Celebrities scare me.

If I see one in an airport, I turtle.

If I see one in a public urinal, I choose the stall.

If I see one on the street, I suddenly become transfixed by the clouds.

I don't know why. Maybe it's because whenever I see one, my brain shuts down and the only thing I can think of saying is "I'm your #1 fan!" which is what Kathy Bates memorably said to James Caan in Misery just before she broke both his ankles with a sledgehammer and a 2x4.

This fear is likely what prevented me from ever using a celebrity in an ad.

The closest I ever got was comedian Gerry Dee, and he wasn't even Gerry Dee at that point. He was just a funny standup guy from Toronto. For my international readers, Gerry Dee has about the same global recognizance factor as the keyboard player from A-Ha! (For the record, his name is Magne Furuholmen, and I hear he's doing Bar Mitzvahs in the greater Oslo area.)

Part of my antipathy to celebrities was that I thought celebrities were kind of cheating. That is, if your idea needed a celebrity, it wasn't really that good of an idea. And I still kinda believe that. I can't think of too many great long term ideas that needed a celebrity. But there are hundreds, thousands, of great ideas that have benefited from using one.

If a celebrity can make your idea smarter, funnier, more memorable, and more rewatchable? And you can afford it? Have at it.

This recent spot from SKIP (formerly Skip the Dishes) does exactly that. The idea - Skip to the Good Part - is killer. It gets to exactly why you would use SKIP rather than going to pick up stuff yourself. The insight is dead simple and super smart. If I was in the UBER Eats C-Suite right now, I'd be having a miserable day because the main benefit of my and every other food-delivery app (Skipping all the hassle of going out) is now literally owned by my competitor.

Like, F*********************CK!

But now that SKIP had a really smart idea, the agency and client did something even smarter. They went and got actor Jon Hamm to make the execution sing. And Hamm sings like a canary in this spot. His slick, full of himself (but still, wildly likeable) character plays perfectly off all the normal people wondering who this idiot is. There are so many good moments in this spot, it is now in my Unofficial Rewatchable Top Ten Spots of 2024.

People familiar with the SKIP brand in Canada might note that Hamm used to be part of SKIP's advertising.

Hamm and his sidekick Brandon were part of their advertising for years before the decision was made to move way from that executional structure. I have no idea what happened but I'd guess that, at the time, Hamm was so recognizable a face, whatever message they were trying to get across was likely overwhelmed by everyone's "Hey, it's Jon Hamm!" reaction.

Celebrities can overwhelm the message.

Their recognition wattage can outshine the brand, or what the brand is trying to say. Like in this very, very funny Kia Super Bowl ad from 2017. This may be the funniest Super Bowl ad I've ever seen, and Melissa McCarthy is amazing in it, but I'm not sure anyone walked away from it thinking: "Huh, that Kia Niro seems like a good hybrid." I know I walked away from it thinking: "No one commits to the joke like she does."

There's an old phrase in advertising called "borrowed interest" and I think it was invented to describe the 'wrong' way of using celebrities. If you can't think of anything interesting to say about the product, borrow an interesting celebrity to give your viewer some reason to watch the ad.

That would seem to be the strategy behind 80% of Super Bowl ads these days. I can imagine the creative presentations going on in boardrooms across America right now: "And our idea is... Will Ferrell!"

Which is what makes the new SKIP work so smart. They didn't use a celebrity to be the idea, they used one to add to it.

Now if you'll excuse me, the SKIP guy just rang the doorbell.