Celebrity Endorsement

Does celebrity endorsement of a produce or service really work?  It must do to some degree as its something that happens very regularly, and there are those people who aspire to be like their favourite celeb and emulate everything they do.

In the #bellringing world there are actually a number of famous people who have been or are bellringers, generally most of them don’t do it regularly because of their celebrity commitments.  People like Alan Titchmarsh (gardener), Timmy Mallett (kids tv presenter), Jo Brand (comedian), Norma Major (wife of former Prime Minister) have all been known to grab a rope.  Some even did quite well and have rung quarter peals, if not peals.  There are also those who had a bell handling lesson for the purposes of broadcasting a programme.  Changringingwiki (https://wiki.changeringing.co.uk/Famous_bellringers) has a list of some 24 listed as “proper” ringers and another 16 for artistic licence.  I do know of a few others that aren’t on that list e.g. Susan Calman who recently visited a tower in Scotland as part of a series she was recording.

Could #bellringing benefit from celebrity endorsement?  If so, what sort of celebrity would give #bellringing a good name?  There are pros and cons though.

Having a celebrity ambassador or endorsement can help your brand stand out, and can build credibility.  Celebrities tend to be trusted by their fans, whether that trust is founded or not is a different matter.  The celeb would be risking their career if they endorsed a dodgy product or services.  Having the right celebrity involved can open up different audiences to your message. 

It should be remembered though that when you sign up a celebrity, you sign up everything about them.  If that celeb finds themselves embroiled in a scandal, this could have disastrous consequences for your product.  They could overshadow your message.  If the focus is too much on the celebrity, the produce message gets lost, and they could endorse more than one product, which may be counter intuitive to your product. Endorsements can be expensive.  The celeb wants to make as much money for as little work as possible.  The bigger the celeb, the bigger the price tag. https://baerpm.com/2018/01/02/pros-cons-celebrity-endorsements/

Jo Brand recently mentioned on a popular satirical tv show that she learned to ring, but then went on to say that its dangerous and you should have a good A&E department nearby.  That isn’t really the message that we want people to have of #bellringing.  The question now is, can I get her to change her opinion by getting her to have another go.  Teaching and support is very different now to when she learned many years ago.

I’ve written to Jo’s agent, so we’ll see if we get anywhere.