Kylie the top Aussie personal brand....

Kylie the top Aussie personal brand

Australian Associated Press

I think what makes Kylie number one is overall she appeals to a broad stream of people.
Mark Richardson from Talent Inc!

She was once labelled the singing budgie, but Kylie Minogue has beaten sports stars, media moguls and even the prime minister in a survey of Australia's most powerful personal brands.

Some 400 people in the marketing/entertainment industry were asked to rate famous Australians according to how well developed their brand and brand awareness are.

Minogue topped the Talent Inc! Personal Brand survey, with a brand based on her music and acting, her perfume and underwear ventures, and her good looks and integrity.

"I think what makes Kylie number one is overall she appeals to a broad stream of people," Mark Richardson from Talent Inc! told AAP."

Although she's had ups and downs in terms of her albums, and especially in her ... love life and her health, she's always managed those things with grace and integrity.

"Over a period of time it's given her brand a real strength and value."

Coming in at second place is supermodel Elle Macpherson (above ), who has her own lingerie label and skincare products.

Cricketer Shane Warne, personality Dame Edna Everage and golfer Greg Norman rounded out the top five.

Richardson said Warne was one of many sports people who made the list for their reputation off the field and as well as on.

"Because of his extraordinary genius on the pitch, he will always be revered," Richardson said.

"The indiscretions he had are kind of idiotic, they're kind of stupid, not malicious.

Ben Cousins' indiscretions are far more damaging than Shane's.

"Steve Irwin, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman also ranked in the top 10, while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and entrepreneur Dick Smith came in at number nine and 10.

Despite being our highest paid entertainers, The Wiggles only ranked at 18, while Aussie icon Ned Kelly came in at 34.

Richardson said among the survey's general findings were that if you're a man you don't have to be attractive to have a powerful personal brand, but being a good looking as a woman helps.

Being famous internationally also seemed to boost your ranking.Richardson said many of the people with the most powerful personal brands were involved in a range of activities, such as Elle MacPherson and Greg Norman.

"It's important that there's balance there and they're seen as well-rounded," he said.

"But more importantly that there's some integrity there."

LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:

The Walt Disney Co. says it is acquiring Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the Disney family.

***A fifth installment in Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" franchise has received a green light from Nu Image/Millennium Films.

Stallone will star in and direct as he did 2008's "Rambo" which grossed $42 million domestically and $113 million overseas.

***The box-office tallies through this weekend have determined the 18 weekend summer revenue total of $4.26 billion, and by the slimmest of margins; a victory over last year's record of $4.2 billion

LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By SALVADOR DALI:

What is an elegant woman?

An elegant woman is a woman who despises you and who has no hair under her arms. (1942 )


New life overseas for Jackson special

Several international deals closed for 2001 CBS show

By Elizabeth Guider

Aug 31, 2009

"Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration"TV distributor Alfred Haber has closed a number of international deals for the 2001 CBS special "Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration," which was produced by David Gest.

New licensing deals have been inked with Channel 5 in the U.K., NHK in Japan, Televisa in Mexico, A&E Mundo in Latin America, NRK in Norway, e.tv in South Africa, ABS-CBN in the Philippines and RCTI in Indonesia.

No financial details were available.

The two-hour special, owned by Gest's World Events, is one of the highest-rated musical specials in TV history.

No word on whether CBS plans its own rerun.

At the time of its 2001 broadcast, the show repped the King of Pop's first live U.S. performance in 11 years and the first reunion with his brothers in 17.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 45 million people watched all or part of the special.

Jackson performed solo hits including "Billie Jean," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Beat It."

Guest performers included Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Luther Vandross and Marc Anthony.

Forty-year-old Haber Distribution specializes in licensing variety and award shows like the Grammys and musical specials.

Bertelsmann records $476 million loss

German media giant takes hits across all its divisions

By Scott Roxborough

Aug 31, 2009, 12:48 PM ET

COLOGNE, Germany --

German media giant Bertelsmann booked a €333 million ($476 million) loss in the first half of 2009, hit hard by the global advertising downturn.

Revenue was also down at €7.2 billion ($10.3 billion) against €7.7 billion a year earlier.

Bertelsmann's broadcast division RTL Group, Europe's largest TV and radio operator, was clobbered by the combination of the ad drop, major write-offs on its Brit channel Five and start-up costs for new Greek operation Alpha Media.

Revenues at RTL slipped 9.6% to €2.6 billion euros ($3.72 billion) in the first half and profits fell to €296 million ($423 million) from €674 million in H1 2008.

But no unit at Bertelsmann escaped unscathed, as book publisher Random House, magazine division Gruner + Jahr, services operation Arvato and direct-to-customer operation Direct Group all took hits.

Bertelsmann execs however said that belt-tightening, introduced across the conglomerate before the worst of the crisis, has cushioned the blow and that second half figures will be significantly improved.

"Our strict cost discipline is beginning to have a significant positive financial impact," said Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski.

"The packages of measures that were put together as part of this program are extremely wide ranging and varied and will save us over €900 million ($1.3 billion) this year alone."

Net debt climbed to €6.8 billion ($9.7 billion), a €200 million jump, but Bertelsmann CFO Thomas Rabe insisted Bertelsmann was on safe financial ground.

"Our solid financial management has paid off in the first half: we have good liquidity and adequate credit lines available to us," he said.

Despite the optimistic tone, Bertelsmann is still forecasting a drop in revenues and operating profit for the year.

LBN-LYRICS OF LIFE By BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN:


We swore we'd travel darlin' side by side.


We'd help each other stay in stride.


But each lover's steps fall so differently.


But I'll wait for you.


And if I should fall behind.


Wait for me.


LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By COCO CHANEL:


I love luxury.


And luxury lies not in richness and ornateness but in the absence of vulgarity.


Vulgarity is the ugliest word in our language.


I stay in the game to fight it. (1943)



LBN-QUOTE:


"He was not perfect, but my father believed in redemption.


And he never surrendered."


-EDWARD M. KENNEDY Jr., at his fathers funeral.



CALL FOR REFORM:


At a private service for Senator Edward Kennedy, prominent politicians used his death as a rallying cry for health reform while also sharing personal memories of the senator.


Senator John Kerry and Kennedy's nephew, Rep. Joe Kennedy, vowed to carry on Kennedy's fight.


"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever give up," Joe Kennedy said to applause.

BILL WOULD GIVE PRESIDENT EMERGENCY CONTROL OF INTERNET:


Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.


They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors.


CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.


The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat



LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY

By FREDDIE MERCURY:


You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man.


And that is the most bitter type of loneliness, success has brought me world idolization and millions of pounds.


But it's prevented me from having the one thing we all need:


A loving, ongoing relationship. (1986)


LBN-COMMENTARY By LEON HOFFMAN:


Sigmund Freud arrived in Hoboken, N.J., 100 years ago today on his first and only visit to the United States.


He came to lecture on psychoanalysis and to receive an honorary degree from Clark University, in Worcester, Mass.


It was, he said, an honorable call, a mark of his academic success.


Freud was then 53 and had been practicing for 23 years.


At the time, most doctors here and in Europe still considered mental illness to be caused by degeneration of the brain.


They assumed that there was little to be done for it beyond physical treatments like diet, exercise, drugs, rest and massage.


But a growing awareness that the mind could influence bodily functions was giving rise to debates about the nature of the unconscious mind.

LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By JAMES DEAN:

I think there is only one form of greatness for man.

If a man can bridge the gap between life and death.

I mean, if he can live on after he has died, then maybe he was a great man.

To me the only success, the only greatness, is immortality. (1953)

LBN-HISTORY:

In 1963, 200,000 people participated in a peaceful civil rights rally in Washington, D.C., where

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

LBN-COMMENTARY By HUGH HEFNER (Founder, Playboy Magazine):


One of the things I find really curious is when people say I've lived an amoral life.


From my perspective, it's quite the contrary.


I feel I've lived a very moral life.


I've been on the side of angels from the beginning.