DRTV Best Practices Primer: Celebrity, or Not to Be?
1 Oct, 2003 By: Rick Petry ResponseThere are two different kinds of celebrities used in DRTV projects - famous, established stars and DRTV-created personalities. Who are they and where do they come from?
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It's the question that invariably comes up when contemplating a DRTV campaign: should we use a celebrity? Anecdotally, people play with the notion that celebrities will help get the advertising noticed, build credibility for the product, and ultimately aid its success. But really, is this just a guess? Historically, do shows or categories that feature celebrities succeed more often than those that don't?
Well, just as paraphrasing Shakespeare may or may not be appropriate, the answer to the question depends on the situation.
To get to the heart of the question, an analysis of the Jordan Whitney 50 best performing long-form DRTV shows over the past three years (2000 through 2002) was conducted to see which categories were consistently at the top and if they were using celebrities or not. The analysis identified two basic types of celebrities and revealed that the use of such talent is heavy among such program leaders. To be more precise, 43 percent of the top 50 shows during this period have leveraged some sort of star power.
The two types of celebrities used in DRTV are:
1. Famous celebrities - typically film or television stars or professionals revered in their field, such as athletes. This group comprised 30 percent of the top group.
2. DRTV-created personalities - popular pitch people. This category made up 13 percent of top-tier infomercial spokespersons.
The Famous Celebrity: A Piece of the Action
Famous celebrities have the magnetism to stop a thumb on a remote control in its tracks. Among the shows analyzed, usage of a famous celebrity was nearly three times as likely as a DRTV-created personality. Famous celebrities are most often in health & fitness or beauty shows - which are, coincidentally (or perhaps not), top performing categories.It is well known that brand advertising consistently uses these celebrities to attract attention and aid in defining the brand's character in the consumer's mind. Similarly, famous stars can lend credibility and attract attention to a product that is sold through TV. Yet, finding the optimum connection between celebrity and product can be tricky. For every breakout combination along the lines of Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley with Total Gym, there are hundreds of shows with celebrity endorsers that are sitting in tape bins ready for recycle.
Perhaps one reason is that many celebrities who are employed in DRTV do so after their film career has peaked or their TV show has been cancelled, reinforcing the notion that the product endorsement is only being done out of hunger.
Yet, there are exceptions. Take Vanessa Williams, for example. The actress, who has succeeded on Broadway, in film and on television, as well as recorded popular hit music, is doing endorsements for Crest and Radio Shack, at the same time she is being seen in the perennial infomercial hit show for Proactiv Solution.
A counterpoint might be Cher and her experience with the Lori Davis Hair Care infomercial. Cher ran smack into the reality that celebrities who endorse products lend part of themselves and their reputation to the product. After winning her Best Actress Oscar in 1987 for "Moonstruck," Cher appeared in the infomercial in 1991. She was lampooned and humiliated publicly for her participation, though there was probably plenty of money to assuage her pain. In her autobiography, Cher describes her infomercial experience as "How to destroy your life in one easy lesson." Yet, somehow she has returned to glory and has the distinction of being the oldest female performer to ever have a number one Billboard hit.
Speaking of truckloads of money, an offshoot of the famous celebrity is the product line developed by the stars themselves. Home shopping networks are often the launching pad for these scenarios where the star leverages his or her persona to attract attention, build trust and persuade consumers to buy.
This type of endorsement - where the endorser also claims the mantle of creator - differs from the earlier examples. In this case, the famed personality has discovered the product, believes in it, and is using that as a credible basis for endorsement. We, in turn, as viewers believe that the product has some believable connection to how the endorser makes a living.
Nonetheless, you can see how the lines become blurred. Do consumers really believe that former champion boxer George Foreman sits around in his garage and tinkers with grills? No, but they probably buy that he likes to eat hamburgers and truly does have a winning personality - so much so that Salton bought the worldwide rights to Foreman's name and likeness for a reported $137.5 million to promote his famed grilling machines.
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