Making Sure the Celebrity Will Be the Right Fit for Your Audience

Chapter 2 of 14Initially, it seemed a good decision. Once we looked
Making sure the Celebrity will be the right fit for yourat the market a little closer it became apparent that
audience.this product was aimed at people 55 and older
One of the biggest mistakes made when(although it has applications for all ages). After much
contemplating the use of a celebrity endorser isthought we have decided to use a retired HOF
choosing a celebrity that does not complement yourbaseball player for a number of reasons. First, he is
business or product well. For example, sticking avery recognizable, believable, squeaky clean,
retired baseball player into a kids video about baseballattractive, provides his own brand awareness, and
could be a sure failure. Kids don't recognize playersmost importantly, can relate to getting older and
from the past. If, however, the target marketexperiencing pain. He is a satisfied user of the
audience of the video was the kids father (whoproduct and therefore can tell his story on a very
would be considered a baby boomer) then using asincere level, one that the over 55 group can relate
retired player might make a lot of sense. Using ato, as they remember him being one of the top
retired player offers a very distinct advantage whenplayers in the 70's and 80's. We have a perfect fit
it comes to the financial side of the equation.for a product that is very targeted. By choosing the
However, while choosing a player from yesterdaybaseball player over the NASCAR driver, we have a
can cost a lot less money there is also thebroader audience. A lot of over 55 individuals do not
significantly higher risk of the kid not knowing whofollow NASCAR but most have followed baseball.
the player is and not caring about the video. AlongNASCAR is a relatively new sport and thus its
with the reward comes the risk of this type offollowing tends to be of a younger age. In this
endorser not being able to make inroads because ofparticular deal we also did something very compelling
lack of a name brand or little current recognition.for both the athlete and the company. Most of his
When making your final selection, always weigh incompensation is tied to the actual sales of the
heavily on the specific demographic of the end user.product. With this arrangement, we insure that we
While the buyer may seem like the initial target, thehave the undivided attention of the athlete
end user might ultimately decide the fate of thethroughout the contract. A proactive athlete helps to
product. Make sure you do your homework andsell himself and the product and is extremely
know who your market is.motivated to go the extra mile to make sure they
Currently, we are working on a major pain reliefbecome a household name. In fact, we have already
spray project with a public company on the Eastseen huge dividends in the form of athlete contacts.
Coast. They had originally decided that they wereThis would not happen if we had not signed him to a
going to use a one year retired NASCAR driver.performance based royalty payment schedule.