According to fashion trend analysis by IDEX Online Research, big name celebrities are increasingly replacing no-name models in luxury goods advertising campaigns, especially for jewelry producers and retailers.

 

While celebrity endorsements are not a new marketing concept, the luxury goods industry has typically let its products speak for themselves.  Diamond, gold, and platinum baubles have always been the focus in the visual media – print and television – while the models have remained in shadowy backgrounds. 

 

Today, jewelers’ print ads often feature in-your-face photographs of a celebrity, while relegating the merchandise to a less conspicuous location in the ad. 

 

How important is it to have a celebrity endorsement for your product?  Is it worth the huge expenditures that must be paid to the celebrity?  Can you really rely on a background check to guarantee that your celebrity spokesperson isn’t likely to end up in jail or snorting cocaine? 

 

Consumers Were Asked:  Who Influences Your Fashion Purchases?

U.S. consumer research conducted by Harris Interactive shows that celebrity endorsements are a very important driver of demand, especially among younger consumers. According to their research, manufacturers and retailers who want to build recognition quickly, influence immediate purchases, and create a high lifetime value for potential customers should target young consumers in the 18-34 year-old age range with advertising featuring celebrity endorsements, if they want to be most successful. 

 

Pollsters asked this question of consumers:  “When you have found yourself wanting possessions, personal traits, or lifestyles that other people have, would you say that the other people are most often . . .?” 

 

There were several possible answers:  friends; celebrities / public figures; strangers, family members; and, co-workers. 

 

Among U.S. consumers aged 18-34, nearly 60% said that they looked to celebrities – more than any other group including friends, family, and co-workers – to set fashion and lifestyle trends.  At the other end of the spectrum, consumers over 55 years old had the least use for celebrities as lifestyle role models.  The graph below illustrates the results of this study.  The red bars on the graph summarize the importance of celebrities as drivers of demand for each age group. 

 

Source:  Harris Interactive

 

The original premise of this research was to try to determine consumer envy levels for certain merchandise, and how “envy” could play a role in creating consumer desire and demand in marketing campaigns.  

 

While some would suggest that “envy” is not a desirable characteristic, it has a long history of dominating human behavior.  For example, when Moses came down from the mountains, his tablets referred to envy.  Specifically, the 10th Commandment says “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors’ goods”. 

 

Things haven’t changed much over the millennia.  Today’s consumers want to be associated with people who have money and success.  If these associations can be created by affiliating a wealthy high-profile celebrity to a product, then celebrity endorsements are part of a natural evolutionary process. 

 

Jewelry Industry Celebrity Endorsements

Fashion magazines report that diamantaires are aggressively offering diamond studded jewelry to celebrities to wear to major public events.  For example, in 2004, music celebrities, marching down the red carpet like brides on their special day, flashed their ice under the hot Miami sun at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, flaunting huge diamond stud earrings and pushing the Right Hand Ring trend even further.

 

Other recent headlines emphasize the importance of celebrity endorsements:

 

Charlize Theron Is New Face of Raymond Weil – Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron will become the new face of Raymond Weil watches worldwide, representing the new line of the Geneva based watch brand.

 

Nicole Kidman Expands Omega Contract – Swiss watch manufacturer Omega has announced that Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman has agreed to extend the scope of her partnership with the brand. 

 

Elizabeth Taylor, Mirabelle Set Up Jewelry Firm – Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor is partnering with Los Angeles firm Mirabelle Luxury Concepts to create a new jewelry firm called House of Taylor Jewelry. The collections will include a traditional fine jewelry assortment as well as one-of-a-kind couture pieces with price points of more than $1 million.

 

House of Taylor Partners with Kathy Ireland Worldwide – Liz Taylor’s House of Taylor Jewelry is partnering with supermodel turned entrepreneur Kathy Ireland, purchasing Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a design and marketing firm with over $1 billion in annual retail sales.

 

Steinmetz, Jennifer Lopez Create $2 Million Jeans – Actress, turned singer, turned fashion designer Jennifer Lopez likes doing it in a big way. Her weddings, careers, and revealing outfits have always left audiences wide eyed. Now, with her first fashion show, she has done it in a big way again – with a pair of jeans studded with 20 carats of diamonds from Steinmetz. 

 

In addition to actors and actresses lending their names to jewelry, even well-known supermodels are endorsing jewelry products.  Several years ago, De Beers hired supermodel Iman to help promote diamond jewelry.  Last year, supermodel Tyra Banks gave the diamond industry a lift with a $10 million bra created by jewelry designer Mouawad for lingerie maker Victoria's Secret that features 2,900 diamonds set in 10-karat white gold.

 

Finally, even well-known fashion purveyors such as Victoria’s Secret are getting in on the act of endorsements.  Victoria's Secret has teamed up with jeweler Mouawad to promote its new fragrance. The sexy lingerie maker is offering a chance to win a 3.25 carat diamond ring inspired in design by the perfume bottle.