Our team helps brands, their agencies and nonprofit organizations by assessing the business value of celebrities, negotiating smart partnerships and activating each program. We provide fast and accurate information and recommend talent based on many factors including their relevance, points of differentiation and cost. The results of our work are seen as television commercials, webisodes, publicity programs, YouTube posts, celebrity seeding, social media » Read More
By Paige Keffer (see all team member profiles here) 1. Followers Aren’t Everything – Of course, one of the major factors in considering a spokesperson for a Twitter-centric program is the number of followers. However, if a celebrity has 800,000 followers – but has tweeted three times in the past four months – does that really benefit the brand? One exception may be » Read More
As the Final Four hits New Orleans this weekend (through Monday), I wanted to share four corporate hospitality tips for brands hiring talent as they descend into a new city. This year is especially unique because of the intriguing in-state Louisville v. Kentucky match-up. A People-Person is Key - Your invited guests are already excited about the Final Four. They have been » Read More
- Money. You don’t need to overpay for talent at the Super Bowl. The difference between A, B and C list celebrities is minimized this specific week because of the attention of all fans and willingness of the media to have all athletes and celebrities on their air. Friday media time is typically reserved for more A-listers as that is when the » Read More
CES, the Super Bowl of Technology takes place next week in Las Vegas. And just like the big football game, there are countless people (customers), hundreds of brand/product launches, a large number of media (and bloggers/citizen journalists), distractions at every corner and celebrities/influencers being used to break through the clutter. Fortunately, the new technology age makes it is easy for your brand to research » Read More
1. PR exclusivity issues. With more brands spending money with PR and/or Digital only campaigns, celebrities are bumping into themselves when they have multiple deals. Exclusivity should no longer be limited to product category, but should now include media time. With the exception of the celebrity’s existing deal with tv/film/tour/sports team, branded media interviews should never overlap. Make sure you carve out » Read More
Who else but Santa Claus? He’s free (for imagery), relevant, never overbooked and has an awareness level that no other celebrity can top. He’s been used in ad campaigns for over 75 years and there’s no sign that he’s slowing down anytime soon. This year, Santa’s campaigns include Best Buy, Chevrolet, Pepsi, Bing, Mercedes-Benz, Apple, Cadillac, M&Ms, UNICEF, Aleve, Target and Coca-Cola. » Read More
With World Series a week away, marketers are crossing T’s and dotting I’s with their hospitality plans. We’ve shared event-specific tips before, but here are the four things to consider when buying talent for hospitality, specifically in the sports space: Location – When you know where the game or games are being played (i.e. the next Super Bowl in Indianapolis or even Arizona now » Read More
I chatted this morning with my colleague Maria Conti about celebrity + brand partnerships and specifically, the changes that have evolved over the past few decades. She has been in the business for more than 25 years (spending time as VP Talent Services at Edelman, Matter and even as a commercial agent at ICM) and thus, has seen and done it all. » Read More
With the amount of corporate speakers we hire for brands, I decided to quiz my colleague Clare O’Boyle (who runs our Entertainment & Speakers efforts) on the changing marketplace. Her industry knowledge and experience spans 15+ years so figured we would go directly to the source for this information. Question: Has the economy affected the way companies buy talent? How has the industry » Read More
Tweet Within 24 hours of the USA loss to Japan in the Women’s World Cup, several research companies posted stories about the rising appeal and awareness of #USWNT players like Abby Wambach and Hope Solo. Similar stories about Dirk Nowitzki popped up following last week’s ESPY Awards and the Dallas Mavericks NBA Finals win. When viewed in a vacuum, or even worse, through » Read More
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