Legendary art director, George Lois, mused that “enlisting a celebrity to sell cat food, an airline, off-track betting, an analgesic, or a lube job would seem to be a delusionary strategy fraught with irrationality. But let’s face it, it’s a star-struck world.”
Sure, it’s a star-struck world, but with exorbitant high costs, bad behavior, and questionable credibility plaguing celebrity endorsements, is it any wonder that businesses are starting to look within to inspire campaigns and develop brands?
This four-part blog examines the changing face of the spokesperson from gregarious celebrity to unassuming everyman, and how this shift in audience preference allows businesses to bolster their brand by celebrating the people behind their products.
Celebrity Losing its Fizz
According to recent marketing research, one out of every four advertising campaigns in the US features famous faces. From magazine spreads to Twitter, television commercials to Facebook, the advertising industry is clogged with celebrity and is in desperate need of Draino.
Although most of us believe that our voracious appetite for celebrity is a relatively recent speedbump in social evolution, actors and athletes, musicians and models have been peddling products to eager audiences for centuries.
In ancient Rome, popular gladiators received handsome sums to endorse various products and services. In the 1700s, Josiah Wedgwood capitalized on the popularity of his products with royalty by promoting himself as “Potter to Her Majesty.”
At the height of the Cola Wars, PepsiCo also used ties to aristocracy to promote their carbonated product. The history-making partnership with the King of Pop made Michael Jackson the richest pitchman on planet Earth. With his unmistakable flair, Jackson touted the beverage to his fans as the choice of a new generation, resulting in Pepsi earning $7.7 billion in sales and edging out its competitor as the King of Soda Pop for 1984.
Throughout the ten-year commitment, Jackson earned tens of millions of dollars, while Pepsi enjoyed sole sponsorship of his concerts. Allegations of child abuse in 2003, however, burst the campaign’s bubble, and Jackson was quickly released from his contract.
Pepsi’s ill-fated promotion is one of many examples of star powered endorsements losing their shine. Although hitching an advertising campaign to a Hollywood cash cow can prove beneficial at first, it is wise for businesses to remember that if the spokesperson gets stuck in the mud, then so too does the brand tied to them.
During the making of a Pepsi commercial the King of Pop's hair was set on fire, which got him addicted to painkillers. So pepsi killed the king of pop!
Posted by: Dawn | January 13, 2012 at 06:23 PM
I was thinking about this last night, they also used Madonna in 1989 so there was THAT controversy as well. And in 2001 they used Britney Spears. They seem to attract controversial figures!
Posted by: Dawn | January 15, 2012 at 10:09 AM
Ah! The dangers of celebrity endorsement. Be wary, very wary.
Posted by: Margo | January 15, 2012 at 07:13 PM
Brand Ambassadors: Celebrities V/S Real Customers
Read this post on http://www.sureshdinakaran.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=189&action=edit
Posted by: Suresh Dinakaran | January 15, 2012 at 11:59 PM
Celebrity endorsement will never end, some people are as just powerful as a country president or as a company, regarding the interest and the emotions they can bring with a simple statement, but when one celebrity endorses so many brands that there is no real bond between the celebrity and the brand, or when during his/her private life the celebrity fails somehow to be "an example" the brand can be damaged, so work as a portfolio manager, carefully choose your celebrity but keep other assets to sustain your brand.
Posted by: Jean-François Pinto Saghaard | January 16, 2012 at 12:14 AM
It depends on the target and the category and product. Celebrity still works powerfully in lower tier city or among young people, it works for those who are more collective and trying to "fit in" the crowd. Celebrity gives them a easy tag to assure their choice.
For those who are more individual and matured consumers, celebrity still works not all the time, but could be a strong branding device when the celebrity is carefully selected to match and deliver the RIGHT brand spirit.
Posted by: Shirley Hao | January 16, 2012 at 12:16 AM
Interesting title to this piece - given the first statistic in the article "According to recent marketing research, one out of every four advertising campaigns in the US features famous faces" - not sure that equates to a falling star
Celebrity endorsements have long been debated and there are numerous examples of great successes and numerous failures. One of my favourite 'failures' was that of the American ex-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She did a commercial for Good Luck Margarine.- "The new Good Luck margarine really tastes delicious",
Response wasn't all positive as she said herself when describing the mailbag of letters she got: "One half was sad because I'd damaged my reputation. The other half was happy because I'd damaged my reputation."
Posted by: Giles Lury | January 16, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Yes Giles, it's a two way street because it can also say something about the celebrity. Shirley, you are on the mark, consumers relate to the celebrity and this becomes part of the brand schema. Consumers then use that brand to say something about themselves.
Posted by: Margo Poole | January 17, 2012 at 09:35 AM
Very interesting. Where I personally felt celeb endorsements really really failed was when a mega-wealthy star would front a campaign for a super downmarket product. Sharon Osborne did a series of ads for Asda (England's Walmart). Cause I'm so sure she shopped there...
Posted by: Maggi Garfield | January 18, 2012 at 04:44 PM