Thursday, October 19, 2006
Brands Heart Celebs
Have you noticed the rash of celeb/brand marriages lately? Three rather high-profile ones:
- Diddy+Burger King
- JayZ+Anheuser-Bush
- Carmen Electra+MasterCard
It got us thinking about the brand benefits for all in a marriage of this sort. The individual gets to express his brand to a wider audience and enjoys the added credibility that being associated with the Big Brand brings. The Big Brand gets the benefit of extending into audiences they might not have reached otherwise, and in this case, all three deals have the brand targeting an audience that leads trends in cool. These kinds of deals are key in reaching the coveted 18-34 y.o. audience that simply can't be reached by traditional media.
But, what about the backlash from those that consider themselves Brand Loyalists to the individual and don't buy-in to "their" celeb partnering with brands when the marriage is perceived to be one of marketing convenience? There are certainly legions of vocal fans protesting the Diddy/BK union. We wonder if JayZ will be as controversial, since the product he's promoting (beer) has just a slightly different image than fast food. As for Carmen Electra promoting MasterCard? That's something I think 99.9% of us would agree is a revenue pure-play for brand Carmen. Thoughts?
Have you noticed the rash of celeb/brand marriages lately? Three rather high-profile ones:
- Diddy+Burger King
- JayZ+Anheuser-Bush
- Carmen Electra+MasterCard
It got us thinking about the brand benefits for all in a marriage of this sort. The individual gets to express his brand to a wider audience and enjoys the added credibility that being associated with the Big Brand brings. The Big Brand gets the benefit of extending into audiences they might not have reached otherwise, and in this case, all three deals have the brand targeting an audience that leads trends in cool. These kinds of deals are key in reaching the coveted 18-34 y.o. audience that simply can't be reached by traditional media.
But, what about the backlash from those that consider themselves Brand Loyalists to the individual and don't buy-in to "their" celeb partnering with brands when the marriage is perceived to be one of marketing convenience? There are certainly legions of vocal fans protesting the Diddy/BK union. We wonder if JayZ will be as controversial, since the product he's promoting (beer) has just a slightly different image than fast food. As for Carmen Electra promoting MasterCard? That's something I think 99.9% of us would agree is a revenue pure-play for brand Carmen. Thoughts?
