Many of our clients struggle with decisions around matching the right celebrity spokesperson with their brands," said Mary Ann Packo, CEO of Millward Brown North America. "We are very excited to have developed a new approach to help with this decision.
New York, NY (PRWEB) November 25, 2009
Millward Brown, one of the world's leading research agencies, today released the following findings about the compatibility of big stars making headlines right now and top brands, including Target, H&M, Mercedes-Benz, Amazon.com, Priceline.com, Gap, and Visa. Millward Brown’s recent Celebrity + Brand study, which these findings are based on, delivers celebrity and brand matches with the best marketplace potential based on consumer ratings of familiarity, affinity and buzz.
New Moon Stars on the Rise: Stewart and Pattinson Match with H&M:
Box office sensations Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, stars of New Moon, which made $140 million dollars this past weekend, had similar Cebra (celebrity + brand) scores, according to Millward Brown. Despite ranking in the bottom half of Millward Brown’s list of measured celebrities, their stars are clearly on the rise, just like the Twilight franchise, which continues to break records with the release of New Moon. Stewart, who had an overall Cebra score of 27 (out of 100) was not as “buzz-worthy” as Pattinson, whose Cebra score was 21, but she ranked higher in affinity, likely driving her overall score up. Both celebrities matched with the H&M brand, and Pattinson also matched well with Mercedes-Benz—not surprising given his character Edward’s penchant for luxury automobiles.
Bulls-Eye for Taylor Swift:
Americans wish they knew Sunday night’s big American Music Award winner, Taylor Swift “better,” according to Millward Brown. The Artist of the Year, who has served as a spokesperson for MILK (Got Milk?) and L.E.I. Jeans, would also be a good spokesperson for Target, according to Millward Brown, based on consumers’ ratings of familiarity, affinity and buzz for both the celebrity and the brand.
Oprah Winfrey Stuns the World and Ranks with the Highest Female Cebra Score:
Oprah Winfrey, who on Friday stunned the world with her announcement that she would be discontinuing her show in 2011, maintained that she would do more reading during her retirement. This makes the talk show queen’s match with Amazon.com all the more appropriate. While Oprah earned the highest Cebra score among females, fellow talk-show host and current American Express spokeswoman Ellen Degeneres was not far behind, pairing well with Priceline.com.
Brangelina Makes the Top 10… and Pairs with Gap and Visa:
Americans ranked both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the top 10 celebrities measured by their Cebra score (see below). Pitt, who paired well with the Gap brand, had a higher overall score (71) and ranked higher in all three measures—familiarity, affinity and buzz—than his partner Jolie who had a Cebra score of 66 and paired well with Visa.
Among a cross-section of celebrities measured in the recent Millward Brown launch survey (which included 2,000 U.S. adults, ages 18 to 64), below are those with the highest Cebra Scores:
1) Will Smith
2) Brad Pitt
3) Tiger Woods
4) Oprah Winfrey
5) Denzel Washington
6) Clint Eastwood
7) Ellen DeGeneres
8) Morgan Freeman
9) Johnny Depp
10) Angelina Jolie
About Millward Brown’s Celebrity + Brand Offering and the Cebra Score:
Millward Brown’s Celebrity + Brand solution, which is the first to directly match brand and celebrity equity, measures the power of celebrities and brands by integrating consumer ratings of Familiarity (how much one knows about a celebrity/brand), Affinity (how strongly one likes or dislikes a celebrity/brand), and Buzz (how much “buzz” one thinks a celebrity/brand has) to arrive at a Cebra (Celebrity + Brand) Score. This is combined with a personality matching matrix for identifying brand and celebrity partners with the greatest marketplace potential. The introduction of Millward Brown’s solution provides new opportunities for advertisers, agencies, talent firms and production companies to leverage the power of celebrity and brand partnerships. The original press release announcing the Celebrity + Brand offering can be found at: http://www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/MillwardBrown/Content/News/PressReleaseView.aspx?id=/20091116_CelebritiesBrandsLaunch.
About Millward Brown:
Millward Brown (http://www.millwardbrown.com) is one of the world's leading research agencies and is expert in effective advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Through the use of an integrated suite of validated research solutions — both qualitative and quantitative — Millward Brown helps clients build strong brands and services. Millward Brown has more than 77 offices in 50 countries. Additional practices include Millward Brown's Global Media Practice (media effectiveness unit), Millward Brown Optimor (focused on helping clients maximize the returns on their brand and marketing investments), and Dynamic Logic (the world leader in digital marketing effectiveness). Millward Brown is part of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy group.
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