ABSTRACT
This paper considers the impact of the celebrity artist on the associated production and consumption activities. It also considers the role which entrepreneurial marketing plays in helping to create the celebrity artist aura. The artist Thomas Kinkade is used to illustrate how this occurs in practice. Here, authenticity and nostalgia dimensions are also influential factors. Underpinning these relationships are the roles played out by the media, including communication of celebrity artist identity, and the catalysing of its commodification within the celebrity artist brandscape. An enduring celebrity brand results due to the market creation activities of the celebrity artist. A conceptual model is developed which synthesises the factors behind the production and consumption of the celebrity artist which can stimulate further research.
This paper provides innovative insight into the world of the celebrity artist by interrogating the market making and shaping devices behind successful production and consumption practices.
