Your Use of Celebrities is Wrong

In the first of a new, regular column, Matt Fiorentino, director of marketing for video advertising and analytics specialists Visible Measures, which has tracked over 14,000 campaigns and studied consumer behavior from thee-trillion (yes, trillion) video views, takes a look at what makes a successful celebrity endorsement and where most brands go wrong.

Don't waste celebrities

Brands use celebrities to sell practically anything. The challenge with this is that many are trying to squeeze every last drop of media potential out of their budgets today. Simply using a famous face to pitch a product does very little to help with this effort. This is unfortunate for the brand because a celebrity is a terrible thing to waste (because they’re so expensive).

When brands misuse a celebrity, they miss out on earned media, the buzz generated when a campaign goes viral. Earned media has all sorts of goodness associated with it, including campaign efficiencies created by reduced cost structures and increased effectiveness generated through better brand lift metrics. Done well, it squeezes every last drop from media.

Celebrity rethink

With earned potential at stake, brands need to rethink how they’re using celebrities. What does a brand do if having a superstar talk about their new rate plans, sandwich, or beer isn’t enough?

Here are a few brands who have done it right:

Pepsi MAX Uncle Drew and Test Drive feature superstars from their respective sports – Kyle Irving from the NBA and Jeff Gordon from NASCAR – doing what they do best, playing basketball and driving a car. But there’s a twist: they’re in disguise.

• Pepsi Max Test Drive, above, stars professional NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon

Volvo Trucks Epic Split with Jean-Claude Van Damme shows the martial arts actor doing a stunt never scene before: a split between two trucks going in reverse. 

• Jean Claude van Damme, above, delivers an Epic Split for Volvo Trucks

Intel and Toshiba's co-branded social films have starred celebrities, including Shameless’ Emmy Rossum, and tell long-form, in-depth stories about a kidnapped woman, a man searching for love who wakes up as a different person every day, and an alien invasion.

• Harvey Keitel, above left, stars in Intel/Toshiba's The Power Inside

Entertain and inform

While these concepts and executions vary, the foundation shared among them is that they would have been successful even without the celebrity. And that’s the point here. When earned media is part of the equation, brands need a campaign that entertains or informs instead of pitching a product.

A campaign that tells a story without providing too many facts, figures, and features, and inspires or challenges audiences instead of delivering tired and overused ideas. 

Start with the story

Ultimately, the celebrity provides the buzz factor that puts the campaign over the top, giving it the power to drive greater levels of earned media for the brand. But there are more fundamental creative considerations that come first.

• Benicio del Toro got some lolly from Magnum

So, start with the story, start with the inspiration, start with earned media; then, add the celebrity. Otherwise, brands risk wasting it all.