The rise of celebrity entrepreneurs
Celebrities are fast becoming some of the most prolific business entrepreneurs of recent years with an explosion of celebrity-owned consumer businesses on the market. We’ve seen celebrities like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Kristen Bell, Drew Barrymore and the Kardashian sisters all expand their global footprint through new consumer product offerings from shapewear to tequila.
According to a report published by JLL Research, 60% of celebrity brands—in sectors as diverse as beauty and cosmetics, clothing, wellness, liquor, food, and home goods—were founded in the last six years. More than a third of those have launched since 2020.
A combination of the global pandemic, which saw consumers embrace the era of ecommerce, in addition to the proliferation of social media selling and buying, has seen celebrities convert followers into customers with ease. Some celebrities and influencers have the ability to make millions of dollars with just one sponsored post on their Instagram account. Selena Gomez makes over an estimated $2 million per sponsored post to her 423 million followers, as does Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Dwayne Johnson and Ariana Grande.
Building authentic brands that speak to the core lifestyles and preferences of their fan bases has been the driving force behind the entrepreneurial successes of celebrities. Millennials and Gen Z want to interact with brands that mean something to them or where they can relate to a brand story or connecting cause.
And celebrities no longer want to be known for just one thing, with more and more celebrities branching out into not just one additional business venture, but multiple. Dwayne Johnson has 10+ businesses that he either owns out right, invests in, or endorses, for example. Kendall Ostrow, chief growth officer at NOWwith calls this the flywheel model which she shared recently with the Hollywood Reporter.
The risks of the social media business plan
However, there’s a distinct and critical problem with being dependent on social media as a source of revenue- celebrities, influencers and content creators don’t own their followers, the big tech companies like Meta do. Celebrities are essentially renting space on social media platforms like Instagram, with their fans being ‘borrowed eyes’ that they could lose at any given moment – whether that be from a simple ‘unfollow’, algorithmic rule change, or new legislation. TikTok, for example, is still at real threat from being banned in the US, leaving thousands of influencers and content creators at risk of losing a livelihood they’ve spent years building from the ground up. We’ve also seen many different content creators simply have their accounts taken down, with no real explanation, losing an entire follower base overnight. This makes it increasingly difficult for influencers to establish and build their own businesses, separate from the hold of social media, where they have control over their audiences and can generate a more reliable, steady and sustainable source of revenue.
There is a way, however, to avoid this threat, and the answer can be found in telecom. While we’ve seen celebrities and influences embark on ventures that have spanned many different industries and niches, telecom and the idea of offering mobile services to fans and followers has yet to be fully explored.
The telecom opportunity
The fact is, up until this point, the possibility of offering mobile services to fans and followers has been out of reach to celebrities, and other non-telecom companies. Telecom is one of the last industries to move to the cloud, leaving an innovation black hole that has deterred new entrants from entering the market.
With the advent of new technology like Telecom-as-a-Service (TaaS) however, the telecom landscape is now changing and the idea of offering mobile services to fans, and launching celebrity MVNOs, is no longer out of reach to stars and influencers.
TaaS enables celebrities to actually own their own private-label network and bundle exclusive content and products into telecom experiences that are only available to their mobile subscribers. This is an opportunity to turn followers and fans into regular paying subscribers and where celebrities can extend the reach of their brand to forge ultra-personal and authentic connections with fans that go far beyond what we see today.
What could celebrity MVNOs look like?
Taylor Swift
Imagine Taylor Swift launched her own private-label network. With over 280 million Instagram followers, even if she converted just 1% into paying mobile subscribers she’d be adding millions to her bottom line each year.
Subscribers to Taylor’s private label network could enjoy an immersive experience that gets them early access to ‘The Eras Tour’ tickets or new album launches, push notifications directly from Taylor herself, exclusive content, free data access to YouTube to watch Taylor’s latest music videos, and additional ‘Easter Eggs’ that her fans have come to know her for, obsess over and enjoy. Having her own mobile network would take her world domination to the next level and ensure her fans get an every day essential service tailored to their lifestyles and love of Taylor herself.
The Kardashians
They’ve built their empires to be worth billions of dollars, but now the Kardashians could launch into the world of telecom with their own private-label network that could see them add a new line of revenue to their already growing bank balances, engage with fans in new and meaningful ways, and intelligently upsell and cross-sell across their other extensive product lines and ventures.
The sisters could give subscribers free data access to Disney+ to keep up to date with the latest episodes of ‘The Kardashians’, offer exclusive discounts to their various beauty lines, or send exclusive and never-been-seen-before videos of their lives that go beyond what we see on TV.
The Kardashians made their name giving fans real insight into their everyday lives. Having their own wireless network could be an extension of this ethos, where they become a part of their fans’ lives through a unique and direct connection via their mobile phones.
And we haven’t forgotten about Dwayne Johnson- for a more detailed look on what an MVNO by The Rock might look like, see our latest blog.
Benefits of TaaS for celebrity MVNOs
Telecom is an emerging frontier for celebrities where early adopters can reap the rewards – think about the ‘Ryan Reynolds Effect’ with Mint Mobile. There are roughly 307 million smartphone users in the United States, which is roughly 92% of the population, and all will have existing mobile plans. With consumer trust in celebrity brands at an all time high, through the power of TaaS, celebrities can turn those mobile subscriptions into subscriptions for their own wireless service.
Stars have the opportunity to build their own celebrity MVNO offering with a direct-to-consumer model that guarantees recurring subscription revenue month-over-month and gives them an additional channel to grow market share. Stars can instantly turn casual followers into monthly paying subscribers on their own mobile network.
With TaaS providers like OXIO, celebrities can become their own digital marketing and distribution channel. Having a private-label network means celebrities would get direct access to their fans and followers through their mobile phones, removing the complexities of dealing with social media companies themselves, who ultimately have the power over content distribution, and other third parties that charge a premium for advertising.
This direct access allows celebrities to promote their flywheel of products and services in unique and authentic ways to subscribers that drive increased customer lifetime value (CLV).
Becoming a celebrity MVNO would also give stars access to valuable subscriber intelligence and first-party data. In an era where third party data is becoming increasingly difficult to access due to tighter privacy regulations and expanded consumer data rights, being your own source of first-party data will be paramount in driving success as an MVNO, as well as in other business ventures.
Business intelligence from your own network captures an abundance of subscriber activity and insights that celebrities won’t get access to from any other channel. These insights can help stars understand demographics, follower lifestyle preferences and social media patterns that can be used to drive intelligent marketing campaigns, inform opportunities to upsell and cross-sell into other celebrity ventures, and ultimately inform overall product strategy so that the celebrity MVNO is truly meeting customer needs. This will allow stars to build better digital products for their fan bases that will enable them to retain mindshare and create a distinct competitive edge in the market. OXIO is the only TaaS provider on the market that can offer this level of intelligence to celebrity MVNOs at present.
The future of celebrity MVNOs
A private label network seems to be the next logical step in the flywheel effect that Kendall Ostrow coined when discussing the future of celebrity entrepreneurship. As Telecom-as-a-Service (TaaS) continues to break the traditional concepts and methodologies of telecom, we’ll begin to see more and more celebrities taking the leap into a sector that is ripe for disruption and poses huge opportunities.
We’ve already started to see influencers like Luisito Comunica and actress Larissa Manoela dip their toes into the world of wireless services, but with TaaS enabling a more hands on and customized approach, we’ll begin to see stars from different fields start to build and offer their own unique and authentic mobile experiences that give their fans the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of celebrity every single day. As a new year fast approaches, will 2025 be the year of celebrity MVNOs?
If you’re a celebrity, influencer or content creator and want to discuss your MVNO vision, get in touch with us today.
