In the celebrity world,
image is everything. If you have a mishap, a bad hair day or just are caught
off guard, your picture can wind up in the front of the newest issue of US Weekly. Public Relations firms are brought into play, to
ensure that celebrity’s careers aren’t completely ruined by a mistake that
person made the night before.
Being a major Public
Relations firm for celebrities is not an easy gig; you are in control of that person’s
image, which makes up their career. In a drop of a hat, you can get fired if
their image is not pleasing to the public eye. As of today these are the top 5
Celebrity PR firms: (http://celebrity-pr.toppragencies.com/best-celebrity-public-relations-firms)
1. Uproar PR (Orlando, FL)
2. Indra Public Relations
(New York, NY)
3. 5W Public Relations (New
York, NY)
4. RF Binder Partners (New York,
NY)
5. Ruder Finn Inc. (New York,
NY)
To become a top 5
celebrity PR firm, companies such as these companies need to make sure they
stay on top of their game, and follow their clients every move. The whole
purpose of a celebrity’s job is to look good, promote a brand and be at the right
place at the right time. If you notice a lot of celebrities go unnoticed if
they are at clubs or bars, and most don’t cause a scene because their publicists
know how to play the game, but for example if you are Amanda
Bynes who is constantly in the
news for messing up, then that is a case in where a PR firm needs to sweep in
to save her image and in Amanda’s case, even save her.
I interned over the summer
for a very well known news station on Long Island: News 12. At the
station I worked for the promotions department, which organizes events. For one
event I was in contact with Theresa Caputo, from TLC’s hit show “The Long Island Medium.” We wanted to book her
to come in and do a reading for the staff at News 12, and also film it to air
for one of the news segments. My role in
the process was dealing with her PR personnel; the company was called “Grand
Productions.” Through working with
a Publicist for a “Long Island Celebrity,” I realized that this wasn’t
something the company didn’t take loosely.
Leading up to the event we
met with the company three separate times. I had to make sure everything was in
order for Theresa’s arrival. It really gave me a taste of how stressful and
serious booking a celebrity talent is. Even for a small television star, the
amount of stress and anticipation leading up to the event was high, I could
only imagine how it would be for a big name celebrity. It also gave me a taste
of how it is to deal with a high-end client, and it made me look forward to
working at hopefully one of these popular celebrity PR firms.
It is so important for celebrities to work
with a PR company that suits there needs. For example Kim Kardashian recently
left her publicist Jill Fritzo and
switched over to Slate PR. Sources told the New York Post that the reality star made the
jump to the new representation because
she "wants
to set herself apart from the Kardashian PR machine, and Kanye West advised
her to build her own team.”
This is a bold move for Kim, since
her moneymaking revolves around her show, which is based on her family. I
believe she wanted to separate herself from being known for her sex tape, her
short-term marriage and her reality show, because she wants to expand her
brand. Being in this industry, you always have to make changes to make your
image better and surprise your fans, to keep up in the news and gossip columns.
This is a smart career move for her, since she is recently engaged and a new
mom, by listening to Kanye this move can really benefit her image, and change
her around for the better, already in such a short time, she has gained more
respect.
1 comment:
This was an interesting article especially since I often am on the other end, with people reaching out to me to get one our our News 12 talents to come to one of their events. Even being a local station we have to be careful of what events they are seen at and how they interact with the public.
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