Can a Celebrity Give a Boost?

Can a Celebrity Give a Boost?

While 51% of adults believe that celebrity endorsements do not influence their decision to purchase a product or service, a full 45% believes that celebrities make a large (11%) or some positive influence on their buying habits.  While these figures might be daunting, remember that the glass is half full, and even half full, can still be refilled. (can a celebrity give a boost)

While it is well known that most people make purchases based on the recommendation of their friends and family, having a celebrity boost your brand is still a viable option for making your brand stand out from the crowd and be noticed in a competitive market. 

Remember that the first priority of any marketing campaign is to capture attention.  Having the right celebrity endorse your product or service can effectively deliver this.  We have all heard the stories about the latest and greatest restaurant openings in our area.  It just takes one friend to check it out and then recommend it to all of his or her friends, add water and repeat several hundred times, and the new bistro on the block has made it.  The point is that if attention is captured, it will attract attention, which then can lead to sales.

When a celebrity such as Oprah endorses a product like Weight Watchers, it lends credibility to the product.  People see that even celebrities struggle with the same things as they do, and the product can offer a hope of solving some problem that they also face.  In this case, Oprah is an extremely credible celebrity endorser as it is a well known fact that she has struggled with her weight for many years.

It is also interesting to note that in October 2015, Oprah acquired a 10% stake in Weight Watchers and the stock immediately soared.  The stock was up 105% after having a slump that saw a loss of 73% of its value throughout the first nine months of 2015.  The stock surged again when the company announced that she would be appearing in its advertising campaigns.

Oprah’s acquisition was also accompanied by a Tweet from her on the same day stating, “I believe in the @weightwatchers program so much I decided to invest, join the Board, and partner in #wwfamily evolution.”

It is expected that Oprah will use her considerable leverage as a celebrity to drive interest in Weight Watchers products and programs, as well as help steer the company into emphasizing not just weight loss, but also healthy and happy living. 

Additionally, companies such as Puma have allied themselves with such greats as Usain Bolt, the legendary Jamaican sprinter who is known as the fastest man on earth.  Usain, also known by the moniker “Lightning Bolt” is a six time Olympic gold medalist, has had an endorsement deal with Puma since he was a teenager.  Puma renewed his endorsement deal in 2013 so that they could continue to associate their brand of shoes with the fastest man on the planet.  A smart marketing move, to be sure.

Bolt, who has been with Puma virtually his entire career, does wear the company’s shoes and also has clothing from Puma that bears his endorsement.  Renewing Bolt’s contract in 2013 to ally themselves with the man billed as the fastest man on earth helped maintain Puma’s place in an already super-competitive market of athletic shoes and clothing.

In another example, Gatorade employed celebrity tennis player Maria Sharapova and watched their sales more than double between January 2007 when she signed on as an endorser and August of the same year in which she won the Acura Classic. 

The common thread on these celebrity endorsements is that they are realistic and believable to the consumer.  Oprah has been known to struggle with weight loss for years and Bolt actually does wear the shoes that he endorses and has continued to be successful in his epic sprints, it is completely believable that Maria Sharapova would use Gatorade.

This makes these campaigns authentic and therefore more apt to capture the attention of consumers who have become somewhat jaded and less sensitized to just any celebrity who pops up in a marketing campaign. 

These campaigns, particularly Oprah, allow the consumer to have some insight into the world of a celebrity figure and raises the degree of reality with persons with whom they otherwise would not have the proximity with which to gain the insight.

A smart celebrity endorsed marketing campaign is going to include all possible outlets including TV, print and social media and the really savvy campaign is going to combine something that is believable and real with a bit of the unexpected; something that is fresh and new to the consumer. 

Case in point, LeBron James does and endorsement for Kia, and while it seems somewhat improbable, James swears that he actually does drive a Kia.  As much ribbing as this has received on social media, this is still a valid marketing campaign and even the jabs on social media are drawing attention to the brand. 

This actually resulted in a commercial in which James reads a Tweet aloud, “I’ll bet anyone ten million dollars that LeBron doesn’t roll up to the games in a Kia.”  James then replies to the Tweet and is filmed getting into his car, a Kia K900, purportedly to go to a game.  Perfect example of authentic with a twist of the unexpected. 

This kind of marketing undoubtedly appeals to consumers for three reasons:

  1. The celebrity is appealing
  2. The celebrity is credible (or made credible) for the product
  3. The celebrity is authentic himself or herself
  4. The product/celebrity is a good match
  5. There is an element of the unexpected

At CelebrityCred.com we can help you pair your product with the right celebrity.   For help in securing the right celebrity for your next marketing campaign, you can call us at 1(888)359-4521 or visit CelebrityCred.com to find out more.

 

http://wallblog.co.uk/2015/05/12/infographic-can-celebrity-endorsements-influence-sales/

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