As Nativa works extensively with influencers for a number of our clients, one of the questions that came up recently was how engaged Black and Hispanic audiences are by celebrity endorsements? We wanted to know when compared to the general market, do multicultural communities pay more or less attention to advertisements that feature celebrity athletes? Additionally, does the investment in celebrities/athletes pay off for brands wanting to reach multicultural audiences?
To answer this question, we asked business professionals in various industries to share their perspectives. See the highlights below:
5 Ideas on How to Reach Diverse Audiences by Investing in Celebrities & Athletes
- Partner with Athletes on Social Media
- Affiliate Brands with Athletes that Represent Specific Sports
- Don’t Underestimate Local Celebrities
- Celebrities Can Move Merchandise
- Find the Perfect Mix
Partner with Athletes on Social Media
Here’s what Michael Alexis, from TeamBuilding had to say. “Many Black and Hispanic consumers follow their favorite athletes on social media platforms, particularly Instagram. By partnering with these athletes on these channels and cross-posting content, you can leverage the celebrities’ followings to drive engagement and broaden your campaign’s reach. Social media marketing is a subtle art, aiming for endorsements and partnerships comes off more trustworthy and tends to be more effective than a hard sell. A few ideas include sharing an Instagram live interview or hosting a handle takeover where the athlete dictates a few days’ content on your brand’s social media platform.”
Affiliate Brands with Athletes that Represent Specific Sports
Michael Sena, from SENACEA states, “Different ethnic backgrounds often hold sports preferences that are influenced by parents and country of origin. Second-generation migrants from India are much more likely to have grown up watching cricket in the house. Similarly, those whose parents were from Brazil are more likely to be soccer fans. In turn, many sports may be overrepresented among certain cultural or ethnic groups. This poses an opportunity to appeal to those groups by affiliating brands with sportspeople representing those specific sports.”
Don’t Underestimate Local Celebrities
Olivia Young from Conscious Items also explains, “Multicultural communities also pay close attention to local celebrities or athletes when it comes to promotions. People want to see their own local heroes out there making changes within the world, so those are the advertisements that may grab more of their attention. Big-name celebrities or athletes are great but require big budgets. Don’t forget to look for value and local vibes by selecting to work with your local athletes and celebrities.”
Celebrities Can Move Merchandise
Sarah Pirrie from Healist Naturals details, “Knowing celebrities are endorsing the product can be a major influence on consumer happiness. Brands are now using celebrities and athletes to advertise their products more than ever before, and many are finding broad success with this tactic.”
Find the Perfect Mix
Finally, Saskia Ketz from Mojomox shares, “Research illustrates that for brands wanting to reach multicultural audiences, the investment in a celebrity endorser is more persuasive to consumers and communicates the symbolic meanings of a brand to the target audience better than an influencer or ‘Average Joe’. Connecting brands with celebrities’ personality traits, often increases brand visibility and ROI but do not guarantee success. Make sure to have an out-clause (i.e. morality clause) in the contract so that if your brand endorser makes a bad decision, your marketing team is not left to pick up the pieces.”
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At Nativa we are performing the wave in celebrating our thanks to Terkel for assistance in compiling this article.
