Staying Power

This morning, I was interviewed by a reporter from USA TODAY about three new commercials that feature the above celebrity singers, almost as if they were doing a short MTV musics video of their songs. I was specifically asked to review three spots: the first one featured Martina McBride for breakfast beverage Sunny D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bWm2swwjfk ,the next spot starred actress/singer Zooey Deschanel ( for the Cotton Council) http://www.thefabricofourlives.com/TheFabricOfMyLife/campaign.html?vidId=z11 and the third was a Hertz spot with Amy Regan which is part of a broader campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN39rkphWqQ .

When asked whether I see this as a coming trend, I answered in the affirmative. More importantly, it's not just the format that makes them effective, it's the right usage of these celebrities in each individual case. First, Martina is a youngish Mom figure who probably buys Sunny D in real life for her kids and the song she sings is called "Shine On!" It fits perfectly with the theme for the SUnny D brand which is "Open a bottle of sunshine!" Perfect match of spokesperson, song and theme. But that doesn't mean there was a loser in the bunch.

On the contrary, I enjoyed watching Zooey Deschanel doing the "Fabric of Our Lives" jingle in her soft jazz style. The Cotton Council has a winner here because Zooey is not only the right sex and age demgraphic they want to target, she is also a fashion inspiration. Her love for vintage fashion is well known to those who follow her. She even endorses a line of sunglasses (in only five colors) that when you blow your breath on the lenses a pair of kissing lips shows up! Right person, right fell, right use of a celebrity---it all adds up to a whole lot of credibility for the brand.

Last, a new Hertz campaign features little mini-stories about going on a trip and then telling you about the "journey." Amy Regan's spot shows vignettes of her renting a Herta car, driving out Westward and having an auto breakdown...only to have a Hertz person arrive on the scene to get her up and running again. Her journey, by the way, was to appear in her first live concert. The theme for the campaign is "Journey ON." It's done well and I think it will be most effective as part of a series of similar spots which do not use a singer/celeb.

I'll be interested in reading the article and seeing what the other "experts" say.

# posted by Pops @ 11:14 AM