Celebrity Sells

Retailers struggling to re-engage with skittish consumers might want to consider the pitch of an Orlando events marketing firm: Hire a celebrity to help drive stagnant merchandise out of your stores.

In some cases, booking celebrities into stores can drive sales faster than discounting merchandise – all with the added benefit of bringing media attention to the brand, says Josh Gair, president of Impact Entertainment Services.

When it comes to reaching the general public, “there’s nothing more powerful than a celebrity,” he says. “I think more people in the country know who [reality show mom] Kate Gosselin is than what goes on in Congress.”

For one recent Impact Entertainment booking, a high-end teen clothing retailer retained actress Hilary Duff of “Lizzie McGuire” fame. Duff was “a natural” because she has her own clothing line, “Stuff by Hilary Duff,” Gair says, which generated buzz for the store.

“We’ve done events where people travel 800 miles just to meet someone, even in a recession,” he says. “If you get everything right it can definitely benefit you.”

Why would celebrities choose to make such appearances? The bookings amount to incremental income for actors, athletes, entertainers, authors and others looking to cash in on their fame.

Retailers can expect to pay a minimum of $5,000 plus expenses for travel, accommodations and production for a minor celebrity or well into six figures for A-listers, but the base fee is more likely to be $15,000 to $50,000 per appearance, Gair says.

“This is relatively inexpensive when you compare it against other forms of marketing and advertising that are quickly forgotten or ignored by customers,” he says.

Impact Entertainment has booked for Dell Computers, Microsoft, Marriott Resorts, Universal Studios Orlando, T.G.I. Friday’s Restaurants, Don Pablo’s Restaurants, Walt Disney World and Wachovia Bank.

Gair, who also serves as president of the Orlando Entertainment and Events Association, advises retailers seeking to book celebrities to define what they expect from the event – such as whether the goal is increased store traffic, sales or primarily promotional. When explaining the return on investment to retailers, Gair says he often compares fees for celebrity booking to media placement like TV advertising or billboards.

Looking for the buzz
When potential clients call Impact, he says, “They say, ‘We’ve done the TV ads, we’ve done the billboards, we’ve done the direct mail … while some of it gets results, we’re not getting the buzz. We’re not getting the major impact that we want.’”

Gair also advises retailers to consider smaller, local acts and hometown celebrities in addition to big-name stars.

A few years ago, luxury lingerie retailer Tattle Tale Intimates booked model/actress Heidi Klum for an appearance at its store in downtown Orlando. Store manager Steve Weiss still talks about the event as if it were yesterday.

Klum, he says, “had a very personalized approach. She talked to our customers and tried on our lingerie. She fulfilled everything we expected of her.” As a result, “we probably had 200 percent more people in the store than normal [and] our sales kicked up by about 40 percent or 50 percent for that quarter,” Weiss says. “We made our money back from the booking. We were very satisfied.”

The store is considering another celebrity booking for the first quarter of 2010 — likely a prominent male athlete with the peg of buying lingerie for his girlfriend.