Here’s some history for your dear
readers. Did you know that one of the first people to pioneer celebrity
endorsement was Josiah Wedgewood way back in the 1760’s? He actively promoted
the fact that his pottery was used by Royalty to add to the perceived value of
the products he sold. Once Queen Charlotte started using his wares he
immediately called himself “Potter to Her Majesty” and increased his prices for
the nobility. He then lowered his prices for the middle class but the Royal
stamp of approval on certain ranges meant he could charge a premium.
From that simple but brilliant piece
of marketing insight we can fast forward over 250 years to a world where
celebrity endorsement is now the norm. Today Hollywood film stars promote luxury
goods for millions and often low cost goods in the Far
East so long as they are paid enough and also given a guarantee that
the ads will not appear in the West to tarnish their reputation. Today a new
breed of television “celebrities” such as those from The Only Way Is Essex are
paid “low” wages and told they can expect to gain large on photo deals and
product endorsements. I suspect Josiah would probably be caught between pride
and shame at how far his initial concept has gone.
However history also teaches us that
although we tend to put celebrities on a pedestal they can often fall off and,
if closely associated with a product or service, can damage that as well. High
profile celebrities can make lots of money from brands wanting to be associated
with them. David Beckham has made far more money from his product endorsements
than he has ever made from actually kicking a ball. However for every Beckham
there is also an OJ Simpson or a Tiger Woods. High profile celebrities with big
product endorsements whose sponsors disassociated themselves as quickly as
possible when things turned in their private lives.
In the last week we have seen
sponsors finally start to desert Lance Armstrong. Even Nike, whom he has worked
with since 1996, cancelled agreements and even using the strongly worded press
release stating: “…has misled Nike for over a decade”. This shows the scale of
the issue with Armstrong as they stood by Tiger Woods when his personal life
exploded in 2009 when other brands left him. Within hours of the Nike
announcement the cycle company Trek and brewers Anheuser-Busch also cancelled
with more following. To put a sense of value to this Nike alone was worth and
estimated £4.6m a year to Armstrong.
Unfortunately there are no hard and
fast lessons here. Our fascination with celebrities means that their endorsement
will continue to sell products and services. So while that is the case, brand
and service owners will continue to pay them in the hope it will help them grow
their bottom line. However even those who once seemed beyond reproach can have
hidden issues that can bite those who closely associate with them. Armstrong is
not the first example and he will not be the last.
Tim Youngman is head of digital
marketing for Archant follow him on twitter
@timyoungman
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