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July 2007

Comments

Susan Gunelius

In my opinion, all over-the-counter hair coloring product celebrity endorsements are completely unbelievable. Garnier cannot convince me that Sarah Jessica Parker colors her hair with an over-the-counter product. I agree that effective celebrity endorsements are all about believability. I believe that Michael Jordan wears Nikes. I don't believe that Tiger Woods drives a Buick.

Dileep
Dileep

Hi Laura,

I wanted to comment on the Indian scenario of celebrity advertising, to add up to the blog already been written. In India, film has a major role in popularity. Another popular sport and attraction in India is cricket. People normally discuss about film, politics and cricket.
Amithab Bacchan in short, AB endorses
Cadbury's chocolate ( Cadbury's Diary Milk),

Dabur hajomola acndies and dabur Chyavanaprash ( medicine),
Reid & Taylor ( suitings),
Emami boroplus ( cream), ICICI bank, Pepsi Cola, Doordarshan ( Television network), Nerolac Paints, Polio drops ( govt. ad),Maruti versa ( car), Parker pens < Ever Ready Battery- we find it difficult to what personality or what character does brand portray?- Other than Reid & Taylor, Cadbury's and Parker pens- which show style and brand being vintage - other brands - a lot of them, its difficult to know what they associate.

Then Sachin tendulkar comes in commercials of sunfeast biscuits and MRF tyres.

Shahrukh Khan , another film star in Brittania biscuits, Tag Heur watches, Airtel mobile services and many..

All these brands, mainly want to get attention based on popularity,
rather use principles of branding to build a brand!

JohnB

For some reason, Sally Field and Boniva come to mind as a really good celebrity endorsement.

I'm a 29 year old male, I don't need to keep my bones strong!!..but the campaign struck me as very believable and a very good match.

I think celebrity endorsements come down to trustworthyness, believability and your ability to recall, and remember it.

Tiger Woods and Buick is terrible. You've got to be 55 or 60 to promote a car like that. It'd be like Sean Connery or Clint Eastwood promoting a Prius...just doesnt make any sense.

Michael Jordan and premium cigars, or a premium wine or cognac might make sense. But Jordan promoting something you could find at Kmart or Walmart doesn't make much sense..Rayovac, Hanes.

Jordans brand is so squeeky clean (and he was so popular and loved), I think many companies made a stretch trying to link him to their product or service.

Paul

re: Tiger. You are absolutely bang on about the credibility of the association, although I don't think you picked the right vehicles that he would be credible with. Bentleys are pretentious, Mercedes skew as old or older than Buicks (would have been appropriate 15-20 years ago) for demographics, and Lexus is too conservative. Perhaps the Escalade SUV, or a Lexus hybrid (because "green" is cool and what we expect of a Tiger), or a BMW 6 series (performance engineering, relatively expensive, fast). But the brands he should stand behind are pretty limited.

They could have turned lemons into lemonade by using Tiger to give Buicks away -- to contest winners, to charities, to "dad" figures, etc. -- because who wouldn't get excited by Tiger showing up on your doorstep to give you the keys to a new car. Even CEOs of Fortune 500 companies would get a kick out of meeting Tiger and getting a chance to talk with him for a bit, or better yet, drive to a course in their new Buick and play a round with him. But a flat out endorsement was just plain wrong.

re: Michael Jordan and Rayovac. Yes, he could afford to throw away "real" batteries, but if they promoted rechargeables as being "green", then like the Tiger example above, I think Jordan would be OK, but someone like Darryl Hannah who is known for a totally environment friendly lifestyle might be better. I wouldn't suggest to any celebrity to endorse a throwaway solution that is full of dangerous pollutants -- PR disaster waiting to happen.

re: commando. Maybe, but don't you think he is sexy in his Hanes? Isn't that what they're trying to sell?

Paul

re: Tiger. You are absolutely bang on about the credibility of the association, although I don't think you picked the right vehicles that he would be credible with. Bentleys are pretentious, Mercedes skew as old or older than Buicks (would have been appropriate 15-20 years ago) for demographics, and Lexus is too conservative. Perhaps the Escalade SUV, or a Lexus hybrid (because "green" is cool and what we expect of a Tiger), or a BMW 6 series (performance engineering, relatively expensive, fast). But the brands he should stand behind are pretty limited.

They could have turned lemons into lemonade by using Tiger to give Buicks away -- to contest winners, to charities, to "dad" figures, etc. -- because who wouldn't get excited by Tiger showing up on your doorstep to give you the keys to a new car. Even CEOs of Fortune 500 companies would get a kick out of meeting Tiger and getting a chance to talk with him for a bit, or better yet, drive to a course in their new Buick and play a round with him. But a flat out endorsement was just plain wrong.

re: Michael Jordan and Rayovac. Yes, he could afford to throw away "real" batteries, but if they promoted rechargeables as being "green", then like the Tiger example above, I think Jordan would be OK, but someone like Darryl Hannah who is known for a totally environment friendly lifestyle might be better. I wouldn't suggest to any celebrity to endorse a throwaway solution that is full of dangerous pollutants -- PR disaster waiting to happen.

re: commando. Maybe, but don't you think he is sexy in his Hanes? Isn't that what they're trying to sell?

Rob Amberg

I agree with you 100% that Tiger Woods and Buick were never a match made in heaven. I also agree that in celebrity endorsements, the match has to be believable. In my mind, using a celebrity endorsement really only works with everyday items. Think George Clooney and Budwesier or Catherine Zeta-Jones and T-Mobile. It's believeable that she would use T-Mobile. It's not like celebrities have their own wireless provider. But take something like a car or a financial investment company catering to the everyman, and that's where it goes wrong. We look to celebrities because they have what we don't. We aspire to them, so to speak. So I don't care who the celebrity is, I don't believe they would ever drive a Toyota, Buick, Honda, etc. What's also funny is that the high end cars, like Lexus or Mercedes, rarely if ever use celebrity endorsements. What does that tell you? If Brad Pitt was on TV endorsing Gillete, I'd believe it because the guy's gotta shave. If he started pitching for the Holiday Inn, it would raise a few eyebrows.

Jay Godse

Jason Spezza and a jewellery store. Why would a great young hockey player endorse a jewellery store. I can't believe that he even wears any himself.

Nancy Friedman

Speaking of poor fits, Rachel Hunter, the new spokeswoman for Slim-Fast, has said "she is happy with her current weight and has not tried the diet shake." That's right: the product's spokesperson has said on the record that she doesn't use the product. Maybe customers will appreciate her honesty. Read all about it here: http://www.popwink.com/?p=770

Paul MacArthur

Celebrities and Brands: A celebrity perspective.

Bill Cosby was the pitchman for Coke several years. He even did a series of "Real Thing" spots in response to the Pepsi Challenge ads. When New Coke was launched, Cos did a couple spots talking about how the New Coke was great, etc. When Coke Classic was reintroduced, Bill felt his credibility had been compromised and he association with Coke ended.

This was the right move for Cos, because there was no way he could go back to selling Old Coke and there was no way he could continue to hawk New Coke as something worthwhile. It was also the right move for Coke as Cos could no longer be an effective salesman for the company.

Of course, they could still be using Cosby today if they never bothered to launch New Coke ...

Chris

I have often wondered what Tiger does with the Buick(s) granted to him by GM in exchange for his commercial spots. Call me closed-minded, but I just don't see him taking his Lucerne out for a night on the town. The combination is simply not believable. I agree: the celebrity and the product have to be congruent, or you're just throwing your money away.

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