The wrong celeb may kill your brand before it’s lived…
By Will Goodhand – Director, Ipsos ASI
Many young people today believe in the ‘shortcut’ to fame and fortune: that they just
need to get on reality TV and then automatically they will join the hallowed world of
celebrity. Only later do they discover the ‘shortcut’ to be an illusion - and ponder the real
opportunities of life they may have missed. So it often is with advertisers and the shortcut
that is celebrities…
Use a celebrity and your ad will get noticed: Ipsos ASI’s global database bears out that
celebrity ads consistently get high visibility scores. Qualitative responses too reveal a
high degree of intrigue. So where’s the danger?
Well, there are few things more distracting than the (as frequently reprised in The
Simpsons) Troy Maclure effect: namely: ‘now where do I remember him from?’. There’s
the danger that the viewer is wondering so much: ‘what’s s/he doing there?’ that they get
distracted from the message the ad was intended to convey, and even from the brand
being advertised. The ASI database holds a sobering tale of what happens when
celebrity ads go wrong. Often, the visibility is high but persuasion and brand linkage are
weak.
Yet we do all know celebrity campaigns which have been great successes. So what
marks these out? Many of the campaigns that do well are those where the celebrity has a
strong fit with the brand. Celebrities, by their nature, have a defined personality, they
stand for certain things – if those things align with the defined personality of the brand,
then it’s possible to have a successful ad. If not, the result can be dissonance and
confusion.
Sainsbury’s in the United Kingdom have over time used celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to
powerful effect to support their taste and goodness credentials. Where sometimes
celebrities can run into trouble in their personal lives, in Jamie’s case, everything he does
seems to build more and more aggressively positive credentials (notably fighting a
televised crusade for healthy and affordable dinners).
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Oliver is passionate, has clear beliefs and takes a stand for them – perfect for the rub-off
on the Sainsbury’s brand. His Christmas 2008 ad, with celebrities Ant and Dec, no doubt
played a role in helping Sainsbury’s to their best Christmas ever. Sainsbury’s relationship
with Oliver demonstrates another characteristic of successful brand/celebrity pairings –
namely that of a consistent campaign over time, as also seen with Walkers and Gary
Lineker, or indeed Rowan Atkinson and Barclaycard.
Frequently, the celebrity ads that achieve results are those where the brand/ product is
the hero of the ad. One way to achieve this is to metaphorically put the star in the stocks,
and sling some rotten tomatoes at them. Certain ads succeed where the celebrity is
made to look considerably less than the star he or she actually is! George Clooney, a
man so assured of his status that being humiliated is all in an afternoon’s work, has
played this role for Martini and most recently in the international campaign for Nescafe’s
Nespresso brand. The entire premise of both campaigns is Clooney being repeatedly
overlooked in favour of the product (plus a cartload of premium signals in the form of the
setting, glamorous women, the music etc)…
There’s always a danger in using a celebrity who is a ubiquitous advertiser – it’s hard to
get consumers to associate them with your brand if they are already associated with a
number of others (e.g. multiple endorsements by Piers Brosnan during his time playing
James Bond).
What do you do, though, if you want the connect-ability of celebrity but you can’t afford a
big name? You can always try growing your own - it’s certainly a way of ensuring a good
fit between the brand and the star. Recently, an Ipsos ASI client opted to do this,
focusing on a ‘typical customer’ who was also presented in the ad as a member of staff.
The ad generated positive takeouts such as ‘a real woman in a real situation, trying to
juggle work and family’. However, a handful of consumers were less convinced by the
character’s brand advocacy, since they recognised her from acting in TV detective
shows! To be sure of avoiding knocks to credibility, make sure your home-grown
character isn’t already famous…
You could go so far as Reckitt Benckiser in their global campaign for Cillit Bang/ Easy-Off
BAM/ Easy-Off BANG, making a celebrity out of a self-parodying product demonstrator?
The campaigns create ‘talkability’ and the character is indelibly associated with the
product messaging: Dan Dolan (North America), Barry Scott (Europe), Martin Grellis
(Australia) becoming (almost) household names.
Let’s not forget that the most famous ad of 2007 made a celebrity of an anonymous
figure in a gorilla suit drumming along to Phil Collins - spawning countless YouTube
remixes and tributes.
You can go even further, and ride on the back of the ‘all can be celebrities culture’, in the
name of getting your message across…as London Transport have done by telling kids
and teens to be careful on the roads, lest they cut short a promising career as a rap artist
/ ballerina / fashion photographer: “Don’t die before you’ve lived” is the campaign’s
message.
A twist on this maxim should ring loud and long in the heads of brand-owners and their
agencies: if tempted to use a celebrity – ask:
1. Is there a more creative approach?
2. Does the celebrity really fit? And finally, crucially:
3. Am I certain the celebrity won’t kill my message before it’s had a chance to live?
Will Goodhand
Director, Ipsos ASI
@: [email protected]