Celebrity endorsments are struggling, but the celebrity partnership continues to prosper due to its many intangible benefits.
The time when a brand would pay a well known celebrity an astronomical sum for a two week campaign is (or should be) a thing of the past. The proliferation of celebrity endorsments, and the competitiveness of most consumer markets, means that short term endorsements should be overlooked.
Instead a more strategic celebrity partnership should be formed by any brand wanting long term value. A partnership gives sufficient time for the positive characteristics of a celebrity (which is what any brand is after) to become intrinsically linked to the brand.
Let’s start from the beginning though, for anyone wondering why a brand should be involved with a celebrity in the first place: A celebrity partnership is a channel of brand communication whereby the celebrity certifies the brand’s claim and position by extending his/her personality, popularity, stature in the society, or expertise in the field, to the brand.
In a market with a very high proliferation of local, regional and international brands, celebrity endorsement was thought to provide a distinct differentiation. Over the years, many aspiring brands in Asia have jumped on to this celebrity endorsement bandwagon and endorsements have taken on a quasi-industry stature. Think Thierry Henry and Gillette.
As a rule of thumb any brand wanting to form a successful celebrity partnership should consider the following criteria:
• Attractiveness of the celebrity: They must be attractive to the desired target audience in aspects such as physical appearance, intellectual capabilities, athletic ability, and lifestyle.
• Credibility of the celebrity: Personal credibility of the celebrity is crucial- the celebrities’ perceived expertise and trustworthiness. As celebrity partnerships act as an external cue that enable consumers to sift through the tremendous brand clutter in the market, the credibility factor greatly influences the acceptance with consumers.
• Meaning transfer: The success of the brand-celebrity collaboration heavily depends on the compatibility between the brand and the celebrity in terms of identity, personality, positioning in the market. When a brand partners with a celebrity, these are some of the compatibility factors that have to exist for the brand to leverage the desired results.
The celebrity partnership will never replace the comprehensive brand building processes but it will never disappear. One of the most successful viral’s of all time would testify to this. Nike’s “Write The Future” set a new record for most views of a viral video ad, in its debut week. How would that video have gone down worldwide with John from Harrogate in the Wayne Rooney role? It would have bombed outside of the UK. The long term celebrity partnership that Nike has with Wayne Rooney contributed to its success, as geographical barriers were broken down by his world-wide stardom. Rooney’s high standing within the game meant instant credibility for the brand with football fans.
The above example proves that any brand wanting to add to their branding portfolio should look into celebrity partnerships. Celebrity endorsements, however, should be avoided like the plague unless short term gain is the only objective.
Swiftcover car insurance and Iggy Pop are a great example of this. The brand wanted instant recognition and short term market penetration. Their choice of celebrity was ill thought through and there was no ‘meaning transfer’ (see above). There was simply a famous old singer, trying to pretend he used Swiftcover for one of his many cars, while secretly thinking about what to do with his cheque.
Posted on August 4, 2010
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