Celebrity Endorsement

[bobby]

(disclaimer – first world problem of a very specific issue).
How do folks feel about seeing a celebrity endorsement of a product they already use?

Just relaxing on a Sunday morning. Came across an ad banner of a product I already purchase (not stating product b/c I don’t want to be hawking it too) – now with Stephen Curry hawking it.
my immediate reaction was dismay as the price of the product will rise and the users will have to pay for that increase. As great as SC is in basketball, he has no knowledge of this area. In my mind, his endorsement has no value.

then I think some folks will be pleased to know that a well-liked celebrity is endorsing a product they already buying – reinforcing their wise choice.

I’m more of the former camp.

…. back to relaxing on Sunday morning…

[flyer]

Celebrity endorsements of any type or in any form (products, political, etc., etc.) hold little value for me, since we usually choose to investigate things we are interested in from a far different perspective.

That said, because the masses do like to believe they have something in common with celebrities of all types (as my wife who is in the film business will attest to) celebrity branding can pay off big time when analyzed on that level.

[poorgradstudent]

Well, marketing dollars don’t always have a 1:1 increase in cost to the consumer. In theory if you increase sales and can increase economies of scale by selling more products, you can actually increase profit without increasing price at all.

Of course that assumes the sponsorship/endorsement pays off in increased exposure and sales. Looking at his major endorsements, the ones that confuse me most are Kaiser Permanente and JP Morgan. But these days Young Men are a VERY difficult demographic to reach. They (I guess I can’t count myself as “young” anymore) really only watch TV for live sporting events. So a company that wants to reach young men isn’t crazy to make a deal with a popular young star.

Of course, Nutella found out what happens when your endorsee has off-the-court trouble with Kobe. Then again, everyone seems to have forgotten about Kobe’s incident, perhaps because in the end he wasn’t convicted.

[La Jolla Renter]

[quote=poorgradstudent]In theory if you increase sales and can increase economies of scale by selling more products, you can actually increase profit without increasing price at all.

[/quote]

Great Point poorgradstudent.

I love this classic adage.

Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.

John Wanamaker, (attributed)
US department store merchant (1838 – 1922)

[Author]

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