There have been different marketing and advertising methods tried by brands to grow their audience and sales over time, but one proven strategy is celebrity endorsements. This method is basically a collaboration between brands and celebrities and has benefits for both sides.
But what are celebrity brand endorsements and how do they work? In this article, we will take a look at some of the best advertisement examples between brands and celebrities to help you get inspired.
What Is Celebrity Endorsement?
With the rise of social media influencers and celebrities across different niches, a new method of business advertising as celebrity endorsement was born. Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is when a recognizable and well-loved person collaborates with a brand to promote a product or service.
This connection often leads to increased brand awareness, credibility, and, most importantly, sales.
What Makes Celebrity Endorsements Effective in Advertising?
The first question anyone might have is about how effective celebrity endorsements can be in advertising. When brands choose celebrities for collaborations, they do it for several obvious reasons. The top reason is to quickly increase their sales while also building long-term brand awareness, effectively achieving two goals at once.
While brands use celebrity endorsements to increase brand awareness and sales, they are also targeting their brand visibility. This means they can make a great impact by introducing their products, market, and overall brand to their target audience.
Moreover, it is also a very powerful way to stay ahead of competitors and stand out in your targeted marketplace.
Different Types of Celebrity Endorsements
There are different ways to involve celebrities in promoting a brand or product, such as using them in advertisements, having them appear at events, or collaborating on social media.
Now let’s take a closer look at the types of celebrity endorsements your brand or product can use.
- Brand Ambassadors: Brands usually use celebrities as their spokespersons, often calling them ambassadors professionally. Celebrities attract attention by representing brands at events and speaking to the media.
- Celebrity-Branded Product Lines: Sometimes, brands put a celebrity’s name or face directly on their product. For example, the Beats brand collaborated with Kim Kardashian to release a collection of headphones featuring her name and image.
- Appearances in Live Events: Brands often collaborate with celebrities to participate in their events, allowing them to present products alongside these stars. Alongside celebrities, brands also collaborate with influencers at these events.
- Celebrity Ads and Commercials: TV ads, banners, or videos on social media platforms like YouTube often show a brand’s products with a celebrity’s image. That is another form of celebrity endorsement that actually works well for brands.
However, keep in mind that celebrity endorsements require a lot of money for a brand, and if you’re a startup, celebrity collaborations might not be the best option. Instead, you could consider collaborations with influencers. Wondering how?
With influencer marketing platforms like Ainfluencer, you can have access to thousands of influencers from all over the globe. From micro to mega influencers, Ainfluencer will connect them to your brand based on your budget, and that will cost your brand no fees. If you want to know more, join Ainfluencer and create your campaign.
How to Make the Most of Your Celebrity Endorsement?
Now that you know how important it is to understand the different types of celebrity endorsements, you should also know how you can make the most of the deal. After all, you’re paying that celebrity and want the collaboration to work out according to your expectations.
This is the list of the best ways with additional explanations to get the most out of your celebrity endorsement:
- Follow Your Chosen Celebrity: While you don’t have to follow your celebrity closely, it might be a great idea to keep an eye on their actions to make sure they align with your brand’s values. Include a clause and a unique section in the contract to handle any potential issues.
- Pay Attention to the Legal Details: Legal details will always set the celebrity endorsements apart from any marketing campaigns. You’ll need to take care of very complex contracts, agents, and work with anyone involved with that celebrity. It’s important to have your legal team engaged, and you might also want to hire outside experts who have experience with celebrity projects.
- Begin as a Long-Term Commitment: It’s a great idea to think of celebrity endorsements as a long-term strategy. Building a connection between the celebrity and your brand takes time, as people need to associate the celebrity with your brand and products. This is especially true when you aim to reach new audiences or change brand perception.
- Measure Your Success: Measuring the success of your marketing campaign can be quite hard, but it’s important to look at its impact on your brand and sales. Try to run your campaign separately from other major promotions to better track its performance and measure the share of voice along with your return on investment.
What Could Go Wrong with Using Celebrities in Ads?
There are certain risks in celebrity branding that are important to understand. Some of these risks can be avoided by collaborating with the right celebrity for your brand, while others are beyond your control and may need you to end the partnership.
- Too Much Exposure: Some celebrities want to work with different brands at the same time. This can harm the reputation of both the celebrity and the brands in the public’s eyes. Avoid partnering with celebrities who promote competing brands or those that don’t share your company’s values.
- Outshining: If the celebrity you are working with is more popular than your brand or if your ad focuses too much on them instead of the product, your campaign won’t work well. Remember, your brand should be the main focus, with the celebrity just supporting it.
- Brand Reputation Risk: People might love celebrity scandals, but brands certainly do not. When a celebrity has scandals involving sexual activities, drugs, or bad behavior, it can destroy a brand’s image. It’s important to do a background check on the celebrity to ensure they don’t have a history of unacceptable behavior, as changes in their popularity can also impact your brand.
Top 17 Celebrity Endorsement Examples
To help you know how celebrity endorsements work, we provide a list of top partnerships of all time. Let’s check each one to get inspired for your brand.
1. Travis Scott & McDonald’s
If you are a fan of rap music, you definitely know Travis Scott. In September 2020, this American rapper collaborated with Mc. Donals to add a new meal on their menu called ‘The Travis Scott’. his meal includes the Travis Scott Burger, medium fries with BBQ sauce, and a medium Sprite.
It was the first time that Mc. Donald worked with a celebrity and soon after, this meal became one of the bestselling menu items. Forbes estimated that Travis earned approximately $20 million through this collaboration, making it one of the most successful celebrity endorsements.
However, McDonald’s does not offer this combination of items as a $6.00 meal, but each item is still on the menu, so you can order them to enjoy a great meal.
2. Snoop Dogg & Corona
In an influencer marketing campaign in August 2020, Snoop Dogg partnered with Corona to promote their beers. The campaign includes a 30-second commercial video that begins with a beach scene resembling Snoop’s popular spots for Corona Beer.
This rapper earned around £10 million for this famous celebrity endorsement. But that’s not all! This commercial made him even more famous than before and his social media followers increased.
It seems Snoop Dogg is giving up his beachside seat to hand it over to another star. Corona decided to choose a new star for their leading campaign in 2024. They will be presenting a new campaign featuring Pedro Pascal, the star of The Last of Us.
3. Louis Vuitton & Rihanna
In one of the best examples of celebrity endorsements, we can see Rihanna becoming the face of Louis Vuitton on June 26, 2023. At this event in Paris, pregnant Rihanna appeared while holding Louis Vuitton Speedy bags. This campaign was to promote these new luxury bags that are produced with new leather and design. Rihanna’s presence brought a lot of attention to this campaign and Louis Vitton’s bags.
Right now, Blackpink star Lisa is the new face of Louis Vuitton. With her fame growing every day, Lisa has represented many brands, and now she’s taking on leading roles with luxury brand names like Louis Vuitton.
4. Chanel & Timothée Chalamet
In 2023, Chanel announced that Timothee Chalamet is the ambassador of its new men’s fragrance, Bleu de Chanel. Timothee brings a new style in the fashion industry which made him get noticed by famous brands and ask him to become their models.
The official celebrity brand endorsements campaign was captured by famous photographer, Mario Sorrenti. Timothee shared the photoshoots on his Instagram page with the Instagram collaboration tag and the brand’s iconic logo. This collaboration helped a significant growth in fragrance sales, which is expected to reach $19.6 billion by 2025.
While most people think actors like Timothée Chalamet make most of their money from movies, that’s not always true. Stars like him use their fame from films to have major brand deals. At 28, Chalamet earned $35 million to promote Bleu de Chanel, more than he’s made from all his movies.
5. Ryan Reynolds & Mint Mobile
Known for his role in the “Deadpool” movies, Ryan Reynolds is a famous face for everyone. This star started partnering with Mint Mobile and in 2019, he officially became the owner of this company. According to Tech Crunch, during his collaboration time, the brand’s revenue has been boosted by 50,000%.
6. Nike & Michael Jordan
When it comes to Nike celebrity endorsements, the first name that comes to everyone’s mind is Michael Jordan. In 1984, this basketball star signed a five-year, US$2.5 million deal with Nike which was the starting point of their collaboration. In this collaboration, Nike launched a new shoe line, Air Jordans, which now has more than 33 editions. Till now, Jordan shoes are the second best-selling sneakers in the USA.
With a fresh growing range of product editions and key collaborations, the Jordan team has transformed the Jumpman logo into a true sneaker icon that lives up to Michael Jordan’s legacy.
7. SKIMS And Kim Kardashian
The next example is one of the biggest celebrity brand endorsements of all time. Kim Kardashian’s partnership with SKIMS was a huge success, and it’s no wonder it’s her most successful business venture. She really became the face of the brand and helped SKIMS establish a strong customer base through her social media and fashion industry influence.
What’s even more impressive is that she shares the same values as the brand, which is all about body positivity. It’s no wonder SKIMS is so popular among a wide range of customers.
Another thing you should know is that Skims was co-founded by Kim herself, which explains why her brand has been so successful. Emma Grede and her spouse, Jens Grede were also alongside Kim when the brand was launched, and they are co-founders as well.
8. Tampax And Amy Schumer
To help bring attention to the lack of knowledge surrounding periods and tampons, Tampax collaborated with a famous comedian and actress, Amy Schumer. Through their #TimeToTampax campaign, this brand was able to educate the public about these important topics such as making the tampon-using experience more positive.
This campaign was one of the best advertisements that use celebrity endorsements which focused on increasing awareness around a topic.
9. Versace And Dua Lipa
To design their latest collection, ‘La Vacanza’, Donatella Versace has recently collaborated with Dua Lipa as their co-designer. This star has been a friend of this house for years and has worn their dresses at different events and red carpets.
In this collaboration, Versace used the power and influence of Dua Lipa to combine fashion and the music industry. Her influence added credibility to their collection and made it one of the most successful celebrity endorsements.
She’s almost become the lead face of Versace, acting as an ambassador, appearing in multiple campaigns, and often showcasing the brand’s styles on the red carpet, including iconic vintage pieces. Versace mostly dresses Dua for the Grammy red carpet awards.
10. Under Armour And Steph Curry
Another good example of celebrity endorsements is Under Armour’s partnership with Steph Curry. In this collaboration, Curry designed his basketball shoe line which led to major sales for the brand. On the other hand, this athlete star gets stock options from the company, tethering his success to the company’s.
Curry is expanding his sportswear line with Under Armour, which includes everything from shoes to clothing. In 2024, he extended his contract with the company and took on the role of president of the Curry Brand.
11. David Beckham And Adidas
Over the past years, Adidas has collaborated with many popular faces but without any doubt, one of the most famous Adidas celebrity endorsements is their partnership with David Beckham. It’s interesting to note that he frequently showcases the Adidas logo in his Instagram posts showing he also benefits from the profits of their campaigns.
Beckham might be a retired football star, but Adidas still values his name. That’s why Adidas continues to pay him for the benefit, 11 years after he last walked off the pitch as a professional player.
12. Coca-Cola & Selena Gomez
Want to know what’s the most liked image on Instagram? It’s no surprise that the photo is shared by the most-followed star on Instagram, Selena Gomez. But did you know it’s actually a sponsored post? In fact, it’s one of the best Coca-Cola celebrity endorsements of all time. This photo is a part of the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign and brought a lot of attention to the company.
Thanks to Selena’s popularity, Coca-Cola selected her as a spokesperson in 1989. Her appearance in Coke ads was an unforgettable moment in marketing, as it was one of the first times a brand focused on reaching a specific audience.
13. Pepsi & Beyonce
One of the longest relationships that last more than a decade belongs to Pepsi celebrity endorsements. In 2012, Beyoncé was signed by PepsiCo to be their brand ambassador in a multi-faceted branding deal. This brand deal with Pepsi was estimated to be worth $50 million, which is one of the highest-paid endorsement deals till now.
Beyoncé featured in several ads, including after her eagerly awaited Super Bowl halftime shows, and her image appeared on a limited-edition line of soda cans. Apparently, Beyoncé’s time with Pepsi has ended, and they will move on to feature other faces for the brand.
14. Apple And Dwayne Johnson
Who would miss a chance to have the Fast and Furious star in their campaign? One of Hollywood’s most popular actors, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, has collaborated with Apple’s Siri voice assistant for a new advertisement that was released in 2016. This partnership was one of the first Apple celebrity endorsements which was a win for both sides.
15. Intimissimi and Jennifer Lopez
JLO is one of the most popular singers on Instagram and branding through her can attract a lot of new customers. She has collaborated with Intimissimi which was very successful. She wore some hot Intimissimi’s lingeries and attracted a lot of eyes to the brand.
During this campaign, Jenifer Lopes does modeling for the brand from time to time and many of the photos have gone viral. Therefore, even if the potential customers have never heard about Intimissimi, they’ll see a familiar face like JLO and immediately give credit to the brand. And that’s the power of celebrity endorsement.
16. Playology and Jon Lovitz
Jon Lovitz, known for SNL and A League of Their Own, is an incredible American actor and comedian. In 2020, he promoted a product for older dogs that turned out to be such a successful approach. In that ad, Jon talks about why puppies should get the good stuff because they are more adorable than adult dogs.
Then he introduces a dog toy bone shape called Playology that comes in different tastes and sizes for older dogs. Many would assume he is a puppy hater, but in fact, he is just playing his role in an ad. Don’t miss the hashtag #jonlovitzhatespuppies!
17. Uber Eats and Patrick Stewart vs. Mark Hamill
Last but not least, let’s talk about the final celebrity endorsement example featuring two Hollywood icons, Mark Hamill and Patrick Stewart.
Uber did a great job with their 2020 campaign called UberEats. They brought together some famous competitive stuff in one ad: Star Wars vs. Star Trek, Tom-ay-to vs. Tom-ah-to, and American dishes vs. British dishes all played by those two icons.
The campaign featured British actor Patrick Stewart from Star Trek and American actor Mark Hamill from Star Wars. As they argue their points, Uber shows up with their food in no time. This means UberEats is the fastest delivering meals to everyone.
How To Find Celebrities To Work With?
Collaborating with celebrities can effectively grow your brand, but it’s no secret that it often costs so much. Many businesses, especially smaller ones, can not afford this price tag. However, there are alternative strategies that can be just as effective, if not more so, depending on your budget.
One approach is to find influencers in your niche and run sponsorships. Depending on your budget, you can find influencers of different sizes and engagement levels who can promote your brand to their targeted audience. But how to find influencers that match your budget and niche? That’s where Ainfluencer can help you.
Ainfluencer is a free influencer marketing platform that connects brands and influencers across different industries. No matter what niche you are in and what type of influencer you are looking for, you can definitely find your answer on this platform. With more than 500,000 active creators across Instagram and TikTok, Ainfluencer can cover every business need.
To help you find your best collaboration match, Ainfluencer provides a free AI-powered search tool with more than 20 filtering criteria (based on hashtags, location, niche, followers count, budget, etc.). This way, you can find and invite influencers in a couple of minutes.
Conclusion
Celebrity endorsements are powerful tools in the world of marketing and advertising. With this type of collaboration, brands can use the power and influence of celebrities to grow their customers and increase brand awareness. In this article, we showed you how to get celebrity endorsements by reviewing some top examples. And we didn’t stop there; before talking about celebrity endorsements examples, we did cover the benefits, different types of celebrity ads, and the possible problems that could happen. We have explained them all to you in this article.
FAQs
Brands use celebrity endorsements because they can help create awareness, trust, and credibility around their products or services. Celebrities have established fan bases and can influence consumer behavior positively, leading to increased sales and brand recognition.
Brands may choose from various types of celebrities, including actors, musicians, athletes, social media influencers, and public figures. The choice of celebrity often depends on the target audience and the brand’s values.
Celebrities often use platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to promote products or services, reaching millions of followers instantly. This direct and interactive approach can enhance the effectiveness of endorsements.
Success can be measured through various metrics, including increased sales, brand awareness, website traffic, social media engagement, and consumer surveys. Key performance indicators (KPIs) should align with the campaign’s objectives to gauge its impact accurately.
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