Celebrities in Advertising: Are They Overused?

Celebrities in Advertising can be an expensive option for brands, but its popularity continues to grow. This raises the question: can brands recover their investment through this form of promotion?

A prime example is the Korean boy band BTS, which has become the face of numerous brands in recent years. The sheer number of advertising campaigns BTS is involved in rivals even the top advertising agencies. Fans have even created dedicated webpages to track all the group’s promotional activities.

Obviously, celebrity influence helps brands get noticed, but what are the limits of using this form of promotion?

Why Does the Overuse of Celebrities in Advertising Affect Brand Recall?

According to Kantar’s global advertising survey data, the likelihood of celebrities appearing in Advertisements in Asia are 3 times higher than in other regions.

Mr. Michael Patent, founder of Culture Group, shared:“Currently, it is not difficult to see familiar faces in a series of different advertising campaigns. Simply because this partnership works. The collaboration with BTS, Jackson Wang and Blackpink are typical examples when bringing success to the brand.

Muchstudy also pointed out that the “abuse” of celebrity images confuses consumers, thereby negatively affecting brand recall.

Consumers can easily “find out” falsehoods

If done right, celebrity partnerships can bring brands closer to audiences, increase brand awareness, and even drive sales. Conversely, dishonest collaborations will soon be boycotted.

“The case of sports brand Ivy Park founded by Beyonce with adidas is a prime example. Item has never been worn by Beyonce and there is no special mark in the exciting retail market.”, theo Patent.

As a result, Ivy Park and adidas stopped collaborating in March 2023 shortly after announcing Ivy Park’s revenue was only 40 million USD, much lower than the initial expectation of 250 million USD.

From a brand perspective, businesses need to carefully consider cooperating with celebrities who have signed advertising contracts with many parties.

Transforming the method from traditional sponsorship to win-win collaboration

Ms. Wyn Jones said:“We should start normalizing celebrity collaborations. For example, singer Billie Eilish collaborated with automaker Dodge and used their product in the music video for the new song’s launch, creating an inspiring and beneficial bilateral partnership. both sides”.

This change has produced positive results for the brand.

Ms. Fernandez said:“Brands often perceive the form of brand promotion by celebrities as just a stepping stone to promote interaction and increase brand awareness, not as a close partnership to increase brand awareness. credibility and authenticity for their brand. In fact, it’s the latter that really drives interaction with today’s consumers.

Celebrities (celebs) vs influencers (influencers): Should have different usage strategies

The explosion of influencer marketing has increased the number of promotional products. This makes many celebs also have to compete to get advertising contracts in the name of influencers. However, Mr. Max Adagio, Senior Account Director of The Goat Agency, emphasized the need for different strategies for using celebrities and influencers.

Mr. Adagio adds that celebrities can easily help increase household penetration and gain better recognition. And the product they advertise can be “premium” which will be difficult to stimulate young people to buy; However, celeb can help build brand awareness at scale.

If done right, celebrities are still valuable assets of brands

According to research by Kantar, the inclusion of celebrities in advertising helps increase consumer engagement, drawing attention to the brand. However, it all ultimately depends on how it is applied in practice.

“Using the right celebrity also helps create a ‘powerful’ brand equity that increases the relevance and trendyness of the brand.”Mrs. Polly Wyn Jones said. According to her, in order to choose the right audience, celebrities need to have qualities such as being known by many target consumers, being emotionally compatible with the brand and culturally relevant. Celebrities also need to be able to convey the brand’s values. In short, the higher the brand-to-celebrity fit, the greater the campaign’s impact on brand equity and sales.

NEIWAI, a Chinese lingerie and eyewear brand, has recently been praised for itssuccessful application campaign of celebrity images to promote the brand. This business has spent over a decade creating a distinctive and recognizable image, which has been elevated to new heights in 2020 through a partnership with Vuong Phi – the powerful diva. great influence in the Chinese music industry.

Finally, according to Ms. Xu, using celebrity images in advertising is a big blind spot that many brands still face. Brands need to broaden their horizons to understand the meaning and effectiveness of working with celebs and influencers to optimize the success of this form of advertising.