Robert A. Flutie

Five years ago the words “Talent” “Brand” and “Management” were not widely circulated in the entertainment community, let alone used in conjunction with, or as a string together. The change that was beginning to take place in broadcast media advertising began to take place thanks, in large part, to advances in technology and the increasing popularity of TIVO like devices.

The turning point in how advertisers began to approach media opportunities really began to proliferate when a little show called “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” http://www.bravotv.com/Queer_Eye/ aired on BRAVO http://www.bravotv.com/. When America met the “Fab Five” there began a love that began to introduce and shape new ideas on how to marry commercial opportunities with corporate partners in a manner that crystalized the defining moment of what is now known as “Talent Brand Management.”

When our firm introduced Thom Filicia www.thomfilicia.com and Pier 1 http://www.pier1.com/ through the ad agency Cambell-Ewald http://www.campbell-ewald.com/ the intention and purpose of bringing the Thom Filicia brand to Pier 1 was to create and elevate Filicia’s Brand Exposure and to define his Brand Identity. It was a monumental moment in the ” Lifestyle / Expert ” branding space because it took the marketing, advertising and public relations machine that Pier 1 had in place and extended it to the Filicia Brand.

Although many might dispute the time and date of the birthing of “Talent Brand Management ,” one does not have to look far to see that this process and concept had been marinating for many years as the brainchild of Michael Flutie www.michaelflutie.com. Michael had spent the better part of the past decade working with major consumer brands in fashion, beauty and fragrances and had forged the creative essence of turning celebrities and high profile individuals into identifiable Brands. And so the work began…

As time began to progress we began to see a very distinct and progressive mind set from the likes of advertisers and marketers. Conventional TV ads were not proving to be cost effective, relative to the cost required to generate new business, and a new breed of Chief Marketing Officers were beginning to emerge at companies like Designer Shoe Warehouse https://www.dswshoes.com/home.jsp , L’Oreal; http://www.loreal.com/dispatch.aspx, American Eagle www.ae.com, and Kraft www.kraft.com. The new thinking by these CMO’s was to connect with the pulse of the consumer by creating organic advertisements that were an extension of an expert that spoke to their brands key demographic.

At Flutie Entertainment ( www.flutieent.com ) our philosophy and approach began to become fine tuned. Building on ten plus years of experience, relationships and a vast network in the advertising, marketing and public relations community Flutie Entertainment took an industry lead as the Talent Brand Management firm in the entertainment industry. The most recent progression in this space is the merging of commercial mainstream partnerships into the Broadcast, Print and Broadband Media. This allows for a platform to be built for the Lifestyle and Expert persona to launch the identity and message of the brand. Currently our firm works with many high profile Lifestyle / Expert Brands.

The following is an example of the how Flutie aggregated various opportunities to support the growth of the brand and to lead the brand into consumer product opportunities.

Carter Oosterhouse  (www.carteroosterhouse.com)  host of Carter Can ( http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hccan)  is the spokespersonand face of Nautica’s top selling mens fragrence, VOYAGE ( http://www.nauticafragrance.com/products/voyage.aspx ).

Ellie Krieger www.elliekrieger.com host of Food Network’s “Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ek/text/0,2763,FOOD_25716_44765,00.html, author of Taunton Press’s new publication “Foods You Crave” www.amazon.com/Food-You-Crave-Luscious-Recipes/dp/1600850219  consultant and expert advisor to Nutritioniste http://www.garniernutritioniste.com/en/ and online content provider to Waterfront Media’s http://www.waterfrontmedia.com/index.aspx new interactive healthy living site, www.healthylivingwithellie.com.

Rainbeau Mars www.rainbeaumars.com Global Ambassador to Adidas www.adidas.com and Yoga Expert.

Sabrina Soto www.sabrinasoto.com host of HGTV’s “Get It Sold” http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hsold/

Mary Alice Stephenson host of Vh1’s www.vh1.com hit show “America’s Most Smartest Model http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/americas_most_smartest_model/series.jhtml  and spokesperson for both Intel  http://www.intel.com/  and The Make a Wish Foundation http://www.wish.org/ 

Kyan Douglas, personal grooming expert - http://www.bravotv.com/Queer_Eye/bios

The common ground on all of the above named experts is, as I stated at the start of my blog, the Expert’s ability to increase their value in the market place through strategic and complimentary relationships with major consumer brands. A process that is an innovation of the the Flutie organization one one that we have has  accomplished through the marriage of Madison Avenue to Hollywood!

* FLUTIE *