Co-Authors Of ‘Celebrity Branding You’ And Founders of ‘America’s PremierExperts™’ Tap Into The New Model Of Our Celeb-Driven Media Culture To Make Business People ‘Stars’ And Drive Mass Awareness Of Their Products and Services.

By Jonathan Widran

Every summer, thousands of young men and women around the U.S. travel great distances and brave the odds in the hopes of becoming the next American Idol. The show, watched by over 30 million viewers a week, taps into our greatest collective fantasy that is truly the 2000s version of the American Dream: that ordinary people like us can outlast the competition and become stars.

You may not be able to sing like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood, but no worries. Maybe you’re not hot enough to be America’s Next Top Model—so what? If you’re a doctor, lawyer, dentist, orthodontist, fitness guru, portrait photographer, real estate or financial whiz, corporate CEO or even a small businessperson and you’ve got the goods, you’re just one step away from being a business celebrity thanks to the new “Kings of Hollywood,” J.W. Dicks, Esq. and Nick Nanton, Esq.

Florida based attorneys by trade, Dicks and Nanton, principals in Dicks, Nanton & Glass Celebrity Branding Agency™, co-authors of the bestselling book Celebrity Branding YOU™ and co-producers of the TV enterprise America’s PremierExperts, are dedicated to developing the Celebrity Branding® potential of small business owners, professionals, authors, speakers, corporate CEOs and more.

Perfectly tapping into the distinctly 2000s era zeitgeist—maybe it all started with Season One of “Survivor” in 2000–that embraces the notion that regular Joes (or “Joe The Plumbers”) can become media icons, the charismatic duo creates, as Nanton puts it, “niche busters, not blockbusters.” They accomplish this by discovering what’s unique and fascinating about their many clients and prepping them to become celebrity experts in their niche.

Breaking fertile new ground in the realm of global minded business development, Dicks and Nanton meld the traditional outlets of print and television and the burgeoning world of online social media to create momentum, start a buzz and drive attention to their clients.

Celebrity Branding You™ may not be “Sunset Boulevard,” but in their world, everyone’s a potential Norma Desmond, ready for Mr. De Mille to give them their close up. The upshot, of course, being that the world will embrace you and forget all about your competition.

“We believe that people would rather do business with folks they know, like and have confidence in,” says Nanton. “They want to believe they’re dealing with the ‘best in the business.’ To convey that feeling to your potential customers, we Celebrity Brand You as the expert in your field, and once we’ve done this, we can leverage your Celebrity Expert Status to create product and service lines that you endorse to create additional income streams for your business.

“We’re taking the control of who becomes a celebrity out of Hollywood’s hands by bringing the town’s classic star-making machinery to people whose talents lie outside show biz,” Dicks adds. “The truth is, typical Americans today don’t want Hollywood shoving celebrities down their throat. They’re more discerning and want to determine for themselves who they want to hear from. Nick. and I find people that society needs to know about and we use a mixture of classic and cutting edge strategies to help them achieve credibility, status and visibility in their niche. In our book, we lay out the five stages of the Celebrity Branding® process: finding your niche, creating your brand, developing your Celebrity Expert Status, Rollout-Expanding Your Celebrity Branded Business and Selling Your Business and Creating ‘Legacy Dollars.’ Whether you run a single person business or a multi-million dollar operation, we offer you the opportunity to create a unique brand that cannot be duplicated.”

The first step in the branding process involves gaining credibility through mainstream media outlets. This past year, Dicks & Nanton took a group of diverse clients on a whirlwind tri-city tour. In Orlando, where many of today’s biggest stars got their starts, they were photographed professionally by Brook Pifer, the Rockstar Photographer® who is known for her work with various American Idols and Grammy Award winners. The groups’ next stop was Hollywood, where they shot segments for the Celebrity Lawyers’ TV show “America’s PremierExperts™”; the show airs at various times on different NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates around the U.S.

In conjunction with this show, these experts joined many others whose information and businesses are part of an extensive database on the corollary website associated with the show www.AmericasPremierExperts.com, which is which is quickly becoming a goto directory of experts for major media outlets as well as consumers seeking the input of those who possess expertise in a certain arena.

The last stop on the tour is New York, where they visit with national book publishers and radio and TV producers. In addition to forging the groundwork by which each client/expert will contribute one chapter to a new book, each client was interviewed by a nationally renowned journalist for a regional feature in USA Today and also for appearances in the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. Over the course of the 12 months, these clients edged closer to their dreams becoming reality—sound familiar? Who needs Simon Cowell when you’ve got Dicks and Nanton steering the boat?

The next step for these and other clients is taking their newfound regional and national exposure and growing celebrity status and applying it to the ever-growing network of hundreds of social media outlets that are becoming the springboard for celebrities of all types. From there, the Celebrity Lawyers target outlets related to the client’s particular business, profession or expertise to circulate press releases, newsletters, magazines, etc. and work individually to create personality driven websites. These sites, also known as CelebritySites™, help create a personal bond with the consumer, convert the visitors into prospects and ultimately make more money for the clients.

“The secret formula is taking the credits we help them get in mass media and inserting them into targeted media,” says Nanton, “which puts the business celebrity in front of consumers who are hungry for what they offer and turns them from ‘unwelcome pest’ to ‘welcome guest in the eyes of their prospects.’”

Dicks and Nanton each bring a unique set of personal and professional experiences to the Celebrity Branding® table. Dicks has spent his entire 35 year career building successful businesses for himself and his clients, bringing his golden touch to the marketing and sales of over $500 million of products and services. He is the senior partner of Dicks & Nanton P.A.: The Business Growth Lawyers™, representing clients in the growth of their business using franchises, area exclusive licensing, coaching, idea licensing, info-marketing, joint ventures, syndications and explosion marketing to accomplish their goals.

Dicks has worked with a diverse set of clients ranging from an Inc. 500 fastest growing company with sales over $250 Million, to public companies and down to a small start up that made fishing lures. In addition to coaching and consulting with clients nationwide, he is also a successful entrepreneur. He has built his own businesses, with annual sales over $35 Million, developed real estate in excess of $200 Million and both created, and sold intellectual property rights for multiple millions of dollars.

Known as “The Celebrity Lawyer” for his role in promoting, marketing and creating Celebrity Experts across such diversified fields as entertainment, health and fitness, law, medicine, personal development, finance, and real estate, Nanton represents many top Celebrity Experts and serves as the Producer of America’s PremierExperts™ television show. He also produces The Next Big Thing™ radio show, designed to recognize the top Celebrity Experts and bring their solutions to consumers and media outlets alike.

Nanton has been named “Best of the Bar” and has even been referred to as “One of Orlando’s Top 10 Young and Powerful.” Prior to becoming an attorney, he spent more than a decade immersed in the entertainment industry. As an award-winning songwriter and television producer, he has worked on projects and negotiated deals from large-scale events to reality television shows—involving celebrities from a wide array of genres including President George H.W. Bush, Bill Cosby, Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins, Legendary College Basketball Coach Bobby Knight and Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer Stan Lynch of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame, among others.

Prior to founding the Dicks & Nanton companies, Nanton served as CEO of Cinemark Music Group LLC, a subsidiary of Cinemark USA, Inc., one of the largest motion picture exhibitors in North America with 3,288 screens in 33 States and internationally.

“The first step in the process of Celebrity Branding You™ is an initial consultation to learn about a potential client’s business, where they are currently, where they would like to be in the future, and to see if they’ve got what it takes” says Nanton. “We’ll give them enough of an overview that they’ll be able to see their business in a fresh light with new and exciting possibilities. With the leverage we provide them, they have the tools to reach so many more people. It’s very satisfying for JW and I to know that through our efforts, we are helping them make a difference in millions of consumers’ lives.”