Going after the A-list: Businesses pursue celebrity clients

In this June 30, 2013 file photo, R. Kelly performs onstage at the BET Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The owners of 5001 Flavors knew when they started the company 23 years ago they wanted to sell custom-made clothes to rap and R&B musicians. AP

NEW YORK— It’s a dream for many small business owners: A-list celebrity clients.

The owners of 5001 Flavors knew when they started the company 23 years ago they wanted to sell custom-made clothes to rap and R&B musicians. They sought out artists and record company executives at parties and music industry events. They looked in particular for up-and-coming artists. Now musicians like R. Kelly and Kid Rock are among their fans.

“We were able to really work with a lot of artists and help them go from obscurity to fame,” says Sharene Wood, CEO of New York-based 5001 Flavors.

Some businesses court celebrities because they want to be part of the excitement of the entertainment industry or sports, and perhaps become well-known themselves. For other businesses, a famous client can bring publicity and a bump up in overall sales.

Just one or two celebrity clients can help a small business build a high-profile customer base.

“Once you’re ‘in’, a lot of it takes care of itself,” says Brian Menickella, a financial adviser in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, who works with professional athletes including Los Angeles Angels centerfielder Mike Trout.

Menickella, co-owner of The Beacon Group, networked his way into advising athletes, attending baseball tournaments and befriending college coaches and sports agents.

Right time, right industry

5001 Flowers launched in the early 1990s, when the hip-hop music industry was thriving and artists needed unique looks for CD album covers and videos, CEO Wood says. 5001 Flavors’ designs included leather jackets, hats, shirts and accessories.

The company’s designs, strategy and timing were right, Wood says.

Some of the artists eventually started their own record labels and brought more singers to the company’s list of celebrity clients. Because 5001 Flavors is well known in the music industry, athletes and actors have also bought its clothes.

“One client can turn into 10. Ten can turn into a 100 in a year,” Wood says.

Moving furniture, fooling papparazzi

NorthStar Moving Co. began getting celebrity clients soon after the Los Angeles-based company was founded 20 years ago, owner Laura McHolm says. It has done work for production companies, and that has helped bring it many clients in entertainment; Holm estimates 15 percent of NorthStar’s work comes from the industry.

Its reputation for discretion has also helped build its celebrity clientele, including Angelina Jolie and singer Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys.

Celebrities hire NorthStar because it provides services for people who want their private lives to remain private, McHolm says.

“We have decoy trucks. If someone’s being hounded by the paparazzi, we will have trucks go off in different directions,” she says.

NorthStar will also do middle-of-the-night moves.

“We’ve done celebrity breakups, when they didn’t want the press to know they were breaking up,” McHolm says.

Shirtmaker to the stars

Less than a year after Paul Trible and Paul Watson started their shirt maker, Ledbury, they sent some of their styles to Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

In this Sept. 27, 2014 file photo, Jay-Z performs at the 3rd Global Citizen Festival at Central Park in New York. Madonna, Rihanna, Beyonce and Jay Z are among the A-List musicians who are co-owners of the streaming service Tidal. AP

program. Geist became a customer, and has mentioned Ledbury on air occasionally.

James Corden, host of “The Late, Late Show” on CBS is another client, having bought two dozen of the shirts that are priced up to $195 apiece.

Trible and Watson, who started the Richmond, Virginia, company five years ago, hoped targeting celebrities would create buzz about their brand. But they were selective about who they pursued.

“We wanted to sell to celebrities we looked up to and respected,” Trible says. “Instead of rock stars and musicians and more well-known personalities, the focus became on media.”

When Geist and Scarborough first discussed the shirts on air, Ledbury’s business would blip up 20 percent, Trible says.

“The phone would ring as soon as soon as they mentioned them,” he says.