Here’s the Pros and Cons of Celebrity Endorsements
As we know, celebrities are everywhere. They are all over TV, social media, magazines, and any other place you’d find an ad.
The famous question, do these endorsements truly lead to an increase in sales of a product? In short, yes, but let’s not ignore that there can be drawbacks that you may want to consider before choosing a celebrity to represent your brand.
Here are some possible advantages and repercussions of celebrities endorsing your brand:
Pros
Builds credibility
It goes without saying that people are attached to their favourite celebrity, and generally speaking well-trusted by their fans. If they use your product, it shows their fans that it is a product worth using and builds trust in your brand.
Seeing a celebrity attach their name to a product also reassures consumers of the quality of your product. The celebrity would be at risk for damaging their reputation if they endorsed a product that’s quality was lacking.
Makes your brand stand out
If you use a celebrity to represent your brand, it can help to differentiate it from competitors. The promotion can also improve ad recall, making consumers remember your ad and that your brand is connected to their favourite celebrity.
Opens up new markets
If you choose the right celebrity, it can open up your brand to new markets. For example, when Nike wanted to expand from primarily sponsoring tennis and track, they partnered with Michael Jordan – and this partnership has been so successful it has expanded into its own subsidiary company.
Cons
Celebrity images change
When you collaborate with a celebrity to endorse your brand, you are agreeing to sign on to everything that comes with them. While this usually means bringing in some of their fan base as customers, it can lead to disaster if a crisis situation occurs.
An example of this was Tiger Woods back in 2009, when rumours of his infidelity surfaced and brands began to drop him as a sponsor to avoid the backlash from consumers. Nike didn’t immediately release him as a sponsor and lost a huge amount of customers as a result.
Honest Tip: Before signing any contract, RESEARCH the celebrity. Check for scandals and any past problems that could return. Are they political online? Have they had a sticky past with badly phrased Tweets which could return?
It’s worth a simple google of “[Name] racism”, “[Name] homophobia”, “[Name] cancelled” and “[Name] scandal”.
Follow them on Instagram and make sure to watch their stories to check it’s in-line with your brand.
They may overshadow your brand
If a celebrity is too big (A-List, million+ followers), their popularity might instantly overshadow your brand.
If the ad focuses too much on the celebrity, it can cut out brand recognition in the minds of consumers. This can also become a problem if a celebrity is endorsing multiple products at the same time, as they might see the celebrity and associate it with another brand.
Honest Tip: Make sure to research the celebrity thoroughly before agreeing to an ad, check out previous ads and how the brands post ad are doing. Make sure in contract that you have a final say on for example, the Instagram image/caption that is due to come out. Avoid heavily sales focussed ads.
We work on both sides, brand and celebrity side - the key is to be subtle in promotions and not a local car sales ad.
Endorsements are expensive
This may seem obvious, but getting a celebrity endorsement typically requires shelling out a pretty substantial chunk of money. Pepsi decided it was worth the price when they signed on with Beyonce for a whopping $50 million 10-year endorsement contract, but if you aren’t a multi-billion dollar company, it’s important to assess if the increase in consumer interest and revenue is worth the cost of the endorsement.
Another key example is Kylie Jenner, a post on the makeup mogul’s Instagram is worth a whopping $1 million dollars, making her the “richest” Instagrammer in the world.
