AJPark

But celebrity branding is not for everyone.  Businesses need to think carefully about using celebrity brand endorsements in their business:  the practice is not without pitfalls.

What is a celebrity?

A celebrity is someone who exerts significant influence in several facets of society, usually associated with some form of achievement in sports, or in the cultural arena of film, theatre, literature, music or art.  But as the social pages and glossy magazines show, socialites, newsreaders, designers and politicians can command celebrity status as well.

And celebrities do not have to be alive to have appeal.  Fictional and dead celebrities are also sought after by businesses to support their products. 

Building on the image

Understanding that they have a following in their field of pursuit, celebrities can and do sell products or services clearly linked with them.  We have seen Sarah Ullmer promote sports clothing and Elle Macpherson sell lingerie.
Celebrities can use their brand to extend their profile beyond their immediate area of interest.  Paul Newman and salad dressings is an example as is Marc Ellis and orange juice. 

A celebrity can ring fence the exclusive rights to their name, nicknames, signature and likeness by trade mark registration.  Many have done this.  JONAH LOMU, ELLE MACPHERSON, SARAH ULLMER and KAREN WALKER are examples.  Trade mark registrations can be secured for all goods and services the celebrity sells.

A celebrity can licence the use of his or her name, nickname, signature, or likeness to any business that is prepared to pay for the privilege.

Going even further

But it can be difficult for a celebrity to leverage their brand using products and services they produce.

Celebrities realise that if they gain public acceptance, their image can be used as a way to increase their profile.  That profile can then potentially be extended to other brands.

Increasingly businesses are looking at ways to associate their products and services with customers.  Some say celebrities can help. 

Celebrities exist in the minds of their audience in precisely the same way that corporate or FMCG brands do.  The way customers perceive a celebrity is similar to the way they respond to other kinds of brand.  The mention of a celebrity name conjures up a mental image. That image can be good, bad or ugly but as long as it fits with the product or service being promoted, the synergy can work.

Why do businesses use celebrities?

A celebrity can help a business market itself in several ways.  Celebrity endorsements help to distinguish a product, service or business in a crowded marketplace.  Celebrity backing is especially effective with commodity type products or services –where there is often little difference between various offerings. 

Celebrity branding is also a way to build instant name recognition.  By associating your product or service with a person whose name and face are already well-known, you can quickly achieve an awareness that might otherwise take many years of marketing.

Other benefits include brand extension:  using a celebrity brand can open new revenue streams for your business.  It also enables the core business brand to introduce new features.

The upside

Credibility is perhaps the most powerful contribution a celebrity can make to your marketing efforts.  At the core, the appeal of a celebrity is his or her ability to influence what consumers buy.  Because of the celebrity’s image and values, instant credibility can be transferred to the products or services.  Something you would have been hard-pressed to build on your own.   A customer is more likely to see a well-known face using your product in a  marketing campaign and think “if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me”.

Key qualities looked for in a celebrity are:

• Attractiveness
• Credibility
• Success
• Expertise
• Overall likeability

A celebrity must be identified, believed, liked and aspired to by the target audience.  There must be an overlap of interests between the celebrity, his or her audience and the brand - otherwise the relationship won’t work.

Not every celebrity fits every product or service.  The brand must fit the name it represents and the name must represent the brand it endorses.  Getting this right is critical. 

Clear winners are GEORGE FOREMAN.  Once known as a champion boxer, Foreman was employed to endorse a grill sold by Salton Inc.  So successful was George Foreman in selling the grill, other related products were add to the range.  In the end the Foreman fever led to Salton Inc buying the name GEORGE FOREMAN and his likeness in 2001 for US$137.5M. The business couldn’t live without him.

Sophisticated celebrity ranking indexes now exist (in some countries) designed to help businesses looking for a ‘celebrity’ to help them promote their goods or services.  Such indexes evaluate the sensed worth of a celebrity through a systematic and controlled method that resembles financial brand valuation and forecasting.  The aim is to remove the ambiguity that surrounds celebrity appeal.  The index acts as a guideline for brand managers and advertising agencies to assess celebrities and calculate their relevance for a specific product, service or brand image before selecting them.  Sometimes reality differs from perception.

The downside

Just as it offers unique potential, celebrity marketing also carries some special risks.  Celebrity endorsement is not all rosy.

The biggest risk is the celebrity.  Celebrities are people, and people are unpredictable.  They have foibles and make mistakes - these could be badly associated with you and your brand. As fame comes and goes, so goes the brand.

Prompted by the concern that their own brand could be tarnished, companies are sometimes quick to drop celebrity endorsers if they come under fire.  Guilt by association in a customer’s eyes describes it best.  Chanel and Burberry quickly dropped KATE MOSS after she was snapped snorting cocaine.

If a business continues with the celebrity it may adversely affect the image of the brand, and thus sales.  If distance is put between the celebrity and the brand, huge costs can be spent on roping in the celebrity and changing or dropping advertisements and promotional material featuring the celebrity.

Another risk can arise when a celebrity decides to change their image resulting in a contradicting image to that of the brand they support.  To work the celebrity brand must fit the demographic of your target market.

Another potential downside is the celebrity overshadows the brand they are promoting.  Care should be taken to ensure that it is product or service brand that has the greater exposure rather than the celebrity brand.

The platform

Like any relationship, it works if it results in a win-win situation.  Two brands are at issue.  Your brand and the celebrity brand.  Both of you should be interested in making it successful. 

The basis of the relationship must be clearly worked out at the beginning.  The business gains star or cult status; the celebrity gets money and product or services.  In addition, the celebrity can use the exposure to build their own brands, increasing their own ranking as a desired brand.

But overexposure of a celebrity can be an issue and this is something a business looking for a celebrity needs to be aware of.  Known as “celebrity vamping” the overuse of a celebrity in selling goods and services can harm a business.  The public don’t like it.  They become suspicious if the same celebrity is used to endorse multiple goods and services. The celebrity brand runs the risk of lacking the credibility it was picked for in the first place.

Also, there are regulatory limits on using celebrities to promote certain products.  A new advertising code has been written setting guidelines about the use of celebrities to promote food in a way that undermines a healthy diet. 

In today’s world of preoccupation with the lives and loves of celebrities, one thing is clear.  Celebrities can help promote your business.  Celebrities can and do work as brands -  and brands like celebrities.  Although the short term results can be difficult to measure, use of a celebrity can yield long term benefits. Increased brand loyalty and brand equity from celebrity backing can eventually lead to higher sales turnover and brand value.

An edited version of this article was published in NZ Retail magazine March 2007

• 

  Corinne Blumsky

  Partner