The Beautiful Game Plan: Lessons in Advertising with Soccer Celebrities

This summer, the world's top soccer players will gather in South Africa to compete in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is an international event filled with raw emotion, superstar power and advertising opportunity. But what do you need to know to link all three together for one knockout brand building campaign?

It is a very common advertising strategy to sign up big named sports personalities to tie the brand into the event. It is a logical conclusion that while millions watch and cheer on their favorite teams and player, they'll be more inclined to notice ads which feature said sport celebrities. But how effective is it as a strategy?

Ipsos ASI probed that very question. Four years ago, our researchers took a look at the advertising surrounding the previous FIFA World Cup, hosted in 2006 by Germany. In comparing, measuring, and analyzing eight ad campaigns from eight different brands - all featuring soccer celebrities - we've gathered some key lessons for advertisers interested in building and supporting their brands through event-specific celebrity advertising.

Advertising Success

Before we get into what we learned, let's review a few basics on what defines advertising success. Advertising is most successful when it meets two key objectives.

First and foremost, advertising must be persuasive. That is, it must affect a change in behavior. This is a short-term effect, but it is a call to action, inspiring the consumer to go out and buy the product or service advertised.

Secondly, advertising must build brand equity. This requires changing or building an attitude toward the brand. Equity is mainly built upon consumer perceptions of the brand, so this objective has a long-term effect.

How do you measure change? Change is the effect of the ad. We compare consumers which are exposed to the ad versus those not exposed. In such a case, the only difference is the ad, so we measure the difference the ad makes in both behavior and attitude.

This is what Ipsos ASI measures in all our solutions. Our belief is that measuring change means measuring response, thus a measurement of the effect of your ad.

The Soccer Star

With our measure of eight advertisements for eight brands featuring ten soccer stars, a few lessons become abundantly clear.

The first lesson? It is more difficult to advertise successfully with celebrities than without. Yes! Advertising with soccer celebrities does not outperform advertising that does not include soccer celebrities. But that does not necessarily mean it will out perform all other advertising.

Ads featuring soccer celebrities achieve a higher Visibility for their brands than other celebrities, but in general, their performance on Brand Linkage and Persuasion to drive sales is only average.

That is not to say the idea is a complete miss. When compared to all other ads, those that feature soccer celebrities do offer certain strengths - but they come with weaknesses. They offer strong performance on Reach and Visibility, medium performance on Brand Linkage, but when it comes to Persuasion, the results are weak.

Featuring soccer celebrities in your ads will give you an advantage in standing out amongst the crowd, but they are not guaranteed to drive sales.

An Emotional Game

Sport elicits tremendous emotional response. And even if you know little about the game of soccer, you definitely know about the passions it ignites amongst Europeans and Latin Americans.

The same holds true in advertising. The potential of the celebrity to create emotions is relevant for the success of the ad. If you have a soccer celebrity who stirs up negative emotions, it is going to be difficult to create an ad that triggers positive emotions. But a celebrity with a much more positive image is going to create better opportunities for creating ads that elicit a positive reaction.

But You Can Win!

While it is difficult and at times risky to create successful advertising campaigns using celebrities, it is possible. You just need to find mix and build a good strategy.

All celebrity ads need strong players. The first key is selecting a good celebrity that elicits a positive emotional response and comes with a high degree of credibility.

The second key is creating a convincing strategy and story around your brand. Your message needs to be believable, relevant to your target audience, and be different than all the other ads out there.

The third key is a creative execution and a well-told story. But the story must serve the needs of your brand. The celebrity is there to draw attention to the ad, increase visibility, and support the brand, but ultimately, your brand must be the hero of the story.

And don't forget...harness the power of emotions! The millions of global viewers watching the matches are emotionally invested. You need to make sure your advertising capitalizes on the excitement, energy and passion of the moment.

Two Halves Make a Match

Advertising is a bit like a soccer match. Each soccer match has two halves; in advertising, the two halves are Reach and Response.

To achieve a strong Reach for your ad, kick it off with a high profile celebrity in a good execution to lend high Visibility to your ad. Then score big by making your brand the star of the ad, ensuring high Brand Linkage.

Then in the second half, elicit a strong Response with a solid message that is believable, relevant and different. And round it out by eliciting positive emotions that leave your audience feeling good about your brand.

And just like in soccer, advertising has winners and losers. With a sound game plan, a strong team, and good research, your advertising can be a champion.