Last month saw Ellie Goulding launch her first ever collection of shoes, in partnership with Europe’s biggest shoe retailer, Deichmann.
The star-studded fashion show and launch event took place in East London, with Richmond & Towers managing the UK element of the Europe-wide launch and securing some fantastic media attendance and coverage for the collaboration.
In light of the success of the launch and the positive response from media to the collection, we look at how to choose the right celebrity ambassador or partner for your brand.
The Right Fit
When it comes to working with a celebrity ambassador it’s important to do your research. Aligning a brand to an individual is a big step and one that should not be undertaken without proper investigation into the individual and various aspects of their lives (career, interests and social habits etc.).
Is this individual (or indeed group of individuals) aligned to the brand’s core values and will their star power help augment it in a way that is authentic, believable and attractive to your target consumer
For example, if the brand messaging is aspirational or health focused, choosing a celebrity who is constantly photographed either with a drink in their hand or falling out of a club, won’t work.
In addition to the product or service that you would like to promote, it’s important to think of them as an ambassador for the brand and business as a whole. Do their values align to that of your company?
Detailed research and bigger picture thinking may even serve to provide the brand with additional touch points with the individual and in turn, a more authentic partnership.
Who is your target consumer and how do they communicate?
As a brand or company, you need to know who your target consumer is and how they communicate. Are they massively influenced by social media (more likely than not this is true), what TV shows do they watch and do they listen to radio? Which websites and blogs are they visiting the most? Are they still reading newspapers, and what magazines are they influenced by?
Understanding how your target customer digests content will ensure the brand selects an ambassador that appeals and communicates directly to its target market of consumers.
Brands like to work with celebrities to appeal to their audiences. Increasingly, that means the celebrity should also have a massive, passionate following on social media.
Personification is key
The best celebrity endorsement or partnership will come from an organic ormutual appreciation for the service, product, brand or company. A good place to start is to look at who the brand’s biggest celebrity fans are and look to establish or indeed grow this relationship.
If the brand has not yet acquired this following and is seeking to strike up this type of relationship with a potential celebrity ambassador, it’s important to get your product in their hands or have them experience the service or brand first-hand.
This allows the celebrity buy into the brand and a become an advocate, long before the official (and legal) elements of the partnership come to light.
Without getting these elements right, the partnership will likely fall short of delivering ROI on the often huge sums required to secure a celebrity ambassador for a brand.
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