No stars for B2B marketing?

I set myself a challenge the other day.

Come up with 10 B2B campaigns featuring celebrities. And by that, I mean celebrities who are famous for doing something other than creating B2B products or talking/writing about them. So, Larry Ellison didn’t make the cut.

Given that celebrities feature in B2C advertising ALL THE TIME, either in person or as a voiceover, you might have thought that putting a list together might be the work of a moment, but no. When you put your mind to it, there’s not a lot of celebrity B2B action going on out there. Here’s my list.

1. Christian Slater and HP

Slater fronted a number of big budget campaigns for HP (presented by the very grand sounding HP Studios) in 2017-18, including a 4-part campaign about hackers and printers and a 20-minute epic entitled True Alpha also starring Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks. Irreverent and actually quite funny.

2. Dominic Cooper, IBM

Despite being involved in all sorts of film and TV work in 2013-14, Cooper managed to squeeze in a campaign for IBM Cloud, appearing alongside hamsters, cows and a whole load of tennis balls. The 30-second spots are nicely written and directed, but Cooper’s presence undoubtedly gives the campaign something you don’t get from central casting.

4. Oscar the Grouch, Squarespace

Sesame Street’s grumpy trashcan dweller was the star of last year’s campaign for Squarespace in which he becomes a world-famous artist thanks to his new website. The ad has had over 37 million views (Sounds impressive? You wait...) and you could even buy examples of Oscar’s “trash art” at $150 a pop on the campaign website (oscartrashart.com). The proceeds went to the Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind Sesame Street.

5. Peter Jones (and some gremlins), BT Business

Back in 2008, with half a dozen seasons of Dragons’ Den under his belt, Peter Jones featured in a BT Business ad in which his working late is disrupted by the stars of Joe Dante’s 1984 comedy-horror movie. Not entirely successful, but it’s had 160k views on YouTube.

6. Jean Claude Van Damme, Volvo Trucks

Released in November 2013, this was actually the sixth advert produced in Volvo’s Live Test series. Previous ads had included Volvo technician, Roland Svensson, and president, Claes Nilsson, both of whom have since clocked up some very healthy viewing figures, but I suspect they are riding on the coat tails of Van Damme’s Epic Split. With just under 100 million views to date (back at you, Oscar), it’s an ongoing publicity machine for the Swedish truck manufacturer.

7. Gordon Ramsay, NICE

A rather unexpected one this from 2018. Who’d have thought that the foul-mouthed Scot would be a natural fit with contact centre software? NICE obviously thought so. The spot features a lot of bleeped-out swearing (see my previous post – it’s the suggestion of swearing that’s all important) – and a kitchen of unconvincing Ramsay impersonators. That said, the spot has had just under 7 million views.

And that’s where my list ends. I daresay there are more examples out there, but it’s time to get to the point.

In Louise Canning and Douglas West of Birmingham Business School’s paper, Celebrity Endorsement in Business Markets, the authors outline three ways in which celebrity endorsement can work.

1. Source credibility/attractiveness, whereby you choose someone who is credible, trustworthy and attractive. If consumers like and believe your spokesperson, they’re more likely to buy your product.

2. Product Match-up, whereby your chosen celeb’s connection to your product is easily understood. It’s easier in the B2C world. Just get a famous sports personality to promote your kit or a chef to promote your food. In B2B, it’s more tricky.

3. Meaning Transfer, which is all about how you want your product to be perceived. You then simply select a celebrity that fits. Dior obviously decided that Johnny Depp was the right fit for Sauvage rather than, say, Toms Hanks, Hardy or Hiddleston. Depp was a bit more of a rebel, more dangerous, more bohemian, just what Dior wanted people to think about their aftershave. Again, more difficult when you’re selling 5G infrastructure.

However, it’s not impossible and even if the fit isn’t perfect, you can’t argue with the numbers. Jean Claude Van Damme made his name kicking the crap out of people (often in very, very bad films), had a severe drug habit in the 1990s and has been married five times. He’s no stiff in a suit, but thanks to his split, 100 million people have seen two Volvo trucks drive a very precise line. Getting an unknown to do the stunt might have worked, but I doubt it would have had the impact.

I don’t know what formulae you normally use to work out your leads, sales and revenue, but if you pop 100 million names (or even Gordon’s 7 million) into the top of your funnel, you’re going to end up with something worth thinking about and certainly worth remembering next time you’re casting a B2B campaign.