How did Paris Hilton become famous?
Jason Moore, representative of the celebrity until 2009, talks about how he got Hilton to rise to stardom
Paris Hilton's appearances - on screen, on the red carpet, and in police records - were once impossible to avoid.
They were so plentiful that some publications imposed a reporting ban on Paris Hilton.
But for a couple of years, it seems, the once ubiquitous celebrity has disappeared.
Love her or hate her, there's no question that Hilton is a crafty advocate for herself and her brand. Some say that she transformed what it means to be a celebrity more than anyone else today.
So why the disappearing act? Is her removal from the media an act of her own creation or something else?
Jason Moore served as Hilton's manager during its rise to stardom, but shifted away from celebrity in 2009, the time when it ceased to be a focus of entertainment news.
Although Moore says he can't comment on Hilton's career path since he stopped managing it, it's hard not to link Moore to celebrity fame. (Hilton's current publicist did not return calls from CNN.)
The phrase "being famous for being famous" is practically synonymous with Paris Hilton, but Moore says it took a lot of thought and work to produce a celebrity like her.
"That phrase exists because there was no definition of what was really going on," he says. “When all the artists were doing what we now call impressionism, they couldn't name it at the time so they just said: 'doodle paintings' or 'crazy artists'. This is how 'famous for being famous' sounds to me: a person who is not able to correctly define what a movement is and what that movement was doing ”.
In fact, Moore, a film school graduate and painter who frequently uses artistic references to describe his work with Hilton (including: "I felt the picture was complete" as the reason for their separation), created what is without. doubt the most universal pop art exhibition in recent history, and it was not by chance, chance or accident.
Moore began his career at the management company The Firm when he was just out of college. At the time, the Hilton reality series The Simple Life was being developed by Bunim / Murray and Fox and she had signed on with The Firm for the representation.
Moore met Hilton at a meeting, but he already knew her from her sizzling NSFW photoshoot with David LaChapelle that appeared in Vanity Fair magazine in 2000, and from a seven-page GQ parody of Paris and Nicky Hilton, which created a stir in 2002.
Until then - before television, before the arrests, before the words "night vision sex tape" entered the cultural lexicon - Hilton was known primarily for her lineage and for dancing on the tables of venues. fashion in New York.
"But since she was being emulated," says Moore. "She was a brand name and that's when I realized that she was going to be bigger than anyone suspected."
Although Moore lacked any real experience or contacts in the exclusive entertainment industry, once he saw her potential at Hilton, she was determined to be the person to help him realize it.
“So I went home and tried to apply brand theory to someone who eats, drinks and goes to the bathroom. Not a machine, not a product. I took all the pop culture theory that I had already learned and began to realize that if Barbie could really speak, she would be the biggest brand in the world. And the name became Paris Hilton. "
“In the end,” he continues, “the goal was to go from 'the Hilton sisters' to 'Paris and Nicky Hilton' so that everyone would refer to them by name, as 'Paris Hilton', and my biggest goal was just Paris, that people recognize his name and not the city. That's when you know you have a brand ”.
A week before The Simple Life was released in 2003, the sex tape later marketed as 1 Night in Paris came out, with Hilton's famous scene bathed in infrared light, picking up her cell phone while getting intimate with her ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon. Moore denies that the tape leak was a publicity stunt orchestrated by Hilton or her team.
“My theory,” he says, “is that Rick was trying to look marketing savvy, and it created and increased curiosity in a way that he didn't anticipate.” (A spokesperson for Salomon said he “does not wish to comment”).
The first episode of The Simple Life was broadcast to 13 million viewers and dominated its schedule.
Moore quickly looked for ways to capitalize on the success of the show and to rehabilitate Hilton's public image, creating opportunities to present her as a businesswoman.
Unlike actors, "it's not about reading the right scripts," she says. “You had to see it through a lot of marketing, a lot of pop culture, a lot of theory, a lot of other things than just saying, 'Oh, the script is good. This will get me an Emmy award. ' Only, unfortunately, that was not the address after the sex tape. You lose Coca-Cola and McDonald's, so you look for Carl Jr. and what follows. In short, it was the best thing to break with everyone and go wild, to create something so iconic that it had never been done that way ”.
Her first task was to get Hilton to record her signature phrase in Simple Life: "That's hot."
"She was very funny and very smart with her phrases, and the way she applied them was so unique and engaging," says Moore.
The phrase was duly recorded and, in 2007, Hilton sued Hallmark for a violation of one of her cards. The case was settled last year.
Initially, the phrase was food for scathing late-night monologues. But it was important to Moore, as she helped Hilton go beyond just being known for what she was wearing and who she was dating. This marked the beginning of the empire of Paris.
Moore also studied rock star brand guides like the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffett, and the Grateful Dead. “Those guys are not releasing new material, but they are winning by the handful every year, from what? From touring. To sell merchandise. Building a wider fan base. Exploiting more territories. Planting more seeds ”.
Soon enough, he and Hilton were traveling all the time.
“I told Paris, we are on tour. Each place is a stage. You must always be in front of the fans, always perpetuating your brand, your merchandise, creating new relationships.
“Paris was amazing, she immediately went to a local designer and wore her clothes. The media and paparazzi adored her because she wore something from her city. She then she did some charity work. Then she went to party. And then she did the same thing over and over and over again. She was a machine, "says Moore.
Hilton's successes both in the United States and internationally were documented not only by the media, but also by Paris herself. This helped them close more deals.
“We wanted to show companies what they were actually paying for, so we put her tour of Seoul, Korea, Tokyo, Toronto, Miami, New York, Brazil, Mexico and Sydney on DVD.
Seeing Hilton in action convinced everyone.
Moore and Hilton cracked the celebrity business to a point that helped many other brands like Perez Hilton, TMZ, Kitson, GUESS, and of course the Kardashians to prosper because of their association with them.
Kim Kardashian is the most direct descendant, and the biggest beneficiary of Hilton's reign. When the two were close friends, Kardashian was able to study Paris's movements firsthand, learn the formula, and then repeat it with enormous success.
Moore is now happy to contribute to pop culture in his spare time as a brand consultant, but his impact endures. And, if any of his marketing ideas seem obvious to us now, it's only because he and Hilton paved the way for what is common practice for today's celebrities.
