There are celebrities and then there are „celebrities“.
The first group deserves this status with all its nonpejorative meaning, maybe
they do not consider themselves to be celebrities or they even do not behave as
such. The „celebrities“, on the other hand, with their 15 seconds of fame do
behave as if the world circled around them while being merely waste of space.
Please, let me dedicate a few lines to a person who, despite his young age, has
achieved so much good for the mankind and I do suggest parents with all my
heart that they let the kids have him as a role model. Each crew would wish for
such a Captain.
I have already grown
out of the time, when I would have been screaming fan of a singer, band or an
actor. And even then I guess it would not have been my style. The acting is the
art close to my heart. That is why I was and at the same time was not surprised
by the fact that 3 years ago I took notice of one actor, the only famous
person, whom I have followed on social media ever since. I try to learn from his
human behavior, I let myself be inspired by him and his undisputable talent including
that one for marketing and PR. If it is possible and if it is in my powers to
chip in the good, which he tries to create, I am not afraid to join in. Let´s
take it step by step, though.
Stephen Amell is
Canadian actor, who was born on 05/08/1981 in Toronto. He decided to pursue
acting since his teenage years. His physiognomy certainly did not hurt and it has
been one of his added values and it actually predestined his future in front of
cameras. He began with small TV roles, e.g. spinning instructor, he can also be
seen in The Vampire Diaries. As of 2012 he has been known in the DC Comics
world as the leading character Green Arrow in the Arrow series. On 03/31/15, he
officially announced that he would be joining the next Ninja Turtles movie project
as Casey Jones, which will be his first silver screen role.
Let´s look at his
social networks profiles. I know he does have Facebook as well as Twitter
account. He strongly stated several times that he was not happy with Twitter
not only because of the limited number of characters, but also because of
bigger threat of anonymity and trolling of his followers. He even recently
asked the Twitter service operator to clean up useless accounts following him
that had not been used for a long time, which was met with appreciation. I do
not have Twitter account so I am not able to share or discuss any details.
Stephen, however, makes it up to his fans plenty on Facebook. There he enjoys
the platform where he can upload videos or organize Q&As. It is true
though, that the first time he tried to do it he literally crashed his account
and had to consult the company itself. Since then he lets us ask questions and
then he posts video, where he answers those with most likes or those that catch
his attention.
Marketing goes hand in
hand with PR and Stephen seems to be natural professional in both. Big plus is
the fact that it is 100% him administering the page. His page is liked by over
3.5 million people. He has days dedicated to regular themes (MemeMonday,
FunArtFriday, LightsaberSaturday) so the fans know what can be expected but since
it is Stephen we are talking about, each time he makes it unique. This way, those
with talent can prepare themselves and share their artwork when the time comes.
He posts statuses with perfect balance. His timing for sharing the up-to-date
information about the series is always meticulous. He also perfectly balances
how deep the information goes. He has to be very careful not to leak anything,
which would have serious consequences. After all, I do admire him when he meets
the crowds during various public events, when he needs to talk and react off
hand since the questions come to him spontaneously. He has always nailed it. He
never lets too little, yet never too much, which always triggers all kinds of
conspiracy theories and I imagine him having a ball hearing these. And that is
the key ingredience. If he did not like it, he would not have interacted with
his fans in such a way. His work oozes with enthusiasm despite some tiring moments;
he is preparing himself for the role with devotion (this mainly concerns
physical form, such as when we hold our breaths seeing his parkour videos). He
is not afraid to appear virtually in front of his fans barely out of treadmill
after 7k run, tired after a long day shoot or still in his make-up, which, by
the way, makes him look like a cuddly raccoon. The fans, on the contrary, never
abuse his willingness to let them see a little bit of his private life.
The 4th season got the
green light. Success of the series depends inevitably on the fact how the
actors connect. We can see Stephen´s positive human side. Since he has the
largest fan base, he supports others and uses his platform to spread much
needed information, thus helping his colleagues be closer to the fans. I mean,
we are talking not only Arrow series but colleagues also from different TV
shows. As a proof, his colleague just recently shared information about his endeavor
to support the creation of movie honoring women football, women power and community
in the form of crowdfunding and the fact, that Stephen will join in and will
use his platform to help as well.
I have to say, when
Arrow/Oliver Queen doubts the outcomes of his endeavors during the third series,
I do have a feeling that we get to see Stephen´s personal attitude, since he
himself seems to have the need to leave a trail behind him, positive and useful
legacy that would stay here for generations to come and thanks to which his
daughter, family, friends, colleagues and fans would be proud of him.
Fxck Cancer definitely becomes
one of the big projects of 2014. It all happened naturally. Stephen´s initial
idea for the campaign started visually with his profile picture - post-it on
his forehead stating he was on Facebook. He alternatively chooses this form to
post certain statuses to reflect up-to-date information from time to time. Consequently,
a fan made this into an artwork and that gave a rise to a picture to be placed
on the t-shirts, cost of which went to support the fight against cancer. The campaign
was such a success that Stephen decided to re-launch it twice. As a result,
over 1 000 000 USD have been raised. The joint activities of the organization
and Stephen go even further. The Fuck Cancer organization recently held an
event, the entry to which was themed T-shirt. Stephen was the host.
He did not want to leave
it at that. His next Sinceriously
campaign is again based on the purchase of the various types and color
variation of clothes or items bearing the logo which was created again in
co-operation with his Faceboook friends. Stephen began to promote rather out
loud his „new„ word „sinceriously„, which is the combination of „sincere„ and
„seriously„. One of the goals Stephen has is to get this word into Oxford
dictionary. That comes with certain regulations; the word, for instance, needs
to be used in written form in a certain number of cases for a certain amount of
time. Since there are approximately about 50 000 items with this word, I
am pretty convinced this almost movement will help him reach that goal. It has
another, for Stephen and mankind I dare say even more valuable effect.
The collected money will serve two organizations „Paws and Stripes„ and „Stand
for the Silent„. The first helps veterans with the PTSD and the second focuses
on the awareness of bullying.
Apart from campaigns helping
these organizations in their effort, Stephen is not indifferent to the human misfortunes;
especially two stories touched his heart, him being a father. The money he
helps raise will serve (in some part has already served) during the treatment
of the Sophie Issabella Ryan and Kiara Grindrod, girls battling serious
illnesses. He organized ruffles, during which everybody can contribute if only
with 5 dollars and the winners receive Arrow goodies. For these purposes, he
just recently involved an artist, who had become known during the FunArtFriday
statuses and so another winner will receive his original artwork.
Which brings me
steadily to positive karma that Stephen radiates both by way of his behavior
and via his fans. This gives me a good reason to recommend him as a suitable
example of how a really famous person behaves and how the person uses own
resources to pay back what it got from the world. „Pay it forward“, if you
will, which will come back around to him in a positive way. After all, that is
the beauty of it. „No good deed goes unpunished„ does not work here. Good karma
really works and I even see parallel to what one wishes with to what extent the
wishes come true. Stephen is not afraid to share his private goals that he
posts in the statuses. If I am correct, he has reached at least two of them
since the beginning of the 2015. One, he wanted to be the guest of a specific
American talk show. Fans, being the proper loyal followers, joined their forces
and bombarded the pages of the talk show so much that it did not go unnoticed
with the proper institutions. Stephen was a guest star of the show in a month
or so. Another of his goals, as the wrestling fan, is to host WWE Monday Night Raw show. The word has
been spread in a similar way and according to some clues on social media it
looks like the schedule is being negotiated. I have to say I do admire the feel
that Stephen´s page has. The whole nature is friendly; people help one another,
recommend statuses to one another in order for Stephen to see these. Possible
trolls do not stand a chance. It is good to know that Stephen with his strong
personality mostly strictly, yet assertively and clearly states that such
person cannot behave like that on his profile. But, sinceriously, there have
not been many of these cases.
Wine business is
interest, in addition to acting, which Stephen pursues together with Andrew
Harding, his business partner. They visit vineyards; they produce wine via
their Nocking Point Wines
organization. They are soon to release information-travel based project about
wine called Dudes Being Dudes in Wine Country via YouTube
and Google Play. In connection with this, he organizes various wine tasting
events across the countries. They are usually logistically and logically
connected to the scheduled place and time of promo event, so called Comic Cons.
Among other „little„ things within the social network he fits into his very
busy schedule belong random spontaneous reactions to the fans´ comments, be it
short hello, expressing support, explanation or gratitude and on top of that he
helps one twelve-year old celebrate possibly the best birthday ever. A mother
takes the plunge and asks Stephen on his profile whether he would join in her
daughter´s birthday celebration. The community gets together and Stephen sees
the status. Due to the conflict in his schedule he decides to send personalized
video where he greets the family and kills it in the end by paraphrasing
Arrow´s famous replica „Do not fail this
city!„ and thus changes another person´s life.
And that is what all is about. Please, let´s
spread good karma, let´s get inspired, let us be the ones that inspire, let´s
not take things in life for granted and if it is in our powers and we have the
possibility, let´s pay forward the good that the world has given us.
