Brand Dig: Pepsi, SodaStream and Shell all love a good pop star endorsement

In this blog series, researcher Harry Symington digs into the world of social media and discusses brands, news, trends and examples that have made the digital headlines.

This week, Harry looks at celebrity pop endorsements as Shell kicks off a new campaign in which they try to connect with younger generations. Plus, prime-pop-endorsement brand Pepsi is discussed - just so much drama - and money! Finally, a case for pop (and other) celebs to carefully consider and research brands wooing them, as Lana del Rey and Scarlett Johansson have found...

Shell is counting on a millennial connection

Named ‘the most hated brand’ by NGOs for the year 2015, oil company Shell’s marketing team have to work extra hard to make a connection with their audiences – especially younger generations owning a healthy dose of scepticism towards fossil fuels.

By launching a year-long campaign last month named #makethefuture, Shell are aiming to tackle this disconnect head on. Their magic potion of choice: pop stars. Jennifer Hudson, Pixie Lott and Steve Aoki are three of a troupe of international music stars recruited to highlight Shell’s collaborations with energy start-ups and sustainable energy, played out over platforms like Snapchat, Tumblr and Facebook. There’s even a full music video called ‘Best Day of My Life’ on YouTube, which has already been watched over 8 million times, and it’s getting plenty of positive feedback from the target audience.

So how has Shell been able to avoid millennial side-eye from what could be considered hollow celebrity endorsements? In an interview with the Drum,  global vice president of brand and chief executive of Shell Brands International AG, Dean Aragon, explains it’s all about ensuring the message is authentic. They did so by finding ‘kindred spirits’, as Aragon explains about working with musician Akon: “We wanted to collaborate with an artist who had a kindred cause, and it just so happened that Akon had advocacy and project around lighting Africa and therefore there was a clear intersection of aspirations.”

Pepsi is all about the girl pop power

Shell has definitely hit the headlines with their campaign – but as novel as this move is for an old-school behemoth of an oil brand, pop star endorsements are the daily bread for other brands. Take Pepsi: Britney, Pink, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have all sipped the bubble juice for a hefty pay.

Is it the sheer star power that will make things click naturally when it comes to personifying a brand with a pop star? Not necessarily. Things might just be a bit easier for Pepsi, because you could argue that the brand is pop culture, and the brand doesn’t need to work as hard on that authenticity as Shell does – there is a more natural connection between the brand and the pop star, as well as with the audience.

That’s not to say things don’t go fizzy at times. Many of us will Britney being photographed drinking – gasp! - a can of Coke, which amongst other things caused a whole lot of drama. Britney eventually got dropped in 2002 and replaced with Beyoncé, who then got herself into a spot of trouble too, by signing up with for $50 million the sugary Pepsi drinks just after being a spokesperson for Michelle Obama’s health campaign, aiming to fight obesity through education. Contradiction? Oh yes. But the public, so it seems, can be very forgiving.

SodaStream of tears and regret - or not

Of course, there are also examples when celebrity endorsements go horribly wrong. Quite often this seems to happen on the sports side of the endorsement circus, and it’s often due to what is considered immoral behavior. The world collectively cringed when Tiger Woods fumbled through his infidelities in 2009, losing a reported $22 million with AT&T, Tag Heuer, Gatorade and General Motors cutting the ties with him in the wake. More recently, when Ryan Lochte went on a bit of a laddish rampage in Rio during the Olympics and lied about it, that meant the end of four lucrative deals.

When it comes to female pop stars, there appear to be more examples of immoralities on the political rather than on the personal spectrum. Lana del Rey stroking her pale pink H&M 70% angora jumper for their Christmas campaign in 2012 got a firm response from PETA, who highlighted Chinese factories ripping the wool off live angora rabbits. In the end, this didn’t backlash on del Rey, who did not know about the production process – but you could definitely say she should have asked a second opinion instead of nodding along to the H&M PR machine.

What del Rey also wisely did, was keep her mouth shut to a degree – the audience was definitely a lot less forgiving when actress / songstress and former Oxfam ambassador Scarlett Johansson endorsed the Israeli soda-machine manufacturer SodaStream, who were operating a controversial factory in a settlement on the West Bank. Johansson, who in the past had been very vocal about using her star powers for the good of mankind, was once again very vocal, but this time in support of her decision to endorse SodaStream nike hyperdunk. It wasn’t just Oxfam calling her out on hypocrisy - the UN, the International Court of Justice and the Red Cross all weighed in, saying SodaStream was breaking the law. This time, the public didn’t care about Johansson’s fame, and she was bashed online accordingly: nil points.

It's clear pop star endorsements can work for both the celebrity and the brand - but brands should always be careful to select stars who can walk a straight line. And at the same time, celebrities should make sure they do their research into the company before taking the pay cheque.

Interested to hear how Pulsar can help get you more engagement with your audience without any naming or designing disasters? We’re right here, drop us a line: [email protected]