4. Bookability
PR is often a major factor. Which celebrity will generate the most interest in the press? Who is the PR team
most likely to book for interviews on TV and radio programmes? Which celebrity will best deliver the key brand
messaging? Of course, brands must ensure that press interest in a celebrity is for the right reasons and should go
to great lengths to avoid riding on the back of negative notoriety, unless their aim is to do just that. This should
be noted when booking a reality celebrity from the new breed of dramality TV shows. Caveat emptor!
5. Social Media Footprint
Social media continues to become more important to brands and celebrities alike. How active is the celebrity
on social media? How many Twitter followers do they have? Do they engage with their fans via social media
and how? Are they constantly tweeting about their exploits, good and bad? Do they post pictures of themselves
in compromising situations? With other brands? Does their social networking moral compass point in the same
direction as the brand? All of these factors are key considerations when evaluating celebrity options.
6. Interest Level
How interested is the celebrity in partnering with our brand? Do they use our product or service? Many agents,
particularly at the start of a negotiation, will say their celebrity client uses the brand daily and it is has been their
favourite for many years. Assertions like these must be qualified. Are they passionate about it? Or do they view the
potential partnership as merely a business transaction? Are they only interested in three key factors: money, money
and more money? It’s imperative to understand
the celebrity’s perspective on each opportunity.
The success stories occur when the celebrity is
passionate about the brand and organically uses
the product or service they endorse or promote.
So how do we know when we’ve really nailed
it? When the celebrity is an ideal partner for a
brand? For the poet, qualitatively, it’s likely to be
evident. But what about the scientist? How can we
quantify the consequence of the partnership?
We’ve found that when attempting to determine
the ROI on a celebrity partnership, it’s best to
take an approach that is holistic, measuring
consumer engagement at cognitive, emotional
and behavioural levels as it relates to the goals
established in the planning stages.
For each consumer engagement or interaction,
our approach answers key questions which link
back to those specific desired business outcomes.
We’ve developed this multi-dimensional strategy to provide brands with the most reliable and actionable information
necessary for effective planning purposes.
Specifically, we ask: Will the consumer think differently about the brand? Will the consumer feel differently about
the brand?
Will the consumer behave or act differently toward the brand?
Brands have used this celebrity identification modeling, both locally and globally. For example, when Gillette
sought to replace David Beckham as the face of the brand globally (he’d been used in 96 countries), we initiated
this process. The modeling entailed testing 30 athletes against Gillette’s core consumer in ten countries around
the world. The results of testing those athletes in China, Japan, Russia, Poland, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina,
the UK and the United States netted Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry.
More brands are moving toward specialists to create oversight and a centralised process. Their goal is greater
transparency and efficiencies, while at the same time reducing costs and risk. Multinational brands are hiring
these consultants for their expertise in signing either locally-known talent for a specific market or internationallyknown talent for local or global campaigns.
Traditionally, talent choices have been valued solely by popularity. Marketers are beginning to look beyond
who’s simply popular to find those personalities who fit the brand, are appropriate for the product, and who are
relevant to the customer. By aligning celebrity talent to a brand’s essence, marketers can transform emotion into
engagement, resulting in a deeper more meaningful connection between brand and consumer.
Sound like a lot of marketing poesy? The truth is, there’s too much at stake not to put forth the rigour and analysis
– the science – to ensure we’re getting it right.