A Brand Ambassador is someone who embodies the brand that he or she is endorsing, influencing consumers and raising awareness. With the evolution of Brand Managers to Brand Ambassadors, we take a look at the important role they play in today’s marketing landscape.
Brand Ambassadors are employed by a company or organisation to scream the word of their brand to leverage customer relations and entrust consumers to make a purchase. An individual who can speak positively about a product to bolster sales and create brand awareness is very important for any organisation, and this is why more and more are using this method to personify their brand.
This term has evolved beyond celebrity branding, such as Gary Lineker promoting ‘Walker’s Crisps’; as companies are now branching out and employing brand advocates, promotional models, and demonstration and product sampling staff, which allows the brand to be more customer facing. That’s not saying that celebrity endorsement isn’t important, because of course it is; it just means brands are attempting to conjure up further ways of promoting their brand through experiential marketing by using the brand ambassador for engagement.
Brand management and its role has changed dramatically over the years, from the job of assessing the brand, communicating it and directing it to increase profitability. Traditionally, marketing strategies focused very much on brand managers embodying the brand and being the primary spokesperson for it. And because of this, the general marketing model has transposed to include brand ambassadors and champions who replace the role of the traditional brand manager.
The importance of a Brand Ambassador is now taken into consideration and is crucial in any marketing and branding strategy. Appearing as face of the company, those representatives are seen a reliable and trustworthy sources regarding the brands that they put their faces to. Since the evolution of the brand manager, brand ambassadors will endorse and champion a brand, establishing the credibility of the product amongst the correct demographic, and engage customers through experience and satisfaction. They also serve the purpose of ensuring that customers who engage with the brand will remain loyal.
Celebrity Brand Ambassadors
Implementing the use of celebrities as ambassadors for your brand has always been a great concept for any organisation. The overall image of an ambassador is to obviously attract attention from consumers, and this is why there has been a considerable rise in brands signing up celebrity brand ambassadors to promote their products. Integrating a big time celebrity into a brand does increase the chance of it being sold and is a no-brainer in any PR or marketing strategy. Celebrities are famous and popular and have many loyal fans, so of course it would be obvious for marketers to benefit from using them to get an audience to resonate with their brand.
Taylor Swift was recently signed up as the brand ambassador for ‘Diet Coke’, with a series of branding initiatives including TV, print and outdoor advertisements featuring the singer herself. While many celebrity endorsements of the drinks giants have been mocked over the years as not being authentic, artist Taylor Swift professes to be a genuine fan of Diet Coke and is true to the brand. Diva Beyoncé was also named brand ambassador for rival drinks brand ‘Pepsi’, which saw her headline and perform at the Super Bowl’s halftime show in February of this year, which was sponsored by the brand. Advertising during the Super Bowl is ‘big bucks’ as it is the most watched broadcast globally with an average of 111 million viewers in America alone and 300 million worldwide.
Goodwill Brand Ambassadors
This type of brand ambassador is often linked with a charitable organisation or a non-profit cause. The fundamental position of the goodwill ambassador within the company is to raise awareness and spread their messages and morals. Primarily, these types of brand ambassadors are well-known celebrity advocates of the cause, who promote funding, donations and will encourage volunteers to become advocates themselves. Examples of goodwill ambassadors are celebrities such as Pamela Anderson for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), and David Beckham for UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund). These types of known personalities have the ability to promote and influence others and are usually chosen as they have fully invested in the cause and are able to tap into the organisation’s target audience.
Promotional Models
There are three types of promotional model; the spokesmodel, convention model and trade show model. The difference between those and a brand ambassador is the representation they have of the brand. A promotional model may provide the audience with a live experience, which also falls into the experiential marketing category. Aside from a brand ambassador, a promotional model promotes the brand at events and occasions and is not tied down through contract. It is their job to endorse the brand by being present at a venue for the requirements of the campaign. Promotional models are usually employed for trade shows and exhibits.
At Touchdown we have a variety of brand ambassadors that will live and breathe your brand. Whether you require one staff member or a hundred, we hand pick our promotional staff or brand ambassadors to ensure that the perfect personalities are sourced to suit your campaign.