If your best friend Kate told you a beauty product was amazing, would you believe her? Now, imagine that person was Kate Moss? Would her appraisal carry the same weight?
A recent study in the UK by health and beauty website Wahanda found 80 per cent of respondents are not influenced by celebrity endorsements of beauty products. This idea was backed in a study by advertising analytics company acemetrix that viewed more than 2600 ads and found celebrity ads perform equal to or worse than non-celebrity ads. It discovered that creative components – not celebrity endorsements – was what helped drive positive responses from viewers.
On the other side of the coin, an article in Ad Age entitled Celebrity endorsements still push product” pointed to a recent study of hundreds of endorsements that found sales for some brands increased up to 20 per cent on commencement of an endorsement deal. If you put a face to a name, the more likely you’ll remember it, and marketers know the same goes with hitching celebrities to their brands,” the article stated. With thousands of brands across the globe aligning themselves with one or more celebrity ambassadors, there must be some merit in getting a renowned spokesperson. We talked to a few beauty companies to discover if it’s important for a brand to have a celebrity alignment, how they choose the right person to align with their brand and whether local works better than global when it comes to a spokesperson.
Why have a celebrity spokesperson?
It may not be necessary for all brands but I do think it does contribute to the brands credibility,” says Key-Sun Laboratories brand manager Rebecca Hamilton. The company owns the brand ULittleBeauty which has recently signed on Toni Pearen as an ambassador. Customers respond well to people they look up to and trust, and for a lot of us that’s a celebrity. Each person in the spotlight has a target market, just as each brand does. So whether it is Angelina Jolie or someone from Home & Away, there is usually a celebrity out there who can speak to, and relate to, your customers in a way that a stock shot model cannot,” she says.
While it is still too early for ULittleBeauty to tell whether bringing on a celebrity endorser has led to increased sales, they have already started to see a difference. It has certainly increased interest and awareness in our brand,” says Hamilton.
Natural anti-ageing brand lapureté have recently signed up newsreader Tracey Spicer as a spokesperson and CEO Peter Vranes says that brands often feel the need to have a celebrity alliance for the purpose of borrowed credibility. At lapureté, we have devised a multi-pronged approach when it comes to our celebrity endorsements, by using multiple celebrities to endorse our products and establish this credibility,” says Vranes. We only use celebrities that the public view as a trustworthy source of information. We also ensure that we get the celebrity’s genuine feedback regarding our products and relay this directly to the public.”
While New Zealand brand Living Nature’s global marketing manager Louise Henderson sees the value in having a celebrity alliance, she believes the brand should always be the hero. When the competition has very deep products they can out shout you, more pages in magazines etc, so you may wish to do activity less often but make it more memorable by bringing in a celebrity to endorse the product. Celebrities are a cut through mechanism or device to be used for a brand message.” Since appointing former Miss Universe Lorraine Downes who hails from New Zealand, Living Nature has experienced a definite lift in sales.”
How do you choose a celebrity ambassador?
If you decide a celebrity ambassador is for you, the next question is who to choose. First and foremost, we would always choose a celebrity that has already been using lapureté and is getting great results,” says Vranes. He reveals they must be credible and have a strong public profile for the right reasons. We also need to ensure that the celebrity will appeal to our target market and is someone people can relate to.” Vranes also says it is irrelevant if they are a musician, actor, sports person or personality: At the end of the day, it’s all about their public profile and credibility as a spokesperson.”
Hamilton says ULittleBeauty chose Pearen as they wanted someone who was trustworthy and relatable. We conducted market research to discern our target market and after finding out what their likes and values are, we tried to find someone who shared those values, who could relate to the consumers and who the consumers could trust.” She went on to say that it is easiest to choose a television personality/actor as their faces are recognisable and known, but it is also good to find someone who relates to or is relevant to the product.
For Invisible Zinc, choosing Elle Macpherson as a spokesperson was the no-brainer option as she was someone who used the products on herself and her kids before becoming the face of the brand. Macpherson says of her involvement: I choose to support this great Australian product because I believe it works. I believe this product will have global success.”
Is local better than international?
The recent addition of Megan Gale to the L'Oréal Paris dream team highlighted the value placed on having a local brand ambassador despite being endorsed by an impressive international line-up including Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria and Beyoncé. Both ULittleBeauty and Living Nature see the value in having a local spokesperson. As our brand is proudly made and manufactured in Australia, we felt it was essential that we had an Australian personality represent the brand. It really depends on the brand and who you are trying to reach,” reveals Hamilton.
For Living Nature, 100 per cent natural uniquely made of New Zealand native botanicals, yes – it was important to have a New Zealander as a spokesperson,” says Henderson.
lapureté places less value on having a local identity, with Vranes revealing, We don’t feel that it matters whether the person is a local or international spokesperson, as long as they fit with our requirements and are a credible personality.”
Click here to see a list of brand ambassadors for international and local brands.