Splendid Sundays Volume 67

A handful of splendid finds from around the web:

*Google released a list of the top ten wedding searches in the United States for 2011 (Kim Kardashian's wedding actually beat out that of Kate and Wills as most popular). The royal wedding was the fastest-rising search on Google in the UK.

*Pinterest now drives more traffic for Real Simple magazine than Facebook does.

*Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has sold its 40% stake in Wedding Wire.

*Vera Wang is expanding into menswear with a line of tuxedos for Men's Wearhouse.

*A county in Florida is limiting the number of weddings allowed on their beaches.

Celebrities turned Wedding Pros

Yesterday on Twitter, I made some speculative comments about the potential for celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow to refashion themselves as "wedding experts." While I don't have any insider knowledge on this, I still feel that it will be a when not if situation. Here's why: being a lifestyle expert is the new black and the wedding industry is a lucrative segment of the broader lifestyle category (even with the decline in marriage rates, weddings are still a multi-billion dollar industry.)

As more corporations outside of weddings look to gain market share in the bridal space -- in part fueled by both the royal wedding and the Kardashian wedding and the spotlight those brought to the industry -- they will look for the best opportunities to help them move their products. What is the more appealing marketing investment for them? Partnering with a quasi-celebrity wedding professional or with an actual celebrity with mass appeal?

Currently, with the exception of Vera Wang, if you mention the name of any wedding "A-Lister" to a random person on the street, nine times out of ten you will be met with a "who's that?" That's a tough pill to swallow for some, but it's the truth. The economics are simple: a movie star turned wedding "pro" will generate more sales for a company than a semi-celebrity that still requires an on-ramp of introduction and name education to the public. A couple who gets engaged doesn't know who the wedding players are until they start doing their planning research but they already know the names of Hollywood stars.

There are a few major companies that historically have taken talented people who were relatively unknown and put their multi-million dollar marketing departments behind them. These companies are the exception. The majority of companies will want a quick fix and will take a short-term view to profit generation, especially while the economy is still in a slump. So while celebrities diversify their own brands by expanding into lifestyle and weddings on a much more frequent basis than the small handful we've seen in the past (and not just as spokespeople, but as actual planners, designers, etc), the large corporations will also be expanding into weddings (again on a more frequent basis) and using this new sub-market to do so.

So why speculate? Because part of my job is to forecast wedding business trends. Why pinpoint Gwyneth Paltrow? Because I've paid close attention to the way her lifestyle newsletter, GOOP, has progressed over the years and the way it now moves products for retailers. I could have picked several other people, but she is one who I feel is primed to move into the wedding space.

I also bring it up because of the growing amount of wedding professionals who are trying to brand themselves as celebrities and attain fame (usually in that order). There isn't necessarily anything wrong with this goal. However, it seems to be the entire financial model for some companies and it's a very precarious basket to place all, or even most, of your eggs in.

If the majority of your business plan revolves around getting famous so that you can get sponsorship deals and so forth, it's time to create some new, more reliable, revenue streams and reassign the dreams of fame to secondary or tertiary goals. There will always be someone more famous than you and many have their eye on the wedding industry.

Music Industry Cracking Down on Wedding Videographers

This article on the music industry cracking down on wedding videographers for using unlicensed songs reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend a few years ago. This friend is an executive for a major music distribution company. We discussed licensing, royalties and so forth and he told me how his company and their major competitor both catch businesses using their music without licenses.

The sales people for the distribution companies are paid on commission. To find new business, they spend hours searching the web for websites, videos and photo slideshows that use their music. They also pose as secret shoppers and will sit in a bar, have a drink and listen to the songs playing (if you own a retail store, this is important: you can't just play any CD or iPod mix you want without a license because it is no longer just for personal use). If the businesses don't have a license to play their music, the sales people will offer to sell them one. If the business refuses to buy a license, they then get sued or fined.

I don't know the current rates, but at the time, a license with the two largest distribution companies ran about $900 per year. It's a relatively low price and a cost of business that should be built into your pricing. It's also much cheaper than the fines for using unlicensed music or a lawsuit.

I once asked a videographer which companies they had licensed with and their reply was that they don't license music because their company was so small that they would never get caught. This is a false assumption that many wedding videographers and photographers make. Because the sales people for the music companies are paid on commission, they are motivated to find businesses using their songs and the size of your business has nothing to do with it.

Another thing to consider: if it's important to you that people respect your copyrights as a videographer or photographer, then it should be important to you to honor the copyrights of musicians.

3 Sites You Should Be Reading But Possibly Aren't Yet

If you're looking for some new sites to add to your list, or clearing out some old ones and looking for replacements, here are three I recommend:

The Offbeat Empire business blog by Ariel Meadow Stallings. Ariel is the founder of Offbeat Bride and its sister companies, Offbeat Mama and Offbeat Home, a book author, and has an online community of over 21,000 members and nearly half a million readers each month. Reaching an audience that is distinctly outside of the mainstream wedding industry, Ariel has inspired many other bloggers who are also now finding success in this particular niche. Plus she's brilliant, nice and down to earth -- my favorite combination. On her Offbeat Empire blog, Ariel shares her insights on building a successful online business.

Frank Chimero is a designer (you may recognize some of his work from Newsweek or The Atlantic) who writes about the way that design interacts with the world and how the world interacts with design. His blog is thoughtful, and one I consider a must-read for any artist. I especially love his ability to "see" his surroundings in a way that requires being totally present.

Patterns from IDEO is a place to discuss the common insights from problems people are working to solve around the world. In their Business in Beta issue, they talk about the common plague all businesses face: the need to launch and refine versus the desire to be perfect. (PS: You may have never heard of IDEO, but you see their work every day. They are the company that Apple hired to develop the mouse for their computers.)

What sites do you consider to be must-reads?

Internship at Splendid Communications

I'm currently reviewing applications for an internship with Splendid Communications during the January-May 2012 semester. If you know a smart and savvy marketing student who would like to learn the behind the scenes ropes of the business of weddings, please pass along this job listing with all the info.

And, if you're hiring employees or interns, don't forget to post the opening on FindAWeddingJob.com. The listings cross-post to LinkedIn and other career sites so that your job opening is in front of a wide audience, increasing your chances of finding an employee you can't live without.

The Appeal of Pinterest

Something to think about: Pinterest, an image-driven social media site, is less than two years old, yet has managed to build a large, active audience of people that span all generations. More importantly, its active audience are people who are not typically early adopters -- and Pinterest is at an age where they should still be dominated by early adopters. No other social media site reached mass appeal this quickly.

The Hidden Power of Gifting

The holiday season often gets a bad rap. Rather, the gifts associated with the holidays get a bad rap. It's popular to paint the holiday focus on gifts as consumerist or materialistic, but I personally believe that is a cynical, glass half-empty perspective.

Gifts celebrate a spirit of generosity. The very nature of giving a gift requires thinking of other people before ourselves and taking the time to select something we know the other person will enjoy.

Thoughtful gifting forces a shift from merely talking about the things we hold to be important to actually showing it through acts of generosity. Isn't this what the holidays are about? Celebrating love by actively showing it?

Defining Factors

If you had to choose just one word to define what you want your business (or life) to be, which word would you choose?

I asked this question on both Twitter and Facebook and received some interesting replies. Here are a few of them: thoughtful, discovery, determined, adventure, open, sincere, genuine, trustworthy, indomitable, fun, happy, friendly, perseverance, visionary, kind, integrity, busy, passionate, joy.

My word is grace. Grace trumps karma -- a fact that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love it when it wins out for me, but hate it when it wins out for someone I'd rather see get their just deserts. More importantly, I'd like to become better at both giving and receiving grace.

The requisite follow up question then is what needs to change, if anything, about your business or life in order to make the word you chose the defining factor?

On Creating

From 30,000 feet, creating looks like art. From ground level, it’s a to-do list. -- Ben Arment