How much do celebrities truly affect brand value?

Today, getting the attention of consumers is harder than ever before. In a sea of brands and products, everyone is fighting for their visibility and they do it often by hiring influencers and celebrities. In our latest Vox Populi survey, we explored how much their engagement affects sales, brand image and value, and in other words – consumer loyalty.

As many as 58% of respondents would purposely buy a product due to a recommendation from a celebrity, and 38% of respondents don’t believe in the quality of a product until it’s recommended by a celebrity. Also, the vast majority of respondents (83%) believe that brand ambassadors can influence consumer loyalty, and as many as 93% believe the values between the brand and the brand ambassadors must match.

The most valuable brands are not subject to the negative influence of celebrities

Most respondents (88%) well remember the situation that happened in June this year during a press conference at the football championship when Cristiano Ronaldo removed a sponsor bottle of Coca-Cola from the table and shouted “Drink water!”. We asked our Vox Populi respondents if this move by the person with the best-paid posts on Instagram changed their opinion about the Coca-Cola brand and interestingly, as many as 94% of respondents answered – no. This also matches with the information that the value of the Coca-Cola brand didn’t fall after that, although false news appeared in the media that it did.

Same story, but a different end happened in 2018 when Kylie Jenner announced on Twitter that she had stopped using Snapchat, after which the stock of this then very popular youth platform fell by 6%, losing about $ 1.3 billion.

The majority of our respondents (83%) believe that, in the case of a public scandal involving either a brand or a famous person, it is necessary to distance themselves from the other partner.

Ella Dvornik side by side with Kim Kardashian

Social media allows global connectivity and thus global influence. Therefore, we weren’t surprised that on the question “Which celebrities on social media have the greatest influence on you?” our respondents stated world stars like Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Among Croatian celebrities, Ella Dvornik and Kristijan Iličić were the most often mentioned.

When asked which brands used celebrities on social media the best, adidas, Dolce & Gabanna, Persol, and About You stood out from international brands, and Anda and La Piel from local brands.