AUGUST 2006

Do you care what shoes Allen Iverson is wearing? How about what credit card Ellen is using? On a local level, does the type of gutter system Hal Hill use really influence your purchasing decision? Does it matter which bank is used by the Tennessee coaching staff? Personally, as a consumer, I could not care less about any of those. Yes, I love Ellen and I bleed Orange, but my purchasing decisions are driven by value and quality of products and services. Somebody out there does care…actually, a lot of somebodies!

Celebrity endorsers. Should you use them to help promote your business? It has certainly emerged as a popular strategy in the last 20 years. Actually, utilizing celebrity endorsers has been a trendy strategy because in many cases it has served as an effective tactic. Case in point: Nike.

Michael Jordan’s endorsement helped build the Nike brand, which in turn transformed the athletic shoe industry from a bland commodity to a brand distinction. Nike was jockeying with Reebok and Adidas for the top spot in the shoe industry when Jordan joined the fold in 1984. Soon, everyone wanted to be like Mike—including yours truly…I was the first person in my school to own the coveted Air Jordans!

Nike continued to use celebrities quite strategically after Mikey. The Nike Force, a basketball shoe for the big guys, fitted the feet of Moses Malone, Charles Barkley and David Robinson. The Nike Flight was a better fit for guards like John Stockton, Reggie Miller and Gary Payton. Nike even hit the blacktop with its Air Raid line and Spike Lee, who was also a fixture in many of Nike’s Jordan campaigns. The shoe titan also had tennis shoes covered. Andre Agassi brought a rebellious personality to Nike’s Challenge Court line while the more reserved Supreme Court line was donned by the more conservative Pete Sampras.

Do you see Nike’s pattern of success with these strategies? It comes down to personality. The personality of the endorser should be consistent with the brand identity. If the two are in-sync, you have a match. Obviously in Nike’s case, the endorser’s personalities were natural fits with the prospects who wore their products. They appealed in some way to the prospect.

Looking for this fit is the first rule in exploring the possibility of using a celebrity to help sell your product or service. Does the brand identity of the spokesperson match your own? If what the celebrity “stands for” equals your company’s identity and goals, you might have a match. Just do the math.

 Of course, there are concerns with using a celebrity endorser. My main concern is that the celebrity is “sold” more and gains more recognition than the business. In other words, do people remember Bruce Pearl promoting a bank or do they remember Bruce Pearl banks at First Tennessee. That concern can be ironed out in the creative approach to ensure that the company’s identity is meshing with the celebrity to sell both rather than merely pushing the spokesperson. Carefully monitoring copy and commercial aesthetics can help address this issue to make the partnership truly mutually beneficial.

To endorse or not to endorse? That is the question. If you seek the right personality match for your company, you can find a successful answer. Of course, the use of celebrity endorsers does not always bring success. After all, Nike also brought in celebs like Wayne Gretsky and Kirk Gibson to push their denim jeans. How far did that go?

 © BrandVision Marketing. 2006. Matthew Scott Trueblood. All rights reserved.

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