The Kardashians and their extended family are some of the most marketable names in today’s entertainment business. On any given day, it seems like a member of the Kardashian clan or the girls’ significant others are announcing yet another brand partnership. Though the family has deals ranging from athletic apparel to jewelry, the Kardashian kitchen is the true brand epicenter.
Tupperware:Reggie Bush, Kim’s boyfriend and New Orleans Saints running back, just inked a deal with the food storage brand. The Super Bowl Champion will take part in a publicity event with the company’s chief executive Rick Goings, where he will learn how to prepare a meal using only food, Tupperware products and a microwave.
Famous Cupcakes: All three sisters can currently be seen on web advertisements featured on the store’s homepage from the photo shoot that was featured on their popular reality show. The girls also hosted the brand’s store opening in Beverly Hills last October and now Kim even has her own cupcake mix. She made an appearance at the Beverly Hills store on February 19th to launch her Va-Va-Va-Nilla Cupcake Mix.
Tropicana Orange Juice: Former gold medalist and stepfather of the girls, Bruce Jenner, is once again endorsing the orange juice brand. Jenner first partnered with Tropicana after he won his gold medal at the 1976 Olympics and can be seen in the brand’s old commercial. This time around, Tropicana is offering fans an opportunity to win breakfast and play golf with Bruce. Beginning tomorrow, consumers can use a Tropicana Juicy Rewards point to enter the contest on the brand’s website. Tropicana will also launch a video short featuring Jenner that same day.
Got Milk?: In addition to his Tupperware deal, Bush is one of the latest stars to appear in a Got Milk? ad. The running back states in the ad, “milk helped me fuel up to play for 60. And it’s got nutrients I need to refuel after the Super Bowl.” He appears in both the print ads and the commercial donning his Saints uniform and a milk mustache with a glass of milk in hand.
Taco Bell & Carl’s Jr.: Khloe’s husband, Los Angeles Lakers player Lamar Odom, appears alongside Charles Barkley in the fast food chain’s Super Bowl commercial promoting the NBA’s Five Buck Box. He also recently tweeted about enjoying the company’s tacos. Meanwhile, Kim turns to Carl’s Jr. for her fast food fix. Kim appears in the burger chain’s commercial promoting their Premium Salads (from a bubble bath) and also hosted a live “lunch chat” via the brand’s Facebook page.
QuickTrim: Though the family endorses multiple food products, Kim and Khloe also endorse weight loss supplement QuickTrim. . Both girls have appeared in commercials and print advertisements, as well as on the brand’s website encouraging visitors to download the Burn & Cleanse Daily Diet & Exercise Program Manual. The brand is also promoting a contest through their VIP List that gives fans the opportunity to meet and party with Kim and Khloe.
In addition to the aforementioned brands, all three sisters endorse Sugar Factory’s Couture Pops, Odom is a spokesperson for PowerBar, and Bush endorses RedBull. The Kardashian family and the girls’ significant others are sure to rake in even more deals and add to the brands already in their kitchen as the family’s marketability only continues to increase and their empire grows.
With David Beckham’s recent injury forcing him off the field for this summer’s World Cup in South Africa (and causing his corporate partners simultaneous heart attacks) we were left wondering: are there any other stars from across the pond who seem poised to step into Becks’ role as a successful brand ambassador?
Here are four British celebs capable of crossing over…
James Corden – This English actor has been working in the television and film industry for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until he starred in the London Stage and Broadway productions of The History Boys that he gained notoriety. Corden has since gone on to write and star in the hit British comedy Gavin & Stacey. ABC has reportedly ordered an American version of the show, hoping to create its own British spinoff success (a la The Office). Corden is set to star alongside Emily Blunt and Jack Black in Gulliver’s Travels, which is slated for release in late 2010. With the right comedic tone Corden could be a great spokesperson for any brand—check out this funny skit he filmed with England’s soccer team to help raise money for charity.
Michael McIntyre– A stand-up comedian, McIntyre has shot to stardom in the UK. His stand-up DVDs are the fastest selling comedy DVDs in British history. His brand of humor is relatively family friendly (minimal foul language and crude commentary, think Blue Collar Comedy Tour), which makes him highly marketable to all segments of the population. No doubt he has an American tour in the works.
Cheryl Cole – This English recording artist has become one of Britain’s most beloved celebrities. Cole is a successful singer and serves as a judge on one of the UK’s most popular television shows, Simon Cowell’sThe X-Factor. Cole has done deals with L’Oreal, Nintendo DS and Samsung (among others) and, if the rumors are true, her marketing power only stands to increase when Simon brings her to LA for the American version of The X-Factor. With Simon’s help (everything he touches seems to turn to gold), Cole appears set to become a household name in the US.
Lewis Hamilton – This F1 driver will likely be the youngest athlete (he’s only 25) to earn $1 billion. He is the first black driver on the F1 circuit and the youngest driver to claim the F1 title. Hamilton drives for the McLaren Mercedes-Benz team and has already been named a global spokesperson for Reebok, he also has an individual deal with Santander (a global banking group). Hamilton’s presence on the McLaren team has attracted a number of high profile sponsors and inspired others to extend their partnerships; sponsors include Vodafone, Johnnie Walker, Hugo Boss, Hilton, Tag Heuer, Aigo and XTB. Don’t be surprised if Hamilton enters a few IndyCar Series races in the next few years in an attempt to boost his profile in the US.
With The Celebrity Apprentice premiering last night, we thought it would be timely to take a look at who is marketable from the group (and who is not). Just as we say for the cast of Dancing with the Stars, reality TV has now become a vehicle for once-forgotten celebrities (or celebs on the rise) to gain exposure to a new audience on a national platform. And for these contestants, it is an opportunity to raise money and awareness for their favorite causes.
Most Marketable:
Holly Robinson Peete (@hollyrpeete)- The actress and mom of four has been the face of a number of “mom programs.” We won’t be surprised to see her ink 1-2 more from her exposure on the show. And be sure to follow her as she tweets the inside scoop during/after the show.
Curtis Stone (@curtis_stone)- The chef can be seen in a number of different shows, including TLC’s Take Home Chef, as a resident chef on The Today Show and on several episodes of The Biggest Loser. Clearly an expert in the food space, he also has the personality and charm to add to his endorsement roster (that includes a previous deal with the Hass Avocado Board).
Cyndi Lauper (@shebop_aka_cyn)- The Emmy Award-winning artist has been around for decades and continues to be a marketable name and face. She currently stars in MAC ads with “it girl” Lady Gaga and is expected to release a new album later this Spring.
Sharon Osbourne (@MrsSOsbourne)- The reality star and famous wife of Ozzy Osbourne has been involved with various charity campaigns throughout the years. She has great name/face recognition and could be the right person for a fun, lighthearted campaign.
Least Marketable:
Carol Leifer (@Carolleifer)- With her early exit from the show, she never had the chance to show viewers her personality.
Rod Blagojevich (N/A)- While the former Governor of Illinois provides entertaining TV, his earlier scandals are still fresh and not truly out of the mind of the American public.
Maria Kanellis (@Marialkanellis)- The former WWE Diva lacks mainstream recognition and doesn’t get much camera time on the show. Though she might not be marketable for a brand, her own album sales (out April 13) will likely benefit from her exposure on the show.
The cast of season three of The Celebrity Apprentice.
And here is the rest of the cast with their twitter handles:
Variety has recorded a respectable 8.3 million viewers for the season premiere.
PS- The lead in to The Celebrity Apprentice was Guy Fieri’s new show Minute to Win it. After winning the second season of The Next Food Network Star, he has gone on to host several Food Network shows, endorse TGI Friday’s and is now hosting a primetime network game show. There is something to be said for the power of reality TV (combined with the right personality).
Pop music phenomenon Lady Gaga just released her newest music video “Telephone” featuring Beyonce late last night on the E! network. In typical Gaga fashion, the almost ten minute music video is very theatrical and plays more like a short film. There are so many brands featured in the video via product placement that it’s nearly a “Where’s Waldo” of brands. Take a look at the full list below:
Virgin Mobile-Gaga’s tour sponsor
Diet Coke
Monster Heartbeats by Lady Gaga headphones
HP laptop
PlentyOfFish.com dating site
Polaroid-Lady Gaga was announced as Creative Director at CES this year
Wonderbread
Kraft Miracle Whip
Coors Light
Make no mistakes, while this entire video may rarely play on TV, it has already gone viral getting 500,000 YouTube views in the first 12 hours. We’ve posted it here so you can see the product placement yourself.
In a TV landscape dominated by TiVO and DVR, audiences are no longer subject to sitting through numerous commercial breaks during their favorite TV shows. What once was a time when advertisers could promote their newest product or service, commercial breaks have now fallen victim to frequent fast-forwarding. As a result, brands and advertisers are relying more on a different tactic to get their message to the public: product placement.
One of today’s most prevalent product placement integrations in television appears on ABC’s hit comedy series Modern Family. The popular ABC show has partnered with leading automotive manufacturer Toyota, spotlighting its newest models throughout the series. Characters Claire and Phil Dunphy drive the new Toyota Sienna, while partners Cameron and Mitchell drive the environmentally-friendly Prius. In the episodes that aired in 2009, Toyota was featured 16 times, amounting to a combined eight minutes of Modern Family airtime.
Due to the recent events surrounding Toyota’s recall, this partnership between Modern Family and Toyota has become the center of many conversations. We are used to seeing endorsement deals between celebrities and brands - a relationship that aligns the celebrities’ image with that of the brand. Because of this, brands often fear the possibility that the celebrities endorsing their products will become involved in a scandal, thus damaging the brand’s credibility in the process. However, for Toyota, the opposite is now true. Toyota’s recent recall has put its reputation in jeopardy and has forced the brand into a large scale crisis. Now, both ABC and Modern Family have reason to reassess their partnership with Toyota-a surprising change in the world of product-placement.
For Toyota, its continued appearance in the show has the potential to help remedy some of damage done. By continuing with the product-placement arrangement, the brandis asserting that its cars are still a safe choice for families everywhere. In a situation unlike any seen before, it will be interesting to see how the partnership turns out for both Toyota and Modern Family.
Last night’s 82nd Annual Academy Awards was a night of firsts in the famed award show’s history: the first time since 1943 that ten feature films were nominated for Best Picture, the first time a woman won Best director and the first time that product placement was recognized as a seamlessly integrated plot characteristic in many of the night’s biggest film honorees.
Sandra Bullock received an Oscar for her performance in The Blind Side. In the movie she portrayed Anne Tuohy, whose automobile of choicewas a BMW. In a film that emphasizes family values, good deeds and warm hearts, the BMW brand is associated not only with affluence, but an uplifting story of kindness. Another brand that made its way into the spotlight in The Blind Side is Taco Bell. Sean Tuohy, the adopted father of Michael Oher, is a successful Taco Bell franchise owner and throughout the film the Touhy family eats Taco Bell at family meals. The family donates Taco Bell leftovers to local charities-presenting Taco Bell as a charitable family brand. Other brands integrated into The Blind Side’s family driven plot line are Canon and Borders. In the film, Canon video cameras are used to document Michael Oher’s progress as a football player. In a touching scene, the children’s section at Borders helps Michael relive the childhood he never had.
George Clooney and American Airlines both star in Up In The Air
One of the evening’s honored movies, Up in the Air, has been identified as one of this year’s product placement successes. The film incorporated several brands into its memorable plot line. American Airlines jumped at the opportunity to be featured in Up in the Air, a film that follows the career of a man, Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney), who spends more than 300 days out of the year flying around the country. Clooney’s character is, quite obviously, a frequent flyer and his loyalty to American Airlines is unmatched. American Airlines’ terminals and Admirals Clubs are seen everywhere in the movie. With its logo and accommodating customer service featured throughout, American Airlines has created one of the more comprehensive and rewarding product placement integrations in Hollywood. But don’t forget about Hilton, the brand served as the hotel of choice in Up in the Air and the hotel giant’s Hilton Honors Diamond VIP Card and bathrobes got some significant screen time.
The Hurt Locker, this year’s Best Picture winner, and fellow nominee District 9, were two low budget films honored at this year’s Oscars. Low budget films often use product placement as a way to offset production costs and these two films were no exception. Compared to the other blockbuster films nominated at this year’s Academy Awards, the product placement in both The Hurt Locker and District 9’s was minimal, but still noticeable. The Hurt Locker partnered with Pepsi, and incorporated both Pepsi logos and drinks (Pepsi and Aquafina) into the film. The brand must be pleased with The Hurt Locker’s awards show success, as DVD sales will certainly be boosted by last night’s big win. As a Sony film, District 9 contains plenty of Sony products, including the Sony Vaio laptop seen onscreen during a documentary style interview with the main character, Wikus.
Whether fully integrated into character and plot lines or simply making a cameo appearance, product placement serves as a thriving industry tool to boost consumer awareness and sales.
This year’s 82nd Annual Academy Awards, better known as The Oscars, is guaranteed to be a night full of cinematic excellence and high fashion. Hollywood’s A-List will come together to recognize this year’s best performances on the silver screen. Throughout Oscar night this Sunday, as you wait through commercial breaks for the announcement of the next big winner, be prepared to see some familiar brand names taking the spotlight.
If Oscars were given to brands, this year’s “Best Picture” golden statue would be awarded to Hyundai, the event’s exclusive automotive sponsor. With seven ad spots during the live broadcast and one spot during ABC’s pre-show, Hyundaitakes the lead over any other brand being featured throughout the telecast. They ran into some problems initially because the Academy Awards are much like the Olympics where the show/network has control over what things can run and when. Best Actor nominee Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) has been Hyundai’s voice-over talent for the last three years; however, due to the rules set by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences prohibiting the use of any nominees of presenters in Oscar night ad spots, other celebrity talent has been enlisted, adding to Hyundai’s list of A-list endorsers. Each of the seven ad spots during the Academy Awards will feature a different celebrity including Kim Basinger, Richard Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, David Duchovny, Catherine Keener, Michael Madsen, and Mandy Patinkin. Following their considerable presence during the Super Bowl, Hyundai is continuing to live by their new manta “Big Voices in Big Places” during the Academy Awards - the biggest event in Hollywood.
Taking this year’s brand “Actor in a Leading Role” is Coca-Cola. Having been the exclusive beverage sponsor of The Academy Awards since 2006, it only seemed right to continue this winning streak. Coca-Cola will feature a new Diet Coke ad spot, two ad spots for the main brand and two spots from the new “Heart Truth”campaign- raising awareness for women’s heart health problems.
JCPenney comes into the spotlight as a big contender with six minutes of airtime, receiving this year’s brand “Actor in a Supporting Role” recognition. Taking into consideration the significant influence the Oscars have on culture, lifestyle and fashion, JCPenney is taking this opportunity to launch the retail giant’s new tagline: “New Look. New Day. Who Knew?” Included in JCPenney’s airtime is a spot for their brand partnership with Cindy Crawford for her home furnishing line. Additionally, JCPenney will premiere an ad showcasing their new exclusive juniors brand Olsenboye, created by a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Oscar brand honorable mentions go to Microsoft, McDonald’s, Sprint, Ameriprise Financial, Kimberly-Clark, Samsung Electronics and Hershey’s.
So far this year, “big-event” television (including the Super Bowl, Grammy’s, and Golden Globes) ratings have increased over years past. If the Oscars stay on trend, the brands featured during this year’s commercial ad spots are guaranteed to gain considerable attention.
The Power of Twitter: Chelsea Handler is switching from Grey Goose vodka to Belvedere Vodka for her next comedy tour, “The Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang Tour,” which is produced by Live Nation and sponsored by Belvedere. According to her Twitter account, @chelsealately, the vodka company even threw her a 35th birthday party. Lady Gaga, who has over 2.8 million followers on Twitter, appears alongside legend Cyndi Lauper in the new MAC advertisements. MAC’s Viva Glam Spring 2010 campaign will feature each singer’s own shade lipstick, Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi. Profits from the Viva Glam campaign go towards the MAC AIDS fund. Muscle Flex has teamed up with Kim Kardashian for the launch of their new line, Muscle Flex Vata Sports, which features the VATA Brasil OneFit fabric. The reality starlet will leverage her large internet fan base (over 3 million followers on Twitter) while appearing in a special online ad campaign in support of the new collection. Pete Wentz is the latest UNICEF Tap Project ambassador, lending his name and likeness to support the initiative, along with national media interviews to raise awareness for the project. After UNICEF USA (@unicefusa) announced the partnership via Twitter, Wentz (who has over 1.9 million Twitter followers @petewentz ), posted a link to the article about the partnership on his Twitter page. Ed Hardy has announced that NBA superstar Dwight Howard, who has 1.5 million followers on Twitter (@DwightHoward), will endorse the 2010 line of clothing. The outdoor ad campaign featuring Howard launched during NBA All-Star Weekend and will roll out across the country this spring.
Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper pose for their MAC ad campaign.
Mind, Body & Soul:
Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice and two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart have teamed up to bring back their signature Victory Towel Auctions. Whenever Stewart wins a race, he will wipe his face off with an Old Spice branded towel. He’ll later autograph the towel and give it to Old Spice for an eBay auction, with all proceeds going to the Tony Stewart Foundation. Old Spice will also be Stewart’s primary sponsor throughout the 2010 Sprint Cup season. Johnson & Johnson has tapped actress and mom Angie Harmon to be the face of their online stress management program for women, called Upliv. The program provides advice, exercises and periodic shipments of toiletries with scents that will create a relaxed and refreshed mood. Whoopi Goldberg is announced her newest partnership with Poise incontinence products during her regular co-hosting duties on The View. The actress and host will star in a series of webisodes for the brand that portrays famous women throughout history dealing with light incontinence problems, including Mona Lisa and Cleopatra. The “One in Three Like Me” campaign also includes print ads featuring Whoopi. Unilever brand Degree Men is sponsoring various Mexican soccer players hoping to qualify for Mexico’s World Cup. The brand’s first major U.S. Hispanic venture involves an eight-week long TV show that runs through March 29th and features a different Mexican player every week. The show started out with Andres Guardado, who is also the face of Degree, and will end with Jose Francisco “Gringo” Torres, who faces the unusual dual citizenship dilemma of having to choose between the U.S. and Mexican World Cup teams. New Orleans Saints Super Bowl champion quarterback Drew Brees is a part of the new Dove Men + Care campaign. The digital campaign depicts the Super Bowl winning QB singing in the shower and was featured in a series of homepage takeovers on hyper-relevant sports sites. The brand actually shot players from both teams that competed in the Super Bowl and then selected the final spot based on the outcome of the game.
To dunk or not to dunk? That is the question at hand in the new Oreo Cakester campaign. For years, the famous Oreo cookie and milk has been a welcomed pair in households across the country, but the introduction of the Oreo Cakester has sparked a nationwide “dunkers debate” and former American Idol contestants Anoop Desai (@AnoopDoggDesai)and Matt Giraud (@ImMattGiraud) are at the center.
Desai and Giraud joined Oreo Cakesters in promoting their new jingle contest, which launched yesterday. Declaring their position in the “dunkers debate,” Desai, a dunker,and Giraud, a non-dunker,performed and posted their respective jingles on the Oreo Facebook fan page.
Visitors to the page have the opportunity to download the music and lyrics and, once they choose their side of the debate, enter a video featuring their own version of the dunk or non-dunk Oreo Cakester jingle. The winning jingle will be played on national radio, and the winner will have the chance to meet Desai or Giraud. The two Idols have also been doing media interviews all morning and posting about the contest on their twitter handles. Take a look at a few tweets below and be sure to follow the debate via Facebook and Twitter.
@ImMattGiraud: Anoop and I are going live across the country promoting the Oreo debate!! Check it! http://bit.ly/aRIWpZ for local listings
@ImMattGiraud: Check out my Fan Page on Facebook for my morning interviews schedule with @AnoopDoggDesai promoting our involvement with Oreo Cakesters.
It’s that time of year again… the newest cast of Dancing with the Stars has been announced. Host Tom Bergeron and former DWTS finalist Melisssa Rycroft announced the celebrity cast during the season finale of The Bachelor. We say this each season, and each season it proves to be true- with around 20 million viewers twice a week, DWTS has the power to make celebs become relevant again and increase their marketing power.
This season’s roster promises to provide both competition and entertainment. Take a look at the newest celebrity participants (and their twitter handles) below. Guarantee that their twitter following significantly grows over the course of the season, giving them yet another asset for brands to leverage when enlisting them as a spokesperson.
With Chad Ochocinco, Pamela Anderson and Erin Andrews in this seasons cast, we expect a higher percentage of male viewers to watch. And we’ll update with our marketing favorites for brands.
