A new kind of brand ambassadors: famous entrepreneurs13 Mar
Here is a photo of a magazine back page that I took this morning. It made me think of a new trend that is emerging in the area of celebrity endorsements: business celebrities as brand ambassadors.
Even if you are not familiar with the term, you’ve most probably come across brand celebrity endorsements on many occasions. These are short or long-term partnerships between a brand and a real person, usually a celebrity from the world of music, sports or movies. If you’ve seen ads with Hollywood stars next to cars, perfume or other products, then you’ve seen a celebrity endorsement in action.
In such brand partnerships, celebrities serve as the so called meta-brands: overarching, superior concepts that add positive associations to other brands wanting to relate to them. For celebrities, it’s also important to choose the right brands to work with, because at the end of the day, they have to pinpoint these people’s personal brands.
My observation that I want to share with you today is this: most brands, especially luxury products, like to work with celebrities from the world of entertainment and sports.
However, it seems like there’s a whole new trend emerging out there: celebrities from the non-entertainment world. They are not as widely known as entertainment stars, but they nevertheless have a lot of qualities that brands can tap into and benefit from. This trend is not yet very well explored by brands, it seems.
A concrete example that I want to share with you today is the recent brand campaign by a Swiss watch brand Maurice Lacroix. In particular, its brand partnership with Jimmy Wales, an American Internet entrepreneur and co -founder of Wikipedia.
The two other brand ambassadors that Maurice Lacroix chose — Bob Geldoff and Justin Rose — come from the worlds of music and sports, respectively. But Jimmy Wales is a businessman whose name is known to a lesser extent.
What’s known much better is his non-profit foundation: Wikipedia.
What did Maurice Lacroix want to communicate by selecting Bob Geldoff, Justin Rose and Jimmy Wales as its brand ambassadors? I guess, the most important qualities that seems to unite them all are continuity, staying on course, and staying true to themselves. And of course, achieving results.
As brands look for authenticity and natural, not-too-commercial, ways of connecting with their consumers, we’re likely to see more entrepreneurs, journalists, and other people outside of the entertainment world with strong personal brands, endorse products and services.
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