Do Celebrity Endorsements Still Work? You Bet.

the white diaper bag at Ana Ortiz' shower

Recently a new series of ads have begun airing for Healthy Choice frozen dinners starring Seinfeld alum Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  In the new spots Dreyfus is seen weighing the merits of becoming the product’s celebrity spokesperson.  In the first ad she is seen arguing about it with her agent and in the second she is discussing it with a friend (portrayed by the always hilarious Jane Lynch) whilst her mouth is full of the frozen meal.

 

The virtues of celebrity endorsement have been debatedfor some time but as traditional types of commercial advertisements become more and more defunct by technology-reliant consumers using DVRs and the internet, a true celebrity endorsement has become the key to selling a product.

 

Consumers have long become skeptical of celebrities trying to make a buck off of them.  We no longer just believe what some hot celebrity says in a commercial to be automatically true; jaded consumers of today that we are- we have to really believe that these celebs use the product, both on and off the camera, before we will invest in purchasing it ourselves.  If a celebrity is seen hocking a product purely for their own benefit, we quickly dismiss them as a sell out. But when we genuinely believe the celeb uses and loves a product, regardless of whether we know/think/suspect they are making money off it, we eat that product up.

 

One handy product that many Celeb Moms will soon be caught sporting while shopping on Robertson Boulevard is the Maelee Diaper Bag.  The new-Mom must-have diaper bag which combines functionality and fashion in perfect harmony, was given to sizzling Ugly Betty older sis, Ana Ortiz at her recent star-studded baby shower. 

 

The question is no longer, Do celebrity endorsements work? The answer to that is obvious, ask Oprah.  (Or better yet ask all the holiday gift recipients of shiny-new Amazon Kindles or the people still waiting in line for their free KFC today.)  The question has become, What makes your celebrity endorsement authentic?  Finding the answer to that for your product’s audience is the key to success when choosing your next celebrity spokesperson.

5 Things Your Publicist Won’t Tell You, But I Will

1. We are in the midst of a PR Paradigm shift. And most communicators are suffering from Ostrich-itis.  I was blown away the other day when a national pizza chain announced they had created an intern position to monitor social media messages (e.g, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Are you kidding me? This is an emerging and extremely important piece of your marketing/branding strategy. It should be a marketing priority, not a passed-off, delegated assignment.

2. The traditional communications channels are withering. We’ve known it for a long time. We are still pitching stories to the traditional media, and frankly, I love nothing more than thumbing through a newspaper on an airplane, or spending some time with a favorite magazine. But, I also recognize that these channels are evolving dramatically. The dampened economy only sped up the demise of many. And now we look to Twitter, and all of its applications, Facebook, blogs, etc and are overwhelmed with the potential they hold. When CNN is welcoming Twitter comments, you know you better pay attention.

3. Public Relations is rapidly becoming Power Relations. It’s the combined power of traditional meets social meets what’s-around-the-corner. What I call PR 3.0.  Your publicist, agency or internal PR director should be talking to you about social media and search. Are they? Are they leading you down the path of understanding… helping you set goals? Thinking about what’s next?

4.  “Search” (meaning, how your customers search for your brand/product/service) is going to drive PR strategy. Think about it for a second. If you understand how/what keywords your customers use to search, then that will help steer where you  (or your publicist) place your stories, what you need to be saying in your blog, what you Tweet and so on… 

5. Your publicist won’t tell you to dive into the social media waters if he/she doesn’t understand it. That’s a clue to find someone who does.