Who The Hell is Dane Cook?

I realized I was getting older when I didn’t know half of the celebrities in the American Express ads. That’s right I said it, “I’m getting older.” Most of my life I tried to stay in touch with what the youth were up to, but getting up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons, checking out Soul Train, Comedy Central and paying very close attention to who is advertising, can make a grown man tired.

Some of you were probably wondering who the hell that guy is with Jessica Alba in the movie Good Luck Chuck? That my friends is Dane Cook, a young up-and-coming comedian who seems to have arrived. His fans knew it was him, us old farts who are hip to what you youngsters are up to…well, some of us knew too.

How did he get so popular? Well the Web has given us a control we consumers never had. As a group mind, we can determine what, where and when we wish to buy. Partake or not to partake. It also works in the opposite direction as well. It gives entertainers the ability to reach a targeted list of their fans. Dane Cook took control of his career by using the Internet – While performing at colleges over the past 6 years, Dane amassed emails from college fans from all around the country. When it was time to be booked at a certain college, he emailed his list for that area and voila, a packed audience.

It looked like magic. Most managers and bookers were amazed believing it was some sort of phenomenon, when in fact it was hard work and old-fashioned brand building. He just happened to use the Internet. Dane eventually began to have a marketing machine in place when he took it to another level: Playing to sold-out crowds in stadiums and arenas. What made it easy was he already had a database of names to hand over to his marketing firm. As an individual or start-up brand you can do the same. Build your data from already existing customers. If a comedian can do it at a grassroots level, so can you.

I recently attended my 25th high school class reunion. One of my classmates approached me and blurted out…“I did a Google search on you and Dude, you’re like famous!” I started laughing but a voice in the back of my head was like, “How old do you have to be before you stop using the word ‘dude’?”

Email Dane Directly for his upcoming show dates...

Direct2Dane@DaneCook.com

The World Wide Web can make you famous. Use your powers for good. But remember, it’s old-fashioned branding that is actually at work. With MySpace, WordPress, Squidoo, Flickr and other free sites, it makes an individual’s marketing campaign extremely economical. The best part is when you have a list of already existing customers, your campaign becomes very targeted. No more shotgun marketing.

Richard Carey and I teach seminars on how to build your personal online brand. Individual brands are becoming hot dude! And Dane Cook proves it.

Thanks again for reading,

Brad Szollose

Check out these up and coming comedians:


Johnny Watson
http://www.johnnywatson.com

Rodney Laney
http://www.myspace.com/rodneylaney


Andrew Kennedy
http://andrewkennedylive.com