When I first met Michel Adam I thought he was barking mad.
He was and still is a very big man and he had such a Big Idea that it was almost ridiculous: a 24-hour fashion channel.
He spoke about it with great passion and all I wanted to know was how music could be part of this all.
It was eventually launched on a shoe-string budget, but that shoe-string must have been truly blessed.
The rest, as they say, is history and from being a free-to-air channel that managed to find itself into nearly every hotel, FTV has become a global brand.
Michel Adam and I have never done any business- not yet, anyway but our paths have crossed many times and we have always ended up chatting about everything new happening with his 24-hour fashion channel. And there is always something new happening as Michel Adam has worked bloody hard to get to where he has and he knows how much more can be achieved.
To many, FTV fills this void for a world that has suddenly tired of all the free porn sites available on the net.
FTV has made seeing women and men- fully or half- clothed and not showing it all for the world to see far sexier.
http://www.youtube.com/user/fashiontv#p/l
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78VwQ5s-0So
When people talk to me about “brands’ and “branding” exercises I think of my friend Michel Adam.
I think I can safely say that in, at least Asia and parts of Europe, FTV is a more successful brand than MTV. One brand is down the crapper and has become this weird hybrid of a reality channel with some music videos where one has stayed true to its original vision.
FTV is everywhere today and in very many guises. It’s a chameleonic channel and with the name of its founder- Michel Adam- also being a brand.
Sure, it’s an excessive and almost narcissistic approach in over-the-top self promotion. But wasn’t Hugh Hefner once like this?
Again, while “Hef” and Playboy belong to yesterday, FTV and Michel Adam are all about today.
There are today FTV Clubs. There is a FTV Cruise liner. There is a FTV Vodka, FTV in 3D and much more to come.
http://www.youtube.com/user/fashiontv3D?blend=2&ob=5
Of course, there are all those FTV-branded models from places like Australia, the UK and NYC, sure. But mainly from where the most gorgeous women come from- various parts of Eastern Europe such as Lithuania, the Ukraine etc.
When one looks at this FTV empire that has been created, one person is having the last laugh and also laughing all the way to the bank: Michel Adam.
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