Celebrity Puppets
The concept of using sports stars to market non-sport items has soared to new heights. Every corporation in the world is trying to get the edge over their competitors. The classic example is that of the “Cola Wars.” During the 1980s, Pepsi and Coca Cola began an advertising slugfest, in which Pepsi emerged victorious by using Madonna and Michael Jackson as puppets in their commercials. These two companies, as well as thousands of others, have taken advantage of exposing celebrities in their commercials and advertisements. This is done as a means to persuade the public that these products are worth buying.
As the years went by, marketers began to realize that in America, sports imagery constituted the most popular
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This is how companies view their celebrity endorsers and partners: the companies see that it can bring in a profit from the celebrities on field successes. To make it look as though these celebrities are not being used, the companies pay them a small dividend as a thank you. In essence, the companies are controlling said celebrities. In the case of Mr. Owens, by dangling him in front of the public eye, the company holds him by the strings to make him do as they wish through a pay-off.
The last decade has seen the emergence of a new breed of celebrities onto the marketing scene. These celebrities are not involved in sports that society easily recognizes. Instead, they are the bowlers of the PBA Tour and the drivers of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. As late as the early 1990s bowling tournaments were named after their specific location and bowlers were viewed as just that, bowlers. Advancements in bowling ball technology created a more competitive field of bowlers and a new and younger generation of marketers has realized that these bowlers are a great source of advertising for their products. As a result, today’s PBA bowlers wear patches with their sponsors on them. Some have even gone as far as placing their major sponsors’ logo on their spare balls. These sponsors include Odor Eaters, Pepsi, Miller High Life, Holiday Inn, and Baby Ruth, to name a few.
NASCAR, the nation’s fastest growing sport, has received sponsor money since its creation.
Companies are very selective when choosing a celebrity to endorse their product because they know the person is a great candidate for them to sell their product to the consumers. Before the company signs on the celebrities to endorse their brands, the companies need to make sure that these celebrities meet three basic qualifications.
So, as long as there is a demand to fill, marketing companies will continue handing endorsements to professional athletes who therefore become overpaid. “They’re not paid for what they do; they are paid because people want to watch what they do” (Salaam). I like this quote for the reason that it is true, society endorses the attitude to pay athletes to entertain; this is just a reflection of what we value (Salaam).
This article continues to explain that once a sports marketer creates a product and advertises it on a small scale, “Sports marketers get ahead by gradually representing bigger, more important and more prestigious sports teams, companies, associations, and athletes.” In other words, sports marketers need to have a plan of action to promote their product on a larger scale over time. Also, sports marketers spend much of their planning on the aspect of promotion. Mihai verifies that the category of promotion serves to prove that the product is desirable through advertising, sales, sponsorship and public relations. If a sports marketer follows these planning steps, his/her work will lead to a successful product with a large margin of profit.
The LeBron Sprite commercial with Lil Yachty is a classic example of effective marketing. This commercial includes the basketball legend, future hall of fame, 4-time NBA champion, 4 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, 4 NBA Most Valuable Player, and all-time leading scorer LeBron James, and musician Lil Yachty. The commercial uses a variety of persuasive strategies to promote Sprite soda to future consumers, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkzAgsOQJQE. In this essay, we will look at how the commercial uses visual features, emotional appeal, and compelling methods to hook viewers, and influence consumer behavior to increase sales, as well as celebrity endorsement. The script of the commercial gives the audience and viewers
Whether you’re from the North or the South, Whether you call it Soda, cold drink or Pop, we all enjoy these lavishing carbonated beverages at some point. With or without someone's influence. They are delicious no doubt about it. The fizz when you first open them. The rush you get when that first taste hits your taste buds. Commercials are made to get a product know and some even use celebrities to show the audience a familiar face. “They get more publicity and often a big paycheck”, says an article by Justin O’Neill. It is debatable if these celebrities should be allowed to be a face for these products because they can be unhealthy.
Commercial advertisements create a strong presence in the media due to the power of persuading the audience to buy a certain project. The commercial is promoting the use of diet coke and using Taylor Swift to do so. Diet Coke is a sugar free, soft drink that is very popular, it is promoted and distributed worldwide by Coca- Cola. Coca- Cola spends nearly $3.499 billion in advertisements yearly (Investopedia, 2015, 1). This ad catches the eye of the audience with the use of Taylor Swift and the adorable kittens. In this commercial, it is clear that with every sip the pop-culture singer takes of the Diet Coke, more kittens seem to appear in the apartment until the whole apartment becomes invaded with the tiny kittens. This advertisement efficiently delivers the point to the audience during the commercial video by encouraging them to drink their product Diet Coke while trying to increase the consumption of their product, attract more viewers, and sell more of their product.
money because of view. Athletes are paid based on revenue, like normal jobs are based on an hourly
Advertisements have the ability to influence an individual’s perception of a company’s product. The methods of presentation can alter the audience’s interpretation of the product, thereby allowing the company to have control over the minds of the consumers. In an Electrolux commercial, promoting its faster washer and dryer, the company uses celebrity star, Kelly Ripa to advertise the new product. Celebrities like Ripa act like role models in society and they attract the audience to the advertisement. The thirty-second commercial shows Ripa doing laundry in little to no time, allowing her to become an even better mother.
In 1984, Pepsi uses celebrity endorsement strategy to help advertise their products such as during the commercial, a celebrity can be seen holding a Pepsi can and drink it in a refresh way. Celebrity endorsement is when a famous person uses the company’s products to help sell a product or service. In this case, Michael Jackson was featured in Pepsi 1984 ad. During the video, Michael Jackson saw a young kid drinking Pepsi and danced like him on stage. The celebrity approached the young kid as Michael Jackson sang,
We all have that one person that we look up to, admire, and strive to be like; especially as teenagers! But how does that strengthen advertising? Some sports companies have realized that featuring professional athletes who are also positive role models has significantly helped the sales of their sports equipment. Why? As teenagers see these advertisements containing some of their favorite (and well known) athletes wearing certain brands and using certain products, they become more likely to purchase those items. In the article, “Under Armor Wants to Dress Athletic Young Women” by Elizabeth Olson additionally shows specific athletes chosen to help advertise merchandise to younger athletes by stating, “…the professional soccer player Lauren Cheney;
Marketing plans and strategies are an important part of almost any business today. One of the biggest industries marketing plans have benefited and changed in a number of different ways is the sports industry. The development of the sports marketing industry has led companies to invest millions of dollars to have their product associated with specific teams, players, and sporting events attempting to connect with consumer and create profit for both parties involved. The money involved in sports marketing calls for these sponsorships and endorsement decisions to be made both strategically and confidently. After researching the sports industry from a business perspective the importance of marketing decisions is
Product placement in music videos is quite a fruitful source of money for artists who approve it. The content of many commercial pop songs, the imagery displayed in music videos and the conspicuous consumption apparent in the lifestyles of pop stars all reinforce the idea that mass consumption will lead to happiness.
Celebrity endorsements are one of the most famous methods of marketing used today. Celebrity endorsers are being used in about 25% of all the advertisements that we can see on the television. Marketers are investing large sums of money to have a contract with the celebrities as they believe that celebrities can affect the chances of success of a product. (Erica Weintraub Austina*, 2008) Kiakati
Watching the Muppets when I was younger inspired me to romanticize what I thought my puppeteering career would be like. I knew when I was younger I would join the puppeteering at my church, because my sister and brother both participated in the Joyful Noise Brigade. This meant throughout my childhood I waited to become a puppeteer and the only way to quench my puppetry thirst was by watching the Muppets. The genius behind Kermit, Steve Whitmire, began puppeteering at a similar age to me, which overjoyed me when I was younger. The star of the Muppets also received his puppeteering start at a young age and he worked incredibly hard to reach the goals he set for himself (Plume). At the age of the ten when Whitmire received a response from his
The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product: Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse.