Let’s do what everyone else does

23/10/2007 by Tony Attwood.

According to a report celebrity endorsements, particularly those by the Beckhams, are a turn-off among mothers.

I find that interesting because celebrity endorsements are the key to certain types of marketing. Could it be that marketing people have got this very wrong?

Seemingly yes - as the piece below shows. And the reason I am writing about this is simple - quite often conventional wisdom is just handed down and no one questions it. It goes on and on and everyone does what the other guy does and the longer it lasts the more entrenched it is.

That is an issue that is close to my heart because the basic approach to direct marketing that my colleagues and I have put together (www.theory.bz) breaks all the rules, and we are often told - no don’t do it that way - no one does it that way.

Now, in case you are interested in the details, here’s the rest of the story…
In a survey of 1000 mothers for Marketing by community website Mumsnet, only 16% said the use of a celebrity as a brand ambassador would make them more likely to buy a product, compared with 46% who said they would be less likely to make a purchase.

Victoria Beckham and The Beckhams were the celebrities deemed least likely to make mums choose a particular brand, followed by glamour model Jordan and former singer Kerry Katona. Celebrities that received a mild ‘thumbs up’ from the respondents were Davina McCall, Kate Winslet and Fern Britton.

The survey revealed that 82% of respondents felt that brands targeting women believed mums were interested only in baby, beauty and household products. Nearly two-thirds (64%) said they found much of the promotional activity targeting mothers ‘boring’.

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