Bulgari has found in Julianne Moore not only a famous face, but a beautiful accomplished actress that is known for her classic looks and her elegant charm

 

Most countries have their very own celebrities. Some are so famous, that they are known pretty much everywhere. And the bigger the star, the greater the influence. Why? Simple: whatever they do, attracts attention.

A decade ago, hiring an A-list celeb was a sign of trouble

And attention is what marketers look for, when trying to create buzz for a new product. We have seen the era of the supermodels and then the big Hollywood names, striking back in the advertisement universe. A decade ago, some marketers stated that when you needed to hire a celebrity, it was a bad sign. Not true anymore today, although sometimes…..

Perhaps you are considering, should budget not be a problem, to work with such a celebrity. The pro’s of doing this are obvious, like the aforementioned attention value of attention of the celebrity itself.

Although it is clearly Katie Holmes, she isn't overpowering in the ads of H. Stern jewelry

 

Possible risks

There are, however, some downsides too.

The new generation, Millennials, grew up in a digital era and are extremely capable, due to their activities on social media, to see right through messages that are not authentical.

I agree; authenticity might have become a marketing term in itself and therefore, abstract in what it means in the context of advertising. But they KNOW that a company pays a huge amount of money for its product placed on a celebrity. They do not think for a second that the celebrity is authentically enthusiastic about the brand! Unless a celebrity is caught wearing something in her or his own time, that kind of attention for the product is priceless! What if Kim or Kanye wore one of my pieces, says Gal Shemer Koss of GrowRing, a startup company from Israel, it would definitely help! Even if she is doubtful about hiring a celebrity.

Some celebrities will work fine, because the celeb is a kind of timeless famous person. Or because the person is so clearly a great match with the product. Successful campaigns to me were those of Katie Holmes for H.Stern or Olivia Palermo for Carrera Y Carrera. Less fortunate, because simply: less credible somehow, was the Endless advertisement using the image of the lovely Jennifer Lopez. As Claudio Gussini, an Italian senior jewelry designer wrote on Twitter: it's even worse when the stars pretends to design or co-design jewelry for the brand. 

It was a very long story and many talked about it in Valenza, where Damiani comes from. Brad Pitt co-designed wedding ring

 

But there is another huge risk of working with a celebrity: they might be in the news for something less glamorous. Unfortunately, every step and mistake they make, are put under magnifying glasses. Remember Michael Jackson?

A celebrity might also overshadow the product or brand completely. Getting all the attention but leaving nothing for the product itself.

 Beautiful Jennifer for Endless

 

How to choose the right celebrity for your jewelry

How to choose the right celebrity? It depends on many things. First and most important of all, the jewelry brand should know well its values and core beliefs. It should also establish what they expect from a collaboration. Do they need a younger clientele to get interested in their product? Do they need to show how *cool and current* they are? Do they want more social media attention? Or do they want to show their engagement with making the world a better place, by hiring a celebrity who deeply is into charity?

Better Celebrities: Ha-Joon Chang, Cambridge economist with terrific ideas about how to change the world, Malala Yousafzai and Alain de Botton

Why not another kind of celebrity?

When you come to think of it, our obsession with the kind of celebrities mentioned before, is kind of weird. There are people who accomplish so much more interesting and even, more valuable goals in life. It may not be such a bad idea, like the famous and popular Swiss philosopher Alain de Botton argued: to choose better celebrities. Watch here his great video about the topic.

This story was originally posted on Linkedin, where I write opinion blogs about the jewelry world. I always love to connect with you!

 

Bulgari, celebrities, Damiani, Endless Jewelry, H_ Stern

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.