Spokesperson DeGeneres Battles One Million Moms
Despite how well developed a brand's personality is, sometimes a well written tag-line still needs the perfect person to say it. The spokesperson your brand chooses is vital to the success of the campaign. Not only is he or she the entity which becomes the most recognizable rep, but also projects the level of aspiration the consumers hope to achieve in buying your brand.
Now there are two ways to go with a spokesperson. Like many successful companies you can choose a lesser-known character actor as a spokesperson, for example Progressive Insurance's Flo, the quirky sales rep brandishing a tricked-out price tagger. Or you can choose a celebrity with some star power and a preexisting audience.
The ideal spokesperson, fictional or celebrity, has to be someone agreeable.Whether your brand is funny or attractive or stylish or respectable, who you choose has to be easy to like and more importantly, hard to hate.
So it seems natural that JC Penney, a brand that struggled through 2011, would want to reinvent themselves with a new logo, a new price structure, renovated locations and most importantly a new spokeswoman. At the beginning of February, the department store retailer decided to partner up with Ellen DeGeneres as a friendly face with a lot of star power to take them into a new direction.
This isn't the first commercial endeavour for comedienne Ellen, as she's appeared in American Express and Cover Girl spots with both showcasing her humour and honest voice respectively. So despite much anticipation of her comedy and style this daytime host will bring to the upcoming JC Penney ad campaign, controversy has already emerged.
A group known as The One Million Moms (OMM) is already pissed off. OMM is a subchapter of The American Family Association and on their website they identify as pro-life, pro-family and in the pursuit of biblical truth. So it's no mystery that the only problem they have with Ellen is her un-flaunted sexuality.
Apparently, not even the OMM could protest enough for JC Penney to change their decision. Despite the threats of boycott JC Penney recognized the increased audience a celebrity brings to the table. JC Penney is showing they understand their female customer base. Women as consumers are warmer and welcoming and despite those who can't get past outdated stigmas, are happy to embrace an every-woman like Ellen.
Women want brands to be like their friends. In the past JC Penney had a very vanilla brand personality and now with Ellen they are sure to bring some of her bright, lively vitality to their stores and some of her fans dollars to their bottom line. So in the end JC Penney and Ellen DeGeneres are sure to come out on top.
- Tell us if a spokesperson ever turns you off a brand in the comments below.