What’s a Celebrity Worth?

There are many theories about how brands can derive value from celebrities but which are right? We report an empirical test of celebrity impact and draw conclusions on how best to make those investments.

What’s the similarity between Peter André and 58,000 Canadian lobsters? They are both decidedly orange…?  Actually, the answer we were looking for is that they both cost £290,000¹.

Clearly, only one of these is a bargain, but which one?  Given Iceland chose to spotlight the Australian melody dodger for their 2014 advertising campaign, the implication is that their “lobster for a fiver” deal was not bargain enough.  But was their money well spent or should they have let the crustaceans speak for themselves?  More generally, is it a good idea to invest in a celebrity endorsement?  When Jane Fonda says “because I’m worth it”, do we actually believe her?

Source credibility theory, source attractiveness theory, and meaning transfer theory all offer plausible explanations as to how brands can derive value from a celebrity ambassador. They tell us that the David Beckhams, Kevin Bacons, and even Peter Andrés of this world have a positive influence on the credibility, likeability, and recall of adverts.  Some theories even go so far as to claim influence over consumers’ purchase intentions².

Accordingly, we tested a selection of television adverts with celebrities on screen (think Romeo Beckham for Burberry), with celebrity voice-overs (think Morgan Freeman for MasterCard) and without celebrities.  We then examined whether there was any statistically significant difference between these three types of advert across the nine impact metrics that our ad-test framework measures.

The research found that adverts with on-screen celebrity appearances are no more effective across any metric than those without a celebrity.  However, there is evidence that celebrity voice-overs can make a difference.  Specifically, celebrity voice-overs significantly enhance an advert’s Credibility (on average scoring 61 compared to 58 across adverts without a celebrity), as well as its Clarity (scoring 72 compared to 66) and Relevance (scoring 52 compared to 48).

Essentially on-screen celebrities are an expensive interruption.  We’re all too agitated with the idea of bumping trolleys with the ab-tastic André that we miss the 89p frozen pea offer.  By contrast the voice-over is reassuringly familiar and cleverly authoritative without all the on-screen distraction and risk of being undermined by a “clearly they were just paid to do that” rebound reaction.

So, is Peter André worth his weight in lobster?  That’s about 230 lobsters, or £1,250 if you’re shopping at Iceland.  Probably not, at any price, on-screen but for the voice that brought you “Mysterious Girl”… maybe.

1. The going rate for a 350g lobster at Iceland and Asda is £5.  £290,000 is the amount Kerry Katona, Peter Andre’s predecessor, was paid by Iceland to appear in their adverts.

2. Roozen, I. & Claeys, C. (2010). The Relative Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement for Print Advertisement. Review of Business and Economics, 55(1), pp: 76-90.