If you have kids who watch Disney then you most likely have been Hannahtized.
Hannah Montana is Disney’s uber-popular sensation that not only fills the space left by Hillary Duff but appears to be doing so with greater success.
It’s probably not fair to compare Britney Spears with Hannah Montana as she was with Disney as a little girl… but there is a definite lesson that is being taught about brand management and it seems to be working brilliantly.
I’m no pop music historian but I can tell you from watching the career arcs of girls like Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in the 80’s and Britney these last few years and of course Hillary Duff and now Hannah, there is a real problem for teen girl pop stars to transition to ‘grown up’ star status without imploding.
(I almost said ‘adult’ star status… but thought better of it)
Take Britney for example… she was larger than life… but her audience was young girls.
When she became a young woman and introduced overt sexuality into her act it went over pretty much like a lead baloon with parents and the younger girls.
She went straight from ‘virgin’ to her audience to ’slutty’ and in our culture, that’s a tough transition, however unfair.
Even Madonna struggled with this issue when she released her controvertial book, SEX, which to my mind she never really recovered from fully.
While Madonna survived and reinvented herself several times, the jury is definitely still out on whether Britney will revive her career and brand.
Problem for Britney was, the ‘grown ups’ saw her as ‘kids music’ and instead of finding an audience she seemed to devolve into a deeper and deeper downward spiral as she integrated marriage, kids, and fame into her poorly ‘rebranded’ career.
I don’t know the whole story on Hillary Duff… just the snippet that she used to be with Disney shows and did several movies… and then left over contractual disagreements (My understanding is that her parents wanted a better deal and Disney was not playing ball).
She wisely hasn’t followed the Britney model of branding either, but then again, I don’t see much buzz about her these days either.
Ok… so enter Hannah Montana… or, uh, Miley Cyrus… who plays Hannah both on stage and in the hit television show.
What Disney has done wonderfully is blend fiction with reality.
Miley plays a girl in her TV show who leads a dual life… as a rock star Hannah and her secret real identity as herself Mylie ‘Stewart’ in real life within the show.
The show is about the tension and triumphs surrounding living two lives.
She’s a pop icon and has a Disney show that is probably their top program.
Here’s where it gets interesting… Miley also peforms as Hannah in REAL life at concerts… and has several hit songs on the radio as Miley Cyrus.
So what?
So… I bet you that this is not just clever marketing but is also forward thinking brand management, too.
Hannah is branded to the tween and teen market… and Miley is my bet going to evolve as a star in her own right beyond the teen sensation of Hannah.
Truly the best of ‘both worlds’.
Like I said, I’m not a ‘teen pop’ expert, but from the consumer and spectator point of view, and as a parent of ‘fans’, this is what appears to be happening and I bet I’m not far off.
What’s amazing is that both brands are the same person and coexisting at the same time… and apparently not confusing the marketplace.
Why?
Because the fans recognize them as distinct characters.
Google their sites and check out how Disney is marketing to the teens and building their list online.
Just thought I would post about this because so much of our marketing online is based on personality and the character we project to our market.
It’s worth watching the culture and the media to learn what works and doesn’t work and why.
The lesson from the teen pop sensations is that it is very tricky to change your branding… and stay true to who you are (especially when you add in age demographics and sexual mores into the mix).
It’s especially rough to consider that child stars inevitably age and have to find something beyond cuteness to build their careers on when they age themselves out of their market.
I’ve said many times before that every character has an Achilles Heel.
If you are a teen girl known for being innocent and girlish… it’s gonna be tough to add in red hot sexuality into your brand because it is 180 degrees opposite from what the market expects… (or parents will accept for their kids to watch!).
Addmittely, the examples I’m using here also happens to involve the bizarre and contradictory maze of gender role expectations in American culture that women (and men) navigate every day. It’s the whole ‘virgin or whore’ syndrome… and I’ll leave that up to the shrinks and sociologists to figure out.
Make no mistake, men can screw up their brands, too, though the hot button issues are not as much sex but deviant behavior and violence toward women.
For example, if you are a male star, like say ‘Peewee Herman’, probably best not to get caught in, uh, compromising situations.
Or if you are a male sex symbol like Jean Claude Van Damme, probably better not to become known for smacking women around.
So, to the extent that you are conciously creating a brand or character for yourself in your marketing, give some thought to how you will evolve or stay true to that brand in the future.
Markets shift and often have a life cycle of their own so it’s important to pick elements in your brand that match with a core appeal your market will always have.
In Internet marketing, for example, you may want to be careful branding yourself on ‘black hat’ techniques to getting traffic or on short term strategies or tactics that won’t stand test of time. Many have come and gone in our niche when their 15 minutes of fame and usefulness went away and they didn’t reinvent themselves.
My suggestion is to study enduring brands… like Oprah, Mercedes, Rush Limbaugh, CNN, Budweiser, and see how they are managed and kept ‘fresh’ and profitable.
Be objective… detach yourself from how YOU feel personally about brands, just notice which ones have stood the test of time.
And, if you have Hannah Montana coming out your ears because it is on TV every time your kids watch it… watch between the lines as a marketer and see what some pretty savvy folks are doing behind the scenes.
I sure hope they got it right this time and have built a brand that talented young girl can take into her future.
- Craig
P.S. I know somebody is going to email me about the evils of television and that kids should be playing with wooden blocks instead… so for the record, my kids draw, read, play outside, and have an active imagination and love nature… and they own wooden blocks, too 
Both my younger boys favorite pass time is searching for and collecting sticks and rocks!
