Artists "Only Popular Until After You're Dead"

February 11, 2012, the world lost an icon.  Whitney Houston was found dead in her Hotel Room at which she was staying while visiting Los Angeles.  Whitney's wonderful voice brought her to the highest of fame, and also the lowest points in her life through drug abuse and instability.  In her life, Whitney's career earner 415 out of the 562 awards in which she was nominated for.  Due to her personal troubles, Whitney took a backseat to the fame to deal with personal issues surrounding scandal and drug abuse. After her death, her success seemed to go off the charts again with an outstanding resurgence of popularity. Her greatest hit "I Will Always Love You" originally written by Dolly Parton has climbed the charts and her record sales have soared.  Michael Jackson also showed extreme popularity post-mortem, despite his infamous public scandals, bringing in 8 million dollars in the United States and 20-30 million world wide.  Both artists will always be remembered for their unbelievable talent, however in their last years they had slipped out of the public eye.  The media has been on a frenzy, constantly blowing up tabloids of the singer's death and speculated causes of death and making thousands off of photographs.  It is interesting to see how this trend will effect the music market in the future.

"..And Who Are You Wearing?"

Late winter, early spring... A time of cold, snow and clothes.  It is a time that sends the fashion world into overdrive.  Designers' collections transform from garments into art and from art into promotions.  Celebrities unknowingly become spokespersons as the world observes their every move.  New York Fashion Week and the various entertainment award events are the pinnacle of every designer's year.  A fashion show is, quite literally a giant advertising opportunity for the fashion industry.  Buyers from all over the world, fashion magazine editors, other designers, stylists and celebrities are among the guests invited to view the collections at fashion week.  Buyers are looking for the next fashion inspiration to stock their racks with, fashion editors are looking to find the next big trend to announce to the world, other designers view their competition while stylists and celebrities preview their potential wardrobes.  Fashion week is an actual event created for designers to forecast trends and show their creations, but is the world realizing that it is also a huge marketing ploy? Over 100,000 people attend, and at least 4000 are with the press the world fashion markets are changed to reflect the styles displayed.  With each new trend comes a new twist to the market, think Ugg Boots, leggings and skinny jeans.  Before these were deemed "stylish" at one time or another there was virtually no market for them.  Since then there have been hundreds of Ugg-inspired designs, shirts made for paring with leggings and the end of the "boot cut" era was marked by the beginning of the Skinny Jean age.  The fashion market is constantly changing, and is fueled by New York Fashion Week.
Secondly comes the various entertainment award ceremonies like the Grammys, Academy Awards, Tonys and the Oscars.  The Red Carpet transforms into an advertisement platform as celebrities enter the event and are asked "Who are you wearing?" with every one hoping to be named "best dressed".  However, it is not really the celebrity who wins the title, but the designer.  In that moment, each celebrity becomes an unpaid spokesman for that designer's collections be it vintage Jean-Paul Gaultier or Christian Seriano. The Red Carpet manages to achieve what so many companies around the world wish they could do.  It secures a genuine high quality promotion with use of a familiar face that people would relate to, all for free!  What other industry do you know that a celebrity could genuinely endorse a product they are fond of without compensation?  There clearly is more than meets the eye going on in the fashion world today.

Leap vs. Bucket

By now, most people have heard of a "Bucket List" originating from the 2007 movie staring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. A "Bucket List" has now become part of popular culture as a list of things one would like to accomplish before they die... or "kick the bucket". 

Recently, Honda has launched a new campaign which plays off the new popularity of lists of goals.  They created a "Leap List".  It is very similar to a Bucket List, but instead of having a morbid end such as death, it is a list to be completed before you make the next big leap in life (like getting married, buying a house, having kids....).  They use this campaign to market their Honda CR-V, an SUV small enough to be for a couple but still large enough to get the job done.  It is a "cross-over" type of car which is reflected in their campaign.  A cross-over in life is a kind of transition, and their campaign reflects this by encouraging consumers to have this car before they are done transitioning into a new phase of their lives.  

The website for this campaign is also made to draw the consumer in.  Its catchy design and interactive layout guide visitors to create a leap list of their own and enter a contest to win a Honda CR-V of their own!

http://automobiles.honda.com/leap-list/dashboard/

check it out!