Everyone knows about the benefits and potential pitfalls of celebrity endorsers, but there's a group of marketers who are trying to snare a celebrity who is truly in his own league: Pope Benedict XVI.
Since his election last year, the pope has been seen and photographed wearing a variety of products that were donated to the Holy See by marketers hoping he might use their products publicly. Some of
them got lucky. The list includes sunglasses by Serengeti, walking shoes by Geox, a specially engraved white Apple iPod, and a pair of stylish red loafers that may or may not be from Prada. Unlike
other famous celebrities, marketers know that actually signing the pope to an endorsement deal is out of the question. So the trick is to donate products and hope he decides to use them, then
tastefully note the event, or delicately capitalize on a photograph showing the 79-year-old theologian using or wearing a particular brand. Being associated with the pope is worth at least 100 times
more than an A-list celebrity because the pontiff has a more devoted following, says John Allert, chief executive of the British unit of Interbrand, a global branding consultancy that is part of the
Omnicom Group Inc. A Vatican official says that when it comes to worldly goods, Benedict XVI's choice of personal accessories is arbitrary. "He's aware of the buzz, but mostly he laughs about it,
because it's so absurd. What does he really have to choose? He doesn't wear a tie or coat. The glasses he wears are the same glasses he wore as a cardinal, as is the pen he writes with.
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