If you want to get ahead, get a celeb
Famous folk grinning back at you with a product in their mitts. Or worse again, adopting 1,000-yard stares, as if the mere suggestion of the luxury item they’re peddling has character-enhancing properties. Cue Brad Pitt and his perfume, and a meandering to-camera delivery on life and destiny that would leave his most ardent fans, well, cringing.
In the latest instalment for Chanel No 5, Mr Pitt goes in off the deep end of pretentious: “It’s not a journey. Every journey ends, but we go on. The world turns, and we turn with it. Plans disappear, dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are, my luck, my fate, my fortune. Chanel No 5, inevitable.”
Confused? You’re not alone. For a cool $7 million, you’d probably recite it backwards though. But why do they do it? Surely they make enough money in their day jobs? Equally baffling, though, are the campaigns. Take one of Angelina Jolie’s: propped on a wooden punt in rural Cambodia, barefoot and windswept, yet accompanied by her designer handbag. Louis Vuitton’s man, Pietro Beccari, called it a ‘real moment’, and one that pushed the company’s ‘core values’ campaign.
Sorry? At a guess, this is Beccari’s claim for brand ‘worthiness’, despite the contradiction of using the backdrop of an impoverished country to showcase an extremely expensive first-world item. Not many in Cambodia, you imagine, could stretch to the £7,000 asking price. But don’t get hung up on that. The idea here — a post-economic-crisis trend — is to convince you of ‘authenticity’ and ‘legacy’ (the bag wasn’t brand new, it seems).
Are celebrity endorsements really worth it though?
“They can attract attention, arouse emotions such as fervent admiration and influence more purchases and brand loyalty,” writes Dr Margaret-Anne Lawlor, a lecturer in marketing communications at Dublin Institute of Technology.
“The concept ... is reflected by the fact that 20 per cent of UK ad campaigns feature celebrities.”
In Dr Lawlor’s estimation, there’s a lot to consider when choosing someone. “Attractiveness — that is physical appearance, personality, credibility, success, expertise and overall ‘likeability’.
“A celebrity must be identified, believed, liked and aspired to by the target audience. A good example would be US sportsman Michael Jordan and his long association with Nike.”
“If consumers don’t like, believe or aspire to the celebrity in question, then the power of an endorsement is severely under question. Some celebrities can be forgiven by the market much quicker than others, for any perceived foibles,” she says.
On those grounds, Lance Armstrong, cycling hero turned doping villain, won’t be winning back credibility any day soon.
By comparison, when Kate Moss’s partying lifestyle got caught on camera a few years ago, a number of retailers decided to drop her from their campaigns, not wanting to sully their image under a cocaine cloud. But the controversy didn’t kill her career. Why? Unlike Armstrong, she hadn’t set herself up as a role model. According to Storm Model Agency boss, Sarah Doukas, Moss’s case is different, “she is just a model”, and so people could identify with her.
The almost ubiquitous George Clooney is Nespresso’s man, well in Europe anyway. To save compromising his credentials on home turf, Clooney’s ads are filmed outside the US, and broadcast accordingly. Like the man himself, the message is one of smoothness, even if George’s ego takes a little denting. Repeatedly outwitted by beautiful women who are more interested in coffee, he still wins.
TAG Heuer — the watchmaker — has a new muse in Cameron Diaz. “It’s more than just a watch, it’s a piece of jewellery,” says Diaz, following the script. TAG’s pitching the notion that Diaz doesn’t play it safe, and that this risk-taking quality makes her perfect for the Swiss brand. Elegantly coiffed to be their ‘beautiful rebel’, there’s just something odd about casting the whacky comedy star as the face of such a formal luxury brand.
Then there’s James Franco’s turn for the Samsung Galaxy Note. Franco rises from his study desk — tablet in hand — to walk through his house. While doing so, he deals with a circus of stuff, like solving maths problems and joining in a pillow fight, to then return to his desk, having prepared his lunch. And he accomplishes more in that couple of minutes, thanks to the tablet of course, than most of us would in a week. Clever? Absolutely.
Of course, old-fashioned sex appeal also works. Penélope Cruz and her sister sit on a sofa and tease each other about their Super Mario skills, while playing with the Nintendo 3DS, and remaining transfixed by the hand-held devices. It’s possibly a very brave juxtaposition by Nintendo as the viewer has a distinct choice to make as to where to focus — product or person. Even the donning of a fake moustache by Penélope at the end cannot even up the score.
And so, for a moment, you imagine it’s not just the money that these celebrities are chasing but a legacy of their own; something as simple as an enduring regard for their very personalities. Then you learn Pele was paid €80 million to promote a certain cola drink. And David Beckham has earned more from wielding a particular razor than kicking a ball — about £40 million. And you realise, enough’s never enough.
Rory McIlroy, despite the odd angry tweet, is hugely popular worldwide. And Santander bank has tapped into the idea of matching McIlroy’s success to bonus interest payments on certain savings accounts. The better Rory goes, the more their customers will benefit. And they don’t even have to like golf. The ads are pretty neat too, with McIlroy soberly squaring up with his clubs, to dazzle you with things like back-to-front chip shots.
Way more entertaining than anything they’ve done on the pitch for quite some time, the Irish soccer team are displaying preternatural comic timing by persuading a young fella to eat his greens, and then playing office matchmaker and setting up a dinner date. If only they could coach the same confidence from themselves on the park.
Craig Doyle, broadcaster, and the face of UPC’s digital TV and broadband campaign, has been viewed by some as perhaps just a little too satisfied with himself. Good old-fashioned begrudgery it may be, but that’s never going to stop Après Match going to town on an easy target. Dressing up as Angela Merkel, they’ve called for him to be eliminated but only after he presents everything on RTÉ first.
Rosanna Davison and dad luck out on sheer opportunism, by endorsing Volkswagen. It’s perhaps a short cut by the brand that brought you the boy dressed as Darth Vader, trying to control household objects. Strumming Lady in Red by the front bumper of a Golf, not so cute.
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