High Visibility: The Making and Marketing of Professionals into Celebrities

This enlightening book describes and explains the new industry that has evolved to help achieve "visibility" in one's professional life. Students will learn the marketing techniques used to separate the leaders from the followers.High Visibility unlocks the mysterious enigma of celebrityhood, with examples from all walks of life, for a thorough understanding of the subject matter.

Since the dawn of the professions, two factors have been critical for success: what you knew and who you knew. Today, a third element may eclipse the importance of the first two: who knows you. Visibility--celebrity--has become a key factor in success. Not just in the entertainment sector, where visibility has always mattered, but in the professional sectors of life, high visibility--the business of creating and managing one's public persona--has become an exciting process with incalculable rewards. Attaining it is often a key difference--sometimes the only difference--between being an also-ran in one's profession and becoming a dominating "star."

Whether you are a lawyer, a physician, a marketing manager, or an artist, the ability to create and manage your visibility is vital to maximizing your success. High Visibility is the ground-breaking book that describes and explains the whole new industry that has evolved to help you--as a professional--achieve this muchsought-after celebrity. Based on hundreds of examples and case studies of celebrities from all walks of professional life, this book reveals the sophisticated marketing techniques used to separate the leaders from the followers with analyses of:

• The Celebrity Industry: The key players in the image-making industry who shape the "celebrity culture."
• The Building Blocks and Techniques of Transformation: The tools people use to change and shape their personalities and images to meet the success criteria of their professions.
• Image Management: The techniques used by successful professionals to sustain their image over time.

High Visibility provides a blueprint for every professional who wants to maximize his or her potential for success.

Praise for High Visibility

"High Visibility is the bible, the Das Kapital, the Origin of Species of the infant science of celebritology. Lend it to your agent or read it to your personal trainer." -- Peter Carlson The Washington Post

"This is the book for professionals seeking celebrity. Lawyer, physician, or actor, the ideas in this book can make a big difference in your future." -- Kathy Kaehler NBC Today Show Fitness Expert

"Nothing succeeds like being a celebrity. High Visibility brilliantly captures the how, why, and what of the celebrity-building process." -- Al Ries, Chairman Ries & Ries

"Why are there so many celebrities? And how do they get there? This fascinating and highly readable book deals with all aspects of the celebrity industry and how it affects the entire business community in America. There is also plenty of food for thought for your own career." -- Mark Hampton Interior Designer

"What could Martha Stewart, Dennis Rodman, Alanis Morissette, and Vice President Al Gore possibly have in common? Just this. Their fame is the result of a highpowered, highly sophisticated high visibility machine that pervades every area of contemporary life. While their clients are highly visible, the celebrity makers have been, by design, highly invisible until this fascinating book. Kotler, Rein, and Stoller lift the cloak of invisibility from the celebrity industry to show how they can and do make people into marketable products." -- Thomas L. Harris, Former Chairman Golin/Harris Communications

"Every 'player' can benefit from this book. It provides concrete analysis and advice on how images are built from the ground up." -- Del Harris NBA Coach

"A fascinating and well-researched examination of the 'celebrity industry' and the dynamics of how people can be packaged as products." Robert Goldsborough Advertising Age