Ra Ra Gaga!

I love Lady Gaga.

So do the other 2,850,948 people who follow her on Twitter, as well as the 5 million fans she has on Facebook, and countless more who aren't as involved in the online sphere.

Lady Gaga is the quintessential definition of a brand- she is a unique, relevant personality with enough mystery surrounding her overnight fame and overall persona to keep audiences interested for long periods of time. She doesn't exploit her power; you don't see her face on packaging for other products, and she doesn't make commercial appearances for certain products like her past doppelganger Madonna did. Instead, she controls the exact amount of involvement she wants with these brands, and uses that involvement in a beneficial way for both the company and herself- take, for instance, her recent position as the new creative director for Polaroid, and her creation of the Viva Glam line of cosmetics in partnership with Mac and Cindy Lauper, which have sold more than any other Mac line in the past.

Another part of what makes the Gaga revolution so interesting is her use of social media through her dedication to her fans. Being one of those fans myself, I avidly read her daily, and sometimes hourly, updates on Twitter (@LadyGaga), and I've watched her music videos on YouTube (check out this one for the Grammys) more than I have for any other artist. I scanned her Web site today to see if there was anything new (ladygaga.com), and I read this AdAge article discussing her impact on social media advertising and branding in general.

In short, I think she's amazing.
This, again, proves the extent to which relevancy and creativity make a brand. Not only does Gaga's story (or mys-story, get it??) intrigue the masses, but her dedication to keeping her fans informed (and even pre-informed, as in the case of the Bad Romance video), along with her involvement in companies that allow her to use her creativity in such a way as benefits both parties, make her beloved by both advertisers and consumers, and thus able to use her power in whichever ways she deems necessary. She also retains control over her managers and agents, and in this way allows the full extent of her personality to come through.

Maybe this is exactly what we need to do with brands. Aside from making them relevant, we need to make them personable, unique, and utterly dedicated to their user base, which is exactly what you have to be when trying to create a following in the world of social media. People want to know that you love them so that they can love you back. Create a mys-story (I love my jokes...), and then dedicate yourself to it.

Then we can all have a Bad Romance.