Effective Project Management = Effective Brand Management

Brand Management, Brand Positioning, and Project Management are all specific categories, relating to how a team rolls-out and sustains a project. A group new to the entertainment business can benefit greatly by learning from the examples of other successful teams in the industry.

Two substantial examples of effective brand management are: Oprah and Dr. Phil. What constitutes the two individual people as a brand, or furthermore, a successful brand, you ask?

Both, Oprah and her brand are commonly referred to as a cultural ambassador. The embraces the positive in situations and opens doors to the public’s imagination, instead of clouding up their brain with useless non-sense and white-trash drama.

Oprah is also known as an innovator, being the first talk show host to encourage the public to read and understand literature, as well as positively endorsing different forms of positive entertainment. Oprah has over 20 years in the television-entertainment business and has built a loyal, dedicated following from her hard work and external organizations by also promoting the value of education, experience and life lessons.

Oprah is looked up to as a strong person. She’s placed her brand positioning in a way that best represents who she is and what she’s interested in. The majority of her interests involve helping people. This makes her approach very unique and even more powerful because of the already existing support for her show and brands.

A few of Oprah’s ventures include: Oprah magazine, Oprah Radio and the Angel Network. All made possible by her career success as a journalist, entrepreneur, talk show host and humanitarian.  Now, with her own television network, her brand, positioning, and team management strategies have been proven second to none.

Another personality, along with his team, that is creating a large, diverse media brand, as an: author, singer, TV host, chef, actor, etc. is Dr. Phil.  Since the launch of his show in 2002, the second biggest launch since the Oprah show, he has made many branches; writing books, giving financial advice, launching other television shows (including: The Dr. Phil House, The Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge, Anatomy of a Divorce and the Brandon Intervention) along with opening the Dr. Phil Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization that helps children and families at risk, as well as overcoming tremendous obstacles.

Seeing the massif amount of accomplishment from both of the teams associated with positioning these two personalities where they are in the media industry, there is absolutely no doubt that any serious management team, regardless of their forte, can learn many great things from following these two corporate examples.

The Future of Effective Cross Promotions and Brand Management

One of the many great things about the modern world of the entertainment business, is the ability to cross promote brands and brand images, in a way that transcends the traditional approaches to public reach. Take, for instance, the new Kia Optima commercial staring the rock group Motley Crue, in this commercial, the group performs their song “Kickstart My Heart” in a dream sequence of a person driving high-speed laps around a race track for bikini-clad supermodels; all because of the sandman falling over his bedroom shoes.

Normally, a potential car buyer would never think they would see a rock group doing such a commercial; nor, would anyone believe this approach would excite anyone enough to want to rush out and buy a brand new Kia; however, though the proper concept, planning, advertising platform, and management execution, all of the elements can come together in a way that is completely unique and unexpected.

How does a company, or great management company make this type of almost impossible venture happen, you ask? Through great project development and planning. What is the one thing a mega-successful group like Motley Crue would want to gain by doing a car commercial and why? The answer is simple, “Promotion” and what is known in the advertising world as “Reach”.

Motley Crue just announced their month-long residency at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. This twelve show stent is the first of its kind for the band and has to compete with acts that include: “Cirque du Soleil”, “Blue Man Group”, and “Chris Angel”, just to name a few. Knowing the value of advertising during the Super Bowl, the car manufacturer and management company of the group were not only able to create a 26 million-viewer buzz through social media, but anticipates an expected 100 million more sets of eyes and ears, all within a 60 second span.

This a tremendous success for both teams involved (Artist Management Team, and Kia Brand Management Team). According to Lawrence G. of the Financial Times, It is said that making the strategies work, is much harder than making the strategies themselves. Typically managers are trained to plan, not to execute; therefore, the execution of this very strategic plan is the absolute key to the idea’s success.

Another example, in recent entertainment business news, is the announcement of the joint venture between: Mel Gibson, Fox, and Direct TV test marketing a video on demand method for the upcoming release of “Get the Gringo”. This film is scheduled to completely bypass theaters and be distributed exclusively for home viewing.

According to Deadline.com the planning and execution stages of this undertaking have been a long process, resulting in the agreement with Dish Network to handle the On Demand aspects. Based around the twenty-plus years Direct TV has in digital distribution, and their aggressive marketing strategies, all of the planning and development teams from each company have spend a great deal of time with their project leaders, time-lining and charting the movie’s release strategies.

Great team leaders, managers, and strategic planners, understand the importance of a diverse set of teams, experienced forecasters, and willingness to take chances when exploring new frontiers of media; however, the best of the best are usually the front-runners of the industry all working toward one common goal.