Partnering with celebrity influencers: Tips for brands

The video collaboration, along with a social media marketing campaign with Lil Nas X to advertise Sexual Well being Consciousness month, created an enormous second for Durex. It activated the best consequence: securing each mass attain and making a headline-grabbing second that generated ongoing social engagement.

Manufacturers dream of those sorts of partnerships. However whereas it might seem to be celebrities at all times supply probably the most optimum publicity, they aren’t essentially the precise associate for each influencer advertising marketing campaign—and so they require a particular strategy. In follow, deciding whether or not to work with a celeb versus a standard influencer comes all the way down to what the model is attempting to realize.

Huge names can convey large moments — and excessive prices

If a model is seeking to make a much bigger splash and tie their model to a well-known title, celeb influencers are an excellent possibility. They will convey mass consciousness with enormous follower counts, along with sparking natural press pickup and cultural chatter on social media. But when a model is solely seeking to get their greatest return on funding when it comes to the best variety of views, working with non-celebrity influencers could also be a greater name.

For one factor, celebrities are typically dearer companions. That’s as a result of they’re typically seeking to do fewer, larger model partnerships which are extra significant than a one-time deal. Many gained’t even entertain being approached for a single social publish, and in the event that they do, that’s when manufacturers might want to pay a premium.

Nonetheless, there’s loads of causes to associate with celebrities. Approaching and sustaining a partnership with them simply requires a novel mindset.

You’re residing of their world

Conventional influencers are accustomed to working manufacturers and are aware of the sorts of requests they make. However with regards to celebrities, manufacturers typically must play extra by their guidelines. Be open to content material route, as artists typically have a transparent sense of their private model and the way they need to talk to their followers.

For instance, BEN designed a technique for sexual wellness model VUSH the place its merchandise had been promoted in a Cardi B music video. The rapper had full autonomy in her inventive course of—and it paid off. As a substitute of getting extras maintain the product, Cardi B opted to carry it herself. The end result: VUSH’s product acquired prime placement within the video, incomes 69 million views on YouTube inside 30 days, driving pre-sales and a flurry of media mentions for VUSH.

Create significant alternatives

Whereas manufacturers could also be extra keen on speaking KPIs and ROI, celebrities are extra targeted on influence and concepts. BEN serves as a liaison between these two sides. It not solely ensures that manufacturers are getting the outcomes they need, but in addition that celebrities really feel fulfilled.

To that finish, BEN typically works with manufacturers to provoke ambassadorships with celebrities that contain long run, multi-channel campaigns. Take HP’s partnership with rapper Diamonté Harper, aka Saweetie, to license her music for a laptop computer marketing campaign on TikTok. The partnership additionally concerned animator King Science, who developed a three-part story of him and Saweetie going again to highschool and saving the day with an HP laptop computer.

The video was posted on TikTok solely first, however each artists additionally promoted the content material on different social channels. As well as, BEN helped HP work with Saweetie to donate laptops to a faculty charity she helps. As a result of celebrities crave significant engagement, manufacturers ought to search alternatives to increase campaigns and make them larger moments in time.

Be affected person, versatile, and open-minded

The method of working with a celeb influencer is commonly not fast or transactional. Persistence and adaptability, particularly round deadlines, are wanted for a partnership to thrive. Celebrities are sometimes juggling many tasks directly: albums, excursions, film shoots, media appearances, and many others.

It’s additionally vital to keep in mind that like all creators, celebrities are folks, too. They’ve household and private lives to stability on prime of a completely booked work schedule. Manufacturers must be ready for the method to be elongated and last-minute schedule shifts to occur.

One other tip? Be open to options. Manufacturers typically have a dream celeb in thoughts for a partnership. With intensive relationships throughout gaming, sports activities, and the music and film industries, BEN will work to make it occur. But when one specific celeb isn’t an possibility, BEN may use its huge community and AI expertise to seek out lookalike artists with related viewers demographics or aesthetics. Generally, that different expertise possibility is a fair higher match and/or extra value environment friendly.

Superstar partnerships executed proper might be magic

Whereas working with celeb influencers can require extra flexibility, endurance, and diligence, as soon as the precise partnership involves fruition, it may be a magical second for a model.

If executed proper, the prospect to work with a family title can generate natural press choose up and social media buzz. It could possibly, total, take most people’s consciousness and understanding of an organization to new heights.