Month: April 2012

After reading both Heidi and Shayla’s posts on celebrity endorsements – I attempted to think back to the last time I was influenced by an advertisement that incorporated a celebrity’s use of a product. Was I affected? Did I feel encouraged to go purchase the product in order to feel connected to the person? Yes and no. I personally am more affected by a particular star’s overall style and preferences as opposed to what I might see them using in an obviously planned out advertisement, such as in a magazine or on TV. Some brands do this by sending celebrities free garments and accessories, with the hopes that they will be photographed wearing them. I find this to be a more effective means or promotion than generic advertisements (like the Vanessa Hudgens Neutrogena ad mentioned by Shayla).  I agree with Heidi’s point of these advertisements really needing to match a particular celebrity to a product based on personality to be successful. Her examples with the fragrances were spot on.

I realized just how important matching potential celebrities to a brand can be while working on our recent group project for Comm296. My team was analyzing WestJet’s marketing mix, and during a brainstorming session we considered introducing celebrity endorsement as a way to enhance the company’s promotion strategies. Our first requirement was a Canadian, as WestJet is a Canadian company it only made sense. We then realized we couldn’t select just anyone. For example, Drake doesn’t line up with WestJet’s values, and Justin Bieber has become much too famous to be restricted to an airline that has no first class section – this would introduce all sorts of privacy and safety issues. After shouting out names of all the famous Canadians we knew, we decided that our best options were either a well-known Canadian athlete such as a hockey player, or an up-and-comer in entertainment such as the young Carly Rae Jepson from Mission, BC.

Having a celebrity represent one’s brand can attract a lot of attention, so it’s extremely important that the star’s personality and actions line up with the brand’s values and positioning statement in order to promote the product in the best way possible.

As I look forward to pursuing my studies and a career in marketing – I would like to take a moment to praise one of the strongest marketed brands in athletics – Nike. Matt Ho, a fellow classmate of Comm296 writes about Nike’s movement to be the official supplier of NFL uniforms. I learned from Matt’s post that Nike currently sponsors many BCS college football teams, so as far as I can see, taking on the NFL is the next big step.

With their new role as official supplier for the NFL I see two main opportunities with respect to Nike’s promotional strategies. One comes along with their position; as the supplier their logo will be all over jerseys and NFL paraphernalia, generating mass amounts of promotion for brand awareness on TV for them. The contract is 5 years, so this adds up to tons of airtime directed to all those football fans out there, who are obviously most likely to go out and purchase official jerseys. Another opportunity for Nike is an expansion of what Matt refer’s to as making a “splash on football fashionistas.” But they can do more than just tweak the pre-existing jerseys. Nike will now have the opportunity to create new product lines such as athletic t-shirts with team logos and players names across the back, or sweaters specific to each team based on colours etc. This strategy can appeal to more than the regular target market of jersey-wearing sports fans. These new product lines could potentially appeal to women (more than the unisex jerseys do) as well as people who want to purchase garments that represent their hometown or favourite team without paying the high price for a jersey, but having a lower cost alternative instead. They are pursuing this through their “Elite 51 Sideline Collection”.

Nike continues to reign over the athletic wear industry. Although this deal is huge, it’s just another notch on their marketing bedpost.