Electronic Retailer - July 2011 - 46

Our goal is always to find the right fit with a celebrity in order for that person to be a powerful spokesperson for the brand, which will drive immediate sales and brand awareness.
like to secure – make sure they speak your language and understand your business. For example, make sure that if it’s for a direct response-to-retail venture the company that you engage has heavy media and retail experience and knowledge. Be realistic about who you are likely to get for the compensation package you are offering. However, timing is everything. Based on relationships and each celebrity’s individual needs, an “A-list” player might be willing to do a deal that he or she traditionally would not. Years ago, I did a deal with an A-lister who actually needed money for his kid’s college tuition. We have coined this “opportunist celebrity representation.”

Let’s Make a Deal
To minimize risk, many celebrity deals can be structured using a minimum upfront payment for a test period, usually 90 to 120 days. Prior to the end of the test period, the company has the option to continue into a yearly term (with the option to extend into additional yearly terms) by exercising its option with a payment, which is usually a minimum-guaranteed yearly commitment. This puts you in control of the deal. Oftentimes, in order to leverage risk and vest the celebrity in the project, a royalty is paid against a minimum guarantee based upon all sales channels where the star’s likeness is being utilized. Carefully define the celebrity’s services, compensation, term, options to continue for additional terms – put your brand in the driver seat – days of services that they work (between actual production days and other uses such as appearances, publicity or home shopping), morality, territory granted (options to expand into other markets), non-competition and other general provisions, such as attorney fees, jurisdiction and venue. Finally, make sure as part of the agreement that the celebrity agrees to use your brand. This is important from both a marketing and claims perspective. Having a celebrity representing your brand or company has a potentially huge upside – but the key is finding the right celebrity under the deal metrics that work for you. Robert B. Yallen is the president and CEO of the Inter/Media Group of Companies, a $500 million media, marketing, creative and entertainment organization. Through its entertainment business unit – Inter/ Media Entertainment – the company has secured commercial celebrity representation deals with Larry King, Elliot Gould, Jimmy Johnson, Kate Jackson, Arsenio Hall, Donald O’Connor, Chuck Woolery, Judge Joseph Wapner, Joe Theisman and Fran Tarkenton. Yallen can be contacted at 818-995-1455 or ryallen@intermedia-advertising.com.

The Selection Process
Finding the right celebrity to represent your brand has some science and a lot of math to it. The first step we take is creating a talent brief that identifies the attributes a celebrity must possess in order to represent the core values of the brand. Our goal is always to find the right fit with a celebrity in order for that person to be a powerful spokesperson for the brand, which will drive immediate sales and brand awareness. Some of the key considerations include: • How well does the celebrity fit the target demographic and relate to the audience? • Is the celebrity credible and believable? • Does the celebrity have a connection to the brand – a story that can be built upon? • And, finally, one of the key attributes often neglected is … make sure that the celebrity can sell. Just because he or she can act, does not necessarily translate into selling your offer. Once a talent brief is constructed, a “long list” can be developed. From that list, narrow the potential spokespeople to a manageable “short list” of five to 10 prospects. If your consultant has access, have him obtain Q ratings for each of your prospects – this type of research measures popularity of celebrities, summarizing the various perceptions and feelings that consumers have into a single “likeability” measurement. Like all research, this should only be one data point. 46

electronicRETAILER | July 2011

Electronic Retailer - July 2011

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