12/01/2008

Sheryl Crow - Style and Quality

The Licensing Book spoke to Ramez Toubassy, president of Brand Sense Partners, which has turned a loyal fan base into consumers for Sheryl Crow’s Bootheel Trading Company clothing line. “Sheryl Crow is a very unique musician in that both her fans and those that do not listen to her music associate her with the same brand attributes: Free-spirited, strong, and stylish. This means that the Sheryl Crow brand is much bigger than her music,” Toubassy explains. “The key is to find a musician that has both broad-based awareness and an agreement between fans and non-listeners as to what the artist’s distinguishing attributes are. These are very difficult criteria to meet and ultimately limits the number of artists that can move beyond ‘fan gear’ to building a legitimate and lasting consumer products brand as Sheryl has.”

Beyond resonating with fans and non-fans alike, cautions Toubassy, the product itself has to be of good quality to satisfy the consumers; a well-known name won’t be enough to sell a poor-quality product. “The role of the artist brand is to drive people to the product on shelf—at that point the product has to do the selling. Sheryl Crow’s Bootheel brand has been a case in point.”

That said, marketing still has to be done. Like with so many celebrity licensing programs, Toubassy says, personal involvement is key. Marketing has included personal appearances at retail, TV appearances, and print and online campaigns. The strategy has been to surround the target consumer with messaging about the Bootheel brand and Sheryl’s involvement in developing the brand and the product. Toubassy adds that the launch has “met or exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

With music being so digital and on-the-go today, and the physical CD collection a relic from the past, have music and licensed product sales (and profit) become endangered? “Not at all,” says Toubassy. “If anything, we believe that the demise of the physical CD, fans are more and more looking for other physical manifestations of their favorite artists. A pair of jeans (and other licensed products) can and will fill this hole.”

Bootheel representatives are close to announcing partners for handbags and footwear. It is hoping to expand the brand’s footprint, extending further into sunglasses, beauty, and home, “building the brand methodically, taking it one step at a time.”