How much is celebrity worth? That’s a question I got to ask at one of the recent Mediapost Insider Summits where we focused on D2C brands.
The answer was clear, but the way we arrived at the answer was surprising.
A celebrity endorsement is hugely valuable to any brand, whether it be B2C, D2C or B2B. Celebrities represent aspirational goals for most people. Some brands are lucky enough to be founded, or invested in, by celebrities. The rest have to either pony up and pay them, or resign themselves to lacking this particular asset.
Celebrity endorsements cut through the clutter. This is not a scientific exercise, but I would say that a celebrity endorser of the right value can increase the impact of your media spend by as much as 50% right off the bat, meaning your cost to generate attention is probably about 50% more efficient.
Awareness stage
Once you break through the clutter, your brand is in the awareness stage.
I would also suggest the right celebrity can get you to the consideration phase an additional 50% faster, meaning not only do you break through the clutter quickly, but you get into the mind of the audience more efficiently.
Celebrities augment the value of your media, but how do you get them on board? Most of us simply can’t afford them.
I heard a great piece of feedback from one of the D2C brands when I asked how you get these people on your brand when you’re a young start-up. I always assumed you had to pay these folks, but the response was surprising.
Structured deal
You do have to pay them, but deals can be structured in a way more amenable to a growing brand. Rather than upfront endorsement fees, consider giving them a small equity grant plus royalties for the product they are endorsing, and possibly an advance payment for that royalty element.
In this way, you both are betting on their personal brand to have a halo effect on your brand. This gets even easier if you are creating something identifiable to that celebrity, like a special-edition product that can be isolated and tracked across multiple channels, so you can attribute the celebrity halo impact on your brand.
Celebrities are their own media channel, on everything from their social media profiles to the coverage they generate in industry trade magazines, online and more. Celebrities generate interest, and that interest in turn drives attention to your brand.
Just ask the Kardashians
I mentioned my estimate of the impact on conversion — from impression to awareness and awareness to consideration — generated by celebrity, but there is also a certain impact on total reach and impressions. That is, if you pick the right one.
Celebrity is itself media, and in our current media landscape, celebrity can be considered one of the widest reaching media channels there is. Just ask the Kardashian family.
If you can swing it, celebrity endorsements or involvement can have a measurable impact on your brand. There are ingenious ways to get them involved and take advantage of their brand to grow the value of your brand.
All you have to do is think it through.
This story was first published by MediaPost.com and is republished with the author’s permission.
Cory Treffiletti is chief marketing officer at generative AI-powered product placement platform, Rembrand. He was previously SVP at FIS. He has been a thought leader, executive and business driver in the digital media landscape since 1994. In addition to authoring a weekly column on digital media, advertising and marketing since 2000 for MediaPost‘s Online Spin, Treffiletti has been a successful executive, media expert and/or founding team member for a number of companies, and published a book, Internet Ad Pioneers, in 2012.
