The Parallelogram
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Parallelogram: Edition 6

Parallelogram: Edition 6

A publication about celebrity and creator partnerships

Parallel Team
December 18, 2024

Hi there 👋🏽!

I’ve always found identity labels boring. In the best case, they’re useful for organizational purposes and can help people find belonging through shared experience. In the worst case, they can curtail creativity, put a pause on possibility, and mute the complexities that give things their nuance.

As a strategist at Parallel, I’m always thinking about the ways we can refine our products and services to better serve our clients, and in the world of talent partnerships, that means continuously honing our methods for identifying people who can really move the needle for a brand.

What that involves: aligning on a company’s goals, audience, and resources, and using both cultural and industry knowledge to identify talent partners that can help meet those goals and speak to those audiences. What that doesn’t involve: asking whether a company needs a “celebrity” or “influencer”. By focusing on the intention and desired impact rather than labels, we make room for possibilities and uncover talent who can help hit our clients goals in innovative and creative ways. We’ll dive deeper into this in the POV, but this theme will guide us throughout the newsletter as we navigate examples of how brands can navigate talent partnerships in unconventional ways.

In the oft murky worlds of entertainment and venture, we pride ourselves on giving straightforward takes on thorny issues. Here’s our POV:

How useful are the titles “Celebrity” and “Influencer” anymore?

Once in a while our #trendlibrary Slack channel pops off, and the team was positively aflame in the chat over a recent Fast Company article titled: Why brands are ditching celebs for influencers. Essentially, the piece argues that the rise of influencers is leading to the “decline of celebrity influence”, claiming that consumers’ growing enthusiasm around influencers means that celebrities’ ability to influence has diminished.

If only marketing were that simple. But alas, it’s not a zero sum game, and this argument creates a false dichotomy between “celebrity” and “influencer”. The reality in today’s marketing world is that the line between influencers and celebrities has become increasingly blurred, so labels that used to help distinguish them from each other and determine their respective marketing utilities aren’t so useful anymore.

Consider Selena Gomez. She’s a super-celebrity in the traditional sense—with several hit movies, TV shows and platinum records—but she’s also the most followed woman on Instagram, and her brand Rare Beauty propelled her to billionaire status via a strategy focused heavily on activating her social media community. While the article argues that celebrities have “elevated, aspirational brands and lifestyles” that “few can relate to”, that might be missing the point; the celebrities behind some of the the most successful beauty brands in the world (think Fenty Beauty, Rare Beauty, Rhode) form authentic, trusting relationships with their audiences, the same as traditional influencers. Turns out that audiences care less about how nice their bathroom is, and more about believing that they actually use the products artfully arranged on their vanity. For the celebrities who do this right, their ability to influence at scale is unmatchable by traditional influencers.

Okay, you might say, Selena Gomez is a special case. But what about celebrities who aren’t Instagram royalty? Can they still drive customer purchase? Absolutely. But, rather than heed the article’s suggestion that this choice is an either/or, companies succeed by recognizing the distinct yet complementary roles traditional celebrities and influencers can each play in a brand's success.

Take CeraVe’s viral Super Bowl campaign last year. Michael Cera, a nostalgic, beloved actor with no social media presence, was at the center of the campaign. It began with a (staged) influencer @HayleeBaylee “catching” him signing CeraVe products in stores, which went viral on Reddit and the Daily Mail. Underpinning this virality, of course, was that audiences believed that Cera would actually do this. It is authentically him to be doing something as random as wandering around a Duane Reade signing moisturizers.

This initial interest was amplified by influencers like @xoxoemira and @claaaarke posting unboxing vids of playful PR packages featuring Cera’s face, racking up millions of views. This buzz culminated in Cerave’s Superbowl commercial, viewed by 123 million people. The campaign garnered over 15.4 billion impressions before the ad even aired. CeraVe smartly used Cera to engage a broad Superbowl audience while working with popular influencers to create arguably the most exciting campaign of the year.

So if you have a company, rather than picking a side in the “celebrity” vs. “influencer” debate, ask yourself what your goals are, who you’re trying to target, and then focus on the qualities of the person who can help you reach those goals. Is it someone who cares about sustainability (in a believable way)? Is it a person both my grandma and my ten-year-old nephew would recognize? Is it someone who knows the ins and outs of monarch butterfly migration patterns? Time to get curious.

A quick perspective from smart people we know.

How an NBA Performance Director turned entrepreneur chooses his talent roster

Your approach to branding seems distinct compared to other companies with celebrity founders. How do you balance leveraging NBA player and co-founder Victor Wembanyama’s [aka Wemby’s] influence with building Barcode as a standalone identity?

Victor is an amazing partner and we are thrilled to be working with him and to have his support, not only as a fan and a partner, but a drinker of Barcode. That said, while Victor's celebrity certainly draws an influence, there are so many brands now who work with athletes and celebrities, and it's important to me to make clear that Barcode is a beverage that is an innovative, better for you option for all consumers. Given my background as performance director with the Knicks and Lakers, I know what the body needs to recover and perform. It's important to me to bring this to all looking for healthier hydration options.

As a brand that seems to prioritize science and performance, how do you decide which collaborations or partnerships align with Barcode's mission and audience?

We really look at options that share our message, philosophy, and vibe when considering who to collaborate or partner with. We created a product that is a better for you option for a variety of consumers—moms, kids, athletes, active lifestyle consumers—so to target and identify with each of these groups, it's important from a brand perspective to continuously work with a wide range of partners. All the athletes or celebrities we have collaborated with are strategic, as they are true fans and drinkers of Barcode.

What have you learned from past talent partnerships that has shaped your current marketing approach?

The big thing I have learned is that it's important to not only identify and work with talent who embody the same lifestyle and message you are working to convey, but ones who believe in and incorporate the product into their lives. Nowadays, so many brands pay talent who simply have a large reach or lifestyle connection to the brand, which is important, but if you want to connect with consumers in an authentic real way, you have to work with talent who use, believe in, and are actual fans of the brand. Everyone we work with believes in what we are building and are actual drinkers of Barcode.

You can keep up with Mubarak’s moves here, and check out Barcode while you’re at it.