There are a couple of ways you can use celebrities and other recognised figures in your marketing without having to pay them.
Firstly, if you’ve learned something from them, or they’ve inspired you in some way, or there is some lesson that you can draw from their actions (could be positive or negative…think Charlie Sheen of late)…
…then it’s OK to mention that. And the benefit to you is that when you mention their name, you’re more likely to attract attention.
Example, something like…
“What I Learned About Marketing From Barack Obama.”
Secondly, if a celebrity or authority figure is on record as saying something related to your product or service that can be interpreted as being supportive of that product or service in general, then again you can use that. You need to be careful with this…you can’t say they endorse your specific product or service (unless they actually do, of course).
Now, I see that chocolate maker Cadbury has landed themselves in hot water over an ad where they make reference to celebrity and fashion model Naomi Campbell…
“Cadbury Apologises Over Naomi Campbell Advert”.
The offending line was…
“Move over Naomi, there’s a new diva in town.”
Couple of things…
In the current crazy PC climate, if you’re a big public company you need to tread carefully. The ad has been construed to be racist in comparing Campbell to a chocolate bar. Cadbury claims that the campaign itself is “a light-hearted take on the social pretensions of Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss”.
Well, maybe. But humour is a tricky thing and in today’s world you have to assume that anything even remotely on the wrong side of the PC code is going to offend somebody.
If you can handle that, fine. Cadbury’s can’t and they’ve come out with a groveling apology.
Something else…
…why pick Campbell as the diva? Unless I’m missing something she is well past her peak fame and more known these days for obnoxious behaviour rather than triumphs in the fashion world.
Seems an odd choice to me.
Anyway, the message is that you can land in hot water if you don’t take care when using celebrities in your marketing. Cadbury have been rather clumsy, to put it mildly.