Came across this ad in the weekend papers and was struck by the clever way they had attached a “Celebrity Endorsement” to their version of the classic Harrington Jacket…
…and presumably without having to pay a penny for it!
Who knew that those style icons Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Steve McQueen all loved “this” jacket?
Now, in our celebrity-obsessed culture, having a suitable endorsement can give a big boost to your marketing as I have written about before in this post…
“Celebrities And Direct Response Marketing”
Now, although some celebrity endorsements can be surprisingly inexpensive…
…there is still a cost involved along with all the time and effort to make the arrangements.
So this clever little ploy could prove very useful.
In a way it’s a variation on…
…using quotes from a celebrity or public figure to support your case. They may not be endorsing your product or service directly, but by supporting in some way the purpose the effect is that you gain some extra credibility.
Or, another variation in an ad I noticed recently online…
‘Warren Buffet Indicator’ Signals Collapse in Stock…
Here, it’s suggested a respected authority knows something you need to know as well. As an aside, note the use of the ellipsis and the incomplete sentence to provoke curiosity and to continue on!
Back to our example involving the Harrington Jacket, where there’s an implied formula to using this idea.
STEP 1: First, be very clear on WHO your target audience is. In this case, from the picture in the ad and the media where the ad was placed (the UK Telegraph) we can be pretty sure that it’s affluent men older than 50
STEP 2: Identify celebrities or other famous figures who your target audience admires and respects. In this case, we can see that the advertiser has selected three figures who each have a slightly different appeal to our target audience. Within that broad audience each of the figures will likely appeal to a slightly different age group
STEP 3: From that initial group of famous figures, find some sort of connection to your product of service that can be used to create the “endorsement”.
Of course, that final step may involve a lot of digging and probably most of the figures you select in the first place will not have any connection at all that you can use. This is where having a deep knowledge of your market can come in handy.
And if right now there doesn’t appear to be any way to use this idea…
…it’s worth keeping in mind and looking out for little snippets of information and factoids you can file out for possible future use.
So there you have it, a simple formula to create your own celebrity endorsements…all without having to pay a penny.