People as Brands

Thomas Anders guest speaker at the Campus Lions Club Vallendar WHU – Fundraiser for the Kinderschutzbund (Child Protection Alliance) Koblenz

This past Wednesday, as a guest of the Campus Lions Club Vallendar WHU, singer and entertainer Thomas Anders gave a speech at the Marienburg Chapel of the WHU Campus Vallendar. Drawing from his 40-year career as a stage performer, including as one of the members of the pop duet Modern Talking, which has enjoyed tremendous success around the globe, Anders covered the topic “People as Brands.” At the end of the evening, the numerous guests who attended were very pleased with the delivery of the enthralling speech and the Kinderschutzbund Koblenz had every reason to be happy when it received a donation of EUR 2,000 from the Campus Lions Club.

This event marked the second time the Campus Lions Club Vallendar WHU had been able to persuade Thomas Anders to accept an invitation as guest speaker. Just like he had the last time, the global celebrity, who hails from the region, generated lots of enthusiasm among the audience with sometimes serious and sometimes funny anecdotes. He shared many personal insights into his eventful life.

“The life I led was actually not real,” comments Anders, whose real name is Bernd Weidung and who has his roots in Münstermaifeld near Koblenz, on the era when he was a Modern Talking band member. By the time they reached their mid-twenties, he and band cohort Dieter Bohlen had already sold millions of records and appeared in concerts around the globe. According to Anders, Modern Talking was a product of the record industry – a polarizing brand. “We were a symbol of bad taste and music nobody officially liked,” he explains. He still also attributes the duet’s success to this image.

Looking back on his own career, Anders uses his experience as an example to demonstrate what it means to an individual to be perceived as a brand. He says being a celebrity is a currency whose exchange rate is determined by one’s own image. Accordingly, a strong image can be a curse and a blessing for an artist – at the same time. In Anders’ case, the impact of the Modern Talking brand survived the separation of the band for years. As a result, he initially was able to pursue a successful solo career only outside of Germany. Even today, many Germans view his own iconic trademark – the famous “Nora pendant” – as something that is inseparable from the Thomas Anders brand, although he only wore it for a few years and took it off for good well over 26 years ago. Anders also openly addressed the relationship between the media and artists. He claims that many celebrities frequently use the business with journalists in a very targeted manner and that the sharing of personal information is frequently in the interest of both parties. If an artist is too boring, some stories are accordingly complete figments of the imagination so that the boundaries between good PR and targeted character assassinations are often crossed without a second thought.

At the end of his speech, Anders summed it all up: Turning someone into a star at the push of a button does not work given that careers are contingent upon too many unpredictable factors. While the media does create an increasing demand for stars whose metamorphosis from average citizen to celebrated role model always happens on the Internet or TV today, where it is visible to anyone, the credibility of such artists is limited according to Anders and the time their fans remain loyal to them has declined enormously. Real stars and thus successful brands, he says, can still be identified because of their authenticity and the sustainable success that goes hand in hand with it.