Personality Brand extraordinaire Oprah cooks up a ratings bonanza stew today by combining designer Nate Berkus with hot Desperate Housewives girl Eva Longoria. Longoria has bought a house for her back woods family and wants Nate Berkus to decorate the family room. This is the perfect intersection of hot personalities. It's sure to be a good ratings grab for Oprah.

The Texas home family room is designed in a Mexican inspired theme incorporating both the cultural heritage of the Longorias and their love on plants and animals. Moma Longoria has never had a dishwasher and now she has a spanking spiffy stainless steel model. Of course the entire project is sponsored and each sponsored element gets a mention. I suppose viewers are interested in where they can get the products.

The show continues with Eva Longoria's basketball player boyfriend 23 year old Tony Parker from the NBA San Antonio Spurs. Add another hot personality to the stew. Something for everyone.

Now comes the obligatory kissing of the Oprah ring by presenting a $50,000 ring to Sponsor a Katrina house. Celebs know that this is a good way to get and stay in Oprah's good graces.

The show continues with "Desperate House Makeovers." Doing a kitchen for a couple that ripped out their kitchen and didn't have enough money to replace it. Hmmm. Good planning there.

I wonder how much of the design work is actually done by Berkus and how much is done by his staff and dictated by who is willing to donate products to the show? The impression is that he does it all but I have an inkling that it's all handled by others and Berkus learns a script for his tours. Many will want to believe that he does it all but that's just not how design firms work. Berkus probably sets a design theme and his designers fill it all in.

The point is that a successful personality brand is the centerpiece of a much larger organization. Just as Martha doesn't actually do everything she presents to her audience neither does Oprah or Nate Berkus.

Technorati Tags: Desperate Housewives, Eva Longoria, Home Makeovers, Interior Design, Nate Berkus, Oprah, Ratings, San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker

Comments

[John Trosko]

I am almost sure Nate holds the client's hands, gets the inspiration, and transfers it over to his staff (who in turn facilitate the room makeover.)

There is a LOT of publicity generated from a mention on Oprah. The products are donated-- I'd like to think almost all of them. Others are purchased at cost. It's a shame, because celebs like Eva can certainly afford a Nate Berkus design. Those funds should be better used for people who really need a new kitchen and can't afford one. But that said, Eva gets the ratings-- and those ratings fund other Oprah projects which are more about helping people. So I guess in the end, it all works out.