How to choose a celebrity brand ambassador

Having celebrity brand ambassador can help grow your business. Here's how to choose one.

After US President Barack Obama lent his vocals to the first line of Al Green's Let's Stay Together at a fundraiser, digital download sales of the song experienced a 490% boost. President Obama may have been kidding around, but the incident proves that attaching the right celebrity ambassador to your brand can affect the bottom line.

Brand guru, former DESTINY MAN cover star and MD of the Brand Leadership Group, Thebe Ikalafeng, shares the following tips for choosing celebrity brand ambassadors.

1. Find the right celebrity for your brand
"When you're seeking a celebrity brand ambassador, make sure there is a fit between what they stand for and what you stand for (or would like to stand for)," says Ikalafeng. "The fact that your ambassador is famous is generally a good thing, but it's not the most important thing. Finding the right fit for your brand, someone whose values are aligned to your company's values, is what's essential."

2. Your ambassador must connect with your customers
"Your celebrity brand ambassador is the bridge to the customers you want to reach," explains Ikalafeng. "This means that existing customers or the customers you'd like to attract (should you be repositioning your brand) should relate to or aspire to the values that the celebrity (and by extension your brand) represents." Your customers are the ones who spend money and directly impact your bottom line so their attitude to your celebrity is paramount.

3. Define the brand relationship
"Celebrity ambassadors won't be available forever," cautions Ikalafeng. "You'll need to be clear on how long you'll need them for. There are also risks in eliciting celebrities for your brand, as they're fallible human beings and you need to calculate if you're able to afford these risks." An  example is the Tiger Woods scandal: the brands he endorsed lost millions.
"If celebrities generate negative publicity, so will your brand by association. This is also known as the affordability risk. Ask yourself if the money generated through the celebrity endorsement outweigsh the losses that could be incurred through their failibility," says Ikalafeng.
"Be clear on what level of fame and what type of fame will best complement your brand," he says. "Ask yourself if you can commercialise the brand, if they can help you to make money. Be clear on why you want a specific celebrity for your brand and then everything else will follow."