Ricky Regal to Hello Kitty: Bruno Mars Personal Branding Strategy
International music icon, fashion designer, night club owner, Elvis impersonator- there’s a lot of titles you can give 16x GRAMMY award winner Bruno Mars. Since debuting as a solo artist in 2010 with “Just the Way You Are”, Bruno has made his mark on pop culture and sky-rocketed to super-stardom. And accompanying the chart-topping music is his equally lush and intentional visual identity. Here’s a deep dive into Bruno Mars personal branding strategy and how he unties different personas under one hyper-curated umbrella.
Musicians and Persona Branding
Musicians are some of the best curators of persona. In my creative direction toolbox, a persona is simply a heightened and curated image of an individual not to be conflated with a character, which is when an individual adopts traits that are unlike their nature.
Personas are particularly helpful when you’re opening yourself up to public consumption- whether it be on Instagram, giving a keynote address or performing on stage in front of thousands. When there’s eyes on you, it’s natural to step into ‘front of house’ behavior- or behavior that’s modified for the situation you’re in.
That being said, creatives and musicians (and their record label) take this natural human response use it to further their art. When creating, it’s not just the music they have to consider but the cover art, the clothes they wear on stage, the narrative they decide to spin in interviews. A super clear persona act as a director for all of these choices.
Bruno The Entertainer
One of the biggest indicators that Bruno is utilizing personas is the fact that his birth name was not Bruno Mars (shocker). He was actually born Peter Hernandez in Hawaii and Bruno was a childhood nickname given to him by his father.
Cover art for Doo-Wops & Hooligans, 2010
After relocating to L.A. at 18, he struggled with finding a record label. Later, during his Unorthodox Jukebox promotional cycle, he will go on to explain that the name came from the feedback he heard from labels during these early years- that his music and image was too unorthodox and they weren’t sure how to best market him. His last name was latin sounding, but he was from Hawaii and wasn’t interested in pigeon holing himself into a genre that didn’t really feel like him, due to name alone. So he leaned into that nickname Bruno and picked up the stage name Mars. Now he was free to craft his artist image with no preconceived notions.
He started writing and producing hits for others before becoming a featured artist and eventually emerging as a solo act with 2010’s “Just the Way You Are”. During this first album cycle he painted the image of being an old-souled hopeless romantic, optimistic and sensitive. The visuals from this album also leaned heavily into the Lover and Everyman archetypes. But just one interview of Bruno, even during this era, will quickly show his true personality: witty, wild, warm and very charming.
Deflecting personal questions with a quick joke or deflection back to the interviewer, Bruno has always been hesitant to bring his personal endeavors into the limelight. In an interview from 2010 with Astra from 106.1 BLI he responded “That’s the only thing that I have to myself that’s personal,” in regards to the interviewer asking for details about his relationship at the time.
The distinction between personal life and his work seems to be important for Bruno to maintain, thus adding more power and presence to his persona. Bruno Mars, likely subconsciously, was who he embodied when he entered the studio. Or went to accept an award. Or perform a Super Bowl Half Time Show. It was the entertainer within him. But Bruno is not the only persona Peter Hernandez has to lean on.
Introducing: Ricky Regal
Stetson x Ricky Regal, 2024
Ricky Regal x Lacoste, 2021
“When I'm on stage my name is Bruno Mars. When I’m making lavish luxurious garments, I go by Ricky Regal.” - Bruno Mars
Ricky Regal emerged in 2021 through Mars’ apparel partnership with Lacoste. Though no longer available, the Lacoste website still hosts a press release for the collection which is where I sourced the above quote.
And to confirm the presences of his entertainer persona, he literally states, “When I'm on stage my name is Bruno Mars.” Not, ‘in my day to day’ or ‘walking down the street’, but specifically on stage.
Again, I want to reiterate that Ricky and Bruno are not characters Peter puts on like costumes, they’re simply different embodiments of who he is. In interviews, Bruno explains the Ricky Regal persona emerged because he wanted to approach this project from a different headspace and perspective than he does his Bruno Mars work. Bruno has a different energy than Ricky. While both show up with a sense of bold confidence, Bruno wants to dance, have a good time and let loose while Ricky seems to be more concerned with being the best dressed person in a room, feeling good in the clothes you have on, and taking advantage of any opportunity that blows his way.
But Ricky was not a one-time deal for Bruno. In 2024 he has since re-emerged for a new collaboration with Stetson- you know, the cowboy hat people. However, on the Stetson landing page, Ricky Regal is referred to as a “design label”- which I find interesting. Is Ricky still just a persona for Mars or has he transcended into a full brand? And if that’s the case, where is the label going next? A full line of apparel, maybe with a pop up shop in Vegas? Or will he take the Lenny Kravitz route and create a design and creative direction studio?
Who’s to say, but it isn’t a secret that Bruno is a huge creative force behind everything he touches, from directing his music videos to the album covers to what his collaborators wear to studio sessions.
World Building Through Persona Overlap
Another thing I find really interesting is the Ricky Regal logo mark. It’s shifted from the chunky, retro serif of the Lacoste collab to a new, sleeker script that’s printed on the Stetson boxes. But both fonts are highly reminiscent of another Mars venture, SelvaRey rum, in which he had a hand in the rebranding of. The Stetson logo mark looks really similar to the SelvaRey font, and the Lacoste one echoes the bold, serif title font in the rum’s brand kit. It’s almost as if every project, through Bruno or Ricky, are nodding to each other.
You see this go further than just the fonts. Both the Lacoste collaboration and his last full length album, created under the moniker Silk Sonic and in partnership with Anderson .Paak, were released in the same year and share a similar visual story, including lush, earthy 70’s tones and pointy collars to match. And the same can be said with the Stetson hats, which closely resemble the hat he wore in “Die With a Smile”, a duet he shared with Lady Gaga, which was released previous to the Stetson collaboration.
Even on the Ricky Regal instagram page, the first posts available are a faux advertisement that lists a slew of ‘services’ the persona provides- record producer, luxury alcohol distribution, high end fashion designer- all of which you can also attribute to Mars himself. To me, this is further proof that Ricky is not a character Mars is putting on, but rather a different name for himself. He’s not trying to hide the connections or even act like they’re two separate identities.
Bruno Mars and SelvaRey rum
To Ricky or Not to Ricky
Bruno doesn’t call on Ricky every time he makes a t-shirt. 2024 was a busy year for him and in addition to his massive hit with Lady Gaga and Stetson hats, he kicked off the year with a 7-show run in Tokyo and ended it with a collaboration with none other than the Japanese icon herself, Hello Kitty. Which, kind of random but okay. This collab debuted with an exclusive collection at Hello Kitty’s Las Vegas store, a city in which Mars has been playing residencies in for years now, before going worldwide.
It makes sense that this apparel collab wasn’t under the Ricky Regal name- firstly it doesn’t fit the brand vibe that Ricky is cultivating and secondly its tied more strongly with the fandom aspect of Bruno’s music career. At the time he was also enjoying the success of a musical collab with K-Pop star Rose, and there is an obvious overlap between her audience and Hello Kitty’s.
Other projects of Mars that do not fall under Regal’s influence but instead his entertainer persona are his partnership with SelvaRey rum, which I mentioned earlier, and his Vegas nightclub The Pinky Ring. The Pinky Ring in particular is a direct nod to not only the jewelry he’s been known to sport over the years but also his hit “24K Magic.” The club features regular performances by his band, The Hooligans, as well as the occasional drop-in from the man himself.
These ventures are all extensions of Bruno’s core brand- entertainment, letting loose and having a good time no matter what the time. Even though they could fall under the Ricky Regal persona, that’s clearly not the headspace he is in when approaching these projects.
How To Brand Like Bruno
Above all else, Bruno Mars is an excellent example of how to create a highly curated brand eco-system, from both a personal and commercial level. I mean, even if you’re just skimming the surface of his work, the visual concepts alone speak multitudes and serve as excellent well of inspiration.
If you’re looking to craft your own lush, world-buildly brand like Bruno, here are some key take aways from his work:
Different personas can be used for different projects
Personas create freedom to craft your image without preconceptions
Don’t be afraid to create overlap between projects- especially visually- if you want to build a brand eco-system
Don't fight the feeling, invite the feeling…
