Brand Story

Sharon Stone and Dior Get a Lesson in Karma

The Wall Street Journal reports that Dior has pulled ads featuring Sharon Stone that were running in China. Why? Because Stone suggested that the recent earthquake there was the result of karma. From the Journal:

"Last week at the Cannes film festival, Ms. Stone gave a television interview saying she is "not happy" about China's treatment of Tibet, where violent protests broke out in March. "And then this earthquake happened," Ms. Stone said. "And I said, 'Is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?'"

Actually, the Journal's report makes Stone sound significantly smarter than she comes across on the video (you can watch her comments here).

So what does this have to do with branding? Too many brands (mostly with weak brand stories) rely on the fame and popularity of a sports figure, model, or actor to lend cache to their product. The problem is, it almost never works. Consumers know celebrities are paid for their endorsements. And when the celebrity goes off message (or worse), it can have serious implications for the brand. A few examples: Kobe Bryant (charged were dropped), Kate Moss, Britney, we could go on... and on.) There's nothing quite like offending a billion potential customers with an off-hand remark.

Dior took a risk, trying to attach its brand to a (somewhat) popular actress, to cash in on her notoriety and fame. And it got stung. Now it's got a bit of a PR disaster on its hands, at least in China. A better solution is to figure out what's unique about the brand and tell that story. But finding and telling brand stories is hard. And hiring an actor with a decent Q score is easy. So there's no doubt it won't be long before we see another brand get stung by questionable celebrity behavior.

Read More:
Boing Boing reports on some of the fallout (video available here too).
More from China Business Blog.
And from the Red Cross...

Testimonials—A Critical Part of Your Brand Story

When it comes to enticing someone to try your product or service, almost nothing works better than a testimonial from a happy customer (especially someone your prospective customer knows and trusts). Testimonials are micro-stories that contribute to your overall brand story. They are almost always a good addition to your marketing, though there are a couple of exceptions:

1. Testimonials from celebrities with no obvious connection to your product. Don't get me wrong. Celebrity endorsements can and do work. But hiring a celebrity just because he or she is famous, doesn't necessarily move your brand story forward. What did Whoppi Goldberg do for Flooz? Did Rosie O'Donnell help K-mart? Worse, a celebrity who endorses too many brands may end up turning off the customer and losing his credibility altogether. And, an endorsement can go horribly wrong if the celebrity breaks the law (think Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, Kobe Bryant, and to a lesser extent Benjamin Curtis (the Dell Dude).

A number of years ago, I was part of a team that created a beautiful testimonial campaign. We photographed six customers and printed posters with their quotes (real), then hung them in stores across the country. Once the posters went up, we started receiving calls from angry customers who recognized one of the customers. She had been charged with vehicular homicide. It had been in the papers in her city, but we had missed it. Not good for our brand story.

The key here is finding an endorsement that makes sense for your product—does the endorsee actually use your product (or will customers believe she does) and is she worth the price you'll pay? Remember your decision to hire a celebrity is about doing the right thing for your brand, not theirs. Given the expense, you're probably better off using "real" people.  Click here for a list of celebrities and the products they endorse.

2. Testimonials that are obviously fake. Direct Response Guru (and that is not an exaggeration), Alan Rosenspan, has this to say about testimonials: "Third party endorsements are a great way to add credibility. But don't have your copywriters write them. They should be real...or at least sound as real as possible... By the way, headlines or captions in quotes tend to get higher readership and increase credibility even if they're not attributed." I have also heard Alan recommend that you should choose testimonials that are not over-the-top-good, even if they are real, because customers will assume you made them up. They're simply too good to be true. Read more of Alan's thoughts on credibility here.

And make sure you never make this mistake with testimonials. Thanks to AdRants for the pointer.

3. Short testimonials don't ring true. "Fabulous...", "Riveting...", "Bone-shaking..." These kinds of testimonials are better left for movie posters. Remember testimonials are brand stories, not brand quips. Share enough to give context. The more details, the more believable your testimonial will be.

You can read more about endorsements here. And there's good advice about using testimonials here. Done right, testimonials make an enormous contribution to your brand story.