Celebrity endorsement

Celebrity endorsement is when a business uses a celebrity to endorse or advertise its product. The celebrity might recommend the product, appear in a promotion or post about it online.

It works because fans often trust the celebrity and want to copy what they do. The celebrity is usually chosen because their fans match the business's target market, so the endorsement creates a positive association between the product and someone the audience admires. A famous face can grab enormous attention for a brand and may significantly increase sales. It can also reach new markets: fans who had not heard of the business before may become customers.

Limitations

Celebrity fees are often significant, and the more famous the celebrity, the higher the cost is likely to be. This makes endorsement difficult for smaller companies to afford. Any boost in sales may be short-lived, because some fans buy once out of excitement and do not come back.

Endorsement depends on the celebrity's ongoing reputation. If the celebrity behaves badly, the business's reputation can be damaged, and the business has limited control over what the celebrity does. An endorsement message can also be seen by people outside the target market or geographic area, so some of the attention may never turn into sales.

Occasionally a celebrity will support a business for free or at a low cost, especially if they genuinely like the product, but this is unusual and not something a business can plan for. For example, a small board game café might pay a well-known YouTuber to recommend its gaming nights. His fans could bring in new customers, but his fee might be more than the café spends on marketing in a whole year, and if he later behaves badly in public, the café's reputation could suffer by association.