What is the real purpose of a celebrity spokesperson?

I sit in meetings with advertising executives, business owners, promotions people and assorted others on a regular basis. The reason they have me in these meetings is to discuss my possible contribution to their bottom line. Yes it really is about the bottom line in everything, including charities. Some like to fool themselves into believing it's about "building a brand", "crafting an image", or "generating good will", but the reason they're interested in any of those things is to improve their bottom line. They've heard stats like the one Harvard put out a few years ago that endorsements from celebrities can increase sales 20%. Or the Forbes Report that showed companies turning themselves around by hiring a celebrity endorser. Activia, Jenny Craig, Burger King, and many other saw sales going down and suddenly turn around when a strong ad campaign with a celebrity was launched. But does it always work? Of course not! If it did then all ads would be done by celebs. So the question of what made certain ones work becomes key.
There are 2 things that must align for your campaign to work. First the product and the celebrity need to match. In 2007 the Florida Dept of Citrus spent $90,000 to hire Tom Selleck to do  a 15 second and a 30 second commercial. They also promised him another $90,000 to do 4 more commercials in 2008. He has since earned several million as the voice of the OJ commercials. He never says this is Tom Selleck to tell you about OJ. You never see him on the TV version of the commercials. That would sound and or look like an ad and people would tune it out. Instead they hear the voice of someone they grew up with (target demo is females 25-49) and he's describing the simple health benefits of orange juice. It's like their dad reminded them to get some OJ to keep them and his grandkids healthy. That celebrity matches the product. An example of a celebrity not matching the product can be seen in the disaster that was the Beyonce/Pepsi deal. December 2012 the ad world was stunned to hear of a $50,000,000 deal between the two! Pepsi had put all their eggs in the Beyonce basket. She would be on their cans and bottles, special vending machines featuring her image would be created, radio, print, billboard, internet and TV ads would all feature her. The campaign would be launched around a massive Super Bowl halftime show and 3 ads to air during the game as well! She was the biggest pop star in the world and pop music fans are the number one demo for soda. Pepsi figured they had hit a home run.

There was one thing they hadn't factored in. Beyonce was close with the first lady Michelle Obama. So what? Well Michelle was pushing to get soda out of schools, and out of kids hands all together. And helping her in that effort was Beyonce. But certainly a few appearances, a few years earlier would be forgotten by the general public once they were inundated with a never ending Pepyonce Blitz. (Yes I created a new word there). No they were not forgotten. And Pepsi went on to have it's worst first quarter in decades, shrinking 4-7 percent because their celebrity didn't match the product. 

The second thing that has to be there is the truth. In 1912 the McCann advertising agency registered the worlds first advertising trademark.

McCann recognized that you need to tell the truth about your product. But you need to do it in a creative way. Here in Columbia most everyone knows Joe Pinner. For those of you outside of our area Joe is like the local version of Willard Scott. Joe has been on the NBC affiliate for over 50 years! He hosted a kids show called Mr Knozit (Knows it) from 1963 into the 1990's! Plus he was the weather guy on the nightly news. 

He's been semi retired for about 15 years, but still is on TV and it seems like any big event in town Joe is there. So Joe's voice is instantly recognized by people from Columbia and he is awesome as the spokesperson for several different companies including Agape Senior Health Care Center and Wade Culler Roofing. They are marketing to people 40 and up and Joe is a trusted voice to the people who grew up here. He also can creatively cut through all the crap an advertiser wants to get on the air and get to the actual point that will make people want to choose their product over the competition. That is the purpose of a celebrity spokesperson. And one day I hope to be half as good as Papa Joe!

So when you want to discuss a spokesperson for your product discuss those 2 things first. Will they work with the demo and our product. And what is the truth that makes our product or service better than our competition. Once you have those answers you're well on your way to a success. Good luck!

I always love to hear your feedback. kellynash_99@yahoo.com