Showing posts with label Paris Hilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris Hilton. Show all posts

Monday, August 11, 2008

Pushing back on the "celebrity" label

If Obama had suggested Cindy McCain should compete in a topless Miss Buffalo Chip contest while her husband campaigned in Sturgis the outrage would probably end his bid for the White House - he's not a big enough celebrity to weather that backlash - but John McCain gets a chuckle from the Harley riders and a pass in the press. Why? Because he's a powerful, influential celebrity in DC. But you've got to wonder: Why does he want us to think Obama is, too?

John McCain, D.C. celebrity and famous politician

Let’s face it, the best defense is a good offense, and sex sells. A money scandal pales compared to a juicy, salacious story involving a celebrity, after all - just ask Senator Larry Craig - and don't keep thinking about Cindy McCain's bosom even if John McCain suggested she'd compete topless...McCain's campaign needed to distract from that gaffe so we wouldn't all stay focused on Cindy McCain's bosom. So let's grab attention with names like Paris Hilton and try to connect Barack to sexy young celebrities.

The organizations that provide us “news” are driven by their need to pay for their staff and buildings just like any other business. They benefit from increasingly timely, now near-instantaneous feedback about what people who use their “service” want to learn about. Higher ratings translate rapidly into higher advertising revenues, and so they cater to the whims of whoever drives their audience share up, so despite the conflict of interest, commercial media organizations are well-served by echoing even mis-information about the campaign.

John McCain said he’s proud of his ads comparing Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. He wants you to think you’re just caught up by a “celebrity” and don’t really want change in this country. If that’s the sort of leadership you want for the U.S.A., if giving a consummate D.C. insider even more power - and celebrity - matches your view of where this country should go for the next four years, you should vote for him in November.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

"Club Paris" and Paris Hilton - What Happened To Club Paris?



If you do a search on Paris Hilton, one result that comes up is a reference to something called "Club Paris." What that is -- or was -- or kind of is, I guess, is a set of nightclubs, the first of which opened in Orlando in 2004 and then in Jacksonville and just around the time that city was hosting the Super Bowl.

But then both closed in 2007. Why?

Well from my peering around, it seems that Club Paris' death was due to a disagreement between a club entrepreneur named Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian and Paris Hilton. Reportedly, Hilton was paid seven-figures for Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian to gain the right to place her name on what was to be a string of night clubs starting in -- of all places -- Orlando. (The photo shows Paris and Fred in happier times.)



I mean, nice try there, but let's face it, Orlando's not the first city anyone associates with Paris Hilton or nightlife. I guess catching the resort / Disney World crowd was the idea, but then why not try to negotiate with the Disney people? Oh well.

The first Club Paris opened in Orlando in 2004, but I can tell from the press release (see the link before this sentence) that there would be trouble simply because even though Paris is mentioned extensively, there's no -- not one direct quote from her. There's one from her lawyer, but not her.

So it's no wonder Hilton failed to show up on time for the grand opening. For that, Paris said she was "skiing in the Swiss Alps and got caught at the airport with holiday travel." A reasonable excuse in my view, but then I'm a Paris Hilton fan. (Why? Because she has a head for business -- she's an entrepreneur and a great one at that. She's not living off family money and has done well making her own cash, yet is not recognized for that, which is a total shame.)

That behavior and subsequent episodes where Hilton did not show up to planned Club Paris events was the straw that broke the camels back for Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian. Accord to an agreement contract, Hilton was to come to the club twice a month..

Look out Orlando , the 2005 New Year’s Eve Party to attend is the grand opening of "Club Paris," the first of a handful of clubs worldwide to be named after socialite Paris Hilton.

Seems like Paris Hilton knows something about nightclubs, so it makes sense the hotel heiress is the latest inspiration for a series of clubs that will bear her signature name.

Club Paris, named after "The Simple Life" star, plans to open on New Year’s Eve in Orlando. Local businessman Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian hopes to open other Club Paris nightclubs locations include Las Vegas, New York City, Miami Beach, London and Paris.

Rumors leaked stated that Hilton will earn a "seven-figure" signing bonus for lending her name to the club. In return, she is contractually obligated to appear at the club at least twice a month. Hilton also helped select the interior design and is scheduled to attend the opening.


It opened and lasted for one year, then closed. Some point to the fallout between Paris and "Fred" as the reason for the closure, but I think it was more than that. The Club has a $20,000 back-rent debt and Consolidated Investment and Capital Corp., which loaned the money to Club Paris LLC to acquire the liquor licenses, is still owed $526,240.65 on a liguor license that was up for sale in February of this year.

On top of all that, Fred was arrested twice -- once for sexual assault, then for an old warrant of assault on a law enforcement official. The details aside, its clear that Fred's pissed off a number of women in that area, as more than one have complained of his boorish behavior. In fact, the anger is such that someone made a MySpace page devoted just to his sexual assault problems.

But it seems that the rape charges were indeed questionable. Khalilian was released from jail after two witnesses, a a guard and a cab driver cast doubt on a rape allegation, according to his lawyer, Mark NeJame. The Florida attorney's website reports that "Both men said the woman appeared happy and content after spending 70 minutes in the nightclub owner's home. And a text message she sent afterward to Khalilian's cell phone asked him to send her some clothing and thanked him, NeJame said.
Khalilian was required while on bail to wear a GPS tracking device, abstain from drinking alcohol, and stay out of his nightclub between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., NeJame said.


Whatever the case, it's clear someone does not like Khalilian.

Meanwhile, Paris presses on.

A year after her celebrated DUI problems, the heirress still finds herself near the top of Internet searches and was the star attraction in South Africa recently for the My Coke Fest Rock Festival. Also, her singing album, started with Scott Storch, who Paris met through Khalilian, is still available.

Paris Hilton's Club Paris - What Happened To Club Paris?



If you do a search on Paris Hilton, one result that comes up is a reference to something called "Club Paris." What that is -- or was -- or kind of is, I guess, is a set of nightclubs, the first of which opened in Orlando in 2004 and then in Jacksonville and just around the time that city was hosting the Super Bowl.

But then both closed in 2007. Why?

Well from my peering around, it seems that Club Paris' death was due to a disagreement between a club entrepreneur named Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian and Paris Hilton. Reportedly, Hilton was paid seven-figures for Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian to gain the right to place her name on what was to be a string of night clubs starting in -- of all places -- Orlando. (The photo shows Paris and Fred in happier times.)



I mean, nice try there, but let's face it, Orlando's not the first city anyone associates with Paris Hilton or nightlife. I guess catching the resort / Disney World crowd was the idea, but then why not try to negotiate with the Disney people? Oh well.

The first Club Paris opened in Orlando in 2004, but I can tell from the press release (see the link before this sentence) that there would be trouble simply because even though Paris is mentioned extensively, there's no -- not one direct quote from her. There's one from her lawyer, but not her.

So it's no wonder Hilton failed to show up on time for the grand opening. For that, Paris said she was "skiing in the Swiss Alps and got caught at the airport with holiday travel." A reasonable excuse in my view, but then I'm a Paris Hilton fan. (Why? Because she has a head for business -- she's an entrepreneur and a great one at that. She's not living off family money and has done well making her own cash, yet is not recognized for that, which is a total shame.)

That behavior and subsequent episodes where Hilton did not show up to planned Club Paris events was the straw that broke the camels back for Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian. Accord to an agreement contract, Hilton was to come to the club twice a month..

Look out Orlando , the 2005 New Year’s Eve Party to attend is the grand opening of "Club Paris," the first of a handful of clubs worldwide to be named after socialite Paris Hilton.

Seems like Paris Hilton knows something about nightclubs, so it makes sense the hotel heiress is the latest inspiration for a series of clubs that will bear her signature name.

Club Paris, named after "The Simple Life" star, plans to open on New Year’s Eve in Orlando. Local businessman Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian hopes to open other Club Paris nightclubs locations include Las Vegas, New York City, Miami Beach, London and Paris.

Rumors leaked stated that Hilton will earn a "seven-figure" signing bonus for lending her name to the club. In return, she is contractually obligated to appear at the club at least twice a month. Hilton also helped select the interior design and is scheduled to attend the opening.


It opened and lasted for one year, then closed. Some point to the fallout between Paris and "Fred" as the reason for the closure, but I think it was more than that. The Club has a $20,000 back-rent debt and Consolidated Investment and Capital Corp., which loaned the money to Club Paris LLC to acquire the liquor licenses, is still owed $526,240.65 on a liguor license that was up for sale in February of this year.

On top of all that, Fred was arrested twice -- once for sexual assault, then for an old warrant of assault on a law enforcement official. The details aside, its clear that Fred's pissed off a number of women in that area, as more than one have complained of his boorish behavior. In fact, the anger is such that someone made a MySpace page devoted just to his sexual assault problems.

But it seems that the rape charges were indeed questionable. Khalilian was released from jail after two witnesses, a a guard and a cab driver cast doubt on a rape allegation, according to his lawyer, Mark NeJame. The Florida attorney's website reports that "Both men said the woman appeared happy and content after spending 70 minutes in the nightclub owner's home. And a text message she sent afterward to Khalilian's cell phone asked him to send her some clothing and thanked him, NeJame said.
Khalilian was required while on bail to wear a GPS tracking device, abstain from drinking alcohol, and stay out of his nightclub between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., NeJame said.


Whatever the case, it's clear someone does not like Khalilian.

Meanwhile, Paris presses on.

A year after her celebrated DUI problems, the heirress still finds herself near the top of Internet searches and was the star attraction in South Africa recently for the My Coke Fest Rock Festival. Also, her singing album, started with Scott Storch, who Paris met through Khalilian, is still available.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Paris Hilton's Grandfather Barron Gives 97 Percent Of Wealth To Charity



The Internet is buzzing over the news that Barron Hilton's pledging 97 percent of his wealth to charity. But in their silly frenzy to trash Paris over the idea that she's not going to be rich, they forgot one little detail: who's going to manage all that money?

Barron's currently the chairman of the foundation, but he could easily hand that role over to Paris.

Not so fast, folks.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Paris Hilton's Baptism By David Letterman Is Wake-Up Call



I kind of avoided this issue but after reading all of the blogs about it, I couldn't help it. As you know if you follow celebrities, Paris Hilton was on David Letterman last week, Wednesday and was given the royal post-jail baptism by David himself. If you've not seen the YouTube video of the event, it's here:



Now David was totally hard on her, and reportedly she's not going to appear on David Letterman again. Indeed, the Internet headlines don't look good: "Paris Humiliated", "David Letterman Mocks", "David Letterman Grills" , and so on.

What I'd like to learn is how Dave came to decide he was going to treat her that way. I'd like to be in the production meeting when that went down. Well, what he did falls in line with my YouTube video when she got out of jail:



Paris did handle the Letterman episode well, and now -- and on the same day that she was on Letterman -- annouced she was going to travel to Rwanda , saying There's so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help."

So Paris is on the right track. But I'm not sure America will let her get over the "jail" part of her life. Let's face it, she was treated terribly and she's got to feel a little bad right now, but she can fight back by helping people and being successful, and not getting upset about it, because that's what people want to see.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Venessa Hudgens! Vanessa Hudgens! Who's Vanessa Hudgens?



Ok. I've never heard of Vanessa Hudgens until Techorati introduced me to her and (of course) some kind of sex-related content. So, ever the student of Internet Marketing, I decided to dig in and see what the fuss was all about with the idea that I could learn a thing or three.

Who's Vanessa Hudgens?

Well, she's...

Vanessa Anne Hudgens, (also known simply as) Vanessa Hudgens, (born December 14, 1988 in Salinas, California) is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in 2003 and appeared in the Hollywood films Thirteen and Thunderbirds, before reaching fame in the 2006 hit Disney Channel film, High School Musical. Hudgens also began a music career and released her debut album, entitled V, in 2006. In 2007, Hudgens became the spokesperson for Neutrogena.[1]...

According to a Wikiepedia entry -- at least the part that doesn't look doctored, if you know what I mean.

And ShowBuzz says "Hudgens portrayed Gabriella, the brainy love interest of Zac Efron's basketball star in the first two "High School Musical" made-for-cable movies. The two are said to be dating in real life.

"High School Musical 2" attracted more than 17 million viewers for its Disney Channel premiere in August, the most-watched television program of the summer."


Wow! 17 million viewers!

But a look at the blogs reveals a lot more juicy stuff.



TMZ.com reports that she took nude photos a while back and they surfaced on the Internet. Apparently, TMZ liked her body so much the labeled the report under the tag "Hot Bodies." Meanwhile, a new report claims that Vanessa sent nude photos of herself to some guy named Zac Efron

For all the huff, Vanessa's MySpace page contains no visible appology, but a lot of fan sympathy.

Ok, for me, this is a story of a desire for Internet visibility. Yep. That's right. It should come as no surprise that with this stunt Vanessa's broken out of her teen-pop-culture roots, right as she's turned 18 years old. Think about it.

Now, she can secretly approve the "leak" of nude photos of herself, then sit back and watch as her Internet traffic numbers rise up -- which if you look at the Alexa graph and focus on September, has happened.

Vanessa's the latest in a long line of young women who've bared it all online and reaped the rewards, from Paris Hilton and Britney Spears (who really just bared the beaver) and a certain Louisville Cheerleader. The list goes on, and it will keep going on.

What's interesting to see is the number of teenage copycats on YouTube who dance wiggling their butt to the camcorder, or showing other parts on more risque sites, or those that join the i-Friends network, then spam the hell out of people who want nothing to do with their webcam activities.

I'm serious about this.



What Vanessa, Paris, and other pop-teen stars are doing is saying to their fans -- girls -- it's ok to show off before the camera and tease society for attention and in some cases profit. You'd have to be naive to say I'm making this up. Heck, you're reading about Vanessa to start with, right?

This is Internet Marketing at it's pure form best -- controversial, viral, unfortunate, and culture changing. It's too late to say we don't want this to happen -- we not only allowed it, we created the technology to cause it. Blogs, websites, YouTube, Blip.tv, and other systems have raised the bar of what can be shown quickly and publicly. The "me" culture has morphed into the attention culture, and we're all a part of it.

We're either making content, or consuming content, and the content we want most is generally that showing someone else doing something..sexy.

But now that I know who Vanessa Hudgens is, I'll tell you what -- she can sing!

Friday, June 29, 2007

I Like Paris Hilton For The Same Reasons You Hate Paris Hilton



Jack Myers inspired me to write this short post because it's important for you to know why I think Paris Hilton is worth paying attention to. The reason is simple: she knows how to market herself and build attention. In a world where everyone is trying to do that in some way, or frustrated that they can't, Paris Hilton's figured out how to get herself known. Anyone in PR would be stupid not to pay attention to her, but guess what, that's what we get in some corners, dumb behavior.

But, as I wrote in my webpage article The Marketing of Paris Hilton" she holds a lesson for anyone in the attention-getting industry:

Paris Hilton is an international superstar. And what did Paris Hilton do? Well, nothing. "I came to New York when I was 16 years old, and I got invited to all of these parties all the time." Indeed, this was the case. Think about it for a second..or a minute. Paris Hilton is not an actress. She's not a politician. She's not an athlete. She's a young, attractive heiress with a yen for partying. And she did this in the media capital of World.

But even more, Paris made herself available to the people she met "out-and-about." Stars, agents, photographers, and anyone who was someone--and that was just about most of the people -- at an A-List party.

Then, just as Paris was planning to launch a TV show that has since become one of the most popular in America, the infamous "sex tape" video was released and became perhaps the most sought after amateur product on the Internet. Instead of reducing Paris' star status, it increased it dramatically. Now (and aided by the steamy Carl's Jr. commericial) Paris Hilton's name is the most looked up online according to the Lycos 50, which tracks the most popular keywords looked up. As of this writing -- June 13, 2005 -- It's currently ranked number one. It's been on the list for 82 weeks. Think about that. There are 52 weeks in a year. Double that is 104 weeks. That means Paris Hilton has been on the Lycos 50 Elite for almost two years. That's longer than all but a few established stars.

Paris' status as a celebrity is unquestioned. But the question is, what can a sports marketing specialist learn from this? The answer is everything.


To learn more, read my article.

But the bottom line is that the reasons I like Paris Hilton are the same one you hate her for. That's terrible. But when you wonder why you don't get noticed for the good work you do, think about your ill-will toward Paris Hilton and consider a change. You'll get what you want if you do.