Lady Gaga, guru More than meets the eye?

running the Games Sebastian Coe p74

The Structure of Strategy John Kay p80
Leadership and beyond Rob Goffee p86

Review
Lady Gaga, GURU

More than
meets the eye?
Lady Gaga, business guru?
Stranger things have happened.
So what are the business lessons
proffered by the meat-wearing star?
Those in the business world regularly
look to other fields for inspiration or
guidance. Last March, for example,
Richard Courtney and George Cassidy
garnered brief attention with their
new book, Come Together:The Business
Wisdom of The Beatles (Turner, 2011).
Yet, going back to 1989 when
Wess Roberts shared his Leadership
Secrets of Attila the Hun (reissued:
Business Plus Imports, 2010), no one
has drawn more attention than Lady
Gaga, especially when it comes to
branding and marketing
and using the social
media to promote both.
Dont know her?
Lady Gaga is a rock
star with a 1990s disco
sound that echoes
Madonna, Elton John
and ABBA. Yet, Lady
Gaga (Stefani Joanne
Angelina Germanotta)
is her own person. She
wears outrageous outfits
(one example: a dress
made of raw meat) and
changes them quickly; she
performs to arouse shock
and awe (one onstage outfit
emanated sparks from very
sensitive areas); and she revels at
saying whatever she wants, often
quotably (Love is like a brick. You

can build a house, or you can sink

a dead body.). She is tattooed,
and her wardrobe is usually skimpy.
Very skimpy. Close your eyes and
simply listen: youll find that she has
a powerful, strong and somewhat
raspy voice that commands attention.
Born in 1986, she grew up in New
York City, attended a Catholic girls
school also attended by the likes of
Caroline Kennedy and Paris Hilton,
then enrolled at 17 in an exclusive
classical arts college but soon dropped
out. When she released Just Dance,
the song became the start of her
legendary career. Her recent hit,
Born This Way, triggered a million
downloads on Apples iTunes store
in just five days. The video version
of the song (www.youtube.com/user/
ladygagaofficial) because of its
over-the-edge suggestive imagery
has spawned much controversy.
Yet, that has not diminished her
success. She was recently spotlighted
on televisions 60 Minutes, will
reportedly earn $100 million in
2011 and is booked solid for the
foreseeable future, with performances
scheduled only two days apart.

Next
issue

Nirmalya Kumar,
David de Cremer
on passionate
leadership.

Gaga as guru
What the world of popular culture
has in Lady Gaga is a young, sexy,
tradition-busting performer.

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REVIEW

REVIEW
Theres no business
guru alive who wouldnt
crave the constant,
loud, growing buzz
that is Lady Gaga.

What the business world has in Lady

Gaga is a new icon of marketing.
Anyone claiming her business
techniques are a secret hasnt
searched the Web.You can easily
find links that extol the wisdom
of Lady Gagas business savvy:
7 Business Secrets You Didnt
Learn At Harvard but Lady Gaga
Can Teach You for FREE!
The 5 Mind-Blowingly Simple
Strategies Any Startup Can
Learn from Lady Gaga
The 7 branding secrets of Lady
Gaga (Theyre infectious)
What Middle-Aged Marketers
Can Learn from Lady Gaga
Lady Gagas YouTube campaign:
A lesson in video marketing,
consumer engagement
10 Ways to be a Marketing
Genius Like Lady Gaga
Lady Gagas Social Media Genius
3 Internet Marketing Tips
Lady Gaga Style
How Lady Gaga Can Make
You A Better Blogger
6 Things Every Small Business
Can Learn From Lady Gaga
The secrets of Lady Gagas
social media success
Learning To Draw Attention
To Yourself Like Lady Gaga
In short, theres no business guru
alive who wouldnt crave the constant,
loud, growing buzz that is Lady Gaga.
Jim Joseph and Gary Kaskowitz,
authors who have written books
on branding, told one reporter for
Gannett that they are impressed by
how Lady Gaga has created a globally
recognised brand worth tens of
millions of dollars less than two years
after her debut album was released.
Lessons to learn
What do so many people find to be so
powerful in the marketing techniques
of this rock star? Here are five lessons
that numerous observers espouse.
Be different, even unique As noted,
there are several other performers who
echo the sound of Lady Gaga, but none
of them equals her presence. She avers
that she is just like her fans (whom she
calls her little monsters and entreats

70 BUSINESS STRATEGY REVIEW ISSUE 2 2011

them to make a claw-like shape with

their hands to show their unity with
the star). But, while she talks to her
audience in a down-to-earth manner
between songs, she is, of course, not like
them in how she looks and acts. Her
dazzling outfits, oversized sunglasses,
odd-shaped shoes, incredible hairstyles
all create an image that is unlike
any of her rock-star competitors. Her
cheeky behaviour onstage and off only
underscores how different she is.
Stand for something Lady Gaga is
an evolving force in the entertainment
world, but there are a few messages
that she has already embraced with
zeal. She urges her fans to believe
that everyone has the potential to do
great things; as such, she is unafraid
to stand up to those whom she feels
harbour prejudice. In fact, she is such
an advocate for gay rights that she
reportedly ditched a lucrative contract
with a major American retailer because
it would not endorse her political views
on gays. Many church groups have
protested against her, but she does
not make any attempt to bridge any
differences. As one observer noted,
Lady Gaga is as energetic about making
friends as she is about making enemies.
Be the best at what you do Writing
online, Rhondalynn Korolak says that
Lady Gaga should be credited for
cultivating excellence. She claims that
the performer is a technical genius
in her area, citing the fact that she
learned to play the piano at the age of
four and was writing songs as early as
14. Lady Gaga, in fact, wrote songs
(thereby perfecting her craft) for other
well-known performers before she
launched her own act. As Korolak sees
it: Think about the most successful
businesses and brand names in the
world Apple, Microsoft, Toyota,
Procter & Gamble, GE and 3M. They
all place a huge emphasis on technical
expertise and acumen. When what
you do is superior to your competitors
in terms of quality, service, aesthetics
and durability, customers will flock
to your business and price will not
be the determining factor in their
decision to purchase from you.

Lady Gaga, guru More than meets the eye?

It is doubtful that Lady

Gaga will be lecturing
at a university any
time soon. But one US
university has already
offered a course on
Lady Gaga and the
Sociology of Fame.
Have a passion for your fans Lady
Gaga will not allow professional
photographers near her when she
performs, but she encourages her
fans to take pictures and videos and
post them freely on the internet. Even
with her latest hit single, Born This
Way, she seems to worry less about
copyright and more about fan loyalty.
When a ten-year-old Canadian girl
posted her own version of the song
online, Lady Gaga watched it, praised
it and invited the girl to perform with
her onstage in the future. In ways like
these, the star elevates her followers
over herself: There is something
heroic about the way my fans
operate their cameras. So precisely,
so intricately and so proudly. Like
Kings writing the history of their
people, is their prolific nature that
both creates and procures what will
later be perceived as the kingdom.
So the real truth about Lady Gaga
fans, my little monsters, lies in this
sentiment: They are the Kings.
They are the Queens. They write
the history of the kingdom and I am
something of a devoted Jester.

value of Lady Gaga writing regularly

(and often) to her fans. She reportedly
will post messages backstage
before or after a performance.
That, alone, would not account
for Lady Gagas ascendance. Page
through her official websites, YouTube
and Google platforms, her Facebook
connections (as of this writing, with
31,282,382 visitors) and you will
find a consistent pattern of consistent
messaging. Lady Gaga seems to be
doing everything she can to stay
connected to her customer base.
It is doubtful that Lady Gaga will
be lecturing at a university any time
soon. But one US university has
already offered a course on Lady
Gaga and the Sociology of Fame
fitting, since she has often said that
she is a student of how to become
famous. Yet, what is obvious now is
that she does not need an academic
post to teach others (including,
perhaps, many major companies)
how they, too, might become more
successful via a potent combination
of branding and marketing. Or, as
she puts it, Im just trying to change
the world, one sequin at a time.

Author
Georgina Peters
gpeters@suntopmedia.com
Peters is a Switzerland-based
business writer.

Make social media your dominant

communications tool This is
probably the area in which Lady Gaga
seems to have eclipsed any of her
competitors. According to Ira Kalb,
writing for BNET, Lady Gaga has over
8.2 million followers on Twitter. That
was early in 2011; its surely larger
now. Granted, her followers are in an
age bracket that has made electronic
communications the way to keep in
touch; but that does not discount the

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