News
CELEBRITY GARDENER IN TOWN TO FILM TV COMMERCIAL
Celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock was in town to film a television commercial when she got a bit wet.
She was working for Staffordshire-based Advertising and PR Agency Ward Lovett to promote Easy Fit Conservatories, on location in Walsall.
Celebrity endorsements have a proven track record of creating huge profits from sales booms, but they can also fall flat if a celebrity is on overkill.
That’s the view of marketing expert Dr John Rudd, from Aston Business School in Birmingham. He said advertisers should be selective in their choice of celebrity or risk losing consumers’ attention.
Charlie Dimmock said she would not endorse a product that she would not buy herself.
“There’s no point in me endorsing things that I would never use,” she said.
“I personally wouldn’t buy a product because a celebrity has endorsed it, because I’m not that type of person, but I do know many people who would.”
Charlie has just launched her own range of solar-powered lights and prefers to endorse ‘green’ products.
“I am keen for people to do more recycling and composting, so I will happily endorse things that people should be doing more of,” she added.
John Rudd is Director of Public Relations & Marketing and a Lecturer in Marketing at Aston Business School in Birmingham.
He said the term “celebrity culture” was in use at the beginning of the last century, but the fascination with fame had exploded in today’s society.
This made celebrity endorsements very good business for companies.
“While estimates vary, at least 15-25% of all television and print media contain some form of celebrity endorsement,” he said.
“Research has shown this can enhance brand recall, increase recognition of brand names and also has a positive impact on not only sales, but stock market returns.”
A recent and very widely publicised example of this is Jamie Oliver’s association with Sainsbury’s, where an additional £1 billion of sales and £200 million of gross profit were claimed to be correlated to his endorsement.
But Dr Rudd said having a grinning celebrity state categorically that a product is the best thing since sliced bread, will not automatically see the money come rolling in, because people can get bored of celebrities.
“Unfortunately we are fussy as consumers,” he added. “It is not enough that the person advertising our favourite brand is known to us.
“There are a number of other factors or traits that the celebrity endorser should posses in order to send us rushing to the shops. These include trustworthiness, believability, persuasiveness and likeability.
“The more of these factors that can be conveyed in an advertisement the better.”
He further explained: “Research has shown that multiple endorsements can erode celebrity credibility, likeability and also consumers’ general attitude towards the advertisement.
“This has been shown to happen in as few as four products, but of course this assumes that the consumer in question is aware of all four products – they may not be.”
For more information on Aston Business School Executive Education please contact Clive on 01543 501111