Celebrity Endorsements vs Influencer Marketing: Which is Best for You?

Celebrities have been endorsing products and services for decades. In so doing, they have been able to influence the purchasing decisions of consumers.

Most marketers would love a Beckham or a Cristiano Ronaldo to endorse their brand(s), but are you willing to pay over $750,000 for a single Instagram post? Well, some companies are and have.

Nike and Tag Heuer have placed their bets on the world’s most-followed person (Cristiano Ronaldo) with good reason. According to Hookit, CR7 has posted 580 times in the last 12 months with a logo or sponsor mention. Though the period, CR7 tallied 927 million interactions (comments, likes, shares) and video views on sponsored posts for an average value per post of $1.6 million for them.

Brand and celebrity partnerships have been a go-to marketing strategy but over the past few years, brands are switching to influencer marketing. This is partly due to consumers demanding more authentic relationships and their affordability. Influencer marketing has become so popular that over 86% of marketers are using it.

Brand-celebrity partnerships attract high brand awareness. Well-structured influencer marketing campaigns can generate higher organic conversations, unlike celebrity endorsements. Transparency has become the new sentiment for the digital consumer.

Today’s consumers have become savvier and they can see through celebrity-endorsed content and labeling them as artificial. Macro and mega influencers have also fallen prey to this ‘artificial’ labeling. This has seen brands and marketers move to micro and nano influencers for more organic engagement and brand personalization. While nano and micro-influencers add another facet to the world of influencer marketing, their emergence does not certainly mean that mega and macro-influencers are a thing of the past.

As more brands and marketers are turning to social media marketing, they are beginning to see through celebrity-endorsed content and instead turning to influencer marketing. They are not only reaching out to but also working with content creators who built their social presence and audience through inspiring content.

Additionally, when marketing to Gen z and millennials, content creators have a greater influence than celebrities. They have greater engagement, display a friendly disposition and therefore create a trusting and sincere relationship. Gen Z and millennials are more likely to trust services and products that content creators endorse than celebrities. Here are some stats to back it up;

• 6 in 10 YouTube users would follow a recommendation on what to buy from content creators than celebrities
• Top YouTube content creators receive 3x as many views and 12x as many comments compared to content produced by celebrities.
• 70 percent of YouTube users relate to content creators on the platform more than celebrities

By allowing products and/or services to be shown authentically, content creators can create greater trust between them and their audiences. Influencer targeted campaigns are crucial for brand awareness and engagement. Influencers have built niche communities giving them ‘authority’ in the said community.

Although activity and reach cannot compare to celebrity endorsements, influencer campaigns can be organically cultivated and as such, come across as authentic.

                The Grey Area

There is a grey area between influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements-a fine line where certain elements of both marketing strategies are mixed and matched. Take, for instance, Proactiv’s campaign. Jessica Simpson, a celebrity was suffering from acne and she used Proactiv to cure it. In turn, Proactiv turned her into their brand ambassador. Jessica didn’t create, edit or distribute any commercial but the message used for the campaign was her own true story. To add on to that, the product was in a space where she had ‘authority’- beauty.

Influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements are exclusive of one another. It is up to the marketer to know whether they are doing celebrity endorsement or influencer marketing, or they want to borrow aspects from both.

It is challenging to find the right influencer for your brand, using platforms like fan influence will allow you to browse through several thoroughly vetted influencers.