Celebrity Endorsements: Do They Work?

Last week, USA Today published an article calling out favorite brands of the Obama family. In the write-up, Bruce Horovitz stated if the president-elect were to advertise the favorite brands of his family(Hart Schaffner Marx, J. Crew, Planters, Fran’s Chocolates, Honest Tea, Nicorette and Ford), these companies would most likely receive an increase in exposure and/or sales. One example he mentioned involved Michelle Obama. "During a Tonight Show with Jay Leno appearance, she [Michelle] wore — and talked about — a $330 outfit she had bought online. Shoppers snapped the look up. 'All the items were gone the next day,' says Jenna Lyons, creative chief at J. Crew." When reading this, I was brought back to an often discussed marketing/advertising question: Do celebrity endorsements really work? And even if they do, are paid celebrity endorsements a good business investment (i.e. is the ROI worth the (most times) extremely high premium)?

In early 2007, innovations report wrote about research conducted by the University of Bath (UK) and University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) on this exact topic. The article noted that research results questioned the effectiveness of using celebrities to sell products since it was discovered “...that many people were more convinced by an endorsement from a fictional fellow student… because many people feel a need to keep up with the Jones’s when they buy.” Furthermore they found that people “...like to make sure their product is fashionable and trendy among people who resemble them, rather than approved by celebrities...So they are more influenced by an endorsement from an ordinary person like them.” Besides this study, Brand Republic reported that some celebrities plugging products may actually turn off the consumer. In an article published in November of last year, survey results revealed “...that one in five mothers said the sight of Victoria and David Beckham plugging something in an ad would be more likely to put them off. Only 16 per cent were prepared to admit that celebrity endorsement would persuade them to buy a product.” Based on these reports, would you spend millions of dollars on a celebrity to advertise your products?

Besides the obviously monetary investment, when companies use celebrities in their ads they also take on the risk of damaging their brand/company/product image. For example:

• Overexposure: If a celebrity is representing too many products or is in too many ads, that person may lose their credibility and/or lose their "turning heads" factor. Also, we may end up tying our brand/product to something we didn't particularly want to be associated. One case of celebrity endorsement over-exposure I can think of off the top of my head is Tiger Woods. Over the past few years he has represented General Motors, Titleist, General Mills, American Express, Accenture, Nike, Tag Heuer, Gatorade and Gillette. I know Tiger is popular, but honestly, do you really listen to him in an advertisement anymore since he's in so many of them?
• Credibility: If your product is not something the celeb representing you would realistically use, then a partnership is probably not the best idea. Keeping with the Tiger Woods theme, a consumer could totally see him using Nike and Titleist products, what what exactly does he have to do with management consulting (Accenture)? Some other examples of bad celeb-product matches? Do you think Jessica Simpson would be caught dead eating greasy pizza in public or could you honestly see Fran Drescher shopping at Gap's lower-end chain? Probably not so much.
• Reputation: We try to control our brand's image, but the fact is, even when a celebrity agrees to our contract terms, we can’t really control what they say or do, and a mis-step could lead to years of damage to our brand(s). For example, many companies could not have predicted the negative publicity Michael Vick would bring upon himself. About.com reported: "Just one day after Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded not guilty to federal dogfighting charges, companies began distancing themselves from the controversy. Nike suspended its contract with him, Reebok stopped selling Vick jerseys and trading card companies Donruss and Upper Deck removed Vick's card from the rest of their 2007 card pack releases. The NFL also pulled all Vick jerseys, autographed items and other memorabilia from its NFL Shop site."
• Consistent Brand Image: When we put our products out into the market place, it's important we present a consistent image to the consumer. It brings trust and recognition to our brand. However, continually swapping celebrities is one way we can take away that consistent image. One brand I can think of who constantly changes their celebrity image is the Gap. Since the late '80's, Gap has relied on the use of celebrities in their ads with a laundry list of probably 40+ including the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Joss Stone, Lindsay Lohan, John Mayer, Mekhi Phifer, Claudia Schiffer, Sarah Silverman, Liv and Steven Tyler, Michael Vartan, Madonna and Brittany Murphy. In August, Marketing Daily quoted marketing consultancy Brand Keys' president Robert Passikoff as saying the Gap has a "sustained problem with brand identity that isn't solved by using stars in ads."

Over the past couple of years it appears more and more companies are realizing consumers may not buy something just because a celebrity face is linked it. Brand Republic commented: “In 2001, 17 per cent of TV ads the company was testing featured a celebrity. Last year, that fell to 8 per cent, and this year it's at 6 per cent." About.com reported on Pepsi dropping celebs from their ads stating the company “...said the celebrities were too big and the Pepsi brand didn't get the promotion out of the ad campaign that the stars were getting." On a similar note, Chrysler dumped Celine Dion after signing a 3-year, $14 million dollar deal with her. "Insiders at Chrysler say the commercials featuring Dion driving a Pacifica produced great sales...for the singer, not the car.”

When Your Brand is a Teenager - Literally

Alright, so I admit part of this blog entry will border on something you would find on celebrity blogger Perez Hilton's website. But today I wanted to remind fellow "marketeers" of the risk of building a brand tied to an actual person – especially if that person is a teen who is growing up in front of the public eye. Prime example? Disney’s billion-dollar “Hannah Montana” brand.

Sure, many of us business types would love to have the golden touch as it appears Disney has had over the years. They are, first and foremost, very in-tune with their target market(s) and seem to have a knack for taking unknown actors/actresses and turning them into “the next big thing.” Not only this, but they are very good at copying successful models. For example, Disney tends to use a very similar franchise model for popular shows, expanding a lead-character's brand into clothing lines, dolls, DVD releases, novels, bedroom sets, perfumes, board and video games, soundtracks and even McDonald's Happy Meal toys. They've used this model for such characters as Lizzie McGuire, Raven Baxter and now Hannah Montana.

So what's the deal with Hannah Montana? For those of you who don’t have kids and don’t know much about the show, here’s a brief background. Debuting on the Disney Channel on March 24, 2006, Miley Cyrus, the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus (who also plays her dad on the show) plays the role of Miley Stewart a.k.a. Hannah Montana. Miley lives a double-life, as a teenager (Stewart) and as a rock-star (Montana). If you've ever watched the show, it's definitely not geared towards adults (I'll admit I watched it once just to see what they hype was about and think most adults would find the characters and story lines annoying). But to kids, the allure of being able to change from a normal teenager into someone who is popular and cool is very appealing. In 2006, the show attracted 4 million viewers per episode, growing to 4.4 million viewers per episode in Season 2. Its popularity drove Disney to release Hannah Montana branded products (clothing, jewelry, apparel, dolls, greeting cards, iPod accessories, etc.) in December 2006. And in 2007, Hannah Montana went on tour in the United States, with Disney morphing her from a make-believe TV star into a real-life pop star...one who caused concert venues all over the U.S. to sell-out and tickets to go for over $2500. Hannah's self-titled CD went triple-platinum.

As teenagers grow up, they start experimenting with their own image, interests, etc. Resultantly, tying a brand to a person, specifically a teen, makes it very difficult to keep control over brand image. Hannah Montana is a perfect example of this struggle. Over the past year, there have been several "scandals" involving Miley Cyrus. The first consisted of scantily clad (i.e. Miley wearing only underwear) photos posted on MySpace (later rumored to have been fakes). Then Miley posed for Vanity Fair wearing a bed sheet wrapped around her partially naked torso, outraging parents of fans. Disney had Miley issue a public apology and according to Page Six, a high ranking Disney employee was overheard saying: "You won't be seeing her for a while…The company is keeping her away from events and wants her to keep a very low profile for the next four to six months. They're trying to keep her contained." In an ABC News radio interview mentioned by the New York Post, Hilary Duff (a.k.a. Lizzie McGuire) was quoted as saying, "It's not something that I would choose to do, but if she did them, that's fine. I don't know how her fans would feel about it, but maybe they won't mind." But the point goes back to – this is definitely the risk for a company when banking their brand on a person.

Though Disney has relied on teen-based brands in the past (Raven-Symoné’s Raven Baxter and Hillary Duff’s Lizzie McGuire), a brand image being "scandalized" hasn't really been an issue. Why not? Perhaps it's because the teens playing some of Disney's other successful characters were wise...they knew the business of a brand image, what it means to be a role model and what it takes to appease fans (and their parents). We look at Raven-Symone who at the age of 3 played the role of Olivia on “The Cosby Show.” She then moved on to “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” and then to Disney’s smash “That’s So Raven,” a kids show that ran for an almost-unheard-of 4 seasons. Her Raven Baxter character was even spun off - Raven became the lead singer of Disney's hightly successful "Cheetah Girls." Raven-Symoné is now 22 and enjoying a successful career post-Disney which includes a slew of music, TV and movie credits. Throughout her career she has led a pretty low-key life, avoiding the spotlight/gossip headlines and keeps her personal life what it should be – personal. Hilary Duff follows a similar mantra. In an OK! Magazine interview she states: "Everybody makes mistakes, but I just don't think it's for everybody to watch. It comes down to that I want people to focus on my work and I want to have my life completely separate from that."

So back to Miley Cyrus. As of late, Disney appears to have another Hannah Montana brand preservation issue on their hands. Miley, (who recently turned 16), is rumored to be dating Justin Gaston. An aspiring singer who appears as Taylor Hicks' love interest in her "Love Story" video, Gaston is 20 and an underwear model. (I'm guessing the fact that he's 20 and appears in photos half naked won't sit well with parents of teenage girls. What do you think?)

Sure kids need some guidance (so some of this brand image control should belong to Miley's parents). But as we all know, teenagers don’t like to listen - and tend to do the opposite of what we want – especially in cases of dating. So if you were Disney, what would you do? Would you work to hype up the next best thing and hope for the best (i.e. hope these new protegees are more like Hilary and Raven)? Or cling on to the successful Hannah Montana empire for a couple more years, teaching Miley (and her parents) about brand image sustainability (i.e. how she should learn to keep her personal life more personal)? My bet's on the former rather than the latter...

What? This Olive Isn't Extra Virgin?

A Case of Unwanted Celebrity Promotions...

The Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday on the case of a rogue brand ambassador. The less than pleased brand? Olive Garden. Their biggest celebrity fan? Kendra Wilkinson, one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends and a star on the televison show the "Girls Next Door." Needless to say the chain does not appear to be telling Kendra, an adult-entertainment star, "when you're here, you're family."

Other brands have had their share of rogue ambassadors, a promoter, according to the article, who is "genuinely, publicly devoted to a product or service, even if he or she doesn't quite embody the values that the brand's managers may be trying to convey." WPP Group's Grey advertising fim who handles the Olive Garden account stated that this (Kendra's love of the brand) presents a "complicated issue for the brand." Or is it quite so complicated?

In their interview with Kendra, WSJ reported that she calls Olive Garden her "soul food." Wilkenson states "I love the Olive Garden so much because I grew up going there...That used to be the place we would go for Mother's Day, for birthdays. My grandpa just died, and right after his funeral, we went to the Olive Garden." Sure Kendra is known for being in the adult industry, living in the Playboy Mansion, and being on T.V. But anyone who has seen even one episode of the show knows she is very close with her family. Isn't that the core of what Olive Garden is all about? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on how you think this will impact the restaurant chain. My opinion is Olive Garden should have just ignored it and moved on. You don't want to offend a vocal fan. And most people aren't going to think the restaurant is now going to be crowded with scantily clad Playboy models.

As a side note, Kendra recently launched a competition for Olive Garden waitresses with the top prize being a nude Playboy spread. This isn't the first time "family-friendly" chains have found out their employees had been photographed by the magazine (Home Depot, Wal-Mart, McDonald's). And those brands don't appear to be hurting because of it. I guess time will tell.