Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about celebrity endorsements

Article • WARC Best Practice, August 2019

Provides guidance and best practice on using a celebrity to communicate a brand in the age of social media, where a move to engaged experts and stars-of-the-people can connect with consumers through digital in an effective and authentic way.

Air New Zealand: Is New Zealand Worth The Time?

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Product Media Relations (trade media), Gold, 2019

Air New Zealand, an airline, increased Taiwanese tourism to New Zealand by showing them its attractions with the help of relatable storytellers.

Coca-Cola Reconnects Myanmar Youth To Their Tea Culture

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, IN2, Winner, 2019

Heaven and Earth, the ready-to-drink tea brand, launched with an event day that utilised non-traditional methods to engage with media and influencers in Myanmar.

Sydney Beer Co: It's Sydney Time

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Product Media Relations (consumer media), Gold, 2019

Sydney Beer Co. (SBC), a beer brand, encouraged Sydneysiders to champion a beer inspired by their own city which gave it an ROI of over 4300%.

Royal Philips raises the alarm on sleep disorders and respiratory health

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Medical Technology, Gold, 2019

Royal Philips, a leading health technology company in the Netherlands, devised a campaign to raise awareness of sleep disorders among people in Singapore, leading to 21,900 online engagements and an editorial reach of 8.9 million.

P&G Olay: Olay Women's Day 2019

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Fashion & Beauty, Gold, 2019

Olay, a skincare brand, created a campaign for Women’s Day that showed age as a series of fearless stories to encourage brand interest.

Converse: All The Stories Are True

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Sponsorship, Gold, 2019

Converse, the sports brand, launched an integrated communications campaign to reach Generation Z in China, which doubled its revenue target.

Child Rights and You: Celebrating the Yellow Fellow

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Guerrilla Marketing, Gold, 2019

Child Rights and You (CRY), a non-profit, launched a social media campaign in India that brought attention to the importance of children having a happy and safe childhood.

Chengdu International Finance Square (CDIFS): Chengdu IFS Parcours Art Festival- Art Fuels Commerce in Beautiful Fashion

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Retailers, Gold, 2019

Chengdu IFS (CDIFS), a shopping mall, made itself the centre of art in the city by collaborating with the Chengdu Government and Paris' Saint-Germain-des-Pres Committee, which led to sales growth of 124%.

Hotels.com: Introducing Bleisure to Japan

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Marketing to Men, Gold, 2019

Hotels.com, a hotel-booking service, used humour to reach business travellers in Japan.

HONOR: Yeh Diwali HONOR Wali’ (A Diwali with HONOR)

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Consumer Marketing (New Product), Gold, 2019

HONOR (Huawei), a smartphone brand, leveraged the festival of lights, Diwali, the biggest celebration in India of shared joy and family, to connect with consumers.

Horlicks: Emotional Nutrition

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Superior Achievement in Brand-Building, Diamond, 2019

Horlicks, a sweet malted milk hot drink, connected with mothers in India by addressing the emotional needs of their university-bound children.

Women's Day Marketing-Be more “selfish” and live more poetically

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, IN2, Winner, 2019

Procter & Gamble (P&G), a consumer goods corporation, launched a campaign featuring famous poet Vincent Fang that encouraged women in China to treat themselves to hair care products through poetry.

Yahoo! Japan: Diversity in Disaster Preparation

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Superior Achievement in Research and Planning, Diamond, 2019

Yahoo!, the search engine, raised awareness of the many challenges facing people in post natural-disaster shelters to help people in Japan to be better prepared.

Castrol India: Do you think YOGA can sell more truck lubricants?

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Community Relations, Gold, 2019

Castrol, a brand of industrial and automotive lubricants, connected with Indian truck drivers by drawing comparisons between the health of the truck and the driver which led to the brand beating category growth.

Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA): Shape Our Tomorrow

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Asia-Pacific, Government Agencies, Gold, 2019

The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), a regulatory and developmental agency for the early childhood sector in Singapore, launched a campaign to increase the number of early childhood educators across Singapore by 25% over four years.

Singapore Tourism Board: Passion Made Possible

Case Study • Tammi Seng, Felicia Ong, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

The Singapore Tourism Board used an integrated approach based around passions to launch a global platform to attract leisure visitors to the island state.

Nike: Kyrie5 – Reinventing the Sneakerdrop

Case Study • Benjamin Condit, Matthew Nolan, Chaojie Miao, Sienna Zhang, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Sportswear brand Nike achieved an unprecedentedly successful launch of its Kyrie5 sneaker in China by taking the offline 'sneakerdrop' to the virtual world.

Inorbit Mall: Pink Power

Case Study • Toru Jhaveri, Sanchari Chakrabarty, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Inorbit Mall, a chain of malls in India, ran a social campaign in support of female entrepreneurs and their businesses.

Baggit: Asking Indian men to shut up

Case Study • Nikhil Pillai, Yousuf Rangoonwala, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Handbag brand Baggit used a TV and influencer marketing campaign, based around 'mansplaining', to build share of voice and increase sales in India.

Guinness Indonesia: Guinness Brings More to the Taste

Case Study • BBDO Indonesia, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Beer brand Guinness launched a food-pairing campaign to revamp its stale image and reverse declining sales in Indonesia's competitive beer market.

Lay's: Crunchy Sound Challenge

Case Study • Benjamin Condit, Jerry Perez, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Potato-chip brand Lay's used short-video platform Douyin and the sound of chips being eaten to drive e-commerce impulse purchase in China.

The relative effectiveness of endorsers: The identity badge of CEOs and founders versus the attractiveness of celebrities

Article • Arpita Agnihotri and Saurabh Bhattacharya, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 59, No. 3, 2019, pp. 357-369

Using source-credibility and source-attractiveness models, this study examines the endorsement effectiveness of chief executive officers (ceos) and founders as compared with celebrities, especially when ceos and founders are not well-known or popular.

Maybelline: Makeup on the Way

Case Study • Benjamin Condit, Jerry Perez, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Cosmetics brand Maybelline created a campaign that challenged female commuters to apply their makeup in the back of a taxi to grab the attention of young urbanites in top-tier cities in China.

Stayfree: Take Back Your Time

Case Study • Toru Jhaveri, Sanchari Chakrabarty, Natasha Bohra, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Feminine care brand Stayfree adapted a value proposition in India to boost sales and redefine how women see sanitary pads.

Celebrities & endorsement