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Celebrities have long endorsed products, and now many are using their fame to promote issues and causes. Shortly after becoming household names, many actors, singers and athletes establish charitable foundations in their names. They use their star power to increase public awareness of everything from diseases to political issues.
TV personality Rosie O’Donnell established the For All Kids Foundation, which gives grants to support the social and intellectual development of underserved kids. The foundation has awarded $10.2 million since 1997, much of it to established child care programs. eBay hosts a charity auction to benefit the foundation with the sales of celebrity items.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research hopes to find a cure for the disease by 2010. Television and film actor Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s, wants his foundation to increase public awareness of the disease and raise funds for research.
U2 lead singer Bono has been involved in many issues throughout the years and supports the work of Greenpeace, War Child and Amnesty International. His latest project is Project Red, a partnership with several large corporations to increase awareness of AIDS in Africa.
Daytime talk queen Oprah Winfrey used her celebrity to power Oprah’s Angel Network. With viewer donations, the network has built 200 homes for Habitat for Humanity and sent 150 students to college. Oprah also gives a weekly “Use Your Life Award” to a local hero who improves the lives of others.
The National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance was co-founded by Today host Katie Couric. The group hopes to educate the public about the cancer, which is treatable if detected early.
The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation supports research to develop treatments and a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injuries. Reeve serves as chairman of the board and the foundation has raised millions of dollars for individual research grants and programs to enrich the lives of people with disabilities.
After directing the Oscar-winning “Schindler’s List,” Steven Spielberg established the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. The group’s mission is to chronicle eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust. Spielberg is also chairman of the Starbright Foundation, which works with seriously ill children.
As more athletes achieve celebrity status, they are also promoting their causes and issues. Soccer sensation Mia Hamm set up her foundation to raise money for bone marrow disease research and programs for young women in sports. The Mark McGwire Foundation For Children works to prevent child abuse. The Tiger Woods Foundation works to help children accomplish life goals.
Many athletes promote awareness of diseases. The Mario Lemieux Foundation raises money for Hodgkin’s disease research. Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie and his wife Laurie established the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, in honor of their autistic son. The Lance Armstrong Foundation helps people survive and manage cancer.
Beginning as a vehicle to help sufferers of HIV/AIDS, the Magic Johnson Foundation now awards scholarships and grants to inner-city students and communities as well. Basketball superstar Michael Jordan set up the James R. Jordan Boys & Girls Club and Family Life Center in honor of his late father.
Source: Givespot
Using Hollywood to promote philanthropic causes is an old story. It’s not clear whether the new batch of Brangelina do-gooders and N. Portman-causes are that different from celebrity charities of yesteryears. Still, this NYT piece dissects the celebrity-charity industrial-complex as it stands today.
An entire industry has sprung up around the recruitment of celebrities to good works. Even an old-line philanthropy like the Red Cross employs a “director of celebrity outreach.” Oxfam has a celebrity wrangler in Los Angeles, Lyndsay Cruz, on the lookout for stars who can raise the charity’s profile with younger people. In addition to established figures like Colin Firth and Helen Mirren, Oxfam is affiliated with Scarlett Johansson, who has visited South Asia (where the organization promotes girls’ education) and is scheduled to go to Mali. Cruz notes that while “trendy young people” are attracted to the star of “Match Point” and “Lost in Translation,” Johansson had “great credibility with an older audience because she’s such a great actress.”
The stars themselves have their own retainers to fend off the celebrity recruiters and to screen and sift charitable opportunities; publicists say their major clients get dozens of requests every week. The more deeply committed figures, like Angelina Jolie, retain firms like the Global Philanthropy Group, which, according to a representative, offers “comprehensive philanthropic management.” This includes establishing and staffing foundations, bringing in subject-area experts or even helping the novice philanthropist figure out what he or she actually wants to do. A similar organization, the Giving Back Fund, works with athletes like the quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the basketball players Jalen Rose and Shane Battier.
Both the stars and the causes, in turn, depend on corporate sponsorship. It is the sponsors who pay for the galas at which the stars raise money for their causes; sponsors normally pay for the stars’ first-class air tickets and hotel suites. Corporations need causes as much as stars do. Like the stars, they understand that they must shape and protect their brand identities; and they understand that those identities will be judged by the broad public, through public acts. As Howard Bragman puts it, “Celebrities, sponsors and a cause: it’s the golden troika of branding.”
The costs are small compared to the good will. Thus Alicia Keys’s Keep a Child Alive, which provides antiretrovirals to victims of AIDS in Africa, has 78 “corporate partners,” including CBS, Continental Airlines, Condé Nast and Chanel, to pick a few from the C’s. And just as stars have philanthropic managers to help them with causes, corporations with a cause can turn to celebrity recruiters to find just the right star. Thus Rita Tateel, who describes her occupation as recruiting and coordinating celebrities for “cause-related marketing and public relations,” recently hooked up Purina, which wanted to support “small animal-rescue organizations,” with Emily Procter, a star of “CSI Miami,” who, Tateel says, “lives and breathes animal rescue.”
Source: Now Public, Author: Cynthia Yoo
Celebrities can bring visibility, credibility, and attract more media attention to cause marketing campaigns. They can also be very demanding and difficult to work with.
Successfully contacting, negotiating, and working with celebrities requires critical research and specialized rules of protocol, according to Rita Tateel, president and founder of The Celebrity Source, Inc.
Rita has partnered Kareem Abdul Jabar with Energizer Batteries and the International Fire Chiefs Association; Robert Guillaume with Quaker Oatmeal and the American Heart Association; and Shannon Doherty with Contadina and Second Harvest to name a few.
Rita shared her top, hard-earned tips for working with celebrities with the Cause Marketing Forum:
1) Put Yourself in a Star’s Shoes
Before you ask a celebrity to participate in a project, PR campaign, or special event, ask yourself this question as though you were that celebrity: “What’s in it for me; why should I do this?”
We would all like to think that celebrities get involved with cause-related marketing campaigns because they really care about the cause. While this can be a contributing reason, the truth is that most celebs are motivated by other factors. If you have money, it’s a great motivator. But when budgets are slim-to-none, great perks and gifts can go far in getting a celebrity to say “yes.” Other motivators can include media exposure, personal interest in the activity or sport, personal connections to the city, a desire to change one’s image, the fun/exclusivity of the event, or because of who asked them.
2) Make A List
Once a celebrity has agreed to participate, make a list of absolutely everything he or she might want to know and do—every question this personality might have—from arrival to departure. Then list of all your answers.
Celebrities and their representatives can become very demanding and difficult to work with if the celebrity feels insecure about his or her involvement. The best way to help make celebrities (and their representatives) feel secure is to demonstrate that you have considered every little detail and have anticipated their every question.
3) Respect Their Time
Time is a celebrity’s most valuable commodity; don’t waste it.
The bigger the celebrity, the less time he or she has. There are so many people wanting a piece of the celebrity’s time, they have to ensure that the time they do give to a cause makes an impact and is time well spent. So, ask for the least amount of time that will fill your needs. Don’t ask celebrities to arrive earlier than needed. And never make them wait!
4) Keep Briefings Brief
When a celebrity briefing session is necessary, determine whether it must be in person, or if the briefing can be handled by phone, fax and e-mail. Of course, we would all rather meet celebrities in person. But, remember my “tip #3—that time is their most valuable commodity. So use the phone, fax or email if you can.
If you must meet in person, have no more than one or two people at the briefing session and make it as to the point as possible. More than an hour is seldom needed.
5)Avoid Deluging Stars With Data
Celebrities won’t want to memorize lots of facts and figures—unless they are being paid quite handsomely. Therefore, I recommend no more than 3-4 bullet points of the most important information you want your celebrity to communicate to the media.
Fax or e-mail briefing notes in advance and also have it on site, ready when the celebrity arrives.
6) Don’t make any promises you can’t keep and do keep all of the promises you make
Source: Cause Marketing Forum, Author Rita Tateel
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