Friday, May 16, 2014

Thanks to Old Navy & La-Z-Boy, I'm changing my stance on celebrity advertising.


I've never been a big fan of celebrity advertising.  Here's a blog I wrote about my concerns back in February 2014:  http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2014/02/is-it-time-to-stop-using-celebrities-in.html   

But, in last week's blog I discussed the fact that the revitalization of La-Z-Boy is due in part to the success of their campaign with Brooke Shields. 

Then this week, Old Navy announced that their April sales were up 18% and that they attribute part of that increase to the success of their new campaign with Amy Poehler.  (The other reasons were warmer weather and a later-than-usual Easter.) (Mahoney, 2014)

The funny thing about this campaign is that the first time I saw this commercial I was so taken by the pants that were featured that I didn't even notice Amy.  Talk about a home run.  A celebrity driven campaign, where the celebrity didn't overwhelm the product. 

Here's the ad ...




I'm convinced.  What about you?  Have you changed your mind about celebrity advertising?


Mahoney, S. (2014, May 9)  Amy Poehler Propels New Bounce at Old Navy.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved May 15, 2014, from  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/225526/amy-poehler-propels-new-bounce-at-old-navy.html?edition=72726

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never been opposed to celebrity advertising unless it's clearly evident that this particular celebrity doesn't appear that she/he uses the product. For instance, I feel that those Revlon commercials with Supermodels and A- list celebrities like Beyonce don't use Revlon products for personal use. But celebrity advertising like Amex with Tina Fey or Ellen DeGeneres is more believable because Amex is an exclusive card/product. Another celebrity advertising that also seem to work and is genuine is Apple's iMac with Justin Long.


I think in order for celebrity advertising to work the product and celebrity should appropriately match. For instance Marie Osmond, Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Hudson work with Weight Watcher because they are not A-list celebrities and clearly they use the product.
G

Fawaz Alsaud said...

What makes the commercial work is not just the fact that its a celebrity, but the fact that its a celebrity paired with a fun, catchy concept. Amy Poehler is fun in the commercial, but it doesn't seem to me that she's the reason why the commercial works. I'd imagine a number of different actresses could have made this work.