Harvard professor turns celebrities into entrepreneurs

The Future. Professor Anita Elberse has become a celebrity at Harvard Business School by teaching a special class that breaks down the success of celebrity brands, athletic organizations, and artist-driven industries. It’s even attracted several of the big names she would write about to join the class. Coupled with courses on the impact of Taylor Swift, the next wave of college majors may focus on the economics and strategies of creating stars.

The brand plan
One of the hottest celebrity hangouts just happens to be a business class at Harvard.

• Professor Elberse teaches The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports (aka #BEMS) — an annual four-day, $12,000 program.
• In its 10th year running, the class has had huge names vying for one of the 80 seats available, including actor Channing Tatum, rapper LL Cool J, supermodel Karlie Kloss, comedian Roy Wood, Jr., and former NBA star Dwyane Wade.
• It’s also become a must-attend course for Hollywood and Madison Avenue execs for a 30,000-foot understanding of how to run a hit-driven business.

The class is famous for its in-depth case studies of various celebrity-run businesses, of which she just does about three or four a year — announcing them on social media like an album or streetwear drop. Organizations even pitch her to do ones on them. 

Some recent case studies include how Beyoncé launches new music, how David Beckham juggles his brands, and MrBeast’s growing creator empire… all in line with Elberse’s personal rubric of always being culturally relevant.