With the total amount of social media fans across different platforms (Twitter: 51 million followers (1), Facebook: 66 million likes (2) and Instagram: 15 million followers (3)) exceeding the population of Japan (which currently has around 127 million inhabitants), Justin Bieber is arguably the most popular person on the planet. With this popularity come a lot of perks: the best perks according to regular human beings are the endorsement deals that the Canadian superstar signs on a regular basis. One of these deals was to design his personal nail polish called ‘One Less Lonely Girl’. Certainly this was worth around $12,500,000 (4).
Since almost all major brands engage in this behavior, these celebrity endorsement deals must give the brand something in return. However, not every company has a spare $163.75 million in cash to endorse athletes (or other celebrities) like Nike does (5). So what can the smaller companies do to get the same exposure as these large global brands? Because those smaller companies can simply not afford to sponsor the superstars of today, it seems that they can only hope and pray that somebody like Justin Bieber enters their store and purchases their product. If he then writes an objective review about the product on one of his social media platforms, a logical consequence seems that the owner of the smaller company will be able to retire at an early age.
I am a master student with a background in business administration from a respected university. I have worked out an amazing idea to make sure the world is a sustainable place to live and not one person in the world will suffer from hunger. Also, I am well on my way to beat AIDS and infant mortality. This all seems like great news, however there is a downside to it: in order for this project to succeed I do not need funds and therefore I do not need this platform, or you creative input. ‘Why?’ you may wonder. This is because Chris Anderson was right about one thousand years ago. “Every industry that becomes digital, eventually becomes free”. These were his famous words. With everything now being digital, everything is free. So will be my solutions to these global issues. All in all, I want to thank you for your previous commitments but your financial input is no longer necessary. Hakuna Matata.”
This is certainly an extreme outlook on the future but it could possibly be the last post on Kickstarter in the year 3000 if Chris Anderson’s theory proves to be correct. No more expensive investor management, no more creator incompetence and certainly no more failure to facilitate welfare-enhancing transactions by the market (1). Rather a shift in the economy “from a focus on only that which can be quantified in dollars and cents to a more realistic accounting of all the things we truly value today” (2). Continue reading Crowdfunding: only 986 years left?→
Today, almost anybody in the world will recognize the logo of the ‘Two Golden Arcs’. This restaurant does not always have a positive image in everybody’s mind. Mediocre quality, fa(s)t food and probably even the extremely hot coffee are negative things associated with this brand. No, McDonald’s does not have the healthiest image. Is that entirely Donald Thompson’s, current CEO of McDonald’s, mistake? The answer is no; society even contributes to further develop this brand. Continue reading Large Groups Contributing to Large Firms→
Consumer Value Creation 