Publicist to source Hollywood stars for Australian brands
The Sydney-born publicist behind the casting of Al Pacino in a Vittoria Coffee ad campaign has launched a company that sources Hollywood stars for Australian advertisers.
Movie publicist Emma Cooper says she will act as the go-between for Australian brand owners and celebrities such as Harrison Ford, Gwynneth Paltrow, Josh Lucas and Naomi Watts, who was a bridesmaid at Cooper’s wedding last year.
Her company, International Celebrity Relations, will operate from Los Angeles and New York.
“I received a lot of calls after the Vittoria commercial,” she said. “People were asking how we got Al Pacino. There was clearly a gap in the market.”
Australia has the opportunity to follow Japan and Germany as a popular destinations for Hollywood stars to appear in local TV commercials, Cooper noted.
“Australia is home to some great actors. But with international box office celebrities, you can open your market to a wider audience,” she said.
“A lot of people think, we won’t be able to get Hollywood actors, so we won’t bother trying. I can get an answer on availability straight away.”
With a squeeze on film production in the wake of the financial crisis, more actors are looking for commercial work and are commanding lower fees, Cooper noted.
Cooper started out as a fashion publicist at Myer, the department store chain. She got a break as a film marketer in 2000, as a publicist for Rabbit-Proof Fence. After stints at Miramax and Working Title, she moved to New York in 2006.
The Vittoria campaign is ongoing, appearing during 60 Minutes on Network Nine last night. It was the Godfather star’s first international appearance in a commercial.
As an agency that has had to contact US agents for celeb talent, its nice to see there will be some streamlining now. One contact over there may save a lot of time, money, and painful negotiations. Good luck with it.
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Did she put in the link to her wedding or did you Tim?
If she did that seems pretty tacky.
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Hi NY Times Reader,
I put in that link. The fact that Cooper’s wedding was covered by the Herald, and that Hollywood celebrities attended, was worth adding to the story, in my view.
Cheers,
Robin – Mumbrella
While I think Al Pacino was an excellent brand fit for Vittoria, I would personally have rather used Al’s younger brother Cap to front the coffee campaign
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I agree with Steve,
its unbelievable how cheap some of these big stars can be (especially for one of the big advertisers who wouldn’t even miss $1 million.
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and i meant to say, it is good to have someone as they can be hard to find/liase with
I wonder how much Tom Cruise would charge for a furniture manufacturer (perhaps advertising closets?)
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Congratulations on the new venture, but there are a number of Australian companies doing this for a long time, and doing it really well, with strong direct contacts, serious experience and strategic advice to clients on how to leverage the partnership with the celebrity.
Waterfront (and others) have great direct artist, agent and management contacts to get straight to the biggest celebrities and deliver them for Australian marketers.
Most importantly though they have years of experience in this area to handle the tricky situations and to be able to negotiate a great deal and not be taken for a ride.
Someone new offering a service linking celebrities to brands doesn’t really seem like the hottest news of the day, but all the best to Emma.
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Very clever Adam Joseph!! Hilarious.
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got to agree with Sean… his company, Mark Morrisey, Max Markson, Zing PR, Mike DaSilva… heck… my business can do this… you want a celeb? call one of these guys… they will end up going via the same agents Emma will. But, good on Emma for starting the company and negotiating the great Vittoria job… and getting publicity for this type of activity… I sincerely wish Emma well
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