Thursday, December 11, 2008

Celebrity-fronted ads and older eyes

Research by YouGov, on behalf of Senioragency, discovered that 46% of older consumers are actively turned off by celebrities fronting ad campaigns, while only 11% of thought more positively. The remaining 39% were ambivalent.

I wonder why that is? There are lots of explanations and the research doesn’t appear to answer the question. My thoughts are:
Bad choice of celebrity – somebody who a lot of older people don’t even recognise

Bad choice of celebrity – somebody who really annoys large groups of the demographic

The demise of celebrity as a means of promoting products that is first showing up in the results for the older audience.
It is this explanation that I find the most interesting. A writer in Marketing Week was the first to suggest that during recessionary times the sight of a fat cat professional, being paid sheds loads of money just to say they like a product, that everybody knows they wouldn’t be seen dead with, is no longer going to cut the mustard as advertising creative.

Yoof will get around to this idea when they wake up to the recessionary nightmare that is unfolding around them.

What do you think of that for an explanation? Dick Stroud

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, the research does not appear to answer the real question, which I think is to what type of celebrity do older consumers respond?

Many companies feel that the mere presence of a celebrity is effective. When in truth, I think the presence of a celebrity that older consumers can identify with (from TV, movies or music), is shown to have a real connection with the average person.

Leonard Nimoy's endorsement of Aleve is a great example of a relevant approach, whether you like him or not.

Chuck Nyren said...

I'd have to agree with Dick on this one:

http://tinyurl.com/68y5j8

However, I often use the Aleve spot in my presentations as the exception to the rule. It's a good one.