17 November 2014

Endorsement

The clever people who produce television commercials have many weapons in their armoury. One tried and tested approach concerns celebrity endorsement of products or services. You know the kind of thing. Pick a well-known celebrity - usually from the worlds of sport or entertainment - and get him or her to endorse the thing that is being promoted.

It is important for companies to be associated with the right kind of celebrity. There are famous people who could hamper sales. For example you wouldn't want Roy Keane - the former Ireland international footballer - selling baby foods and you wouldn't want Katie Price (aka Jordan) to advertise insurance products. In each case sales would probably nosedive. It is important to get the right celebrity "fit".

Leicester-born and squeaky clean football presenter Gary Lineker is a marvellous choice for the promotion of Walkers crisps. They are made in Leicester and Gary is so inoffensive - liked by both men and women. Potential purchasers of these crisps would feel no sub-conscious animosity towards the product because of him. Quite the opposite.
Bland and irritating - Ant and Dec - advertising "Morrisons"
Uncle Len Goodman promoting "Farm Foods"
When I watch television I mostly prefer the BBC, but occasionally I will find myself switching over to commercial channels. There I have recently noticed commercials for the Yorkshire-based supermarket chain "Morrisons" and for the frozen food specialists "Farm Foods".

No doubt at huge expense, "Morrisons" are using familiar celebrity presenters Ant and Dec for the purposes of endorsement while "Farm Foods" have called upon Len Goodman the affable seventy year old head judge of "Strictly Come Dancing". You see Len pushing a trolley round a "Farm Foods" store with a huge grin on his face while he purportedly considers the savings he is making.

Morrisons ads will sometimes rely solely upon voice overs by Ant and Dec while at other times we see the Geordie pair smiling inanely as they prance about in Morrisons supermarkets or settle down to a festive meal cobbled together from the supermarket's product range.

As I watch these ads, I think "ah but!". There's absolutely no way that Len Goodman would ever shop at "Farm Foods" and I simply cannot see the millionaire Ant and Dec combo giving two hoots about saving pennies at Morrisons - again a place they will surely never visit in real life. For me these endorsers are inappropriate and instead of making me warm towards "Farm Foods" and "Morrisons", I feel slightly repulsed. The endorsements seem contrived and inauthentic so I will keep supporting German business by shopping at "Lidl" and "Aldi" - even though I have noticed musical matchmaker Jools Holland creeping into the latter's Christmas ad campaign.

20 comments:

  1. We have your Jamie Oliver promoting one brand of supermarket here at the moment. And although I don't have a television ~ you still get advertising on the Internet channels ~ except the ABC and SBS. Now that I have done my blog rounds, it's time for brekky and skool!

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    1. While you are ladling knowledge into eager young minds, I shall contact the "Vegemite" people to see if they will use a certain Cairns-based celebrity ICT teacher in their next ad campaign.

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  2. I mostly go into numb-dumb mode when the ads come on...or am I like that all the time? Hmmmmmm.......

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    1. Perhaps "Numb-Dumb" happy pills will use you to promote their product...
      Cue camera - pans round to Lee lounging by her swimming pool while sipping a large Martini - "Hi there. Glad you could call round to my place. Swallow a couple of Numb-Dumbs and you too will feel like a million dollars!"

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    2. That would be great if they supplied the swimming pool..and Margaritas instead of Martinis...but I'll politely accept the Martinis if that's all they have on offer. I'd accept it all in a flash...the million dollars, too, if they insist. :)

      Sorry to burst the bubble, Yorky. I live in a little rented two-room cabin...nothing flash at all..dammit!! Back to dreaming!

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  3. Have you seen the BOOTS Christmas advert?
    It's the best
    A nurse coming home after night shift on Boxing Day morning
    Shirley would love it

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    1. I will tell her John. It will recall those times at the Hallamshire when she worked in A&E. Now as a practice nurse, life is much more regular.

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  4. Over here, Aldi and Lidl do not advertise on telly, and certainly not with celebrities. Instead, they add their leaflets to the newspapers delivered to people's homes every week, and since they are always full of shoppers, I don't think they actually need that much advertising.
    For me, the endorsement of a celebrity more often than not means I won't want the product, because the campaign is just way too "see through". Take cosmetic products, for instance - I KNOW I will never look like a movie star or top model, so why would I believe they got their looks from that shampoo or this anti-wrinkle-cream?

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    1. I beg to differ Ambassador, having perused your many fashion selfies, you do look like a top model! If Aldi ever do make TV ads for their homeland I will suggest that you play a central role - "Hi, I'm Meike and I shop at Aldi where I get everything I need!" (giggles to camera and flicks hair back).

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  5. My least favourite advert at the moment is the Marco Pierre White & Knorr stock cubes. The great numpty goes to the butchers to buy a huge hunk of meat to make spaggy bol. What normal person watching TV would even do that? And Peter Andre shopping at Iceland? I don't think so. I usually press the MUTE button when the ads come on.

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    1. Oh yeah Mollo, I meant to refer to Peter Andre at Iceland. What a joke! It just puts me off Iceland.

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  6. I don't see that much British TV but unfortunately have seen Ant and Dec. Before they started advertising things or presenting competitions etc, were they something entertaining? A comedy double act, maybe?
    But I had never seen Len before, until this summer when I saw the "Ten from Len" ads. As I "watch" ads with one eye on a book and the other on the kettle, I didn't take much notice - just heard our kids repeating the slogan all day - so maybe I missed a clue, but I just assumed he was a farmer and, as such, thought it was a great idea, using a "real" person instead of a celeb. Your information has done for that now!
    Having said that, I thought "hmm, great farmer presented ad" but had no idea what shop he was advertising. So all that money was wasted on me.

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    1. Len Goodman as a farmer? He wouldn't know a pig's arse from a donkey's knob if you will pardon the old Barnsley expression (that I just made up!).

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    2. Now I'm rather surprised at you YP for being so judgemental about Len. How do you know that he wasn't actually brought up on a pig farm?

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  7. Anonymous11:50 am

    Why are Lidl and Aldi advertising now, when more people are shopping with them over here? They will put their prices up to cover the costs.

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    1. Good point Irene. God knows how much it costs to hire a grinning Jools Holland. Is he any relation? And how IS life in Holland? I guess you'll be getting clogs for Christmas again!

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    2. Anonymous3:29 pm

      No not as far as I know.
      We don't do Christmas but could be getting cheese with holes in it for Yule, just for a change.

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  8. For the first time this year the M&S Christmas ad has no celebrities in it. Just two irritating things with wings that need swatting. I've yet to see a holiday season ad this year that has impressed me. And as for that beardy bloke in the scotch advert...... somebody buy him a razor!

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    1. I wonder if M&S sell Christmas fairy repellent?

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  9. I can truthfully say that I have never seen Ant and Dec on TV and known who they are. I certainly have no idea why they are celebrities. As for Len I have actually seen an advert with him in it but I couldn't have told you which product he was advertising. Once upon a time (I was doing marketing as a post grad subsid) I did a survey of my friends over a particular advert which featured a celebrity or a very catchy song or something (so long ago I can't remember anything about it) and everyone I questioned knew the advert but very few knew what was being advertised. I've noticed that quite a few adverts in NZ concentrate much more on the product which may be quoted many times in the allotted time.

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