New Research: Social Media Ad Performance Surges with Celebrity

IRVINE, Calif., March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), the company reinventing endorsement and celebrity marketing, has released findings from its study of social media campaigns, the largest comparison of celebrity endorsements and non-endorsed social media advertising to-date.  The study analyzed over 200 Facebook and Twitter endorsements as well as similar Facebook ads that did not feature celebrities, and found that – for the same spend – endorsed messages delivered monumental performance lifts – over 50% greater on the low end.

"If regular Facebook ads were the automobiles along an interstate highway, celebrity social media messages would be like throwing Formula One cars into the mix," said Ryan Steelberg, CEO of BAT.  "They're all going to move brand marketers from point A to point B, but celebrity endorsements will do it with drastically greater effect. This data reveals that with social media endorsements, brands will reap greater rewards from their spend."

BAT analyzed the performance of national campaigns for advertisers in the auto, entertainment, technology, and retail categories, all executed using its new social media offering, @BAT (pronounced "at bat"). The campaigns encompassed endorsements from a wide range of celebrities and professional athletes such as Drew Brees, Snoop Dogg, Matt Hasselbeck, Enrique Iglesias, Khloe Kardashian, Nick Swisher, and Kendra Wilkinson.

BAT's comparison of celebrity social media messages to non-endorsed Facebook ads revealed that, for equal dollars:

• Endorsed Facebook messages resulted in a 50% improvement in cost-per-action (CPA) over non-endorsed Facebook advertising.
• Click-through rates are 21x higher with endorsed Facebook messages over their non-endorsed counterparts.
• Click-through rates for endorsed Twitter messages were 17x higher than non-endorsed Facebook messages.
• Endorsed Twitter messages resulted in a 72% CPA improvement over non-endorsed Facebook messages.

"These findings provide further confirmation that celebrity endorsements within social media activations, when done right, significantly outperform non-endorsed campaigns," said Taylor Valentine, vice president of social media and relationship marketing for Horizon Media. "Think of this as word-of-mouth fire-starters, driven by the extreme levels of consumer interest that celebrities bring to the table."

About @BAT

@BAT is the social media extension of BAT's market-leading Endorsement Platform. Advertisers use @BAT to identify and secure the most appropriate talent to launch social media campaigns featuring top athletes and celebrities. BAT's proprietary technology and unmatched relationships with thousands of celebrities guarantee deal acceptance and reach aligned with target audiences. Marketers can use @BAT for stand-alone social media campaigns, or as part of campaigns featuring cross-media endorsement activation.  

About Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc.  (BAT)

Founded in 2007, BAT (http://brandaffinity.net) unlocks the marketing power of celebrity through research, endorsements, and interactive experiences. Advertisers such as AT&T, Comcast, IHG, Intuit, Ford, Samsung and Sony use BAT's Endorsement Platform, which provides daily analysis of more than 45,000 celebrities and athletes, along with the ability to identify, license, and activate talent for cross-media advertising campaigns.  BAT also leverages its research and technology engine to engage consumers directly through Fantapper (www.fantapper.com), which brings interactive apps to celebrity content across the web. Connect with BAT on Twitter: @BATimpact and Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrandAffinityTech.

SOURCE Brand Affinity Technologies