• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, March 11, 2008

Lately, hardly a day goes by at Marketing Daily without a press release on some celebrity-designed product crossing our desks. Not just a celebrity endorsement, mind you--that good old-fashioned "We paid this movie star big bucks so we could slap her picture on the box and have her shoot three commercials"--these deals imply creative collaboration and actual celebrity input.

Lots of them make sense to us, and always have, pairing a celebrity's area of expertise with a related product--Rachael Ray's cookware, for example, or Tony Hawk's skateboards.

But many just evoke a disconnect, and seem destined for the "70% off!" rack. Like pop star Avril Lavigne, who just signed up with Kohl's for a new line of juniors clothing, and who told Newsweek: "I actually am the designer. I try everything on and approve it all." (That's funny--we thought designers did something with sketches, scissors and swatches and so forth.)

Or Givenchy, which has many fragrances named after celebrities, and recently announced that it signed Justin Timberlake for a "fragrance project." (Maybe he's sniffing beakers of florals, spices, citruses and moss in between dance sets? Staying up late, drinking coffee and brainstorming packaging concepts with the guys in marketing?)

To find out whether consumers think this smells fishy, we asked Robert Passikoff, Ph.D., president of Brand Keys, to sound off:

Q: Why are so many marketers willing to turn their "design"--literally, the integrity of their products--over to celebs? Why would they even pretend to?

A: Product differentiation is just more and more difficult to come by --products have the same attributes, are distributed pretty much the same way, and are typically priced about the same. Endorsements work because of celebrity worship--consumers admire the celeb so much they buy the product. With a celebrity designer, if it's believable, the brand gets even more--it gets to borrow some of that celebrity's equity.

Q: What makes a celebrity a believable designer?

A: There has to be some integrity about it. Just knowing who someone is--which is really what a celebrity is, someone who people recognize --isn't enough. In some cases, there's enough hero worship--lots of people want to smell like Derek Jeter. But I don't think many people think he's out there cooking up his own fragrances. But someone like actress Natalie Portman, who recently launched a line of vegan footwear--that is credible. She is known not just for being an actress, but also for being a vegan and for being well-dressed. It fits.

Q: Okay, but why would celebrities do it? It wasn't that long ago that A-list celebs shunned endorsements, or would only appear in ads that ran in other countries. Doesn't it present a risk, if they present themselves as some kind of mogul, and then it flops?

A: Some are just desperate to get any attention. They can make a lot of money. Some of it's ego--people think just because they're famous, they can be a brand. And they use words like "project" and "collaboration" to sound more important. It's just semantics designed to salve fussy egos.

Q: But some celebrities seem born to be brands.

A: Yes. Martha Stewart is one, Donald Trump is another. And Michael Jordan. Jordan is a great example--his brand actually shows up higher in our index than Nike, which of course actually produces the shoes. He's not just a great athlete, he is believable--people have the suspicion that if they buy these shoes, they will be more athletic.

Q: Trump?

A: Yes! In fact, that's a Teflon brand. You can put it in on a shirt, a tie, a watch or a building, and people believe it. It resonates, whether they think it stands for wealth, or wretched excess.

Q: What do consumers think about this trend?

A: Consumers are smarter about such things, and are skeptical about "celebrity" offerings. But it doesn't mean they won't buy them. Look at the success of the lines from Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, and Sarah Jessica Parker. But shoppers understand it's more a case of a star putting his or her name on something rather than actually getting down on their knees, with pins in their mouth, putting the finishing touches on their clothing line. I think if brands are going to use celebrities, they shouldn't have pretenses-consumers know who's a designer and who isn't.

Q: Clothing seems to be the most common. Why is that tricky?

A: Well, there aren't many people who woke up this morning saying, 'I want to dress just like ____.' So celebrities really have to be known for their fashion sense--some examples are Gwen Stefani and Heidi Klum. They do know style, and they do set style--they are known for that. Their celebrity has some foundation in design.

Q: More and more, companies are using celebrities to get involved in causes, too. Avon, for example, tapped actress Reese Witherspoon not just as a spokesperson, but as "global brand ambassador," and she's connected with charities that promote women's economic empowerment, and prevent domestic violence. How does that relate to a brand?

A: It's another layer of differentiation. So let's say a consumer is, for the sake of argument, looking at a product promoted by actress Jennifer Garner, and one by Witherspoon. She likes both brands about the same. Maybe one company is doing a promotion with the Red Dress against heart disease, and another to stop domestic violence--it gives the consumer something else to base her decision on.

And that extends the need for credibility and integrity even further--now the brand and the celebrity also have to "fit" with the cause. Avon wouldn't be as believable if it was working to cure prostrate cancer. That's not a bad cause. But Avon is a company for women, and it all has to reflect those values.