Celebrities are all people we know. Because of this, celebrities have names that are brands. John Wayne. Judy Garland. Elizabeth Taylor. Some celebrities are so brand name that they can get by with one name like Cher, Bono or Maxwell. The value of celebrity endorsements is that they are lending their brand to another in a kind of co-branding. As in, you like Madonna, you know she’s a fashionista so you should like Versace too. For celebrities they get to promote a product while promoting themselves simultaneously. That's a marketing win-win, unless the product or quality of advertisement takes down the celebrity value a notch.
Tiger Woods Endorsements
Most recently and famously, Tiger Woods has lost endorsement deals with AT&T, Accenture and Gillette. While Tiger Woods is to lose many millions of dollars, it is estimated that the overall damage due to the scandal could be as high as $12 billion. Wow! It’s like Tiger Woods’ infidelities have single-handedly taken the economy down a notch.
Who Are the Celebrity Spokespeople?
Gwyneth Paltrow has had a contract with Estee Lauder since 2005 that is no doubt probably worth several million dollars. Paltrow specifically appears in print ads and on television as the face of Pleasures fragrance by Estee Lauder. There are many fragrances that bear celebrity names such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Usher and Victoria Beckham. Catherine Zeta-Jones is the spokeswoman for T-Mobile and appears in print ads for Elizabeth Arden's fragrance, Red Door. Scarlett Johansson is ad girl for the Dolce & Gabana fragrance, The One.
Ellen DeGeneres appears in ads for Cover Girl.
Clooney, Wills, Zeta-Jones
Luke Wilson as a lower-tier celebrity is probably getting a great salary from AT&T to spear as their spokesman in television ads. For lesser celebs like Luke Wilson there is definitely the added bonus of more exposure as a good investment in his own celebrity brand name. George Clooney no doubt makes a pretty penny from appearing in television ads for Nescafe Nespresso. Bruce Willis advertises for Belvedere’s Sobieski vodka.
Jenny Craig
Jason Alexander (George Constanza of Seinfeld fame) is the new celebrity spokesperson for diet company Jenny Craig. Alexander has pledged to lose between 30 and 40 pounds on the Jenny Craig diet. Jenny Craig is a great proponent of the celebrity spokesperson and has used people like Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli to sell their diet product.
Clairol & Pistachios
Clairol Nice ‘n Easy hair coloring has also used celebrities to sell their product including Teri Hatcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Cindy Crawford. The current L'Oreal celebrity models include Andie MacDowell and Linda Evangelista. Levi Johnston who is a lowest-tier celebrity, the former fiancée of Sarah Palin’s daughter, has appeared on television commercial fro Wonderful Pistachios. Christopher Knight (Peter from The Brady Bunch) and America’s Next Top Model Adrianne Curry also appear on tv for Wonderful Pistachios.
