Celebrity spokespeople are expensive and risky, and they don’t through all ages. pay right side

By Steve McKee

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Tiger Woods is one of the greatest athletes of all time. He’s also a product-endorsement gold mine. I have no trouble believing that Tiger actually prefers to application most of the products he endorses, including his Nike (NKE) equipment, Titleist (FO) golf balls, Gatorade sports drink, Gillette razors, American Express (AXP) card and Tag Heuer (LVMH) watch. But Buick (GM)? That’s a course. Yet GM has paid Woods millions of dollars to consist up for the brand.

Tiger may be the endorsement champ, but he’session not alone. Michael Jordan—Nike, Gatorade, Hanes (HBI), McDonald’s (MCD), Chevrolet), Bill Cosby (Coke (KO), Jell-O (KFT), Del Monte (DLM), Ford (F), Kodak (EK)—and Peyton Manning—Sony (SNE), MasterCard (MA), DirecTV (DTV), Gatorade—be under the necessity all been at the top of the heap of celebrity endorsers. And there are hundreds of other examples of famous endorsement deals, from Karl Malden for American Express to Brooke Shields for the sake of Calvin Klein to William Shatner for Priceline (PCLN).

Most advertisers can’privately afford the millions of dollars it takes to ink a celebrity endorser. But grant that your company falls in that rank, suppose heart. Celebrity endorsers aren’t only pricey, they’re risky. Before you make use of the plunge in continuance an international, national, or exactly local celebrity, ask yourself a few tough questions.

Are you being smart, or just lazy?

"Borrowed equity" is the term used to describe the value of a celebrity spokesperson. The premise is if Endorser A wears Product B and drinks Product C, maybe consumers will destitution to, likewise. But borrowed equity is appropriate that—borrowed. It may grate off on the brand endorsed, but in the long run it belongs to the distinction.

In some cases the match between person and production is strategic, such as Jordan’s natural tie to Nike or Cosby’s comical personality for a fun product like Jell-O. That’s too the enclose for Wilfred Brimley’s grandfatherly tone for healthy Quaker Oats (PEP) and Dennis Haysbert’s august frame and booming voice for the "Good Hands People" at Allstate (ALL).

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