INDUSTRY

Justin Timberlake has his foot in almost every door of the entertainment industry.  He is a successful singer both collaboratively and as a solo artist.  He is a respected actor in a variety of different genres of film.  His live performances offer not only amazing singing talents but dancing that is a performance all of its own.  Finally, he is a well-known fashion designer, creating both men’s and women’s fashion with his business partner Trace Ayala.  He does each of these so well and with such success that it would seem quite easy to market Justin Timberlake to almost any audience.  Fortunately for Justin, his ability to transition from a younger teen star to a sophisticated business has made that an easy task. 

            Graeme Turner talks about marketing a “celebrity-commodity” in his chapter, The Economy of Celebrity.  What Turner suggests is that most representatives of celebrities—the agents, managers, publicists—have to decide if their client, or commodity, is going to be a long-lasting success, or someone that is a “hot property” at the time (Turner 194).  At the beginning of his career, Timberlake might have been seen as this “compelling but short-term interest” whose fame could be maximized in a certain, particular method (Turner 194).  As a member of the boy band NSYNC, Justin was a part of the teen pop phenomenon with the likes of Britney Spears, Mandy Moore, Backstreet Boys, and many more.  This type of fame attracted a specific fan base and created a particular star image.  The fan base tended to be young tween and teen girls who idolized these pop sensations, instantly creating a sort of wholesome star image.  These pop stars were expected to be role models for their young fans, and needed to be such if they intended to keep them. Justin and the rest of the members of NSYNC were able to be quite successful commodities in the pop industry.  They played into this star image and interacted well with their young female fan base, making them the most popular pop stars of the boy band era.

            Like all eras, the boy band era ended and so did NSYNC, but Justin Timberlake did not.  He beat the odds and ended up not being the sort of short term commodity that the industry expected him to be.  Instead, Timberlake transitioned into the adult world of celebrity, attracting both male and female audiences of all ages and backgrounds with his solo singing career and more mature acting roles.  In order to be successful in this sort of transition, Timberlake and his team had to create a marketing plan that would allow him to be this sort of cross over star.  He had to choose the right roles and the right music scene that would not only keep the fans he had in NSYNC, but allow him to grow and mature with them.  He left behind the roles associated with tweens and headed in a more adult direction with both his music and his acting, allowing him to keep that audience that grew with him during his pop days as well as garner a new, more mature audience that would see his versatility and relatability to both males and females.