As marketers we come across the word “influencer” too often these days.
What is celebrity marketing and what is influencer marketing? What is the difference between the two?
Celebrity Endorsement
Famous people such as singers, actors and athletes are considered celebrities. Celebrity endorsement is when a celebrity appears to support a certain product or an organization either through direct advertising and testimonials, by coming to product launch or a company event (pr) or just by wearing or using the product (sponsorship).
Celebrities are usually adored by their fans for various reasons – not only for their voice, acting or the sport they do but also for their looks, behavior, clothes they wear and the values they represent. People love them and want to be like them, look like them and act like them.
The advantage of celebrities is that they have an existing loyal and broad fan base – usually globally – and can affect a lot of people easily. This is why, celebrity endorsements work – most of the times… Yes, there are disadvantages to it as well! Celebrity endorsements have a high cost – not every brand can sponsor Angelina Jolie or Cristiano Ronaldo! In addition, by using a celebrity as the product spokesperson, brands take a risk that this person best represents their values and shares their company vision. It is often that celebrities fall into scandals – either because of alcohol and drugs abuse, sexual harassment or doping. In such case, the celebrity receives much negative publicity and the brand usually has to react by stopping any cooperation. This gives the brand negative publicity and causes it to lose the money and time it invested in the celebrity.
Influencer Marketing
In the past decade we have seen the growth of a new type of celebrity, now called “influencer”. These are people who have managed to gather a big audience and are able to influence their decision. They are usually found online – they are “Youtubers”, “Instagrammers”, “Bloggers” or in a general term “social media influencers. Influencers range in characteristics and audience depending on what they represent and what they talk about; fashion, music, dance, food, travel, motherhood, fitness, life coaching… it can be any topic. Each holds a niche market and audience on which they have a big influence.
Some celebrities have entered the social media world and are now considered influencers themselves; Taylor Swift, the Kardashians. Many have not. On the other hand, many of these influencers are just regular people who decided to post about what they love and found a big audience who were keen to follow them!
One of their advantages is that they have a very targeted audience, which they have the tools to analyse and understand. They may have a very close and even personal relationship with their audience as the engage with them on social media and even exchange messages. A second advantage is that they are creators themselves; they will promote a brand with the same creativity and style as they produce their own content. This helps the brand blend with the personality of the influencer and the reason people follow him or her, without high cost. The disadvantages of Influencer marketing is that it is a very young industry and there are no guidelines or processes.
A brand wanting to do this kind of marketing needs to contact thorough research and be selective in order to find the right influencer for its products.
Examples of Celebrity Endorsements:
Justin Bieber for Calvin Klein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq2CEInd8TM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mMS_WKfTjg
Britney Spears for Pepsi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu5dIRv9Czc
Ellen DeGeneres & Beyonce for American Express: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=eK1dRCfGEJo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5igdwjnyQjk
Ronaldo for Nike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbabVKnZ8N4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXhfwbjSovs
Examples of famous influencers
Travel Influencers Murad and Nataly Osmann for Samsung: https://www.instagram.com/muradosmann/?hl=en https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCu_vWnSBIg
Fashion Influencer Chiara Ferragni for Louis Vuitton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq-WNnd1Ygc
Food Influencer Jamie Oliver for Tefal: http://www.tefal.com/jamie-oliver
What is the best choice? If you have big budgets and want a broad audience worldwide, cooperating with a big celebrity name can result to a world-famous campaign. In this case you are in the pros! Of-course there are local celebrities which you can use for each market. It is up to you to find the most suitable.
The choice of an influencer saves your brand from high cost and adds a creative, modern and youthful touch to your marketing. Make sure you know your target audience and find the influencer that is targeting them in a style that matches your brand personality. If you manage to do that then you have a success!
Who is your favorite celebrity and which influencers do you follow? Why?
Think about how they affect your choices. They can also affect your customers!
Yours truly,
Chrystalla