Brands can be seen to use celebrities in their branding efforts as a way to better their campaign. Celebrity endorsements help build brand equity, prime example being seen with Nike and Michael Jordan which now hold a multibillion dollar subsidiary company, Air Jordan [Source: Frog-Dog]. They are sneaky in the sense that they seem to make customers believe the product to be better than it might be due to comparing it to the celebrity’s status. But mainly, they help make a brand stand out and become that little bit memorable.

The difficulties of celebrity endorsements are that things change, all the time and sometimes drastically. Going back to my point of building brand equity with the help of a celebrity (and their status/credibility) this can backfire if your celebrity gets bad publicity. I’ll leave the examples to your imagination.

 

A great example of celebrity endorsements that we believe will be successful is the new Jaguar campaign. Jaguar are playing on their British heritage by using successful singer Emeli Sande (amongst other celebrities known for innovating in their sectors [Source: Marketing Week]) to promote the launch of their new Jaguar XE car. Emeli Sande is currently using social media to get in touch to help her create a song specifically for when this car will first be revealed, on the 8^th September. You can get involved by using the hashtag #feelXE – express what makes you feel exhilarated. This is a great way to not only gather attention through the celebrity but to also get the public involved, which will always create extra attachment to a brand. Let’s just hope Emeli doesn’t put a foot wrong in the meantime!

[Source: Marketing Week]