How Low Can a Brand Go?

By SAMANTHA ETTUS
30-JUN-05

While some celebrity brands rise and others fall, a select handful of celebrities possess brands so powerful and resilient that a series of faulty decisions leads merely to opportunities for redemption; this week we take a look at three such brands – Bobby Brown, Lindsay Lohan and Tom Cruise – and how they can alter their current trajectories.

Bobby Brown

This week marked the debut of Being Bobby Brown, a disturbing and pathetic reality show on the life of Bobby Brown and his significantly more famous wife, Whitney Houston. Parents and one time pop sensations, since uniting this duo has experienced jail time, rehab, marital violence and precipitous slides in their respective careers. But with a far more illustrious track record, Houston had more at stake than Brown, and her life has taken the most dramatic downturn. Sadly, in exposing the couple's dysfunctional relationship, the new series provides us with insight into the source of their demise. With a glaring lack of self-awareness, Brown demotes his wife to sidekick, and the series has the unintended consequence of making the audience afraid of him. Brown is in dire need of a reality check -- he better not depend on this reality series to save him.

Bobby Brown's Celebrity A$ets

Lindsay Lohan

With a plethora of films yet to be released, Lohan is still poised to be a leading lady at the box office for a long time to come. Yet in the last year Lohan's antics have multiplied, and she is endangering her brand with questionable off camera and on set behavior. Though Lohan's family problems are well documented and we sympathize with the young starlet for the enormous pressure placed upon her, on the eve of her 19th birthday the teen queen is in immediate danger of plummeting from her place on top. Most recently, Lohan experienced alarmingly dramatic weight loss and threw a tantrum at the premiere of her latest release, Herbie Fully Loaded. While reported details of that outburst smack of tabloid exaggeration, the frequency and consistency of her meltdowns suggest that they are more than Hollywood legend. Though still two years underage Lohan is ubiquitous on the party scene, and wherever she is the drama follows. The talented actress has so much going for her and we hope that she will clean up her act, in more ways than one, so she can fully realize her brand potential.

Lindsay Lohan's Celebrity A$$$ets

Tom Cruise

Though we hesitate to allot even more ink to the shockingly bizarre antics of Tom Cruise, when talking about brand descents it is impossible to exclude the War of the Worlds star. Newly engaged to his love of eight weeks, actress Katie Holmes, Cruise has shed his previously private persona and hit the talk show circuit with a vengeance. After jumping on Oprah's pristine couches, criticizing Brooke Shields, calling psychiatry a hoax, and behaving erratically in an Access Hollywood interview, Cruise did it again this week with an outburst on The Today Show. In his most condescending public appearance yet, he lashed out at Today host Matt Lauer. Breaking all interviewer/interviewee codes of decorum, Cruise berated Lauer, called him "glib," and challenged him as to whether he has studied the history of the drug Ritalin in as much depth as Cruise. With this now constant behavior, Cruise is in danger of overshadowing the terrific brand that he created. To recover, he needs to lay low and be in love off camera for awhile. Only then can he turn seeing into believing.

Tom Cruise's Celebrity A$$ets

Remember: the most dependable road to the top is to treat your brand as your greatest asset.

Samantha Ettus is the author of "The Experts' Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do" (Random House). Contact her at Samantha@celebrityassets.com.)