Anew era is beginning in the career of Frank Sinatra even if the Chairman of the Board isn't here to participate.
The iconic singer died May 14, 1998, and the 10th anniversary is being marked with a flurry of activity, including a new U.S. postage stamp with his likeness, lavish new CD and DVD collections, a major revival of his films on television and high-profile media appearances by his children.
This surge in all things Sinatra is more than just a fleeting commemoration, however -- it's more like the beginning of a corporate brand roll-out.
Late last year, the Sinatra heirs signed a pact with Warner Music Group Corp. that will bring Ol' Blue Eyes back in a big way, not just as a digitally resurrected entertainer but also as an advertising pitchman and, potentially, the name on the marquee of a feature film, a Broadway show and a casino and resort.
"Those are some of the things that have been discussed. We will see," said Tina Sinatra, the singer's younger daughter and the heir most involved in the estate's day-to-day enterprises. "The amazing thing is how untapped all of it is. By design we have done very little, particularly once he died."
What Sinatra offers to any venture is that most elusive of auras: eternal cool. Like Elvis Presley, James Dean or Marilyn Monroe, Sinatra's image has compass-point clarity in pop culture despite the passage of time. For advertisers, he could be an especially potent signifier of sophisticated standards and rakish elegance, and Warner executives sound like gamblers with winning hands when they talk about it.
"There's a famous old saying that, 'It's Frank Sinatra's world, we just live in it,' and that's kind of how we feel around here now," said Jimmy Edwards, one of the executives at Warner's Rhino Records who will be leading the day-to-day operations of Frank Sinatra Enterprises LLC. "Frank opens the door to a very exclusive club. . . . He crosses so many zones too; he's working-class, but he also runs around with the country-club set."
The venture, funded and operated by Warner, has two major advertising deals in place and is close on two others. Dozens of other overtures have been turned down. Edwards and fellow executive Gregg Goldman declined to say what products will soon have Sinatra as an expensive salesman, but Goldman said the accounts speak to Sinatra's passions, "gaming, fine dining, the finest apparel and luxury."
