#17 | Chris Gannett: Ran Marketing for Elvis and American Idol

A Memphis trustee wanted to liquidate the Elvis Presley estate into municipal bonds. Chris Gannett helped build the alternative.More on Chris Gannett and this episode: thedealtablepodcast.com/episodes/chris-gannettHe describes the Graceland job as being a custodian rather than a marketer, and the intellectual property strategy that followed turned an estate into a global business with a measurable effect on Memphis tourism. From there came American Idol, the 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia joint venture, and the 2012 sale that funded his own firm.What he does now is stranger and more useful. Gannett treats the founder as the biggest risk variable in any deal, and uses cognitive behavioral coaching, grounded in a Berkeley methodology, as the way to de-risk a person the way you would de-risk a balance sheet. His firm combines coaching, advisory and capital in one structure.The personal thread is losing his father and the reprioritization that followed, plus a clear-eyed view of what replaced the era of three networks and three record labels.Chris Gannett has held chief marketing officer and general manager roles at Sony, American Idol, Elvis Presley Enterprises, TheBlaze and MediaMath. That work contributed to multiple Grammy and Emmy Awards, three Guinness Records, three turnarounds and three exits. In 2022 he founded Gannett Partners, combining coaching, advisory and capital across 10 countries.KEY MOMENTS00:00 Custodian of the Elvis estate03:15 Graceland and Memphis tourism06:30 The IP strategy that saved it10:45 Founding Gannett Partners14:30 Coaching, advisory, and capital18:45 Cognitive behavioral coaching22:40 The founder as the risk variable27:45 What "permission to win" means50:30 Losing his father, and refocusing01:03:00 American Idol and artist developmentNewsletter: thedealtablepodcast.com/connectLane Carrick on selling a business, The Optima Advantage: amzn.to/48nLElWInstagram: instagram.com/thedealtablepodcast/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/the-deal-table/The Deal Table is hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick, filmed in Dallas, and produced by Harper Belmont Media.