Brand Ambassador | cpi CELEBRITY PERFORMANCE

Archetypal Brand Ambassadors: Analysis of Current Advertising Campaigns with Prominent Soccer Players from the 2014 World Cup

Summary of the study published in June 2014.

In advance of the World Cup, soccer players were all the rage. Many brands are trying to capitalize on this increased attention and are using soccer players as brand ambassadors. As a result, a large number of campaigns currently being shown feature celebrity soccer players. However, it is questionable whether the advertisers will be able to create emotional ties to their brands and use this attention to position their brand clearly. This is why cpi CELEBRITY PERFORMANCE analyzed the personality profiles of 16 brands and 12 soccer players making celebrity endorsements. The cpi Archetypes Map was used to answer which brands and brand ambassadors possess particularly distinct personality profiles, in other words, embody archetypes such as the hero or the creator, and which partnerships appear to be promising in this context.

One challenge is the increasing overstimulation that is pushing consumers to the limits of their ability to perceive and distinguish among choices. In a sea full of similar products and services, brands have to be clearly and emotionally anchored in consumers’ minds. This is why brands often rely on archetypal brand management.

Archetypes, such as the hero or seducer, are based on some of the deepest, most ancient motifs and desires of human beings and possess high levels of fascination, identification and recognition. They can be defined by clearly descriptive personality traits that are intuitively familiar to people. Archetypes thus provide a clear positioning of both people and brands. The cpi Archetypes Map makes these archetypes based on six basic traits (temperament, uniqueness, attractiveness, confidence, reliability and dynamics) measureable for brands and celebrities (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: cpi Archetypes Map with basic traits

Brands or people with personality traits that correspond to certain archetypes are referred to as archetypal. A brand or a person might not just resemble one archetype, but can also be perceived as a combination of several archetypes. The success of archetypal brand management, however, requires knowledge about the motives and desires of the target audience, because these help determine which archetypes or combinations of archetypes could prove to be full of potential.

Archetypal brand ambassadors can also support or strengthen an existing archetypal brand positioning or add new facets to the brand personality. Using a brand ambassador who is congruent with brand’s archetype would strengthen the brand’s positioning, while an endorsement from a celebrity with a divergent archetype could add new facets to a brand’s personality. In doing so, however, advertisers need to be wary of projecting an inconsistent personality, with which, in the worst case scenario, no target group would identify.

In this study, cpi CELEBRITY PERFORMANCE placed brand ambassadors and brand campaigns under the microscope (see Table 1). We first analyzed the personality profiles of soccer players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm and then the personalities of brands such as Adidas and Media Markt. Subsequently, we considered the extent to which there was a fit between the celebrities’ personality profiles with those of the brands.

Table 1: 19 current endorsement campaigns tested

To analyze these aspects, cpi CELEBRITY PERFORMANCE worked with respondi AG to conduct an online survey (CAWI) of more than 1,000 males, 14-59 years in age (the target group relevant to advertising). Each respondent rated a maximum of five brands and soccer players with which he was familiar.

Brand Ambassadors and Archetypes: International Stars Are Strongly Associated with Archetypes

As part of the study, more than a third of the respondents associated all twelve soccer players with high levels of success. In addition, they showed quite different personality profiles and archetypes. For example, Dante was seen as an entertainer (sociable, dynamic, humorous), while David Beckham was considered a trendsetter by most respondents (trendy, cool, creative). Zlatan Ibrahimović embodied the rebel (extravagant, revolutionary, spirited) and Cristiano Ronaldo represented the diva (extravagant, and trendy) (see Fig. 2). The soccer players studied thus fit different archetypal personality profiles (see Table 2) and can therefore help position brands differently.

Fig. 2: cpi Archetypes Map for Dante, David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo

Table 2: Archetypal positioning of soccer players: Top-two-values in %

* Scores under 30% do not indicate a clear classification

Brands and Archetypes: Brands Are Less Associated with Archetypes than the Soccer Players

Fewer respondents generally attribute pronounced personality profiles to brands. But there are some clearly distinct archetypes (see Table 3). AOK, for example, embodies the caregiver for most respondents, while Adidas is seen as a trendsetter and Media Markt as an entertainer (cf. Fig. 3). In order to strengthen or modify the brand’s positioning, brand ambassadors representing different archetypes would be required.

Fig. 3: cpi Archetypes Map for Media Markt, Adidas and AOK

Table 3: Archetypal positioning of soccer players: Top-two-values in %

* Scores under 30% do not indicate a clear classification

Finding the Right Brand Ambassador: Advertising Partnerships Are Based on Both Convergent and Divergent Archetypal/Personality Profiles

Some of the advertising partnerships studied here were on the basis of identical or similar personality profiles or archetypes. For example, Media Markt had Dante in its advertising. The brand and the endorser in this campaign both represent the entertainer, meaning that the brand ambassador in this case strengthened the existing archetypal positioning of the brand (cf. Fig. 4). However, there are partnerships where the personality profiles of the brand and its celebrity endorser are not similar. Gillette, for example, is perceived as a trendsetter, but advertises with Thomas Müller, perceived more as a hero (cf. Fig. 5). Such partnerships help attribute different personality facets to a brand.

Fig. 4: Strengthening the archetypal positioning of Media Markt through Dante

Fig. 5: Adding new personality facets to Gillette with Thomas Müller.

The Design of Effective Campaigns for Archetypal Brand Management

When designing advertising partnerships from a brand perspective, it is important to pay special attention on choosing a brand ambassador that meets the goals of the campaign. When the goal is to strengthen the existing brand profile, it is important to choose a brand ambassador who embodies the same archetypes as the brand. If the goal is to change the existing brand positioning, an endorsement should be sought from someone who embodies one or more of the archetypes that matches the repositioning being targeted. If the existing brand image is reinforced by the advertising partnership, the current target group should also be able to identify more closely with the brand. Clearly repositioning the brand, however, can lead to the development of new target groups.

The use of one or even several celebrities as brand ambassadors that embody significantly different archetypal profiles also comes with its risks. If the use of divergent archetypes in an advertising partnership does not result in a clear personality profile, this could lead to the current target group’s no longer identifying with the brand and potential new target groups’ not feeling addressed by the brand, either.

The use of an archetypal brand ambassador should therefore be preceded by an analysis of the motives and needs of the target group. When the archetypes embodied by the target group’s ideal brand have been clearly identified, a comparison with the brand’s current positioning can be made and a suitable celebrity endorsement sought that meets these requirements.

cpi CELEBRITY PERFORMANCE has developed the cpi Archetypes Map as a tool to enable the archetypal positioning of brands and people. The requirements for the choice of an archetypal celebrity are based on the brand’s current positioning and its target positioning. cpi CELEBRITY PERFORMANCE not only determines the archetype of a potential brand ambassador, but also uses the cpi Index to measures the celebrity’s potential advertising impact of a celebrity, the cpi Celebrity/Brands Fit Index to measure the fit between the celebrity and the brand, and the cpi Product Categories Fit to measures the celebrity’s credibility in endorsing the product being advertised.