Celebrity Endorsement: Building Brands with Famous Faces

It’s a marriage made in heaven  marketers get their brands on the map and celebrities make a ton of additional income as living, breathing billboards. Nneka Ezinwa writes.

Considering the multitude of new and similar products making a quick influx to the market scene on a daily basis, it is no longer strange to see brand managers seeking distinct and more emotional ways of forging bonds with consumers.

Celebrity product placement is the oldest trick in the book. We now live in a world of over- abundant sensory input, and the paparazzi and the tabloids are now part of the zeitgeist. Certain celebrities are more than happy to co-exist with certain brands and certain publications, and the trade-off is an obvious one  it helps enhance their visibility in the equally overcrowded celebrity marketplace. The value of celebrity is now recognized by brands, deals are being done and everyone is out to get paid. So it seems the once dysfunctional relationship between celebrities and the tabloids has in one aspect become a highly functional and highly profitable business arena for all parties involved. The only way we can truly measure results is by estimating audience reaction by trying to equate exposure with hard, fast audience reach. It is becoming very clear that once celebrities embrace a brand and wear them publicly, sales increase dramatically. Whether or not your brand can be elevated through the power of guerrilla celebrity endorsement strategies is dependant on a series of valuables: timing, budget, and above all, the right marriage of brand to celebrity. The results are hard to measure, but if the stars align with your brand and the paparazzi captures the moment, it’s a safe bet consumers are sure to follow.

Once upon a time, no self-respecting musician ever lent their music to television commercials. Even the most carbonated of the bubblegum pop stars refused to sink so low. Even rock stars that had sold out in just about every other possible way, eschewed the money offered by the advertising industry because they realized that once their music was used to sell products they wouldin essencebecome nothing more than cheap salesmen, prostituting their art in an effort to make just a little more money.

But a few years ago, something changed. The advertising industry managed to get their hands on the rights to a few classic rock titles and then all hell broke loose. It started with some Rolling Stones or Beatles song, and then Pepsi used Jimi Hendrix in a Super Bowl commercial. After that break through, other musicians and other celebrities – even sports celebrities started to follow. After all, if the music of a rock god like Jimi Hendrix can be used in a commercial, then why the hell can’t Britney Spears sell some Pepsi too?

Successful music marketing focuses on finding artistes and ways to cooperate that not only ensures that the artiste’s image matches the brand but also has a high level of authenticity.

Music marketing activities should never be regarded as stand alone actions. Integrated communication is a key element to leverage the full potential and sufficient extent.

The Birth of the Video/Commercial Hybrid

This is another unique aspect of celebrity endorsement to be explored. The first notable video/commercial hybrid is that of famous pop artiste  Sting – who promoted the ‘Jaguar’ by using footage from his popular 1999 ‘Desert rose’ music video in a Jaguar spot.  The client supported this with an estimated 19million dollar worth of airtime. Both parties benefited tremendously. In 2000, Stings album sales sky-rocketed and so did sales of the Jaguar. The agency behind this in-genius hybrid was Ogilvy&Mather in New York. A big lesson was learnt from Sting and the Jaguar by brand marketers. Now other marketers and celebrity managers are aggressively seeking for similar deals.

And as marketers look for novel ways to capture the attention of TV viewers, they’re increasingly interested in joining forces with performers, underwriting videos that in turn get edited into commercials. The hope is that the commercial/video combo will help forge the link between the performer and the brand in the minds of the target audience. And if viewers watch the commercial because it’s disguised as something else, all the better.

To whatever rock ‘n’ roll purists are left, such blatant collaboration with an advertiser would smack of selling out. But the stigma of the shilling has been steadily losing its bite.

“[Brands' underwriting videos] is a critical piece of the future of the modern record company,” Berman says.

Another example of promoting brands through music videos is the case of Buster Rhymes promoting the drink  Courvoisier – in his exquisite rap song and video  ‘pass the Courvoisier’. Such has been exploited in movies too where products like pepsi or coca cola have been placed or used strategically.