THE TWELVE [MONTHS] OF AMERICAN IDOL…AND BUILDING A BILLION DOLLAR ENTERTAINMENT PROPERTY

As the American Idol machine rolls into Los Angeles today for auditions, I thought it would be a good time to write about the 12 [months] of American Idol, and the brilliant positioning of the American Idol brand as a YEAR LONG property for brands and consumers to participate.  That’s right, you thought Idol was just a series on Fox that aired from Jan – May, but, in fact, the Idol brand is a year round money making machine.

I first had the pleasure of becoming involved with American Idol while at CAA, when they brought a lil show in Britain…called POP IDOL…over to the US.  Not sure if many of you knew this, but 19, the owner of Idol, tried to bring the American version over the pond, but failed to find a buyer.  ABC and others all turned it down.  It wasn’t until 19 decided to partner with FremantleMedia, in what I’ve learned is the 50/50 (for better or worse) that the show was sold to Mike Darnell at FOX (career booster for sure).  So, with the first season well on its way, our job was to begin to think about ways to monetize the American Idol brand “off network,” so the obvious first extension was an Idol Tour, featuring the top ten from that season.  Looking back, I remember, the tour was in jeopardy of never happening (imagine that), unless we were able to secure a presenting sponsor to offset the production costs of the 30-city tour.  I had about three weeks to make this happen, or no tour (no pressure heh).  I’ll never forget getting the call from Laura-Caricolli Davis of Starcom.  I was on location for the first day of the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour (another project we built) at Jones Beach in NY, when she called to say “Pop Tarts is IN,” and for MORE $$ than I had quoted (as the basement fire sale pricing).  That is what is so cool about Laura, Tom and the team at Starcom, they could see the long term value and were willing to make the investment at the infancy stage of the series, and it’s first year touring.  Well, that was [wow] 8-9 years ago, and Kellogg’s Pop Tarts continued to be the presenting sponsor of one of the most successful tours every summer, playing now nearly 70 SOLD OUT shows across the country.  So, this was the first of many “brand extensions” behind the American Idol brand.

After year two, I left CAA to start my own firm that would focus on actually activating the deals we put together.  OK, so it was also the realization that I was NOT an agent, and if I put together a deal, I wanted to see it all the way through to completion, which is the mind of a producer…not an agent.  Then, about a year later, and no longer working on Idol, I was approached by Olivier Gers, who headed up FremantleMedia Enterprises, and asked if I’d like to work with them and 19 on developing the American Idol business beyond the series, or this notion of American Idol being a year-round entertainment property.  It’s his forward thinking that truly re-engaged my team into taking on this challenge…strategically develop new ways to generate revenue with the Idol brand, AND if our ideas worked, we would get to produce them. 

Initially, our team worked closely with the Fremantle and 19 teams on developing an overall strategy around American Idol.  It was not a 360 degree approach, but more of a 365 day approach, meaning, how could consumers and brands participate in the American Idol brand year round. 

We had to think not only “beyond the show” but also beyond the existing sponsors, which included AT&T, Ford and Coca-Cola.  So in analyzing the current assets available throughout the year, our team began developing “new” platforms for generating revenue, not only through compelling extensions from the show, but with additional brand partners as well.

Developing the concepts was the easy part, finding ways to turn them into self-sustaining revenue producing businesses was the challenge.  We looked at the available categories for brand partnerships (e.g. fashion, consumer products, fast food, etc…) and then built full blown multi-platform packages.  We took our ideas, and then matched them to every possible “asset” available to promote the extension, thus bringing the greatest value to a brand partner, resulting in bigger revenue deals.  We built out what will forever be termed the “Wheel of Love” (credit Michele Welch…and congrats to her on her best brand extension yet…her new son…Oliver) to provide a quick snapshot of assets surrounding the Idol brand, which was used to initiate development of new programs:

 

Our success was substantial, and only realized by working so closely with the great folks who were at Fremantle and 19 at the time.  Here come the shout outs…of course, Olivier Gers, who can truly take responsibility for building the Idol franchise, in fact, he was named Entertainment Marketer of the Year for all this great work.  Plus, Shannon Pruitt who ran the integrated/partnerships business, and gave us a long leash to develop “out of the box” ideas, and Keith Hindle, who shared the “big picture” thinking with Olivier, and is now the new CEO of FremantleMedia Enterprises, and Jason Turner, who ran the digital side, including Star Style, which gave consumers the opportunity to buy the fashions seen on the show (which became a pillar to our Idol Style program), and last, but definitely not least, Felicity Carr (aka Flic) who was such an amazing client, as well as friend, and a whole brain thinker.  Flic’s best deal at Fremantle was the partnership with Disney to create the permanent Idol attraction.  In fact, Flic, now married and living in SF, is now part of our multibrain team, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to work with her.

To expand on a few of our successes, I’ll call out the strangest deal, as well as the most creative one.  First, Idol Style, a platform for a fashion oriented brand, which gave consumers the opportunity to purchase the fashion from the show.  We built this plan for Macy’s, an obvious partner, and were well on our way to a deal, until Macy’s went through a major agency shift, which killed the deal.  Enter Patty Ganguzza from AIM Productions (and one of my favorite people in the business), who took the Idol Style program and brought it to ALL detergent…I know, odd heh, but not really.  We retro-fitted the concept to “get the look, keep the look” centered around the fashions of Idol.  ALL Detergent was launching their new product with the main benefit of keeping your clothes looking new longer.  So, ALL became the partner in our Idol Style platform, including custom content and tips from the Idol Stylist Myles Siggins, and a slew of other custom activations and promotions across the Idol assets. 

By far, the most creative and definitely most rewarding platform we created [and produced] was Idol Camp.  The challenge  from Olivier Gers and his team, at the time, was to create an Idol extension that was geared towards a younger demo, say 12-16, being that kids could not audition for Idol until they reached the age of 16.  We wanted to create something important, educational and FUN.  Thus, Idol Camp was born, and during a hot August in Massachusetts we produced the first ever Idol Camp, complete with 300 kids from all over the country, past Idols and a group of impressive educators.  The Idol Camp extension was a huge success, and included brand partners as well, including:  Apple, Sony, Coca-Cola (w/Dasani Water) and Kellogg’s who provided the healthy snacks. The success was also noted in Variety, who name Idol Camp as one of the “best extensions to come off a television show” in 2007.

The American Idol machine probably has more revenue streams than any other entertainment brand in the world.  Billion dollar properties are rare, but amazing to experience.  The examples I’ve written about in this story are just a mere tip of the iceberg, but critical in sustaining the Idol brand and further engaging it audience.  The Idol machine generates its multi-billion dollars with:

• Sale of format in 38 countries around the World
• International distribution of the US version
• Licensing and merchandise (a story unto itself)
• Digital, including profitable website, mobile and lucrative ITunes partnership
• Property extentions, including the Tour, Camp, Idol Gives Back and other television “offshoots” (e.g. Idol Tonight, Idol Rewind, etc…)
• For 19, management and record label for chosen Idols (which then leads to all of their own extensions)
• and the beat goes on…

If you’d like to learn more about what the team at multibrain can do for your entertainment property, please visit our website at www.multibrain.net, and we’d be more than happy to schedule a [brain]storm, which is always free.  Thanks for taking the time to check out this post, and we welcome your comments and thoughts.