Polaroid's romance with Lady Gaga

There’s no shortage of celebrities partnering with corporations, but a new venture between Lady Gaga and Polaroid is one that few would have guessed. On January 6, Polaroid appointed the pop star to become the company’s creative director. Not only will she be the face of the brand but also develop a line of “imaging products” scheduled for release late this year.

Polaroid, which was acquired by a private equity firm in 2008 after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has had brand image problems for years. Most perceptions of the Polaroid brand fall somewhere between dated and irrelevant. Its products have missed the mark in recent years, fueling continued financial problems.

Undoubtedly Polaroid is hoping that some of Lady Gaga’s trendy cache will rub off on their new product line. Although details of the multi-year agreement are still unknown, Polaroid does intend to leverage Lady Gaga in future marketing campaigns, which includes having a presence at her upcoming tours.

It’s clear Polaroid is betting that Lady Gaga’s next few albums continue to generate the buzz her first two have and that her creative talents are translatable to developing innovative electronics.

The possibility for the partnership to be successful is not out of the question, since Lady Gaga appears to have legitimate creative talent that has already been used to launch a line of headphones. But the bigger issue here is how Polaroid will reconcile its brand heritage and core competencies (instant imaging) with the current fast-paced technological environment. If Polaroid can’t solve this problem, no celebrity – not even Lady Gaga - will be able to dig them out of their brand ditch.

--Mike Witham

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Mike Witham is a blogger at Vitamin IMC and a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. She has a pet duck, Phil, who does tricks. She can be reached at michaelwitham2010@u.northwestern.edu.