celebrity rumors | Celebrity Product Placement: A Primer

Celebrity Product Placement: A Primer

Product Seeding is the oldest form of Celebrity Product Placement. Products are distributed more widely. They can be aimed at celebrities who are most compelling to your demographic. And they can be delivered directly to the celebrity without the filters imposed by events. Of course, working with a specialist who can get your product directly to celebrities becomes paramount here. Film and television product placement agencies are NOT set up for this practice.

Taken by itself, Product Seeding is a gamble. If you send enough freebies to Hollywood but you don’t have a creative strategy, a celebrity might be photographed using your product or evangelizing it on a talk show. But if one looks at Product Seeding as one tactic in a larger Celebrity Product Placement effort, it can pay big dividends – particularly in identifying celebrities who have a true affinity for your product.

Energy Brands, makers of the Glaceau Vitamin Water line, discovered this in 2004. As a result of its long-time strategy to “home deliver” the vitamin-enhanced drink to celebrities (including Sean “Puffy” Combs and Tom Cruise), the company gained a fan in 50 Cent. Having mentioned his preference for the product in a series of interviews, the Hip Hop star – who is well known for his fitness-centered lifestyle -became an obvious choice for brand spokesperson.

Speaking to Ad Age magazine, Energy Brands’ VP of marketing, Rohan Oza, said “We’ve seen that when 50 Cent incorporates [Vitamin Water] into his daily routine… the brand gets on the airwaves and we create a lot of trial.” Making vitamin water a visible part of the rapper’s healthy lifestyle worked so well the company launched a new “Formula 50″ variety named for the artist.

Such “organic” relationships can grow from Product Seeding. Not only can marketers benefit from press mentions, but the process can be used to uncover promotional opportunities and, in some cases, identify the most ideal product endorsers.

Product Seeding remains a gamble but, if executed properly, one well worth taking. Relatively speaking, it is a very low-cost marketing program. And the return on investment – though difficult to forecast compared to barter relationships discussed below – can be big. But what if your goal is limited to getting press mentions? Can a publicist hedge his or her bets in this category?

One of the great things about Product Seeding is how creative you can get. For Trident White chewing gum, the company commissioned a Harris poll asking the public to vote on the best “celebrity smiles.” My company, which specializes in celebrity product placement, delivered gift baskets of the product to the Top 6 winners, allowing Trident to plug the celebrities in their press materials.

On another occasion, Electrolux – maker of a new high-end, super-quiet vacuum cleaner – wanted to align their product with celebrities. We identified 6 celebrity moms who had recently given birth and – touting the fact that these vacuums would not wake a sleeping baby – made gifts of the product to each. Here again, the company was able to use celebrities to draw press coverage for its product. And they were able to reference these celebrities because they were stating facts (a gift was made to…).

But what if you want tighter integration with celebrities? Suppose you need to forecast a return on investment in order to get approval for a Celebrity Product Placement campaign? And what if you want celebrities to provide feedback about your product and authorize use of their names and likenesses as part of your press campaign?

BARTER RELATIONSHIPS

Barter is, perhaps, the only way to guarantee performance on the part of the celebrity. Unlike other forms of gifting, this is a quid pro quo relationship whereby the celebrity agrees in advance to participate in the marketer’s promotional activities – in exchange for valuable product.

Tags: Academy Award, Academy Awards, Add new tag, Alyssa Milano, Arnold Schwarzenegger, artist, brand spokesperson, Business, Celebrity, celebrity product, cent, Charlotte, Christian Tse, Christmas, Communication design, consumer electronics, consumer products, Dennis Hopper, digital camera, digital imaging, digital imaging products, eBay Inc, Electrolux AB, energy, Energy Brands, Energy Brands Inc, Entertainment/Culture, Eric McCormack, feedback about your product, free advertising, Glaceau Vitamin Water, Graphic design, Harris Corporation, Human Interest, Jonathan Holiff, Josiah Wedgwood, Los Angeles, M&A, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, media attention, Nikon D70 Body Only Digital Camera, Product placement, Promotional item, public relations campaigns, Queen, rapper, retail value, Rohan Oza, Sales promotion, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Sony Corporation, spokesperson, Sprint Nextel Corporation, Sprint PCS Vision Digital Camera, Testimonial, The Hollywood-Madison Group, the Oscars, to each: free products, Tom Cruise, Tse, United Kingdom, USD, VP of marketing

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6