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As cultural icon, Elvis has it all
By David Williams
Contact
August 10, 2007
Elvis also was a doting son, a gospel singer, a good soldier. "I don't remember the controversy
he stirred up," wrote Southerner and author Bobbie Ann Mason in a 2003 biography, "because
everything he did seemed so natural and real, and he was one of us, a country person who
spoke our language."
Which all goes to say,
whatever you wanted in
a cultural icon, Elvis
was it, king-size. He
wasn't just larger than
life. Thirty years gone,
he's larger than death.
Photos by Nathan Morgan/The Commercial Appeal
Elvis collectible PEZ dispensers
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"We could aim for it,
plan for it, try for it. But
there's nothing other
than Elvis' incredibly
unique bundle of
attributes that could
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"Just about by any
measure I can think of,
it's bigger," said Jack
Soden, president and
CEO of Elvis Presley
Enterprises, talking
about the state of the
Elvis brand on the eve
of the estate's 30th
anniversary celebration.
have made this actually be happening so continuously."
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Elvis Presley was a rebel, a threat, a "sharkskin-suited girl chaser, wearing eye shadow," U2's
Bono wrote, one rock star bowing to another, in a 2004 Rolling Stone essay. He was "a
trucker-dandy white boy who must have risked his hide to act so black and dress so gay."
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There are enough Elvis products out there to fill a
big-box store. For example: Elvis shoes. Elvis coffee
mug. Reese's "King size" peanut butter and banana
creme "Big Cup."
Soden's a businessman, not a songwriter, so Incredibly unique bundle of attributes may not be
as instantly catchy as hunka, hunka burning love. But it would seem to explain why Elvis is the
name of our eternal flame.
That is, for every person, an Elvis persona.
"People tend to focus on the things and values and personas that resonate best with them,"
said Robert Passikoff, president of New York-based market research firm Brand Keys.
But whether it's the "Ed Sullivan Show"-era Elvis, shaking what Gladys gave him before 72
million TV viewers, or the gospel Elvis singing "How Great Thou Art," Passikoff said, "neither
of them cancel each other out."
That's because with Elvis, these weren't mere wardrobe changes or market calculations -think Madonna -- but rather, said Passikoff, "You had the feeling with Elvis that it was all a
natural progression, a natural migration."
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And so, 30 years later, the one-man-brand that is Elvis seems stronger than ever -- and
poised to grow stronger under the ownership and financial might of media mogul, and
"American Idol" TV show owner, Bob Sillerman.
The billionaire Elvis fan plans a $250 million upgrade of Graceland and its environs. The next
few years will bring all-new buildings -- mansion aside -- including a visitor center and multiple
hotels. The pilgrims won't recognize the place -- new attractions will boast the latest
technology, and a walk through the woods will replace the current shuttle-bus system to help
create "the environment and the elegance," Soden said, "of an Ivy League campus."
The company's eventual goal is to more than triple the current 600,000 annual attendance.
But then, you don't have to come to Elvis. He'll come to you. As the song of a few years ago
said, Elvis is everywhere.
There's an all-Elvis station on Sirius Satellite Radio, an Elvis limited-edition Harley-Davidson
that sold out at $58,000 a pop, an Elvis-inspired peanut butter-and-banana creme Reese's
Cup.
And, despite EPE rejecting nine out of 10 licensing proposals, there are enough Elvis products
to fill the shelves of a big-box store. Call it, Just Elvis.
There's Elvis Monopoly, Elvis Yahtzee, an Elvis bowling ball from Brunswick, Elvis action
figures from McFarlane Toys, an Elvis watch from Fossil.
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See many age demographics missing from that list?
OK, infants.
Well, there's the Elvis onesie -- "perfect for the offspring of retro-loving parents!" -- from
California-based Jem Sportswear's "little jem" line.
There are even Elvis PEZ dispensers, a box set of three (1958 Elvis in Army duds, '68
comeback-trail Elvis, and '73 Elvis in shades and high-collared jumpsuit) in a limited run of
400,000. (Fittingly, the mold will be broken, the company says.)
"We started shipping it July1. They're sold out -- we have no more. Gone. Isn't that
something?" said Peter Vandall, vice president of marketing for Connecticut-based PEZ Candy
Inc.
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Says the marketing guy from PEZ: "Elvis will always be a brand."
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Vandall, who gives his age as "up there," said he's never been an Elvis fan, but questions not
the King's reign.
"Oh absolutely," he said. "I know what kind of impact he has on other people. That's because
I'm a marketing guy."
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Brand. It's a word that Soden -- caretaker of an icon, protector of an image, fan of the man -once resisted. "Because as brand-like as his legacy is -- you know, he's a person," Soden
said.
But there's no resisting, really. After all, Soden reasoned, "The whole goal of brand managers is to create an emotion. They want people to be
emotionally tied to their Toyotas.
"We didn't start with a logo and a widget and set out to create an emotional tie. We started with a purely personal relationship between a unique
individual and the public."
Paul Jankowski, hired in 2006 as EPE's first chief marketing officer, another of the Sillerman-era initiatives, said, "In the classic sense, a brand
means a combination of perceptions. We have hundreds of perceptions of Elvis in the market."
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Again: for every person, an Elvis persona.
"Look at the people who are coming here," said Jankowski. "Look at the demographics of the people who are reaching into their pockets and
pulling out dollars to pay for the experience."
On a recent morning at Graceland, it was the typically large and varied lot: old and gray, middle-aged, teenaged in backward ballcaps, pint-sized -a group snapshot of EPE's claim that 38 percent of all visitors are 35 and under.
They shopped (Aloha replica jumpsuit with belt, cape and certificate of authenticity, $3,700). They toured (Jungle Room to jets to jumpsuit
exhibition). They scrawled on the wall ("We Miss U -- Reincarnate").
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The Reincarnated King? Well, there was that recent Elvis duet with Celine Dion on American Idol that became the No. 1 downloaded video on
iTunes. And anyway, what's one more Elvis?
Hillbilly Cat Elvis. Elvis the Pelvis. Army Elvis. Hollywood Elvis. Comeback Special Elvis. Las Vegas Elvis. Black leather Elvis. Black velvet Elvis.
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"You usually associate musicians to one music scene, one genre," said Becky Ebenkamp, Brandweek magazine's West Coast bureau chief.
"Frank Sinatra, you think of him as being one type of music, really. Even though Frank Sinatra had different aspects of his career. He was a
big-band singer and he did different things. But you think of him as just being the 'New York, New York' Frank Sinatra."
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And Elvis?
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"Elvis," she said, "evolved."
SWIFT
-- David Williams: 529-2310
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