The Myth of the Little Black Book

The Little Black Book is a myth!

So often I’ve seen sentences like the one below in job adverts for celebrity managers in the UK charity sector:

“This role requires an individual with strong celebrity contacts……”

Actually it’s simply not true. If you want to contact people there are two good databases to which you can subscribe which will give you their details; Celebrities Worldwide and Red Pages. In addition for those on a smaller budgets there’s free information (although not as comprehensive) at Spotlight covering almost all UK actors and most TV presenters.

What you do need is someone who knows how to approach people and how to deal with agents, managers and publicists appropriately.

The second part of this particular ad went on:

“…….the ability to strategically align these contacts with national campaigns”

Why?

No one knows everyone. More importantly like many I have celebrities I would call friends but that doesn’t mean that they’d be right for every charity campaign. It’s good, old fashioned, basic marketing. What’s your goal? Who’s your target audience? Who will appeal to that audience?

A good example is the RNLI’s recruitment of Shirley Robertson and Hannah White for Cowes Week 2010. Do I know who they are? Actually I’d never heard of them. In fact they’re high profile Olympic and transatlantic sailors respectively.

I’m not into sailing but if you are then you have probably heard of them, and, more importantly, the charity got coverage on Yachting Monthly’s website which is read by their target market. You don’t need to know these people in advance. You need to be able to research who’s relevant and then know how to make a successful, targeted approach.

This highlights the fundamental issue that charities want celebrity support but many don’t actually know how you do it or what skills are required.

The good celebrity managers in the charity sector, of which there are many, spend a great deal of time protecting celebrities from their own organisations. The world of a celebrity is nothing like the structured world of a charity. A great celebrity manager has to act as an interface between the two, making sure each relationship is handled in the way the celebrity wants. I’ve dealt via agents but with some celebs I’ve kept in touch via Facebook, Twitter & text. It’s what works for the celebrity and how that support can be best used to achieve the charity’s aims.