How Luxury Brands Can Better Harness Celebrity And Entertainment
For luxury brands, celebrities have always been a natural go-to source for partnerships. The two compliment one another, allowing aspiration drivers to be shared between the two. And luxury brand entertainment marketing, utilizing product placement, celebrity endorsements and event activation is only growing as a marketing practice.
Hollywood Branded was recently interviewed by Sarah Jones about current entertainment marketing trends for luxury brands, for the report Entertainment Marketing - Luxury Memo Special Report by Luxury Daily. In this blog, Hollywood Branded shares additional insight into luxury brand entertainment marketing for product placement and celebrity partnerships.
Why Luxury Brands Partner With Entertainment
The biggest tool entertainment marketing provides for luxury brands is not only the potential for immediate sales, but that it opens the doors to a massive opportunity to engage millennials who may not quite have the ability to afford luxury now – but will aspire to purchase that brand one day in the near future, as they rise in their careers. This includes celebrity endorsement deals inclusive of social posts; product placement in films, TV shows and music videos; as well as event sponsorship activation at trendy fashion driven events like Coachella. Brands participating in these hip and cool opportunities with celebrities make the brand less stuffy, less like their mom’s or worse yet, grandmother’s brands, and more appealing. Using entertainment marketing to communicate with these younger buyers is key to luxury brands’ success.
The Impact Of Entertainmnt Content On Luxury Brands
Entertainment marketing provides incredible impact for luxury brands who affiliate themselves with the entertainment world. Box office action films, especially spy capers, or poignant spectacle dramas are a mecca for luxury brand partnerships. The storylines provide seamless showcase opportunities, the typical associated cast are mega A-list actors, and the international audiences provide a global platform to launch co-branded media and retail store campaigns. Luxury brands have always associated themselves with celebrities by using these individuals in celebrity endorsement campaigns. But in those instances, the brand has to fund and control how the consumer is going to see that partnership. The brand is going to have to create the ad, purchase the media, or produce the red carpet event. What entertainment marketing content opportunities in TV, film, music videos or related events do is provide the platform as well as the celebrity – the brand simply needs to show up to take advantage of potential global awareness.
Celebrities and luxury brands offer each a natural complement to one another. The fact is, celebrities and the content they appear in or at, helps sell the brands that are also associated. Celebrities help bring the brand to life, whether on bodies that are beautiful works of arts themselves, in an atmosphere where personalities that shine brighter than the jewels or high fashion that they wear, or in a scene that is brought even more to life with that celebrity allure – where the luxury brand is cast as well. Content which is driven by celebrities brings heightened awareness to the luxury brand, and create aspiration by fans wanting to be just like them.
Luxury Brands And Branded Content Deals - The Most Important Thing To Do
One of the best practices I would suggest to luxury brands for entertainment marketing are to ensure securing any possible logo exposure that can be obtained is for branded content deals. Try to not settle with just the brand being shown on screen in a scene without a logo. Look for a sign, a shopping bag or a branded box to bring that brand to life. And if you can’t get that in-content branding? Then blog about it. Post about it on social media. Get press coverage. Or look at ways to utilize Google Adwords to answer that long tail keyword search question by a consumer when they Google “long earrings Kate Hudson wears in xyz film” or “purse carried by Sarah Jessica Parker in xyz TV show”.
Do whatever you can to help bring that partnership to life off the screen for the consumer who wants to be in the know. And in that vein, also look to see what media or retail extensions your brand can offer the content partners – specifically movies, to help bring more awareness to that film. Print ads, billboards, in-store campaigns, all bring value of raising awareness and getting more people to the theater to buy tickets and see the movie. And also look out for premiere party and screening opportunities which can yield co-branded step and repeat red carpets of your brand, and media coverage.
A Secret Insider Tip To Surefire Success For Luxury Brands With Product Placement And Events
Another best practice I would suggest to luxury brands is that they need to understand when it comes to product placement, that simply budgeting to make sure you have enough product inventory is a large part of the way luxury brands can win home runs. The biggest obstacle we typically see in the luxury brand space is a lack of product available – at the last minute – for product placement opportunities that could become wins for the brand. And the brand loses out. You really have two options with TV and film – you either have product that helps productions save money from purchasing or renting an item, or you pay your way in. Sometimes it may require a combination of both – but there is a lot that is possible to obtain simply with product and having the right relationships (like a well-connected product placement / entertainment marketing agency) to get your brand on screen.
And the same goes for buckets of budgets for events, where in this case instead of inventory, you need to be prepared to have extra dollars to invest in last minute opportunities. Longer timing can secure great event opportunities - usually at their asking rate. But wait for those last minute opportunities too – where the event producer is open to partnerships, at more discounted rates.
What Your Brand Needs To Know
The report from Luxury Daily is excellent, and you can read it here: Entertainment Marketing Luxury Memo Special Report
And if you want to read MORE on luxury entertainment marketing and how brands can best utilize product placement and celebrity partnerships, our team has created these helpful blogs:
- A Red Carpet Revolt
- Brands Can Learn From Kyulie Jenner and Rihanna's Secrets To Self Advertising
- Rihanna's Celebrity Jewelry Endorsement For Chopard
And when you are ready to start exploring influencers on a deeper level, download our guide that provides insight and helpful advice to make sure you get everything from entertainment content partnerships with our Product Placement & Promotion 101 E-Book.
