Imagine this: Someone wants to pay you big bucks to endorse their product. Would you?
Would it depend on the product? What parameters would you establish before you’d do it? How much money would you seek to stand in front of a camera beamed to millions of television sets, exhorting the wonderful characteristics of some object?
It’s an intriguing exercise to undertake. First, you have to consider the things you use in your life, and which ones really stand out. Do you just buy products, or are some of them exceptional? Which stand out?
We go through our days using all kinds of stuff and not thinking about it. Grab the breakfast cereal. Inhale it without tasting it. Brush our teeth. What toothpaste did we get the last time? Hmmm, can’t remember.
Drink some coffee. Do you have a favorite brand? If so, this might be something worth considering endorsing. It peps you up for the day. You could talk about how it revs your engine. It tastes good. Slurp, slurp, smack, smack.
Then there’s the car. Do you really like your car? Or is it just some inanimate object used to get you from here to there? Are there specific qualities about a car that you want or like?
We can continue to pose more questions along these lines. But the biggie is: Why do the celebrities who get paid to endorse companies/products/services make the choices they do?
Blake Griffin, for example, who plays for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, endorses the car manufacturer Kia, and has done so for several years. He’s gets to play a goofy role with some funny lines. Maybe that’s what he wanted to do, and he gets a lot of $$$$ to do that, but was it the laughs he wanted to generate, the money involved, or something else that led to his endorsement?
Similarly, super model Kate Upton now prances for “Game of Thrones.” It seems every time you turn on an app on your smart phone, she pops up in gear that advances her physical qualities. Does she play “Game of Thrones?” I’d like to actually ask her that, but presume the answer would be “no.” So she pitches the game for the money and visibility. She’s building her personal brand.
Then there’s Kevin Durant with the NBA’s Oklahoma Thunder. He’s pitching a whole bunch of stuff, which I no longer remember. But I like Kevin Durant. So if I see the ads again, I might think harder about buying the products he’s pitching. Still, he doesn’t need the money or the exposure, so did he make his picks because he’s emotionally invested in each product, or did he just follow his agent’s advice?
Take this drill: What would you endorse based on your experience with the product? I queried multiple people with this. Two of them immediately said, “Advil.” And I know a third person who if asked that question, would also say Advil, because he calls it the miracle drug. Score one for them.
When I self-administered the test, my responses were the Toyota Prius, “5” gum and Jersey Mike’s sub shops. We’ve owned two Prius’s – they’re reliable and average over 51 miles per gallon. That’s happiness and they cut exhaust emissions by over 50%.
“5” Gum is flavorful, pliant, lasts long. We buy it by the carton.
Jersey Mike’s has fresh and tasty bread, loads you up on meat they slice in front of you (none of that pre-packaged stuff where they peel the cellophane or paper off to plop it on your roll), then they top it off with massive amounts of your favorite extras. Yum. I want to go right now.
Put me on TV. I’ll shout out for those three. With sincerity.
Would it depend on the product? What parameters would you establish before you’d do it? How much money would you seek to stand in front of a camera beamed to millions of television sets, exhorting the wonderful characteristics of some object?
It’s an intriguing exercise to undertake. First, you have to consider the things you use in your life, and which ones really stand out. Do you just buy products, or are some of them exceptional? Which stand out?
We go through our days using all kinds of stuff and not thinking about it. Grab the breakfast cereal. Inhale it without tasting it. Brush our teeth. What toothpaste did we get the last time? Hmmm, can’t remember.
Drink some coffee. Do you have a favorite brand? If so, this might be something worth considering endorsing. It peps you up for the day. You could talk about how it revs your engine. It tastes good. Slurp, slurp, smack, smack.
Then there’s the car. Do you really like your car? Or is it just some inanimate object used to get you from here to there? Are there specific qualities about a car that you want or like?
We can continue to pose more questions along these lines. But the biggie is: Why do the celebrities who get paid to endorse companies/products/services make the choices they do?
Blake Griffin, for example, who plays for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, endorses the car manufacturer Kia, and has done so for several years. He’s gets to play a goofy role with some funny lines. Maybe that’s what he wanted to do, and he gets a lot of $$$$ to do that, but was it the laughs he wanted to generate, the money involved, or something else that led to his endorsement?
Similarly, super model Kate Upton now prances for “Game of Thrones.” It seems every time you turn on an app on your smart phone, she pops up in gear that advances her physical qualities. Does she play “Game of Thrones?” I’d like to actually ask her that, but presume the answer would be “no.” So she pitches the game for the money and visibility. She’s building her personal brand.
Then there’s Kevin Durant with the NBA’s Oklahoma Thunder. He’s pitching a whole bunch of stuff, which I no longer remember. But I like Kevin Durant. So if I see the ads again, I might think harder about buying the products he’s pitching. Still, he doesn’t need the money or the exposure, so did he make his picks because he’s emotionally invested in each product, or did he just follow his agent’s advice?
Take this drill: What would you endorse based on your experience with the product? I queried multiple people with this. Two of them immediately said, “Advil.” And I know a third person who if asked that question, would also say Advil, because he calls it the miracle drug. Score one for them.
When I self-administered the test, my responses were the Toyota Prius, “5” gum and Jersey Mike’s sub shops. We’ve owned two Prius’s – they’re reliable and average over 51 miles per gallon. That’s happiness and they cut exhaust emissions by over 50%.
“5” Gum is flavorful, pliant, lasts long. We buy it by the carton.
Jersey Mike’s has fresh and tasty bread, loads you up on meat they slice in front of you (none of that pre-packaged stuff where they peel the cellophane or paper off to plop it on your roll), then they top it off with massive amounts of your favorite extras. Yum. I want to go right now.
Put me on TV. I’ll shout out for those three. With sincerity.