CELEBRITY INVESTORS and spokespersons can often be double-edged swords for businesses. Remember Madonna and Pepsi? “Like a Prayer?” Pepsi didn’t have a prayer when Madonna delivered a hit song and video that offended some religious groups.
Or consider One World Networks (www.oneworldlive.com), an e-commerce start-up whose chief spokesperson and co-founding partner is Melanie Griffith. From press reports, you’d think the voluptuous actress was the entire company.
Not so. Behind the firm is a team of women who hope “to make money and give money back to make a difference in the world,” says One World president Nancy Duitch.
One World, whose other partners include chair and chief executive officer Liz Edlic, executive vice presidents Rachel Edlich and Lisa Havey Long, and chief technology officer/Internet marketing strategist Laura Tyler-Perryman, does promotions and merchandising for celebrities and health experts. Duitch and Edlich have an extensive direct marketing background.
The e-commerce pages on this site helped the company earn $12 million in sales this year. The site also offers lifestyle-related content (health, relationships, “success”) and services provided by celebrities and experts in various fields.
“There’s a 5% conversion rate to purchase for unique visitors on the site,” Duitch notes, pointing out that its 1.5 million visitors a month were attracted despite all but “zero” marketing. An affiliate marketing program is planned.
While Duitch sees more profits coming in through merchandising, the current focus seems to be on developing celebrity Web sites as a niche market. One World’s recent purchase of Entertainment Drive LLC allowed it to combine its online and offline marketing with Entertainment Drive’s celebrity and expert-driven content. This merger followed $20 million in second-round financing from Christopher Getty, Vertix Management and 3i.
According to Duitch, the firm plans similar acquisitions over the next few months. She says there are many small dot-coms representing two or three celebrities each, and believes it is in the company’s best interest to buy them.
In part thanks to Griffith’s involvement, some major talent agencies are interested in hiring One World to represent their clients on the Web. Essentially, the company would design and maintain sites for movie stars and other celebrities.
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