Finding a high-quality celebrity is a key component of a successful campaign. So when you’re starting to put together your potential list of celebrity endorsers, make sure they have a decent amount of staying power and that they’re generally well-liked by the public. After all, once you have a celebrity endorser, that celebrity will forever be associated with your brand, for better or worse, so make sure you select someone you feel confident will remain in the public eye for a long time.
You should keep in mind below factors when determining which celebrities would be a good fit for your brand:
Familiarity: The more familiar a celebrity is to your target audience, the more impact the endorsement will have. So in your case, if you’re targeting a fashion-oriented audience, you’d want someone who is already known to that audience (for example, ASAP Rocky).
Relevance: How relevant is the product to the celebrity endorsing it? When it comes to celebrity endorsements, the target audience has to be able to connect the product being endorsed to the person endorsing it. So while David Beckham is a household name, having him endorse a new pair of basketball shoes wouldn’t resonate with the target audience.
Esteem: The esteem of the celebrity endorser carries over to the product they’re endorsing. But this goes both ways- a well-respected celebrity also has a personal brand to maintain, so if the product is inferior and incompatible with their brand, their reputation will suffer as a result. So while you want to get an endorsement from a well-liked celebrity, make sure it’s a product that you’d be happy having their name on and that the celebrity is comfortable endorsing.
Differentiation: This is the big one, and it’s part of what separates traditional endorsements from non-traditional ones. Differentiation simply means making the celebrity endorsement stand out from all the other ones out there. That can usually be done with a creative approach to the endorsement itself.
Some other things to keep in mind is the previous brands that the celebrity may have endorsed as well. For example, if the celebrity is endorsing many brands then your message may be diluted, and not get the best impact. You can utilize an endorsement database like Celebrity Endorsers to identify celebrities based on your brand identity. By making sure the celebrity you choose to endorse your product meets all these criteria, you’ll stand a much better chance of making your partnership with that celebrity a long and successful one.
