Octagon First Call

Celebrity Research + the 7 OTHER Keys to Celebrity Marketing Success

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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 140-characters, the research is very misleading.

And for example, these are some statistics that were revealed yesterday by research company DBI:

• Soccer players Hope Solo and Abby Wambach are already more known in the US than Jennie Finch and Brandi Chastain.
• Hope Solo's endorsement of a product is similar to an endorsement from Beyonce or Julia Roberts.
• The general population is aware of Abby Wambach as much as they are of Kirk Herbstreit.

When we  at Octagon First Call consider using celebrities for marketing campaigns, we factor a plethora of items before making any decision. Research/scoring is one of them (but just one of them).

We begin our celebrity marketing research by first understanding the program, strategy and objectives. This is a critical factor that research companies don’t take into account when scoring celebrities. From there, we utilize our proprietary celebrity database of 30,000+ influencers and talk with agents, managers, publicists, planners and the media.

And then there are these 7 factors:

• Cost vs. Value vs. Budget. Someone with 10% more awareness but 50% more cost doesn’t make sense…even if the budget is there.
• Relevance. Research shows a celebrity’s value at that moment in time but consider that your campaign may be six months down the road.
• Media Interest. Again, timing is very important. While someone could be very bookable for the Today Show, Letterman, Leno now….how bookable are they two months down the road after they have already appeared on these Shows for other reasons?
• Quality Person & Management Team. You must consider each celebrity’s reputation as well as their team (manager, agent, publicist and/or lawyer). We want to make sure brands are working with people that want to be in business with us.
• Ancillary Costs. Hair, Make-Up, Wardrobe, Travel & Per Diem. These items can add up to $25,000 or more for each service day. These costs are also considered in the cost/value/budget equation.
•  Message Delivery. A celebrity may be attractive, fit your target demographics and have strong awareness but can they deliver for you? Advertising is easy for message delivery as it is rehearsed and taped over and over. But for PR days, the celebrity has one chance on each show to deliver a branded message. Having someone that knows how to bridge into that message is critical.
• Contractual Legal Language. Morals, indemnification, category exclusivity and other items in a contract also make celebrity’s more or less attractive to brands. There are countless legal items that need to align in every deal to make the partnership mutually beneficial.

Good luck when hiring a celebrity but don’t be fooled by a celebrity research number. It’s useful but it is just one factor in your decision.