Celebrity Endorsements

Traditionally, one of the best ways to increase sales and garner public attention is to bring on a celebrity to endorse a product.  Ad Age, a popular news site featuring marketing stories, noted several weeks ago that “Scarlett Johansson is getting a Super Bowl ad on behalf of SodaStream home carbonation machines. Jaguar wants you very much to keep an eye out for Ben Kingsley and two more ‘British Villains.’ Stephen Colbert will make his Super Bowl debut for Wonderful Pistachios. And David Beckham will hawk H&M in the Super Bowl’s first shoppable ad.”  Most 30-second ads run about $4 million, not including production costs and what celebrities are paid.

Without a doubt, there is stronger content engagement when celebrities play a role in selling a product or service, especially if it is new.  What customers like about celebrities is that they make a brand more personal, something they can more easily relate to.  Social media has allowed for speedy transmission of content, which users are more prone to share if it features a celebrity with whom they identify.  But are there any negatives to using a celebrity to increase target audiences’ awareness?  Yes.  In the event of a scandal, a celebrity that is too closely tied to a brand can actually impact it negatively, reducing the overall number of sales.

The solution many companies are finding successful to push sales higher, without taking the risk of a celebrity’s personal life interfering with a company’s public image, is to make up their own celebrities.  Many cartoons or characters, like Geico’s Gecko, for example, are more easily crafted than a celebrity, and they can be far less expensive too. Definitely consider the power of a celebrity, but don’t forget that you can still have one without being the 652,345th caller in line to talk to Beyoncé about a contract.