Celebpreneurship : The Evolvement of Entrepreneurship through Celebrification

Abstract:

This study investigates and aims to capture a new phenomenon: “celebpreneurship”, a new form of entrepreneurship emerged through the celebrification process. Where ordinary individuals transform into celebrities, and become entrepreneurial when they reach certain amount of “well-knowness”, in order to monetize their activities. The empirical data is obtained based on a complete observational study of two exemplary cases dealing with this phenomenon; Chiara Ferragni, the fashion blogger and yTravel Blog, the travel bloggers. Celebpreneurs start to build up networks and communities online through accessible media as blogs and social networking websites, to create awareness and desire among their audience eventually. They follow the effectuation venturing principle to pursue capitals and resources and transform into stabilized causational ventures at a later stage. The commodification and contemporary fame of these individuals are fundamental in the establishments of further entrepreneurial activities. As result, the phenomenon shows the existence of entrepreneurship in different forms and areas, as the celebpreneurs are involved into various brand partnerships, endorsements, product campaigns and even in the creation of own ventures. The contribution of this study is to show how effectuation, community building and celebrification can extend, re-activate and mobilize the classical approach of entrepreneurship. 

Keywords: Celebpreneurship, Entrepreneurship, Celebrification, Effectuation and Causation, Celebrity, Capitals, Online Networks, Social Media, Blogging