Testimonials

Attachment & Pride Testimonials

By JORDAN ZIMMERMAN

Celebrity Endorsements: What Works?

A recent study says celebrity campaigns rarely perform better than non-celebrity-based campaigns. "On average," Mike Mesnick writes, "celebrity ads had a negative 'lift,' while non-celebrity ads did much better... What seems clear is that 'just adding a celebrity' does not help at all."

INNOVATION

AND EXPERIMENTATION

The reason we see this trend is that consumers can, and usually do, ignore brand alliances that don't make sense. If celebrity endorsements are just pasted onto brands that don't have a real connection to what consumers already associate with that celebrity, they're not going to deliver positive results. Does that mean that all celebrity campaigns are ineffective? Of course not. The question is, what makes for a good alliance?

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A brand has a certain DNA: a personality, a history, a collection of colors and images, a pattern of action and communication, and a long list of things the consumer knows upfront that the brand will and won't consider acceptable. If you find a celebrity whose DNA matches up with the brand’s, you've got the potential for a good campaign.

KNOW YOUR BRAND’S DNA

Let me give you three examples of successful campaigns that matched up the right brand DNA with the right celebrity DNA.

A Nascar Star

A leading global provider of office products and services,continues its sponsorship of NASCAR as the sport's Official Office Products Partner in 2012. 01 Tony Stewart for Office Depot Photos by Action Sports Photography

Alberto Oviedo is a photographer from Bogota currently living in New York. He says that his photography was influenced by walking in the streets of Bogota and New York City, Cuban food, his grandfather, California’s deserts, colors in any forms, Miro, Basquiat, people’s journeys. To him, it is the picture that dictates the place. 02 Photo by Alberto Oviedo

To Celebrity or Not

by MICHAEL MEDICO

While there are benefits in terms of recognition and awareness in featuring a celebrity in advertising, there are certain negatives that are hard to overcome.

DIRECT RESPONSE. When focusing on direct response, success or failure is judged by the number of potential customers who respond to any given advertisement. Of necessity, using celebrities as spokespersons for direct response advertising is different from mainstream agencies. A majority of the products and services employing a direct response method must focus on a compelling need for demonstration and or focus to fully describe the product’s benefits and attributes.

TOP CELEBRITY TALENT. Celebrity is necessary in the skincare and beauty arena. Among the many celebrities that have lent their talent to the TV category include Vanessa Williams and Julianne Hough for

ProActiv, Naomi Judd for Esteem and Cindy Crawford’s Meaningful

Beauty. When these beautiful celebrities tell a targeted audience that a skincare regime is their secret, the public responds.

MAKING A PRODUCT PERFORM. On the flip side, when casting talent for a product like OxiClean, direct response agencies recommended a spokesman like the late Billy Mays or Anthony Sullivan. Sully is the consummate pitchman, having many

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successful promotions under his belt, and who understands what it takes to keep the focus on the product. He knows how to make a product perform while engaging viewers in such a way that they want to buy the product.

TRUST AND BELIEF. Another talent that has appeared in many commercial and infomercial projects is Cathy Mitchell. From cooking on one of the earliest infomercial successes, SnakMaster, to today’s campaign for the Minden Anytime Grill, she brings viewers into her kitchen by developing a warm, cozy feeling. Buyers must have the product because Cathy shows how it performs and viewers believe and trust her.

SUCCESS WITHOUT CELEBRITY. The PedEgg, a foot file, is a true success without the use of celebrity. Marketed by TeleBrands beginning in late 2007, it is the most successful product in the company’s history with over 45 million sold to date. What makes it a success? 1. It works exactly as it is demonstrated in the commercial; 2. It retails for only $10 and consumers get a second product as a bonus, 3. The focus was totally on product performance.

BUYERS’ ACTIONS. The time that consumers have to generate an impulse response is limited; therefore direct response ad agencies must entice the buyer to take action. A celebrity spokesperson could inhibit the call to action but should only be used for those products that need to enhance credibility or require corroboration or validation from a recognized source. For anything else, the industry mantra is from infomercial pro Ron Popeil: “Just set it and forget it."

The Papa John's "Coin Toss" promotion

[W 1045theteam.com/papa-johns-super-bowlcoin-toss-starring-peyton-manning-jerome-bettis-video] had Super Bowl legends Peyton Manning and Jerome Bettis engage playfully to get fans to join the chain's loyalty program. The piece was built around the coin toss before the big game and cast Manning as the referee. The reality that drove our choice of Manning and Bettis is important: both perceived as positive, authentic, honest athletes devoted to excellence. That's not PR doubletalk or ad-industry exaggeration. Consumers saw the NFL players as being in alignment with what they already knew of Papa John's. Office Depot's "It's Depot Time" spot with auto racer Tony Stewart

[W youtube.com/watch?v=2LbKY3qekQA&fea ture=youtube_gdata_player] plays off the powerful association that consumers have with Stewart: speed, connecting that to something a lot of consumers probably didn't know: Stewart is a business owner with limited time, just like them. The message: Office Depot saves time for small business owners. Ad Age wrote of the campaign, "Early results from Advertising Benchmark Index, which measures ads' effectiveness across all media channels, indicate that the campaign is resonating." The campaign has delivered great results for Office Depot.

SUCCESSFUL SINGERS AND MEANINGFUL MUSIC

Jennifer Hudson, who campaigns for Weight Watchers, is an instantly recognizable A-list celebrity who is also a satisfied customer, someone who has authenticity and credibility with the brand's target audience. Why? Because she actually did lose weight on Weight Watchers! There’s no borrowed equity here. The diet works and she proved it. If a celebrity of her caliber chooses to use Weight Watchers, it’s certainly an acceptable, smart option for the average person. Finally, take a look at the hhgregg campaign using the Beatles song "Help."

[W youtube.com/watch?v=S_ wYYLHuXWQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player]. Yes, this is licensing, but it's also a celebrity campaign of sorts because the song, a cry for help, is iconic. It's a sentiment that's easily connected with a specific celebrity brand and it carries a powerful emotional message that crosses multiple generations. Even more important than the song's content, though, is the fact that it captures the core hhgregg brand message: "We help." You can get great prices elsewhere, but you can only get great prices and great help at hhgregg. Andy Reismeyer, director of music licensing for Indianapolis-based CMG Worldwide, told the Indianapolis Business Journal that "Help!” wins attention, interest, and emotional involvement. “That’s just so valuable, especially when you’re selling dishwashers or dryers.”

CONVENIENCE VS. COMPATABILITY Many celebrity endorsements are marriages of convenience, and, like so many, they don't last long or produce much good feeling. They sputter out because the connection just didn't make any sense from the beginning. But if the marriage actually makes sense because the two partners really are compatible, wonderful things can happen.•

A television commercial and infomercial pitchman

More than 15 years ago scientists came up with a way to harness the power of oxygen to clean better than ever before. That breakthrough was OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover, a cleaning sensation that virtually revolutionized the industry. 03 OxiClean spokesperson

Anthony John "Sully" Sullivan

Actress

Keira Knightley

for Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle 04 Coco Mademoiselle, 2011, Photo set of the film, photographer

Andrew Cooper