The Commercial Appeal from
Memphis did a story on
"selling Elvis". Here it is:
Ever wonder how the
marketing minds at
Elvis
Presley Enterprises
keep the king's pop culture
reign going nearly 30 years
after his death? "We just
answer the phone," said
Scott Williams, EPE
marketing and communications
director, in a presentation
Wednesday to the Public
Relations Society of
America's Memphis chapter.
There is, of course, more
than that to creating all
those tie-ins --
Elvis
and Budweiser, Elvis and
Harley-Davidson, an
all-Elvis channel on Sirius
Satellite Radio-- that keep
the singer's name, image and
music prominent. It was all
to make Williams' point that
"Elvis sells Elvis better
than anything we can do."
But just answering the
phones at EPE must be a
chore, because they
apparently ring a lot.
"I think only 3 percent of
the licensing applications
get approved," Williams
said. "One thing about EPE
that's really great is, they
really think through the
planning of the products and
promotions."
He highlighted one that made
the cut -- a partnership
with Hershey's that's led to
limited-edition Reese's
peanut butter and banana
creme cups.
Reese's also will be giving
away a pink Cadillac and a
trip to Graceland.
"They're also going to give
away ... some checks that
Elvis wrote -- that have
been canceled," Williams
said.
"This is what's so fun about
working with brands like
this -- they just have some
great ideas."
Williams, during his address
to the PR types, also put in
a pitch for elvisweek.com.
That's the Web site devoted
to next month's 30th
anniversary edition of Elvis
Week.
Source: Commercial
Appeal