The wrong celeb may kill your brand before it's lived...

With reality TV, anyone can become a celebrity - or so is the illusion given to the younger audience. In the same way, advertisers have often the illusion that celebrities make better ads. However, Ipsos ASI research has shown over 20 years of tests that celebrities often distract the audience from the actual message of the ad. To be successful, brands must find celebrities that particularly match their values, and/or regularly feature the same celebrity in their campaigns. In the UK, Sainsbury successfully featured the chef Jamie Oliver, whose values could be strongly associated to the brand. On another hand, brands can also feature celebrities in situations you would not expect them to be, as in the Nespresso ads featuring George Clooney. An alternative to using celebrities has been found by some advertisers: Making their own celebrities. Featuring a recurrent character over a series of ads helped them build a recognisable "celebrity-of-their-own", specific to their brand; rather than asking a celebrity to endorse their values, when the same celebrity already endorse a number of other brands. A recent London transports campaign choose an alternative way to put their message across; They placed youngsters as potential future celebrities and warned them to be careful taking the transports if they do not want to "die before [they]'ve lived". Similarly, when advertisers choose celebrities for their campaigns, they should be certain the celebrity won't kill their message before it had a chance to live.