Fantasia Barrino? No, This Is A Brand Rejuvenation

Oprah Winfrey didn't become a billionaire by accident.

I had the great privilege to see The Color Purple on Broadway over MLK weekend in January of this year with my mother. "Phenomenal" and "breathtaking" do not begin to describe how wonderful the performance was. When you look at the broadway show as a product of the Color Purple brand(book, movie), it would be fair to say it was on the downward swing of it's product cycle. (opened in 2005)

What does Oprah do? Hire Fantasia Barrino to take over the lead role of Miss Ceilie. Not only a Grammy-nominated R&B singer with 2 albums under her belt. Not only the author of an autobiography and Lifetime movie in which she starred. Not only from the great state of North Carolina. (Sorry we are still proud.) Ms. Barrino was first an American Idol winner.

READ: Name recognition world-wide.

Result: An additional $6million in tickets have been sold since the announcement Ms. Barrino would be starring as Ceilie. I fully expect this number to climb since she made her debut last night, and the inevitable word of mouth spreads.