Daniel Todaro recently blogged about celebrity ambassadors on Branding Magazine. He claims “celebrity endorsements are a staple of brand marketing” as “product and celebrity have always gone hand-in-hand… selling not just items, but aspirational lifestyles, too”. Daniel also says that in 2013, there are many highly paid celebrities endorsing things from toothpaste to current accounts, all to attract a certain consumer. However, he also states consumers have an “abundance of choice” and “wealth of information” so they can question whether the brand promises are truly accurate and worth buying into. Thus, it seems the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements are waning.
He points out some partnerships such as Beyonce supporting Pepsi do not have a lot of consideration as to how well the brand and celebrity fit together. Instead, it’s just “a high-spending brand throwing cash at a problem and expecting results.”
I agree with Daniel that there are a lot of celebrity endorsements in the modern day, so the effectiveness of such partnerships may not as beneficial. However, some brands still consider how to leverage the celebrity’s interests and fans to their advantage. An example of a brand that does celebrity ambassadors very well is Nike. The company is known for its partnerships with celebrity athlete such as Michael Jordan, Maria Sharapova, etc.
Although Nike partners with celebrities, the company also takes into consideration the aspect of relevance. Instead of asking a movie star or signer to promote their products, Nike asks real athletes that are the best players in their fields to model their products. Since world-reknown athletes advertise Nike’s products, customers will have a notion that Nike’s products must be the best, since players such as Michael Jordan are affiliated with them.
Conclusively, I believe celebrity endorsements may not be as effective as they are before due to the vast amounts of them in the marketplace. However, if companies can utilize endorsements with celebrities that are relevant to their products, there is a high chance for success.
References:
http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/10/10/celeb-ambassadors-finding-match-made-heaven/