Does your celebrity have the $-factor?

Gala Bingo’s new ad campaign to relaunch its website uses a man who found fame singing about a mysterious girl under a waterfall, while showing off his six pack.

But Peter Andre - the singer in question and star of reality TV - wasn’t chosen because of the marketing director’s music taste, rather it is the star’s following on Facebook and Twitter, similar to that of Gala Bingo, which sealed the deal.

It may seem an unlikely pairing but data on Andre’s social networking showed that those who follow him also show propensity to like online bingo, using a tool from agency dot.talent. Its tool, Talent.rank, analyses the digital ‘footprint’ of 5,000 celebrities using metadata to show particular characteristics, such as whether they are in reality TV or swear for example, combined with what they do on Twitter and other social sites.

Social networks

Littlewoods has also used the tool to help choose a celebrity to front its brand and used designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen to present a live TV show on Facebook. “Social status is now the new currency in the celebrity world,” says Andrew Roscoe, head of brand, celebrity and sponsorship for the brand.

But before the ads went live, the designer wasn’t all that active on social networks. “He hadn’t got a big social presence but the content that he created was perfect for that social media environment,” adds Roscoe. “The collaboration was one which drove huge amounts of interest in the brand and generated traffic and has set Laurence off creating a better social footprint of his own.”

Littlewoods’ latest brand ambassador Myleene Klass was chosen based on data. The company has a consumer panel for each of its brands and it regularly puts in celebrity names to gauge consumers’ responses. Klass came out as one of the most popular and fashion credible. This seems to have paid off, as sales targets for the first month were beaten by 14 per cent and during July this year the retailer sold an average of one item every 20 minutes from her range.

Littlewoods is part of the Shop Direct Group who also use brand ambassadors Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby for the Very.co.uk brand, they have 3.5mn and 2.5mn Twitter followers respectively.

Gala Bingo

Data is something that Gala Bingo also took into account when choosing Andre to face its campaign - and this helped when trying to persuade its chief executive he was the right face for the brand.

“The choice of Peter Andre was an interesting one because when I first mentioned it to the group chief executive officer Carl Leaver, he looked at me and his jaw dropped. He said, ‘A guy for Gala Bingo? Peter Andre? You’re the marketing guy, but it doesn’t sound right to me,” says Gala Interactive marketing director Alex Czajkowski.

So he decided to make a decision based on data. “It’s not good enough to run out a half million pound TV campaign on a hunch or suspicion,” says Czajkowski. So the company surveyed 60,000 players to explore who they would like to meet, who could best represent the brand in an advert and which celebrities were their favourites. Andre came out as one of the top celebrities - and the social talent index shows that he is ranked as the number one reality TV star.

An important component of a celebrity partnership is the positive effect it has on people’s perception of the brand. Roscoe at Littlewoods says: “When we worked with Trinny and Susannah, it had a very positive impact on our brand, them being [body] shape advice experts meant that people began to see us as experts on shape. We rub off some of the values and equity of that individual celebrity onto our brand as well.”

Long-term partnerships

Other brands are known for more obvious tie-ups. H&M has become known for its designer collaborations and is now looking to other industries. The singer Lana Del Rey is its latest model, with has a wide reach similar to H&M, with 1m Twitter followers and 2m Facebook fans and will be seen on a video campaign on the retailer’s website.

David Beckham is also a current face of H&M, with his underwear featuring at 1,800 stores in 44 countries. A spokesperson says it is using the Beckham collaboration to solidify its fashion credentials

“Our communication should strengthen the brand and image as a global fashion company in the long-term. The long-term global partnership with David Beckham is a unique opportunity to offer millions of male fans and H&M’s customers a range designed by one of the world’s most important football players - as well as a fantastic style icon.”

This idea of shared values also played a part in the partnership between sports presenter Gabby Logan and Speedo. Logan is not only the face of Speedo’s new Sculpture range, she is fronting a panel to help give women the confidence they need to get back into the water after not swimming for a while.

The ‘Plunge Panel’ was devised after new research revealed the body insecurities felt by women when trying on swimwear. Sally Polak, Speedo’s UK and Ireland marketing manager says: “We wanted to create a PR campaign that resonated with women, particularly mums and encourage them to feel confident in their swimwear. The crux of landing this message was to have a strong female ambassador.”

Polak adds: “Gabby is an excellent choice for the panel as she is passionate about swimming and swims regularly. More importantly, she’s a well-respected high profile female who happens to be a mum and has an achievable figure, which is important for our audience. We didn’t want whoever we picked to feel intimidating.”

Although the brand did take into account her social status, it wasn’t the deciding factor, Polak says: “I would still bear in mind the more traditional tools and use my own instinct too; social media tools would inform that.” Logan features at number 389 of the 5,000 celebrities on the talent ranking, with a 48 per cent female following and the most recent blogs referring to the swimwear tie up.

Celebrity endorsement

However, brands must not just assume that an unlimited amount of money can buy a celebrity endorsement. Richard Thompson, founder of talent management company Merlin Elite, which looks after Jamie and Louise Redknapp, Jodie Kidd and Freddie Flintoff, says: “There is a saying: if you ‘grin and bank it’ within the industry, then you will regret it.”

Thompson says that famous faces are often judged by the most recent thing they did - and if that was an endorsement that wasn’t well-received, it might affect their ability to get the next job. “It is the agent’s and manager’s responsibility as much as anybody to ensure it’s the right fit. Any campaign that backfires has lasting damage for both [celebrity] and brand.”

Nike’s Twitter campaign with Wayne Rooney backfired earlier this year - although it is doubtful if this has done lasting brand damage. Tweets by Wayne Rooney were ‘banned’ by the ASA earlier in the year, as they were not correctly labelled as being promotional.

Brands must also be careful to make sure their celebrities are relevant to their audience. Andrew Roscoe at Littlewoods gives Fearne Cotton as an example. He says: “Some celebrities grow up and their styles change - you have to be aware of that and how that is perceived by your customers. We chose Fearne because of her kooky, individual style. Previously you would have never seen her in a tea dress, but she has grown up in the last four years that we have worked with her and that style is reflected in her collection.”

Littlewoods also had a challenge with current ambassador Myleene Klass and her association with M&S. Roscoe adds: “Well known celebrities like Myleene had been with one brand for such a long time. It will always be a challenge for us, however we are investing significantly in advertising. Myleene is the focus of our campaigns and part of that is to make sure we galvanise that association with us rather than M&S.

“It will be a difficult job for us. We are sure that with the campaigns that we have run and that we will be running through our peak period, that won’t be an issue.”

Up and coming stars

Yet it isn’t always the big established names that brands are interested in: they are also looking for people who have a large following on social media. Burberry, for example, seeks up and coming people to front its campaigns and this season, little-known musician Roo Panes features, someone who has a large social following. Dot.talent also reports that people who are becoming stars on YouTube and blog sites are becoming more popular with marketers, as well as non-famous people who make it on to reality TV.

Tony Jones, head of creative at Dot.talent says: “Reality TV stars have the equivalent of a day-time TV audience following them. So, those large numbers are quite persuasive to marketers to be able to talk to that audience without having to spend a lot of money on traditional media.”

What makes these rising stars popular for marketers is that they have an audience already tuned in to the stars’ interest, says Jones. “If they are looking to benefit from the social following of a celebrity there are huge upsides, as they bring a readymade audience so the marketing pounds can go a lot further.”

But brands can also run into problems regarding the choice of celebrity. Czajkowski at Gala Bingo says: “As always when you get tied up with a celebrity, there’s always a few that don’t like them. Some people took the piss out of Peter for having hooked up with Gala Bingo. That’s always disconcerting but you’re not going to please all people all the time.”

References

1. ^{^} Food and drink (www.marketingweek.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Health and fitness (www.marketingweek.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Sport and outdoor (www.marketingweek.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Beauty (www.marketingweek.co.uk)
5. ^{^} Fashion (www.marketingweek.co.uk)