This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
ForBiddeN
Christine Dolce, or ForBiddeN as she is known on MySpace, has a similar success story to Tila. As one of the first MySpace members, she quickly achieved huge popularity and gathered over one million friends. This former cosmetologist has created a modeling career and appeared in such magazines as Playboy, Rolling Stone, and FHM. Vanity Fair called Christine “The Queen of MySpace.” Like Tila, she promotes several products on her MySpace page, as shown in Figure 5.5.
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Figure 5.5 The sultry and very popular MySpace page of ForBiddeN.
Website
For only $14.95 per month, you can become part of the “ForBiddeN Army.” Here you get access to exclusive content like photos and videos, and you also get discounts on all ForBiddeN products in the store. Again, sending visitors to your website gives you countless opportunities to market to them. However, I don’t think I agree with the subscription model. If a visitor wants to know more about you or your promotion, give him or her as much as you can for free.
As it turns out, ForBiddeN’s fans didn’t agree with the subscription model either. Just a few months after launching the site, it was closed down. Instead, she now offers a free private community for her many friends. Offering something like this is a great marketing idea because it allows you to take your friends with you. On an outside community like this, you have more control over the layout and better access to individuals as well.
Fashion
Christine has her own fashion line called Destroyed Denim (www.destroyedbrand.com). She seems to have had more success than Tila with this venture. She has posted to her blog that sales are improving, and new products are added regularly.
Dog Tags
Rock n Tags created a special product line of its customizable dog tags that featured ForBiddeN. While the idea sounds a little kooky, dog tags have always been popular with some segment of youth throughout the years. Promotional items like this can work for other promotions as well. Zazzle (www.zazzle.com) offers a huge line of products, from clothes to coffee mugs to mouse pads.
Perfume
For a short time, Christine sold Forbidden, the scent. This product is no longer featured on her profile, so we can only assume it wasn’t the next Chanel No. 5. This is a good example for those experimenting with self-branding: don’t take the idea too far.