And I will always love you: how marketers measure Dolly Parton’s magic
The power of celebrity can unite or divide consumers. Louise Grimmer and Martin Grimmer explain how the impact of celebrity in marketing can be measured, in this crossposting from The Conversation.
Hit podcast Dolly Parton’s America is a love letter to the icon of American country music. It reveals Dolly’s broad and enduring appeal, which crosses generations, class, race and even musical tastes.
Dolly, 73, is having a “moment” that includes the podcast, 9:5 The Musical (coming to Australia in April), and the new Netflix series Heartstrings, which dramatises a Dolly song for each episode.
In a divided America, Dolly stands as the great unifier. The podcast cites her as being in the top 10 most loved celebrities globally – but also one of the least hated – based on extensive polling. Her popularity has been measured using a celebrity scoring system called the Q Score.
How do we quantify a public figure in terms of cultural cachet? And who would be Australia’s Dolly?
