Millward Brown Launches Solution that Matches Celebrities and Brands Based on Compatibility; Releases Notable Findings from Initial Study

NEW YORK, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Millward Brown, one of the world's leading research agencies, announced the launch of a new celebrity and brand solution--the first to directly match brand and celebrity equity.

"Many of our clients struggle with decisions around matching the right celebrity spokesperson with their brands," commented Mary Ann Packo, CEO of Millward Brown North America. "We are very excited to have developed a new approach to help our clients with this important decision. It's a natural extension of the work we are already doing to help leading marketers build and grow their brands."

The new offering combines Millward Brown's unique understanding of what makes strong brands with its latest research in neuroscience. The solution measures the power of celebrities and brands by integrating consumer ratings of Familiarity (how much one knows about a celebrity/brand), Affinity (how strongly one likes or dislikes a celebrity/brand), and Buzz (how much "buzz" one thinks a celebrity/brand has) to arrive at a Cebra (Celebrity + Brand) Score. This is combined with a personality matching matrix for identifying brand and celebrity partners with the greatest marketplace potential.

Notable Findings

Among a cross-section of celebrities measured in a recent launch survey (2,000 U.S. adults, ages 18 to 64), below are those with the highest Cebra Scores:

    1) Will Smith
    2) Brad Pitt
    3) Tiger Woods
    4) Oprah Winfrey
    5) Denzel Washington
    6) Clint Eastwood
    7) Ellen DeGeneres
    8) Morgan Freeman
    9) Johnny Depp
    10) Angelina Jolie

Other notable findings include:

• Seventeen-year-old Miley Cyrus received a Cebra score of 61 (out of 100) which was equal to that of 78-year-old William Shatner. Results show that Cyrus might make a good fit with L'Oreal or Starbucks while current Priceline.com® spokesman Shatner, matched well with GEICO and Dell.
• Reese Witherspoon, who held the top spot among female celebrities for Affinity, matched well with Target and Avon, the latter of which she is currently a spokesperson.
• Twilight stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson had very similar scores and both matched well with H&M. Findings also show a potential luxury car angle for Pattinson who had strong matches with both Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
• Recent CMA Awards' host Carrie Underwood scored 58 (out of 100) with analysis suggesting consumers wish they knew her better. GUESS was identified as a potentially good fit.
• As it relates to other potentially strong brand and celebrity pairings, the survey uncovered Oprah might match well with Amazon.com, Brad Pitt could be linked to Gap, and Taylor Swift could pair well with Target.
  

The introduction of Millward Brown's solution provides new opportunities for advertisers, agencies, talent firms and production companies to leverage the power of celebrity and brand partnerships.

About Millward Brown

Millward Brown (www.millwardbrown.com) is one of the world's leading research agencies and is expert in effective advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Through the use of an integrated suite of validated research solutions -- both qualitative and quantitative -- Millward Brown helps clients build strong brands and services. Millward Brown has more than 77 offices in 50 countries. Additional practices include Millward Brown's Global Media Practice (media effectiveness unit), Millward Brown Optimor (focused on helping clients maximize the returns on their brand and marketing investments), and Dynamic Logic (the world leader in digital marketing effectiveness). Millward Brown is part of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy group.

SOURCE Millward Brown

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