Miley Cyrus is brilliant. I know you’re probably thinking “Bobby has lost his mind” right about now but hear me out. We’ve just witnessed one of the most complete marketing makeovers in show business history when it comes to Miley. Let me explain why.
A little more than a month ago, Ms Cyrus was a former teen star struggling to be taken seriously in her new world of adulthood. The efforts to distance herself from her Disney past just made her look like another child star floundering in a grown-up world on the edge of another celebrity burn-out. A month later, near record time, the media world’s perception of her is totally different.
I say this as neither a fan of her or her music (I’m way past the demographic to care about either), but I have to say that over that short period I went from “Not her again” in my newsfeed to admiration of the campaign that she and her handlers created to kill the old Miley Cyrus and invent a new one. Let’s look at a rough chronology of events.
Early August Miley is still perceived as a grown Hannah Montana by a disdainful public, with many of her former fans having moved on to a new set of age-appropriate celebrities. Then came the famous “twerking” incident on the Video Music Awards in late August and she seemed more like a bratty young women willing to do anything for attention. But in quick succession, her provocative “Wrecking Ball BLL -0.97%” video dropped, she’s topless on the cover of The Rolling Stone and photos of the new Miley flood the news and the web, she feeds the controversy with interviews, then gets the cover of Fashion Magazine and photos and interviews flood the web and social media again, and what do we have? Complete reinvention.
That includes a number one hit atop the Billboard Hot 100 (for a second week) with “Wrecking Ball,” a song that might’ve gotten a few days of play then dropped like a stone hadn’t the “new Miley” emerged. The downloads are now over half a million and the YouTube views of the song are up over 150 million, and you can bet the farm that she wouldn’t have had anywhere near the numbers like this in her previous persona. Of course, the current lifespan of any pop star is short-lived and her latest 15 minutes might be up soon, but the fact of the matter is that she managed to get an extra half-hour that has the possibility of extending even a bit longer as a result of this transformation.
In almost the blink of a show-business eye she’s managed to completely erase the image of Miley as Hannah Montana and become Miley the adult pop singer. This just goes to show that you can change public perception and do it fast with the right guidance and PR campaign.
Take notice that nowhere so far have I mentioned her talent. Decide for yourself whether what she offers speaks to you (or your kids). For that matter, take talent completely out of the picture. What we’re talking about here is more a case study on how to change public opinion quickly in three simple steps.
1. Bury the old image and perception. Don’t acknowledge the past because from this point forward it’s dead.
2. Appear in the most public situation possible, then wear the new perception like a comfortable overcoat, only outrageously so. Make people gasp. Make them talk, tweet and share.
3. Begin a barrage media campaign on multiple formats completely in the new perception. Be prepared to act upon every situation presented, and then execute robustly.
That, my friends, is how to recreate your image overnight. The brilliance of Miley Cyrus is that she was willing to do it with vigor.
