Putignano points out that it’s difficult to communicate directly with celebrities, so if an opportunity arises, you need to pounce on it.
“Celebrities are by no means accessible. These days, they have their own agents so it’s hard to approach them directly,” he says.
“Approaching celebrities is a lot about the way you do a sales pitch. It’s about finding yourself in the right situation, at the right event and being able to talk to that celebrity.”
“There’s no specific formula for that, especially not for a smaller business.”
“There should be, for that endorsement to work well, an affiliation between the brand and the celebrity,” Putignano says.
“It doesn’t work when there is not so much of a personality fit – the celebrity has been put there just for the sake of being important.”
“Some of the worst celebrity endorsements are from sports personalities. They often don’t have a well-defined personality and act badly, so it feels as if they’re being forced into that role.”
“On the other side, there are examples of successful celebrity endorsements such as Billy Connolly for ING.”
“This was a perfect marriage because his personality is so extroverted, so it lifted awareness and the image of ING. ING also wanted to position itself as the anti-bank, so it worked extremely well.”
Jacenko says it’s also important to choose a celebrity who, by and large, stays out of trouble, which means steering clear of certain sporting celebrities and entertainers.
“You are dealing with a person – people can be unpredictable and they can make mistakes – all of which can backfire on your brand,” she says.
“Pretty much every week we hear about a celebrity being dropped from an endorsement campaign due to their behavior – this can cost a brand its reputation and the financial investment of signing up a celebrity.”
“Remember that when you invest in a celebrity as a supporter of your brand, you are putting your trust in them to tell your story – they need to represent all your values and vice versa.”
Jacenko says before you sign up a celebrity, it’s worth conducting some focus groups with your customers to find out which celebrities would encourage them to use your products.
“Who you view to be aspirational and a good fit could be very different to your customers’ [view], so don’t make the decision alone,” she says.
“Involve a variety of your employees from the office manager to the CEO and get some honest feedback from your customers or clients.”
Once you’ve found your ideal celebrity, it’s not enough to simply pay them to appear in an advertisement – they need to be genuinely interested in the product or service they’re spruiking.
“It’s key the celebrity doesn’t see the role as an opportunity to make money. The celebrity needs to be almost a customer or a user – they need to believe,” Putignano says.
“You want the celebrity to be involved because they are genuinely interested. The celebrity must be an ambassador for the brand, not just featured in an ad.”
Reddo Media Services, a tablet publishing start-up, recently secured magazine industry pioneer Ita Buttrose as its chairman, with the Cleo founding editor also investing in the business.
Based in Sydney, Reddo Media Services is the brainchild of former CBS Interactive commercial director Troy Martin and Shane Mitchell, former managing director of content company HS3.
“Given the market we’re working in, we were looking for a chairperson that wanted to be actively involved,” Mitchell told StartupSmart.
“We also wanted someone with great experience of working at a board level. We put together a shortlist of people who we thought would be great, and at the top of our list was Ita.”
“She has a huge experience in running very successful publishing enterprises, and her influence is massive.”
Mitchell says the company’s advisor, Tim Goodman, used his connections in order to set up a meeting with Buttrose, giving Reddo an opportunity to pitch their idea to her.
“We told her that while a lot of companies around the world were zigging, we were going to zag,” Mitchell said.
“Rather than create another thing for publishers to worry about, we would create a service that would take all their pain away. She was really excited about this idea.”
