costumes and eight-inch platform shoes to already tall band members, and the effect was intimidating-as it was intended to be. You can imagine that not too many bands were keen on having KISS be their warm-up band-literally because the group might set the place on fire and figuratively because it got the crowd so riled up that it was a hard act to follow. Even more than the fire antics, KISS made its mark with its pseudo-Kabuki makeup. The black-and-white face paint was new to rock and roll and served to set KISS apart from any other band. "The KISS image really was born out of our philosophy that a band should be more than just a bunch of guys who looked like they just rolled out of bed who got on stage and were gonna jam for an hour," explains Stanley. Previously a few bands, like Alice Cooper, which KISS emulated, and the Dolls used makeup to make a statement on stage. But dramatic, consistent makeup was different and became central to the identity of KISS. "We had to find something that truly was ours. The idea of us being a second-rate Dolls was not what we wanted; we wanted to be a first-rate KISS," says Stanley. "At the end of the day," Simmons adds in the VH1 interview, "we decided that everyone in the band should be his own personality, his own star." Each band member developed his own on-stage persona: Simmons was the Demon and Stanley was Star Child, while Frehley was Space Man and Criss was the Cat. It took each one hours to apply his makeup before a show, but it was a transformation process that prepared the band for showtime. In the product world, packaging plays an important emotional role as well. Its been said that the package makes the present; it certainly adds personality to even everyday products. Just think of those little Hersheys Kisses. In reality they are just big milk-chocolate versions of the semisweet chocolate morsels our mothers used to bake fresh 98 | Br a nd s Th at Roc k     chocolate-chip cookies. But Kisses are individually wrapped in foil- which in recent years has extended way beyond the traditional silver to include a palette of colors from red and green to pink and blue, released at special times of the year. The packaging has also added personality to the chocolate treat, and created attention around it, prompting the purchase of special colors at Easter, Valentines Day, or Christmas. KISSs makeup became an important part of the aura of its brand. The fans started writing the band, believing that the group wore the makeup all the time. They wanted to believe in the fantasy, and out of respect to what fans wanted, explains Simmons, the band decided to keep the makeup on in public-at all times. It became central to the mystique of the brand. The makeup also provided an important rela- tional component to the KISS brand. Not only did it communicate an image from the band to its fans, it gave fans a way to communicate back to the band, participate in the brand, and complete the two-way communication cycle. "Something definitely was going on between the fans and the band, a kind of you-are-us we-are-you; without you, we are nothing," says Simmons. Fans loved living the brand; they showed up at concerts in KISS