I can hardly believe it. I’m standing in front of the Marathon Music Works in Nashville texting my contact from Pandora Radio to let me in. The line of fans waiting to get in are about two blocks long and growing by the minute. In a few hours the doors will open and they will be treated to a free concert of Maren Morris, Lindsey El and Tenille Townes courtesy of Pandora Radio and SiriusXM.
So what does a Lipsologist have to do with a country music concert?
It all started three months earlier when I received a phone call from the Pandora Radio Director of Events and Experimental Marketing. I noted the curious job title. She asked me if I was available to do Lipsology readings for a Pandora Live concert in Nashville. This is an event that they host every year to kick off CMA awards week. She mentioned that they were trying to get a full female line up for the show. Maren Morris was already on board as the star headliner, but weren’t sure yet about the other artists. No promo would go out until everyone was signed.
I was still stunned by being called by Pandora Radio that I barely remembered to write down Maren’s name.
Why did they wanted a Lipsologist?
My contact explained that Burt’s Bees was signing on as one of their sponsors. BB was introducing a new matte lipstick line and wanted people to try it. Her idea was to have a Lipsologist read lip prints for the fans who arrive early and wait for hours in line. They were captive audience ready to be tapped. Lipsology would to not only amuse and entertain. It would also get the BB product into hands of people who would immediately put it on in order to make lip prints. Pretty smart strategy. Now I understood how this woman got her job title. Genius!
There was one more thing I wanted to run by my contact for her to show her client at Burt’s. For each event, I usually design the kissing cards that people make their lip prints on. So I sent my contact a kiss card example featuring the Burt’s Bees kiss logo and phrase. Both my Pandora contact and BB loved it and their art department made it even better for the event.
Maren Morris fan puckers up for her Lipsology reading with Laura E. West at the Pandora Live event in Nashville.
Kiss cards and lipsticks were now in place. Now just add the Lipsologist.
It’s important to me to understand my audience. I try to do a little research before each of my events. If I was going to entertain Maren Morris’ fans, I wanted to be familiar with her music too. I spent hours reading about and listening to the music of all three artists. It was a surprise to find out that the star headliner was from Arlington, TX. Arlington is sandwiched between Dallas and Fort Worth. We were practically neighbors! Who knew? Small world. This was going to be really fun!
Flirting with Maren’s fans…
When I arrived at Marathon Music Works in Nashville on June 3, I was led into a back hallway where the events group had all of the sponsor freebies to give out to the crowd unpacked and organized. I had two assistants who were assigned to help me. They carried the lipsticks and the Burt’s Bees kissing cards while I did the lip print readings.
We walked back out into the venue lobby and I could see the performers were doing sound check. Maren Morris on stage then. I wished for a moment to get her lip prints. But reality check– I was the opening act for the next two hours. Her adoring fans were waiting for me to read their lip prints..
The crowd waiting outside in the shade of the building seemed happy to have something to do. Most were more than willing to make lip prints for their reading. Others waited to hear what I told their friend and then were curious enough to follow through.
Slicker than lipstick!
My assistants stayed with me for about 15 minutes listening to how I instructed people to apply the lipsticks and how many prints to make. Then they started passing out the BB lipstick samples and working down the block. I followed looking for lip prints to read.
For every kiss card I read there were three to five people gathered to listen to what I had to say about their friend or family member’s lip prints. And they would nod and agree and “Oh, Yeah – got that right” or “She NAILED you on that one!” It was really fun. I joked and laughed with so many people about their prints especially if they had a particular marking that signified that they were the family favorite or “star”. Or lip prints with no space between the lips. Those were the stubborn individuals who would not budge an inch on how something was done.
The Pandora Live camera crew was getting a lot of footage of the fans and at one point they pulled me over.
“We would like you to do a Lipsology reading with one of these ladies” the camera guy pointed to two beautiful blond women. I agreed to do the readings and stepped up. Unfortunately there was a slight hiccup. My assistants had been so good at their job that they had given away all of the lipstick samples.
The camera crew scrambled to find some samples so we could shoot the interview. I was able to stop for a moment to drink some water and catch my breathe.
It took a while for the camera crew to set up the shot and find some BB lipstick. Maren’s fans were now impatient and asking me when I would be back in line to finish their lip print reading. I told the crew to come find me when they were ready and moved back into the line to finish readings.
Meanwhile back in the line…
The next group of ladies were a hoot. They were all good friends. One beautiful brunette was particularly excited about getting her lip prints read. Her friends pushed her forward to me and she held out her kiss card. She had a great lip prints all including a deep cupid’s bow in the middle of the top part of her upper lip. A cupid’s bow is that little dip in your lip that is usually right under the tip of your nose. This well defined cupid’s bow indicated that she was someone who people couldn’t help but notice. She couldn’t help but stand out and actually enjoyed the attention. I call this being “queen worthy”. When she heard this, her friend agreed “Oh, yeah, dawlin’– we call her our Mississippi Queen.”
And she sure was! She was a Miss Mississippi pageant winner. You could still see the tiara in her energy field and beaming smile.
I shared that I was also from Mississippi and was immediately hugged by all. Southern sisters united by lipstick!
Burt’s Bees Lipstick found!
But our reunion was interrupted by the camera crew who finally located BB lipstick for the shoot. For all the scrambling, this was over within three or four minutes. Lipstick on blond, lip prints read, me doing reading, and we finished right before the doors opened.
The line was moving forward and the crowd advanced through the metal detectors. I kept working the line trying to find people with lip prints. I would literally walk with them talking about their printed up to the entrance.
Finally I had to move inside. Ladies kept coming up to me for the next hour with their Burt’s lipsticks to make prints even when Tenielle Towns started to play. It seemed like every time I was ready to go someone else would walk up with their lip prints and ask for a reading.
Happy endings…
I read later that this particular Pandora Live event had records crowds. Pandora also featured it on their website as a sponsor success story.
For me, it goes down as the night I was the opening act for Grammy and CMA award winner Maren Morris.
And that still puts a smile on my lips.
Laura E. West is a professional fortune-teller and certified Lipsologist in Dallas, Texas. She engages and enlightens guests at private parties, corporate events, trade shows and more. She has read the lip prints of thousands of people and one dog named Squirrel. Laura is known for her quirky sense of humor, calming energy and amazingly accurate intuitive entertainment.
www.lauraewest.com Contact me here for a free quote.