Labels

Cameron Diaz Business Case Study


Extending a Brand Image and Why – by Jessica Northey
________________________________________________________



Business Case Study: Cameron Diaz

Business Case Studies at Full Sail University
Zanibel Melo
September 20, 2012

I. Introduction
Cameron Diaz is a successful actress who went from timid rolls in The Mask to action and comedy packed movies such as Charlie’s Angels. To learn how Cameron Diaz went from being a model to being one of top paid actresses in Hollywood. Diaz earns an average of $12 million per movie. She began her climb to popularity as an actress when Oliver Stone met her in 1998 at the Golden Globes party. He offered her the role in Any Given Sunday without an audition (Davis, 2000).

II. Brief Biography
Cameron Diaz was born on August 30, 1972 in San Diego, California (The complete marquis, 2012). She began her modeling career in 1989 with Elite and began her acting career in The Mask with Jim Carrey in 1994 (“Celebrity central,”). The National Theatre Owners Association named her ‘Female Star of Tomorrow’ in 1996.  She was named one of PEOPLE’s 50 Most Beautiful and stared in There’s Something About Mary in 1998, earning $172 million (The complete marquis, 2012). Her unique personality is what makes Cameron Diaz a successful actress. “She is the antithesis of ‘the Hitchcock ice goddess,’ as ex beau Matt Dillon put it when the two were dating. ‘She is warm, she is beautiful, and she is sexy. And yet she is not prissy. She is very well-balanced’” (Davis, 2000).

Diaz costars with Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore in Charlie’s Angels in 2000, a sequel Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle in 2003 with Demi Moore, and grosses over $100 million (“Celebrity central”) in the process. She wins the Boston Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actress award in 2001 (The complete marquis, 2012). Diaz does voice acting with Shrek for the roll of Princess Fiona in 2001, wins the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for Best Burp (as Princess Fiona), signs for Shrek 2 in 2004, and Shrek the Third by 2007. (“Celebrity central”). She also wins the Chicago Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002 (The complete marquis, 2012). The same year, Diaz costars with Leonardo DiCaprio and in Gangs of New York (“Celebrity central”).

Diaz costars with Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black in The Holiday, which grosses over $63 million in 2007 (“Celebrity central”). She wins the Favorite Leading Lady, People’s Choice award. Diaz also won the Wannabe award, Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and named one of The 100 Most Powerful Celebrities by Forbes in 2008 (The complete marquis, 2012). Diaz costars with Ashton Kutcher in What Happens in Vegas and opens at Number 3 at the Box Office in 2008. Her father, Emilio Diaz, dies and W magazine publishes an article asking her about how it affects her. A year later, Diaz stars in a drama called My Sister’s Keeper in 2009 for a more dramatic role, which reflected her serious mood about her father's death at that time in her life. Then, Diaz reunites with ex, Justin Timberlake, for the film Bad Teacher in a romantic comedy slated to release in 2011. Next, Diaz costars with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew Morrison for the film What to Expect When You’re Expecting in 2012, which was a box office flop (“Celebrity central”).

III. Findings: Position in the Market
Diaz’s top two competitors are Kristen Stewart and Sandra Bullock as far as the amount of money they have earned in 2012. Kristen Stewart earned $34.5 million as of May 2012. She was a costar in the Twilight series and Snow White and the Huntsman. Sandra Bullock earned $25 million as of May 2012. Bullock is an actress, her most recent film, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was a flop, but The Blind Side, was a massive hit that studios dream about (“Cameron diaz – forbes,” 2012). 

According to Forbes, Diaz’s market position landed her ranked number two among the top paid actresses for 2012 (Pomerantz, 2012). Her earnings are $34 million as of May 2012 (“Cameron diaz – forbes,” 2012). Her net worth is $75 million. “Diaz is Hollywood's only actress besides Julia Roberts to break the $20 million-per-film salary mark” (Goldman & Blakeley, 2007). Something About Mary was her most lucrative movie, earning $369,884,651 total gross earnings (“Most successful movies,” 2012). To see Diaz’s top 11 film’s lifetime gross earnings excel chart (see Exhibit A). Her target audience is mostly women who enjoy romantic comedies and dramas films, and men as well because she is a tomboy and loves sports and she has starred in movies like Any Given Sunday (Davis, 2000) the guys cannot help but love her too. Diaz is the dream girlfriend and the women every girl dreams to become.

IV. Findings Continued: Business Strategies
Diaz’s revenue streams include acting, author, host and producer of a TV show, voice acting in animated films, philanthropist, and endorsements. Her core capability is that she adds comedy to her acting. Recently, she has been in drama roles, but she’s most adored for her candid personality and big smile. Her value proposition is that she is funny and one of the boys. She is not afraid to eat a french fry or being in an embarrassing scene like the ones in Something About Mary (Davis, 2000). Also, she owns a foundation called “Begin Today for Tomorrow.” She believes that celebrities can make a difference through their films. (“Cameron diaz charity”) Her strategy is to act in independent films with a low budget with big returns “a smaller upfront on the film in exchange for a large share of the profits” (“Cameron diaz – forbes,” 2012). These strategies are relevant because her choices reflect her personal brand and match her target audience.

Diaz’s business trends are based on health. She is an upcoming author of a fitness book that will reach bookstores in 2013 (“Cameron diaz working,” 2012). She is also a brand ambassador for TAG Heuer to launch Link Lady line of watches (Basel, 2012). She is also an environmental publicist, she “shot public-service announcements, hosted a short-lived MTV show called Trippin, and worked with Gore to form Save Our Selves, which threw the Live Earth concert.” (Stein, 2009)

Another would be the green business trend that Diaz has attached herself to. Her goal is to help the environment by making people aware of virtualization, which uses less hardware or energy (Stein, 2009). This helps her career by connecting to her target audience’s emotions while participating in something she cares about and builds her brand image. By remaining relevant in things that matter in the daily lives of real people, they may be more likely to purchase or rent one of her movies.

Diaz’s emotional connection to her target audience is her conviction about informing people about their environment and how they can make the changes themselves. She drove around the country in her eco friendly car to talk to people about their tap water. (Stein, 2009) Her self-expression is shown through her products, such as writing a book about health and wellness because this is how she takes care of herself. Her endorsement with TAG Heuer reflects her real personality of being sporty, yet feminine and elegant. She is clean cut and lives a sporty lifestyle through snow boarding to surfing (“Celebrity central”). This is relevant because she is great about matching her personal brand to the products that she attaches herself to her real personality. This helps with consistency, which leads to building trust with her audience because they feel like they know who she is and can connect with her as a real person and not just a character.

To further explore Diaz’s career as an actress, an interview with Michael Woterspoon was conducted. He is a Course Director of Producing at Full Sail University and considered an expert in the film industry. He has worked for Nickelodeon Studios, Walt Disney World Entertainment, and Universal Studios in the Art and Production departments. According to Woterspoon, Diaz stands out from other actresses, that have a similar look, is because she has good timing in delivery when acting; not all actors have this skill.

It is difficult to find an official social media account for Diaz; some celebrities have used social media to reach out to their fans. However, it is not critical for Diaz to be more accessible in social media. According to Woterspoon, it is a risky subject for any actor. Diaz is already well known and it is understandable for her to want to remain private. It is not her personality type to be online because she is 40 years old now and social media is common for the younger generation. However, it is possible she may hire an assistant to help with her social media in the near future.

Diaz has the type of personality and acting skills that allows her to go from comedy to serious rolls. It is not important for her to stick to one type of role and become type casted for romantic comedy. Plenty of great actors can play dramatic roles and have fantastic timing; however, it is easier for a comedian to be in a serious drama than it is for an actor who plays serious roles to switch to comedy.

In Diaz’s first movie, The Mask, her physique had a fragile, model look and she decided to become physically stronger to land action rolls such as Charlie’s Angles. Woterspoon explains that she understands there are different physical regiments, and she has embraced that so she can be in action, franchise types of films, which is every actors dream.

The most important factors to consider when judging a celebrity’s popularity is mostly about how much their peers recognize them, because actors are very hard to impress. SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and The Oscars are two award ceremonies where actors decide which of their peers will win awards. Woterspoon mentions his favorite actor is Gary Oldman because he can play almost any roll and that is what makes him one of the greatest actors. It is not about how many films the actor is in because it does not automatically make them better (personal communication, September 17, 2012). 

V. Conclusion
Diaz’s bigger than life personality and a grandiose smile that is only part of what makes her the popular actress that she has become. She has the ability to not take herself too seriously, which allows her comedy to shine through, such as the hilarious scene in There’s Something About Mary, when she puts the ‘mystery’ gel in her hair and it stands up straight. She has starred in many independent films to help her career off the ground and learned that a small production budget can increase her earnings if the movie is a smash hit at the box office. Diaz has extended her brand through a few key strategies but can take advantage of possible ancillary products from her movies like Charlie’s Angles and Shrek. She is compassionate about the environment and believes that she is the environment’s personal publicist. She has the personality that causes her audience relate to her, whether it is through her films or her philanthropy efforts.


VI. Evaluation (individual’s future)
A business opportunity that she can add to her revenue streams is to create a fashion line of workout clothes and gear to go with her health and wellness books. She can also create a game board and virtual game for the Charlie’s Angles movies to target young women. It will be favorable for her because creating ancillary items enable her to continue to earn money from her films long after they are not in the theaters. This also reaches out to her core audience in order to maintain her customer relationship management in order to maintain customer loyalty.

The challenges for Diaz’s future is how she is now 40 years old, which may slow her down for action rolls, however; she is in great physical shape to keep going for another ten years if she wanted to. Currently, movie theater ticket sales are on the decline, therefore; Diaz must diversify her assets by creating new income streams through personal brand extensions opportunities. One potential option is marriage and children because they would be her legacy. There is also an opportunity for Diaz to become an entrepreneur to produce, direct, and write films, similar to Drew Barrymore with Flower Productions (“Flower films,” 2011) It is also recommend that Diaz should star in more films that has ancillary product opportunities in order to build a franchise through her films.

VII. Exhibits

Appendix A:

(“Cameron diaz movie,” )




References:
  • Basel. (2012, March 07). Tag heuer raises the curtain on newest brand ambassador: Cameron diaz. Retrieved from http://forums.watchuseek.com/f25/tag-heuer-raises-curtain-newest-brand-ambassador-cameron-diaz-659541.html 
  • Cameron diaz charity work, events and causes. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/32-cameron-diaz
  • Cameron diaz – forbes. (2012, May). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/profile/cameron-diaz
  • Cameron diaz movies. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.blockbuster.com/browse/catalog/personDetails/163445 
  • Cameron diaz movie box office results. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=camerondiaz.htm&sort=gross&order=DESC&p=.htm
  • Cameron diaz titles. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/siteSearch.asp?search=Cameron Diaz     
  • Cameron diaz working on fitness book. (2012, August 14). Retrieved from http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/blogs/cameron-diaz-working-on-fitness-book 
  • Celebrity central / top 25 celebs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.people.com/people/cameron_diaz/biography/0,,,00.html 
  • Davis, I. (2000). Giddy, Gorgeous, and Just One of the Guys: Cameron Diaz. Biography, 4(4), 74.
  • Flower films. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.drewbarrymore.org/career/flower-films
  • Goldman, L., & Blakeley, K. (2007, Jan 18). In pictures: The richest 20 women in entertainment. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/17/richest-women-entertainment-tech-media-cz_lg_richwomen07_0118womenstars_slide_16.html
  • Most successful movies of cameron diaz. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.listal.com/list/most-successful-movies-of-cameron
  • Pomerantz, D. (2012, May 16). The world’s most powerful celebrities. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/celebrities 
  • Sandra bullock – forbes. (2012, May). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/profile/sandra-bullock 
  • Stein, J. (2009). Cameron Diaz. (Cover story). Time International (Atlantic Edition), 171(13), 56-57.
  • The complete marquis who’s who (r) biographies: Cameron diaz. In (2012). Marquis Who's Who LLC.

Email Post
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment