Celebrity autographs are out and personalized videos are in.
And Cameo, a website that allows fans to purchase a personalized video shoutout from their favorite celebrity, is facilitating the shift.
“When you or I were kids, we would pull out the Sharpie and try to get celebrities to sign something,” the company’s CEO Steven Galanis recently told Page Six. “Today everyone wants to take a selfie with [celebrities]. If you don’t have a picture to put on Instagram it didn’t happen. So we thought about that idea and the fact that most of the time you don’t run into [a celebrity] when you really need them, right? When it’s your mom’s birthday and her favorite ‘Real Housewife’ is out there, she doesn’t just magically appear!”
Galanis teamed up with former NFL agent Martin Blencowe to create a website to connect athletes, musicians and reality stars with their fans to create personalized, informal selfie shout-out videos for them. The price per video ranges depending on the celebrity, but Galanis told us that almost “97 percent of these videos are booked as gifts for people. So it’s not [celebrities] charging their super fans.”
Celebrities on the platform include Tori Spelling, Marla Maples, Arie Luyendyk Jr., Torrei Hart and Gregg Sulkin.
“It’s invite only today … we’re actually not trying to build this for the Justin Biebers or Lebrons of the world or Beyoncés,” Galanis said. “We’d like to work with them, but our goal is to really help the 99 percent of talent to monetize and we just think there’s this huge gap. Our mission is not to put more money in Drake’s pocket. We’re really trying to make this so everyone’s favorite creators can come on. The guys that get most requested are someone like David Dobrik, a vlogger that you’ve probably never heard of. We get more requests for David Dobrik than we do Justin Bieber.”
Lindsay Hubbard of “Summer House” told us she joined Cameo because she thought “it was such a genius idea.”
“I like to have a lot of fun in my videos as if I was that fan’s best friend, so I speak to them as if they were a girlfriend of mine!” Hubbard, who has made three videos so far for $40 a pop, said. “I usually always have a glass of rosé in hand to cheers them with in my video, and I always tell them at the end to thank the person (and give that person’s name) who requested the video for them!”
Though she’s earned $120 making videos, Cameo has a 75/25 deal with talent, meaning Hubbard will only take home 75 percent ($90) of the fee.
“A celebrity comes up with their own price, but its based on a model that we came up with which is something we called ‘earnings per minute,’” Galanis told us. “Take Andre Drummond … an NBA player. He makes $25 million a year. So we told him to take 25 million divided by 2,000 so there’s 50 40-hour work weeks in a year. Divide by 60 and someone making $25 million a year actually makes $208 a minute.
He continued, “So if he’s doing videos for $100 or $150 bucks it’s actually worth his time compared to how much he’s making in the NBA.”
“We really believe that the key here is for talent to do as many of these videos as possible because it’s really like the most brand positive thing they can do,” Galanis added.
“Housewives” from a number of Bravo franchises are charging a pretty penny to connect with fans. Videos from current and former stars of the “The Real Housewives of New York” are priced at $25 for Kelly Killoren Bensimon, $59 for Jill Zarin, $75 for Dorinda Medley and $125 for Medley with boyfriend John Mahdessian.
“I had no idea that it would take off,” Medley told us. “It’s amazing. I did [an introduction] video and almost instantaneously — I was like I’ll put $50, is someone really gonna pay $50 for me to send them a message? — and I literally did the video and a minute later I had a request! So I did it and I started to get 10-15 requests a day. So I raised the price to $75 thinking, ‘I’d rather do less’ and I was actually on the phone with Arthur [Leopold, Cameo’s co-founder] before saying I think I want to raise my price again.”
Medley has done over 300 videos in the past few months.
“It’s too much to be honest,” she admitted. “I didn’t do it for three or four days and I woke up with 39 requests.”
But still, she insists that “there’s no reason not to do it. There’s no downside. The one thing I’m a little careful with is that I don’t want to promote other people’s products. There are certain things I won’t say if they’re inappropriate, but people are really respectful.”
She also confessed that she has redone a video or two for free for disappointed fans, telling us that their requests were complicated by asking her to mention numerous names and locations. Her five-star rating is still intact.
I love having a personal touch with my viewers and inspire them because they inspire me
– Sonja Morgan
Her “RHONY” co-star Sonja Morgan is close behind with 4.9 stars.
“I wanted to make sure my price point was not too expensive in a way that I could be accessible to most,” Morgan told us, adding that she has done “over 500” videos for fans and is “maxed out” with requests every day.
“I love having a personal touch with my viewers and inspire them because they inspire me,” she added. “I have agita when they expire before I can get to them because that’s someone’s special life moment I missed.”
“Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Kim Zolciak recently joined the platform as well, commanding $150 per video.
“The price is based off of the range that Cameo suggests, her peers’ prices, and where we, her team, feel her fans will get great engagement for the price they pay,” her rep told us. “Her plan is to deliver on the requested content with her flare and attitude all over it. You might just get some guest appearances as well. You just never know!”
Over on the west coast, Vicki Gunvalson told us she has made 382 videos for fans and has 12 outstanding requests.
“I think it’s a great way for people to get a ‘little taste of Vicki’ for their special events,” she said. “I’ve celebrated weddings, birthdays, bachelorette and bachelor parties, graduations, job promotions and everything in between.”
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