Carla Jones gave a presentation on online reputation management and the role of celebrities. She discussed how brands use celebrities to raise awareness, highlight attributes, and attract new audiences. However, celebrities can also damage brands if they misbehave or have values not aligned with the brand. She advised researching which celebrities fit a brand, asking the target audience, setting goals and monitoring the relationship. Other options like using loyal consumers or internal stakeholders as ambassadors were also presented.

1. Online reputation management and the role of celebrities
Presentation by: Carla Jones
20 March 2012
@saidWotORM
@CarlaJones1000

2. Just a quick introduction
Carla Jones – GM & Chief Strategist for saidWot South Africa.
@carlajones1000
za.linkedin.com/in/carlajones1000
plus.google.com/105788718313293278117

3. Outline
• A Quick Introduction to Online Reputation Management
• The role of celebrities.
• Can brands match brand values with celebrity idiosyncrasies?
• Strictly short term or can it be long term?
• Who are the big names right now?
• Crisis management!

4. From Springbok Captain to Chip advertiser

5. Why?
ORM
(Online Reputation Management)
Explained

6. Online Reputation Management
The process of monitoring your brand online,
knowing how to deal with any negative and
positive commentary and understanding how
you can pro-actively protect your brand via
conversation.

7. Why?
So that you know
• What is being said,
• Who is saying it,
• Where they are saying it,
• How they feel about you,
• How often they talk about you…

8. How?

9. Celebrities?
Brands & Celebrities
The Relationship

10. Celebrities are used by brands to
• Generate brand awareness and raise their profile
• Highlight a certain attribute of the brand, product or service
• Extend an offline campaign online
• Increase attendance to an event
• Promote a competition
• Promote a specific product
• Attract a new audience
• Launch a new product
• Refresh an existing product

11. Why do brands use celebrities?
The celebrity reaches a much
larger audience than the
brand would.
People rather hear from a
celebrity than a brand.

12. Why do brands use celebrities?
Highlight certain attributes – It is much easier to get an
strength, endurance, leadership
attribute across to an
audience if you translate this into
a human being.
Highlight certain attributes – style,
class, status

13. Why do brands use celebrities?
A celebrity can add a new
dimension to an existing
product that a brand
cannot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&feature=
list_related&playnext=1&list=SPB9F260CE56D04E73

14. Why do brands use celebrities?
Consumers feel the product will
deliver what the celebrity
stands for (the lifestyle,
beauty, wealth)

15. Why?
Brands & Celebrities
The unwanted connection

16. Celebrities can damage a brand just as easily
• General misbehaviour
• Display of norms and values that are not in line with the
brand’s values.
• Supporting too many different brands.
• A dislike from the audience towards the celebrity
• Overuse of the celebrity.
• Celebrity making use of competing products

17. Celebrities misbehaving
A celebrity’s
misbehaviour online and
offline will immediately be
linked back to the brand.
Note: Celebrities in ads are seen as brand ambassadors as well.

18. Celebrities’ Norms & Values
A celebrity’s norms and
values in his personal life
will have an impact on the
brands he represents in his
professional life.

19. Dislike of celebrities
Not everybody will like the
celebrity chosen by the brand.
This could lead to
disassociation with the
brand.
Celebrities do not
always live by the
rules.

20. Overuse of the celebrity
Overuse of the
ambassador in all marketing
campaigns can lead to
frustration.
Consumers know you are
paying them to promote
the brand.

21. Celebrities with too many supporting brands
People don’t like
celebrities that are associated
with too many different
brands.

22. Why?
So should or shouldn’t
you use celebrities for
you brand?

23. It all depends…
• Is your brand difficult to sell without a famous face
to it?
• Does it need a celebrity to stand out from the crowd
• Do you have the money to pay a celebrity?
• Is there no other way to get the same message
across to the audience?

24. Why?
Which celebrity fits your
brand?

25. It all depends…
There is no quick list of celebrities
to consider, it all depends on your
brand.
One size
doesn’t fit all

26. Do the research
• Monitor your brand to see who speaks about you regularly
• Monitor these loyal or influential people to see what else they
speak about.
• Make a list of the shortlisted candidates
• What other brands are they linked to?
• How do they behave online?
• How influential are they online and offline?
• What channels do they have to engage on?
• Are they mainly liked / disliked?
• Does their personal profile suit the brand?

27. Ask the Audience
• Monitor your target audience to see how they engage with your
shortlisted ambassadors.
• Monitor how your own brand is perceived online and what
issues may come up in the future.
• Check what other topics the audience discusses.
• Monitor the crisis mentions that could come up around the
ambassador and the product.

28. Check that the celebrity fits the brand
• Make sure the personal life of the celebrity fits the brand.
• Make sure that the message they put out there fits the brand.

29. Set up goals and KPIs
• Set up clear KPIs for the brand ambassador that are monitored on
a monthly basis.
• Make sure the celebrity is briefed thoroughly on the brand, the
brand attributes, and the brand values.
• Put a crisis management plan in place that caters for all
foreseeable crisis areas.

30. Monitor
• Monitor how the ambassador represents the brand online.
• Monitor how the audience reacts to the ambassador.
• Monitor whether the link is made between the brand and
ambassador.
• Set up crisis alerts to notify you or any crisis taking place online.

31. Afterwards
This is not a short term process
• Have a plan in place for when the contract ends.
• Be prepared to replace them with another celebrity.
• Depending on how strong the relationship was, there will always be
a link between the ambassador and the brand.

32. Other Possibilities

33. Loyal consumers as brand ambassadors
• Loyal consumers can be just as influential but at a lower cost.
• Pamper and reward your loyal fans to turn them into brand
ambassadors.
• This can easily be done via vouchers, added value, recognition,
unique information, etc.
• Assist your disloyal fans and resolve their problems.

34. Internal stakeholders as brand ambassadors
• Make use of the internal stakeholder base already available.
• Encourage your employees to be brand ambassadors BUT make
sure there are policies in place to explain the dos and don’ts to
them.
• Appoint key spokespeople for the brand.

35. Questions

36. How to get hold of us
saidWotORM
saidWot Online Reputation
Management Tool
South Africa: United States:
Tel: +27 11 021 8740 Tel: +00 (1) 704 450 2403
Email: infosa@saidwot.com Email: infous@saidwot.com
Web: www.saidwot.com