I'm A Celebrity...Give Me A Product To Endorse

Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli is the latest to put his name to a range of products, in his case a new range of organic baby foods. But just how important is the attachment of a celebrity name and how much does it impress or influence the consumer?

The key always is the synergy between the brand and the personality, particularly if the celebrity name is going to become as intrinsic to the product as Zilli for his baby food, Loyd Grossman for his sauces and, of course, George Foreman and his lean, mean grilling machine. The question is whether the celebrity brings more to the table than the product itself. If the celebrity is a trusted name and is perceived to be involved with the product beyond just lending a name and a face, then this can be a powerful marketing tool. In this sense, people like George Foreman actually become the brand.

Of course, the use of celebrity endorsement is endemic in brand communications. You only need take two minutes to come up with names like Jamie Oliver (Sainsbury’s), Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal (Waitrose) and the loved-up Louise and Jamie Rednapp doing the business for Thomas Cook. Even John Prescott is doing a turn for moneysupermarket.com whilst rock god, Iggy Pop (and his latex double) are fronting a car insurance campaign.

But there’s also a risk. It’s easier to drop your celebrity if they are perceived to have behaved ‘badly’ or not in keeping with the brand values. It is far less easy to drop them if they are in fact, the brand itself.

Welcome the age of Social Shopping

Research, just published in the US by ATG, suggests the UK like the US could be set to enter an age of ‘social shopping’.

In the US, 29% of respondents aged 18-34 said they had found a product or service through a social network and 37% said it was important or very important that merchants provide them an opportunity to interact through social networks.

The implications of this are that brands who research how their products interact with consumers in a retail environment now need to consider how best to incorporate social networking as a central part of their marketing strategy.

It is important to combine offline and online strategies with consistent messaging but taking advantage of the ability that social media permits to create communities around your products. Use the community to ask for input on product development – and reward consumer participation and interaction by taking on board customer ideas and creating social media-specific promotions.

We all know that social media is perfect for high value or aspirational brands and products, like the iPad, where consumers can meet together and discuss their feelings towards the brand but it can work equally well for lower value products, provided the context of the social media marketing fits with the brand.

One brand that does this particularly well is Lucozade Football, whose Facebook page now has in excess of 55,000 followers. Lucozade had recognized the importance of using social media to fit their brand in as part of their customers’ lifestyles and interests. It’s the perfect example of a brand engaging its consumers for the long term and creating an environment in which to share their mutual pleasure and interest in a subject pertinent to the brand. In this case it’s football, but it could just as easily be technology, music, books, coffee, chocolate or whatever.

Without overt selling, Lucozade has implanted itself in the psyche of its followers and will, almost certainly, be the brand of choice when those followers come to buy. And, crucially, it has all been done by conversation and engagement, not shouting and selling.