Conception d'une icône
Posté par Paula Fan Club
LE PROFESSIONNEL DE LA RENOMMÉE
ASIE DU SUD EST GLOBE
www.sea-globe.com
PAR Cameron Cooper
Date de publication: 10 Novembre 2009 EDITION
SEA GLOBE est la principale source des nouvelles de langue anglaise, vues, et la vie au Cambodge, THAÏLANDE, VIETNAM, et le Laos.
Paula Taylor, Modèle le plus abouti de la Thaïlande et Geoff Heydt, un représentant du talent, expliquer comment rendre un visage très célèbre.
Cinq jeux de faux cils clin d'œil à partir d'une boîte en plastique transparent. Un sac à bandoulière grandes farci aux bombes aérosols, pinceaux, des clips et des produits chimiques de quoi faire sauter une ville était évasée ouverte sur la table à côté d'énormes palettes de maquillage et pinceaux en poils de vison. Un homme et une femme fourré et poussé une femme au calme dans une chaise qui était sereinement l'envoi de messages sur un Blackberry.
La personne au centre de ces ministrations était Paula Taylor, une femme dont le visage a brillé de mille panneaux publicitaires, couvertures de magazine, les téléviseurs et les écrans de cinéma en Thaïlande et dans plusieurs autres pays d'Asie du Sud depuis plus d'une décennie.
Le produit d'une mère thaïlandaise et de père anglais et élevé en Australie, Taylor a évolué à partir d'un modèle d'adolescentes cute, mais inconnue dans une auto-géré de marque largement reconnue. À l'âge de 26 - De façon positive l'ancienne en termes de modèle asiatique - elle vient de terminer une année où elle a eu l'honneur douteux, peut-être d'apparaître sur le magazine Thai couvre plus que tout autre visage célèbre.
«Mais je ne suis pas un modèle,"Taylor insiste sur le fait. Et bien qu'il mai sonner comme un vœu pieux venant de quelqu'un qui prend la plupart de son argent pour des caméras vamping, elle a un point. Elle apparaît également dans les publicités TV pour Lay's, Canon et d'autres produits internationaux; en tant que VJ pour Channel V; comme actrice dans une comédie de situation thaïlandaise a récemment annulé; elle n'a contrats de promotion avec des torréfacteurs Kenny Rogers 'et Colgate aux Philippines; et vient de terminer le tournage d'une bonne taille rôle dans le prochain film de Hollywood "Shadows", qui comprend également William Hurt.
Contrairement aux figures du sport, chanteurs ou acteurs qui Parlay la reconnaissance de leurs talents dans les visas, Taylor est désormais célèbre pour être célèbre, une marque dans son propre droit, avec elle-même - ou une perception commune d'elle-même - comme son produit principal.
Le concept d'image de marque en tant que clé de voûte de la commercialisation a reçu une attention croissante au cours des dix dernières années, avec beaucoup d'experts expliquant exactement ce qui heureusement une marque est.
Selon Kirk Bentham, Directeur Général de la DMT, une agence de branding avec des bureaux en Thaïlande, Japon et le Cambodge, "Les marques sont conçus pour établir des relations et créer des liens émotionnels entre les produits et les gens. Les marques font des promesses et de bonnes marques fournissent en permanence des. Prenez par exemple McDonalds. Vous pouvez Voyage dans le monde entier et de trouver une cohérence qui transcende les cultures et la géographie. Comme la nourriture ou on n'aime pas, l'expérience de marque est tellement bien conçu que vous pouvez être certain à 100% vous obtiendrez exactement ce que vous attendez. Que la marque est bonne. "
«Elle est certainement une marque forte, et qui je pense peuvent être développées beaucoup plus loin,», Déclare Geoff Heydt, une basée en Thaïlande, représentant le talent anciennement avec le géant du divertissement IMG, qui a effectué un travail indépendant pour Taylor, including scoring the recent movie deal.
He was also the business development consultant and management for singer Tata Young for a time and currently works in association with the sports division of the LA-based Creative Artists Agency, which represents heartthrob footballer David Beckham, tennis player Andy Murray and skateboarder Tony Hawk among others. With CAA Sports Heydt is dealing with Paradorn Srichaphan and seeking out up and coming regional tennis talent.
“Paula has very good instincts, a great work ethic and appeals to a broad demographic – she has a friendly non-threatening image that appeals to young guys for obvious reasons, young women who want to emulate her, older people who see her like a sweet sister or daughter,” Heydt says. “But she needs to take these assets to the next level to achieve more international recognition.”
Best known for her beaming smile, lithe figure and a wholesome sexiness, Taylor is indeed an eye catcher. But in a country teeming with beautiful women, long-term success must require more than that. Managing her own career since the age of 18, Taylor has swum her way through the shark-infested lagoon that is Southeast Asia’s celebrity business, with few teeth marks to show for it.
So how does someone with the image of a mindlessly sunny sweetheart survive and prosper in such a cutthroat environment? Surely anyone that happy can’t possibly know what is really going on.
Meeting her one on one, she is polite, sweet, constantly smiling, down to earth and even leaves an impression of vulnerability. She has a certain presence, even without makeup or being blown up six metres tall. Unless she is a phony to the core of her being, Taylor appears to be pretty much what she is to the public – she is what she does.
Care and attention: exploiting her wholesome image, Paula Taylor has made more Thai magazine covers than any other model
“A celebrity can be whoever they want in person,” Heydt says, “whereas out there they have to design their own personality. But it had better be something close to their own, or it is going to be tough to live with it. The personas they create are necessarily different from them to some extent though. Tata Young for example is quite different from the public perception. She comes across like the strong, tough woman, but she likes to hang out at home and watch movies and read books. Paula on the other hand is very much what you see is what you get, and it works for her. She is the girl next door.”
When pressed to pigeonhole herself, Taylor says, “Paula is Paula. If I had to be any other way, I don’t know if I would appeal… I really don’t know how to be any other way.”
As far as to how she has managed that image and turned it into piles of money, it is difficult to get a straight answer. Taylor is not particularly outspoken or even very verbal – at least in interviews. “I’ve got it all in my head, I just don’t know how to get it out,»Explique t-elle.
She claims much of it was luck. “It just happened. I kept getting phone call after phone call. I picked up the phone and did my own deals. At first I had no idea what I was doing, so I asked questions and learned from other people and my mistakes – it was trial and error. The main thing is that you have to ask, ‘What do I get and what do you get?’”
Heydt believes that more long term planning is in order for Taylor to achieve her full earning potential: «Elle est un cas vraiment étrange, car elle l'a fait sur ses propres. Beaucoup de ceux qui commencent jeunes ont un parent qui se retrouve debout, à leur manière. But at some point in any celebrity’s career they have to hand over the management if they want to move up a level. Dans son cas, elle a besoin de trouver quatre clients régionaux - Produits avec des synergies, but no conflicts – to earn between $1.5m to $2m per year, and then work on side projects – acting lessons, for example and open new avenues for her future.
“It’s quality over quantity – you know, sometimes the best deal you make is the one you don’t make. If I am going to do an endorsement deal with several countries it takes time – you talk for eight months. With Tata Young it took a year to get Ford to agree to use her as a brand ambassador. I meet a marketing guy at an event, I call him up, he sends me to his company’s ad agency and then the agency voices their concerns about how appropriate the star’s image is for their product, and then I go back and argue with the marketing guy to get him to listen to me instead of his own agency… it takes time.
“The endorsement business is all about finding the right fit. You take the image of the star and match it with a product that people actually believe they might use… Tiger Woods and Titleist makes sense, but Tiger being a spokesman for Buick is a bit strange. [Tiger Woods’ main ride is a Porsche Carrera GT.] I’ll hang out with the person and see what they buy, what they wear, who they are, and then I know what products they can be matched with. Becoming a spokesperson for Seiko and then showing up on TV wearing a Rolex doesn’t make advertisers very happy.
“The celebrity has to play the game and support the product. Paula is very good at this. She is loyal to the brands she represents. She goes to the parties, talks to the people she needs to talk to – she shows her face and does her job. She has deals mainly in Thailand and the Philippines now and she is running around a lot to keep up… when she could be making much more with less work.”
Taylor points out: “With endorsements, you have to do things to keep those people happy. I don’t really like doing TV dramas, but it keeps up my visibility, which is important to them – and it keeps fans happy as well. It gives them something to follow – otherwise they can lose interest.”
But the business in Thailand has its own style, as one might expect. According to Heydt, depending on the level of the star and what their image is worth to the client, they get from $30k-$250k per year on a two-year contract, depending on what they have to do. “Say they take some photos for point of sale stuff and shoot a TV commercial, they might get $50k-$100k, but they may also have to do special events and press conferences and this pays more… It’s calculated like an hourly rate, really. But there aren’t many multinationals that pay this sort of money.”
The industry people based in Thailand mostly have the performers where they want them, Heydt says. “I’ve had nasty phone calls and SMS messages accusing me of ruining the business here because I am trying to get a fair price for my client – like I shouldn’t be screwing up their prerogative to rip off the talent.”
Thai stars are underpaid by global standards. “In Thailand, $300k per year is huge for a Thai star, which is peanuts, really.” Heydt says. “That’s why they need to look outside of Thailand… If you do too many brands in a single market, the overexposure hurts in the long run. It can build a sort of resentment and fan fatigue… But here a celebrity has the Thai ‘uniform’ – the Mercedes, the clubs and restaurants, the fawning attention, and it’s hard to step out of that comfort zone, so many are reluctant to go ‘inter’.”
Paula is indeed going inter, but one country at a time, with separate sponsors in individual countries. “I’m in expansion mode. My goal is Asia – all of it if I can. I’m making my base stronger, like building a house,” she says.
However inefficient this tactic may be compared to the approach that Heydt advocates, it is certainly yielding a comfortable living that Taylor could be understandably reluctant to abandon. Though she falls silent when asked for specific figures, it would be a safe guess that all in all, she is earning upwards of half a million dollars annually and has a sideline in collecting high-end properties.
Méthode de Taylor, which at first looks like no method, is to field the offers that come in, and trust her gut instincts: “You come to recognise the patterns, so I know more clearly what I need to do. And you take up things that sometimes don’t pay much because they could bring other opportunities.” Hence the recent part in the Hollywood movie.
“That was an experience, doing the film, but I’m not going to pack up my bags and move to LA. If it resulted in another good offer, I’d take it. But for now the plan is Asia – though that can always change. I’ve always been flexible and willing to change direction when the right opportunity comes along.” This is probably Taylor’s strongest talent.
«Dès le début de ma carrière, J'ai failli l'itinéraire cheesecake bikini coup, mais je ne me sentais vraiment pas bien pour lui, et personne ne m'a donné une bonne raison de le faire, je n'ai donc pas. Je lui tendis et de meilleures choses Came Along. Mais si j'avais fait ça, Ma carrière aurait sans doute été très courte. Aller trop loin dans la mauvaise voie et que vous ne pouvez pas trouver votre chemin de retour. "
How much further can Brand Paula rise (or “broaden”, as she prefers it)? It will require a combination of planning and responsiveness, perhaps working smarter instead of harder, a bit of luck, and developing her talents, the limits of which are as yet unknown. Is there any more to her than a pretty face, a beaming smile and a cuddly demeanor? You can do all the branding and positioning you want, but like a mobile phone, a music player or a model of car, a product has to evolve to retain its market.
But it does seem that sooner or later Paula Taylor gets what Paula Taylor wants – and when the right opportunity comes, she’ll be the one calling the shots.
