“Everyone here is a brand,” said Gene Simmons.
And if anyone knows the power of a brand it’s Simmons, a founding member of the rock-n-roll dynasty KISS and now an entrepreneur and marketing guru.
Simmons, 61, addressed a crowd at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto Tuesday during the Institute of Communication Agencies’ annual Advertising Week.
During his presentation, audience members got a look at what makes the KISS brand so successful. The self-proclaimed “God Of Thunder” has flexed his marketing muscle to align the KISS name with big brands like Nike, Visa, Nestle, the Holiday Inn and the Indy race series.
There’s a KISS coffee house, video games, action figures, comic books and even coffins.
An hour and two video presentations later, Simmons walked down into the crowd and invited audience members to seek his business advice.
Simmons spoke with Evan, an aspiring musician who had traveled overnight by bus from New York City, CD in hand. Simmons examined the CD and wondered why Evan’s contact information wasn’t on cover.
“It’s inside,” Evan pointed out.
Simmons asked how Evan was currently paying his bills. Evan said he continues to “push his wares” and thankfully doesn’t have many bills because he still lives at home.
“Smart,” said Simmons, who earlier said he’d lived at home until he was 22. It’s a good idea for young people to stay at home and save as much money as possible, said Simmons.
After several minutes of back and forth with Evan, Simmons said, “watch this,” and passed the CD to a man sitting behind Evan–the president of Universal Canada.
Simmons then made his way over to the other side of the auditorium where a female university student with a green Mohawk handed him a black and red pillow adorned with his image.
The pillows cost around $8 to make and sell for $15 through the girl’s Facebook page. She asked what her next steps should be.
Simmons playfully asked how much she had paid him to use his image, and told her about that little thing called a licensing fee.
The scene quickly tuned into what could only be described as an episode of Dragon’s Den on crack. One woman presented her children’s book about a family called “The Farties” based on flatulence. She even performed a jingle… with her mouth.
Advertising week continues today with a documentary screening of Helvetica, a presentation by Google and the charity boxing event Agency Wars.
