I never thought I would combine my name with these two performers; Madonna is someone I followed during my wild years (side note: My birthday is coming up and she will always be older than me). What made Madonna appealing was how she effectively combined genuine talent with publicity stunts with a constant mix of reinventing her image, while working hard to remain a top shelf entertainer.
So what’s my connection to Lady Gaga? None. All I know is that, like Madonna, she’s doing well with selling her music and seems to always reinvent herself with every dress she wears to an awards show. Lady Gaga has managed to break into my world even though I don’t read music magazines or closely follow trends and pop stars in contemporary music.
Our agency, like every public relations agency, has been reinventing itself constantly with public relations campaigns through social media. Whether it is blog relations, Facebook Fan relations or Tweets with followers who have proactively sought after a relationship with us, each day we’re breaking new ground in communications.
The PR laugh is that Madonna and Lady Gaga are role models for me, Mr. Conservative. While Madonna could update her image every few years, Lady Gaga does it with a new dress every week! It reminds me that our agency has needed to adapt to a news cycle that is measured in minutes, not days. So ultimately we’ve moved from Madonna’s business model to Lady Gaga’s! While staying strategic, we are learning to change as fast as needed.