One of Phil Lobel’s (A&S ex’79) favorite stories, stretching back to his early days as a Hollywood publicist, took place in a sushi restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in 1987.

As he chatted with a prospective client, a young unknown actor from the Midwest — Sean Penn and Madonna strode casually by and sat down at a nearby table — followed by a cluster of autograph seekers.

After observing the scene for several moments, the struggling actor turned to Lobel.

“Someday, do you think people will come up to me for my autograph?’’ asked Brad Pitt, who at the time was sharing an apartment with five roommates, sleeping on a mattress on the floor and eating at Taco Bell.

The answer became obvious a few months later when Pitt started to pop up on the cover of top teen magazines. Lobel managed Pitt’s TV and nascent film career prior to his movie debut in Thelma and Louise.

“Back then, Brad had no idea about anything,” Lobel says. “He’d just gotten off the boat from Springfield, Mo.’’

Sitting on the patio of his Hollywood bungalow on a midweek afternoon, Lobel chuckles at the memory of that day, one of many storybook moments in a career in which he’s come to anticipate the unexpected. He’s spent more than 25 years at the helm of the Los Angeles-based Lobeline Communications, which offers public relations, media relations, marketing communications, corporate branding and reputation management for entertainment, music-related, corporate and nonprofit clients

Yet Lobel hasn’t survived nearly three decades in Hollywood by accident. It was through a series of strategic moves. He helped Steel Pulse climb the pop charts, Aaron Carter become a pop star, Anthony Robbins graduate from infomercials and magician David Copperfield find happiness in the mainstream press.

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For Full Article http://www.coloradanmagazine.org/2012/03/01/creating-star-power/