Adidas have moved fast to review its
relationship with Sergio Garcia following his outrageous remark a couple of
days ago. Garcia having claimed he would serve Tiger Woods ‘fried chicken’ as a
peace offering following a disagreement
on a recent golf tour acted in a completely unprofessional and profoundly
immature way for a man with numerous ties to corporate sponsorship. In short he
should have known better.
There is no surprise to The Brand Avenger
that Adidas have moved fast to announce their intent to review the relationship
with the golfer. Having secured the athlete’s services as a celebrity endorser
for its Taylor-Made Gold range Adidas were always taking a calculated risk. You
might suggest having shown no previous history of controversies the decision to
invest in Garcia initially may have been a sound one. However, at the same time
the PR disaster illustrates exactly why celebrity endorsement can be a big
gamble for a companies brand reputation regardless of whether the celebrity
endorser has had previous issues or not.
There are some companies that are taking even
a bigger risk with their decision to link brand reputation with celebrity
endorsement. Only last week PepsiCo were moving to distance themselves from any
association with Lil Wayne following the public spotlight on controversial
lyrics regarding Emmett Till
The Brand Avenger has to wonder what
PepsiCo expected to gain from partnering with a celebrity whose career has been
plagued with so many controversies. Are we led to believe the Mountain Dew marketing
department was so desperate for inspiration the only way they felt they could
connect with a younger audience was through a multi-million dollar association
with such a controversial spokesperson? You can’t blame Lil Wayne for accepting
a lucrative deal from a company chasing celebrity for the sake of celebrity.
Steve Stoute says it best when he states that ‘Lil Wayne was just being Lil
Wayne’. My question is why would any brand team ever think that this was the
best way of spending brand investment? Unlike Adidas with Garcia PepsiCo took a
risk that wasn’t calculated therefore they should have known better.
The Garcia and Lil Wayne examples
demonstrate the dangers of giving the brand a human face to associate with. In
essence we are moving towards a marketing model where celebrities thoughts and
opinions become more and more exposed each day. These beliefs can be obtained
much easier today than ever before and can have damaging consequences to the
investment in brand association. But so far we have only discussed inappropriate
comments and not the darker side of humanity and where ties to endorsement can
lead to real brand damaging problems. Who could have ever predicted that a man
who was one of the greatest inspirational figures to come out of London 2012
would 6 months later go onto to murder his partner?
Nike’s £2 million investment in Pistorius was
money they flushed down the toilet and although this is secondary to the
despicable actions of the fallen role model this again demonstrates how a brand
can suffer from even what might be seen as the safest of endorsements for brad
investment.
Even if you could control every single word
and action of your chosen brands celebrity endorsement there are still some partnerships
that just shouldn’t be paired together. Check out a great article below that
details some of the poorest pairings between celebrity and brand.
The Brand Avenger would suggest the
standout example of damaging celebrity endorsement woes in the article is Lance
Armstrong. Having enjoyed a long and successful career and overcoming adversity
Nike were so happy with their long-term relationship with Armstrong they
decided to tailor an entire brand around the cycling legend. And then it turned
out Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs during his time in cycling
and his reputation plummeted along with any value in his joint venture brand
with Nike. Live Strong might as well of become ‘Cheat Long’ as a brand once
associated with sporting excellence quickly lost all value.
We have to wonder what role Twitter and
other social media tools have played in changing the landscape of celebrity
endorsement.
In many ways Twitter is a PR agent or
celebrity endorser experts worse nightmare. Remember what we said about a dream
scenario of controlling the endorser’s thoughts and opinions? Well not only
does Twitter make it more difficult; it actually gives the celebs more of a
voice to share their thoughts and opinions to a mainstream audience.
Some celebs have looked to take more of an
active role in their partnerships with brands through taking to the Internet to
spread the word of brand themselves. But as Richard Alford details in the below
article this may become more of a worry for brand teams then a positive.
In a far away world in a different
dimension The Brand Avenger used to have a Great Aunt who would sit in the
corner and quietly mutter incoherent ramblings during family occasions. Whereas
it was great to see her once a year you wouldn’t want to be trapped in a
typical conversation with her about tuna on rollerskates on Mars. And god
forbid your friends would come round and hear some of the garbage she came out
with. For me this is strikingly similar to the issues marketers may face
through giving their endorsers more of a voice. How sensible is it to have
LeBron tweet about buying 100 pairs of a Nike shoe when the American corporate
giant spends millions per year in more refined and sophisticated methods of marketing
communication? The Brand Avenger isn’t saying LeBron doesn’t feel strongly
about his kicks but it would be good to know how it impacts the bottom line
above and beyond the other millions spent.
There certainly has been a recent trend in
not only encouraging celebrities to vocalise their appreciation for products
but actually appointing them more into a role of a brand ambassador rather than
a one time deal on a Superbowl advert. One of the strangest changes has seen
celebrities begin to hold job titles on some of the biggest brands in the
world. The Brand Avenger wonders how Will.I.Am takes his coffee on a Monday
morning?
What if your company isn’t that well known
and is still in the midst of formulating a brand strategy? Does it make
aligning your brand with celebrity endorsements more of a wise strategic
choice?
The Brand Avenger feels that there are
benefits and negatives for start ups looking to adapt such strategy. First and
foremost if the marketing strategy you follow is endorsement it is probably the
most expensive and riskiest form of brand investment you can take. You have to
be 100% sure the brand image you are looking to portray is a perfect fit for
your brand. Avoid controversies by selecting endorsers who are low risk.
Established brands learned long ago that associating its product with events or
people who are strong role models or have positive connections with ethical
practice and morale like most Olympic athletes (ahem… most of the time) are the
best ways to ensure the investment is worthwhile.
As you can see there are some strong and
valid reasons why companies would want to go down the brand endorsement route
even if there are big risks. Regardless of age we are all prone to persuasion
and it just so happens that endorsement can lead to changes in brand wave activities
which can demonstrate how and why endorsement can work.
However as we can see in the countless
examples at the start of this blog endorsement is a risky strategy. The Brand
Avenger can’t predict the outcome of the Garcia dilemma however we can
certainly say that Adidas will come under intense scrutiny. Go back to the
first link and read some of the comments on the article that have already been posted.
Consumers are quick to associate any actions of the endorser to the brand. So
if this type of investment does appeal to you rather than playing it a little
safer read the below article, remember the 5 tips and for God Sakes… be
careful!
