner Alysia Montaño slammed Nike in 2019 after she said the company told her she would suspend her contract if she became pregnant, and she eventually changed sponsors and signed with Asics.
At the time, Nike said it was adding language to new contracts for female athletes that would protect their wages during pregnancy, and said it recognized it could do more to support female athletes.
Meanwhile, more companies, from pizza chain Papa John’s International Inc.
at marketing technology company Amperity Inc., have named celebrities to their boards as part of broader celebrity deals.
“The days of the Wheaties box or L’Oreal hair advertising and standard stuff like that are over, because in those days around the world, the audience was big, singular entities,” said Joe Gagliese, co-founder and managing director. of Viral Nation, a talent and marketing agency. “What is society [media] did, it’s decentralized.
Dimi Albers, chief executive of technology and marketing services firm Dept, said in many cases celebrities are becoming their own direct-to-consumer brands, rather than just vessels for brands to reach a celebrity’s audience. .
“Once they start investing in other businesses, they can use their own channels as a retail channel to create more revenue for the brands they care about,” Albers said. “It becomes this flywheel.”
He cited as an example actor Ryan Reynolds, who markets brands such as Mint Mobile and Aviation Gin, in which he is interested, along with Maximum Effort, the production company and marketing agency he co-founded. (The marketing side of Maximum Effort merged with ad tech company MNTN in 2021.)
There are limits. While celebrities may want certain levels of control when working with massive brands, some may not have the necessary experience.
““Those who have this audience at this scale and this magnitude with this level of control will eventually come out and stop a lot of these brand partnerships, because it’s not in their best interest.””
“A lot of times talent thinks they have all the answers,” said Mr. Shabelman, CEO of Burns Entertainment. “But the company may have years of experience to know what sells and what doesn’t, it may have advertising companies, it may have PR companies, it may have digital companies that do lots of research, years of experience.”
And old-school endorsements still make sense for many celebrities and brands. The most recent Super Bowl, for example, was again a parade of celebrities selling products from big companies in categories ranging from automobiles to snacks.
Many celebrities outside the top echelon of popularity don’t have the audience size to stand on their own and need to be supplemented by outside brands and agencies, Gagliese said.
“For the average celebrity, you’re not going to see them doing those kinds of activities or taking those kinds of positions. If anything, it’s actually going to be detrimental to them,” Gagliese said.
But for megastars in particular, it’s increasingly a different story.
“Those who have this audience at this scale and this magnitude with this level of control will eventually come out and stop a lot of these brand partnerships, because it’s not in their best interest,” Gagliese said. “I think some of these unicorn talents that have digital armies behind them, the Joe Rogans, the [Rihannas]the Kanyes, they’re starting to understand that, ‘Hey, I’ve got the upper hand.’ »
Write to Megan Graham at [email protected]
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