Business Blogs: Trends, tips, and real-life anecdotes from industry experts.

Previous: Is Your Web Site Playing This Song?

Celebrity Product Placement: The Do’s and Don’ts

Written by: Heather Schuck October 19th, 2009
          0 votes
Hollywood Sign

As the “royalty” status of Hollywood stars has risen, so has their effectiveness as key influencers in consumer purchasing behaviors. Celebrity product placement is considered an “influencer-marketing” approach for helping brands increase their competiveness in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Marketers and small business owners can harness that power through strategic product placement opportunities that have proven to garner national attention from the media, significantly increase sales, and provide additional revenue streams such as co-branded merchandise or licensing endorsements. I can vouch for this phenomenon from my personal experiences with marketing Glamajama. Many of our high profile media features and retailer relationships resulted soon after word of these much coveted celebrity sightings spread.

One of the great things about celebrity product placement or “product seeding” is that it is a relatively inexpensive strategy that can be implemented by anyone regardless of their company’s size. It doesn’t matter how big or small your brand is. The playing field is even. That being said, there are certainly do’s and don’ts for helping ensuring your efforts are effective.

Do’s:

  • Make sure your pitch is on target: Always research to make sure you are pitching the right celebrity, the right product, and at the right time. For example, if you sell jewelry with birthstone gems search for celebrities that have worn similarly styled jewelry, have an upcoming birthday, and gift them jewelry with their birthstone. Include a personal message explaining the significance of the stone and why you selected it for them. Establishing a connection with the celebrity that resonates with them will help increase the odds they actually wear your product.
  • Make it easy for celebrities to respond: Ultimately the end goal of any celebrity product placement is to receive some type of collateral that can be used in your marketing efforts. Examples of this “collateral” could be pictures, testimonials, thank you notes, video, or autographed products. When planning your celebrity outreach campaign, don’t just blindly send your product and “hope” for the best. If you want a hand written thank you note to display at your next tradeshow booth, include a self addressed/stamped thank you note for them to fill out.

Don’ts:

  • A successful placement is the beginning of your marketing efforts, not the end: Don’t confuse a successful placement with successful completion of your celebrity marketing efforts. Receiving marketing collateral from a high profile celebrity isn’t nearly as important as how you leverage that placement. Ideally, once you receive a confirmation from the celebrity or perhaps a picture, send out a press release announcing the sighting, contact media outlets, and let your customers and audience know about the great news.
  • Stand out so you don’t get lost in the shuffle: Celebrities are approached by hundreds of brands, companies, and services all hoping they can attract their attention. Improve your odds of being memorable by making your product stand out. This can mean sending a unique item, using creative packaging, or even including a heartfelt, sincere message. Brainstorm ways to help differentiate yourself as you strategize not only what product you send, but the delivery of that product as well. Merely sending your widget in a plain FedEx envelope with a bland “dear john” letter isn’t likely to get a second glance.

As the power of celebrity increases, product placements will become an increasingly valuable form of influencer marketing. Brands that can effectively harness that power are sure to gain an advantage in our crowded marketplace. Achieve star status for your brand by following these do’s and don’ts. For more information, visit www.celebritymarketing101.com , or feel free to email me heather@momscanlaunch.com.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Tags: , , , , , Posted in Bootstrapping, Branding Strategy, Grassroots Marketing, Growth Strategies, Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Plan, Niche Marketing, Public Relations (PR), Sales Strategy, Strategic Partnerships, Strategies & Smarts
Next: Using Your Website as an Innovation Platform

Comments

  1. Kerry     Says:
    October 19th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    Do you see any measurable return from celebrity placement? It seems like you may pay money to “place” it yet get limited returns…

  2. Heather Nolte     Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 7:43 am

    Hi Kerry,

    When I do a placement I typically send the items directly without going through a service. This avoids any upfront fees and my only expense is the product cost and shipping expense. As far as returns go, it really depends on your ability to follow the do’s and don’ts. I have seen some tremendous results from my placement efforts with my company, Glamajama. (visit http://www.glamajama.com for more info…to see our press) I can directly correlate my product seeding efforts as being key to building relationships with retailers such as Nordstrom’s and Barneys, media coverage on the Today Show, Early Show, and countless other regional publications that translated into a sizable uptick in sales.

    All the Best,

    Heather

  3. Lisa     Says:
    October 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Hi Heather,

    This is great information. Thank you for sharing it.

    How do you go directly to the celebrity? Through their agent, publicist? How do you find this contact information?

    Thank you!
    Lisa

  4. Sam     Says:
    November 6th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    My friend makes beautiful designer jewelry and working hard to get it out to a wider audience expecially to any celebrity.She has done many big successful shows. If anyone can see if her products can be submitted to or liked by any celebrity. Any idea who will look good in her designs? It is http://www.chunkynchic.com.
    Thanks,
    Jami

  5. Bill Talbot     Says:
    December 1st, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    Hi Heather,

    Thanks for these great tips. My wife and I were actually discussing this very topic last night - how to secure celeb product placements - so this is very timely advice.

    She and her 2 partners started a reusable bag biz a year ago (www.blueavocado.com). They’ve had some good early success locking up some regional & national retailers but it’s an uphill battle.

    We both agreed that securing some celeb buzz & endorsements could lead to greater consumer demand for their bags and “pull through” more retailers rather than constantly having to “push” the product on them.

    How’d you secure a spot on Oprah?

    Thanks,
    Bill

  6. Vick     Says:
    February 20th, 2010 at 11:30 am

    Hi Heather ,

    this is great info but how do we get get the address for celebrities or whom should we send the products to ,publicist, manager .

  7. vikas     Says:
    February 21st, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    Hi Heather ,

    where do we send the products to , how do we get the right information . should we send it to the publicist?

  8. Roxanne     Says:
    June 25th, 2012 at 8:50 am

    We opened a year ago, and already our Gluten Free Products are in over 85 stores and 8 states. Just picked up by major retailer in western United States so it will go much faster. Would love to get celebrity endorcement. Thanks for the ideas and start on this path. http://www.newgrains.com :)