Why You Are More Like a Hollywood Executive Than You Might Realize

You probably have not given this much thought if you work outside the entertainment business, but maybe you should: Hollywood is inching closer every day. What I mean is that decidedly non-glamorous sectors are starting to look more and more like the entertainment industry.

I admit that I may be slightly biased. As a professor at the Harvard Business School I spend the lion’s share of my time conducting research on media, sports, and other entertainment sectors. I write scholarly papers dissecting market trends and develop case studies on companies such as Marvel Entertainment, Real Madrid, and the NFL as well as people such Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and LeBron James, all in an effort to understand what drives success in the world of entertainment. But I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that my field of study is broadening day by day.

Consider my own employer, Harvard University. Because the internet enables anyone to disseminate classes to billions of people around the globe, Harvard now finds itself in a position akin to that of many music, television, film, publishing, and other media companies. In fact, by launching edX, the online-education partnership with MIT, Harvard is becoming a media company in every sense of the word. Its instructors will produce content that is not just consumed in Cambridge and Boston but potentially by anyone with an internet connection, and so the university will unavoidably come to experiment with the same business models that fuel media conglomerates.

For an entirely different example, think of Red Bull, the energy-drink manufacturer. Remember daredevil Felix Baumgartner jumping out of a capsule carried by a helium balloon floating 24 miles above the earth’s surface? That was an event brought to you by Red Bull’s very own media division. The same company is behind the Red Bull Music Academy, a series of music workshops and festivals featuring hundreds of artists this spring alone. And Red Bull isn’t the only beverage brand to make in-roads into entertainment; Pepsi has teamed up with Beyoncé in a far-reaching partnership that, among other activities, includes the cola brand funding creative projects chosen by the singer. The objective is still to sell beverages, but it seems these brands are increasingly creating and marketing entertainment content on a wide scale, too.

If you believe that these examples are indicative of a larger trend -- one that is powered by new technologies -- you also will have to agree with the logical conclusion: that an ever larger set of companies and their employees should understand what makes today’s most successful entertainment businesses thrive. How to launch blockbuster hits, for instance, or how to operate in a talent market in which a few superstars will have huge audiences and demand corresponding fees. (I guess what I’m saying is that even if Harvard professors look nothing like movie stars, some might start behaving as such.)

In an effort to help everyone who is interested in navigating this new business landscape, I will start to regularly post my observations about the world of entertainment here on LinkedIn. My goal is to shed light on questions such as how hits come about, how companies monetize those hits, how superstars seek to use their powers, and how digital technology may change all of this. I’ll do my best to make my insights relevant to everyone who cares about business—not just show business.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, though, and popular culture is constantly evolving, so please feel free to join in on the discussion. I look forward to seeing your thoughts.

Anita Elberse is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. She is one of the youngest female professors to be awarded tenure in the School’s history. In October, she will release her first book, “Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment.”

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