Two recent press features had me thinking about the relationship between brands and the celebrities that they choose to endorse them.
Firstly, Scarlet Johansson’s resignation as an Oxfam ambassador in favour of being the face of Soda Stream.
Secondly, in a Metro piece one morning, the news that Kevin Jonas’ first baby (one of the three Jonas brothers) was announced on twitter along with a sponsored message from the detergent company DREFT (who are to be referred to on twitter for any further baby updates.)
Whatever your feelings are on these particular examples, it is a tried and tested branding route to be involved with a well known figure. It seems to also have become an increasingly integral part of gaining and maintaining celebrity.
It works like this – a brand finds a figure that will enhance their business in one of two ways; by association with a person that confirms the brands image because they encapsulate what the brand stands for or a person who helps to re-brand, or diversify the brand into new areas. The celebrity, of course gets a fee, but also further exposure and it is proven to work.
A 2011 study in the Journal of Advertising showed that sporting stars created a 4% increase in revenue, on average, for the brands they were representing. It is all part of the idea that we are being sold not just a t-shirt or a toothbrush - but emulating a lifestyle.
However, the plan can fail if the celebrity turns out not to be good for the company's image. Famously Kate Moss, Tiger Woods and Oscar Pistorius were dropped from their multi- million dollar deals with global brands (Burberry, Gillette and Nike) after their drug taking, philandering and (alleged) violence left them tarnished.
It is not only bad behaviour that can leave everyone embarrassed but sometimes the wrong person just gets chosen for the job. Chanel No 5’s disastrous decision to use Brad Pitt after decades of strong, female figures such as Audrey Hepburn, proved very unpopular with loyal customers as he simply was not the right man for a woman's perfume.
Celebrities also run the rise of damaging their careers by association with the wrong products, or advertising.
Duffy's famously awful Diet Coke advert reportedly cost her a successful follow up album. Lana Del Ray ran a very real risk of diluting her ‘cool’ image by leaping into H & M and Jaguar contracts before her second album was even written. It is important to get the right balance to not seem like a sell out.
Twitter has added a further complication to using personalities for branding - celebrities can no longer just be the face of the brand – they have to be the 24/7 ambassador.
Whereas in the 2000s George Clooney snuck off to Japan to do a Honda Ad, nothing is secret now..
Personalities on Twitter have many more followers than brands (Kim Kardashian’s 17.3 million to Starbucks, 3.4) and companies want to harness that direct exposure to consumers.
However, as on twitter, you are dealing with the warts and all 360 nature of being human, not just a studied photo shoot where you have to pick the right image for the right brief.
There are examples of getting it right, Jessie J is the perfect choice for Vitamin Water (a notoriously T total, clean living star), but finding someone to truly ‘live’ your brand and not dilute or embarrass it, is surely much harder now.
Having said all this, maybe there is no such thing as bad press anyway...
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This feature was written exclusively for Female First by Lydia Baylis.
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