Celebrity marketing is a major business. Artists, musicians, chefs, CEOs, financiers and other professionals can all become celebrities through clever marketing. Some people have done a masterful job of marketing themselves and becoming global celebrities – think of David Beckham, Bono, Jordan and Carla Bruni. Within the United Kingdom, chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson have all become household names, with their own brands of restaurants, cookbooks and kitchen utensils.
Similarly, Spanish actors Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, who were national celebrities in their native Spain, became global celebrities after working in Hollywood in English-speaking films. Celebrity culture is embedded in contemporary European culture, with nearly 3 million celebrity magazines sold each week in Britain, compared with 7.5 million in the United States, a country with five times the population.
Kate Moss, the English supermodel, launched her 5th line of clothing for Topshop in March 2008. Topshop credits the use of her name and designs with boosting Topshop sales by more than 10 per cent.20 Another example is Virgin’s CEO Richard Branson, who was famous as a CEO but became a global celebrity after he attempted to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air balloon. Management consultant Tom Peters, himself a master at self-branding, has advised each person to become a ‘brand’.
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