Celebrities as Distinctive Brand Assets, a slam dunk?

In 2020, Ben Affleck was photographed by paparazzi struggling with a stack of Dunkin’ Donuts coffees and treats. Years later, he recreated these very shots in promos for the brand, as well as starring in numerous big budget ad campaigns (including multiple TVCs for the Super Bowl).

An ideal brand fit, both Affleck and Dunkin’ are proudly Bostonian (a central foundation to the brand), and if shutterbugs would have us believe, he’s been a lifelong fan of the brand.

Affleck’s first 2023 Super Bowl commercial for the brand was developed by his and Matt Damon’s production company, Artists Equity. He told People Magazine, “I think I became kind of associated with it, and this sounded like a fun opportunity to kind of play with that association, and a chance to come back here to shoot it at home in Boston.”

Dunkin’ Donuts likely ceded some creative control to Affleck in the ad’s production—and it didn’t come cheap. According to US Weekly, he was paid $10 million for the 2023 spot. However, the investment appears to have been a worthwhile risk. Dunkin’ president Scott Murphy stated in the same article, “We ran [the ad] once and got 7 billion media impressions, and it kind of kickstarted the year.” Affleck’s partnership with the brand has also extended to those in his inner circle, including his now ex-wife Jennifer Lopez, his longtime friend and business partner Matt Damon, and his brother, fellow actor Casey Affleck.

Now Dunkin’ Donuts does a good job in how they depict Ben Affleck, they put him in brand-centric scenarios, play into his roots, and more recently in the DunKings campaigns they wrap him in brand colours and merch. It’s not as simple as whacking a product in the hand of a notable figure and calling it an ad campaign.

The brand actually employs a whole host of celebrities. Outside of the Affleck world, recent campaigns have included Ice Spice, Jack Harlow, Charli D’Amelio and Tom Brady among others. Often, these celebrities also interact with Affleck in ads.

While we’d call Ben Affleck’s starring role in the pursuit of distinctiveness a worthwhile venture, the others are more likely an exercise in other marketing objectives. Defining what purpose your assets play is a key first step to success, read more here.

Sometimes, as with pop star Sabrina Carpenter, they drive sales by creating custom coffees.

To state the obvious, celebrities drive reach and attention. They might deliver your brand to consumers who wouldn’t otherwise have visibility, and to some an endorsement – organic or otherwise, might trigger a sale.

However, as Distinctive Brand Assets, their effectiveness is more nuanced.

Strong DBAs are built by two key pillars: Asset Recognition (do consumers recognise this?) and Brand Attribution (can they correctly, spontaneously, name the brand?). In the latter lies the difficulty.

Celebrities, especially of Ben Affleck’s calibre, have diverse public personas with media presence, brand deals, and sometimes products or lines of their own. On top of that, they are often the subject of online gossip, all of which can influence what consumers recall when they see them. Is your brand strong enough to compete with these? Does the connection between your endorser and your product or service seem authentic? If not, the celebrity might just steal the show.

Relying on celebrities to drive your brand also comes with inherent risk. There is a never-ending list of salacious scandals that have led to brands dropping an ambassador, and an equal list of brands whose reputations and/or bottom lines were negatively impacted by affiliations gone wrong.

Monetarily, depending on what kind of contract is in place, brands relying on celebrities leave themselves open to a growing financial expenditure. If one campaign goes viral, the ambassador may raise their fee for the next. If they receive an award, their price might go up. If they’re on location with a new film, or on a world tour when your production is due to take place, that’s going to get costly.

A key factor in embedding a brand asset is longevity/consistency. A person can decide to pull out of a partnership at any time, whereas a brand-created character cannot.

So with all the investment, history and brand linkage, is Ben Affleck a Distinctive Brand Asset for Dunkin’ Donuts? It all depends on how he is depicted. We tested two variations – the original Super Bowl ad in 2023 where Ben operates the Drive-Thru window, and the recent DunKing’s iteration where Ben is decked out in brand colours. Only the latter can be considered a Hero asset, achieving 55% Asset Recognition and 71% Brand Attribution.  It’s a case for the compounding effect of Distinctive Brand Assets, one helps to embed the other, creating a harmonic suite of consistent assets in the process.

Charted against other celebrity ambassadors, we can see its consistency driving the score for KFC too. They align their use of celebrity with their iconic brand character – the Colonel. It’s an approach they’ve taken many times with actors and celebrities of all scales. They garner attention and reach through the celebrity, and through the cross use of other DBA’s they drive their distinctiveness. A best practice process that’s worth considering.

While others in the category may fall short on Brand Attribution, they are achieving high Asset Recognition. Respondents recalled seeing these ads but struggled to link them to the correct brand—a common challenge. However, the goal may not have been to drive distinctiveness at all; it could serve an entirely different purpose, which we won’t assume to define. Just because an asset isn’t distinctive doesn’t mean it isn’t fulfilling another strategic role.

Not every brand has access to Oscar-winning actors, nor do they need to. In our research of over 5,000 assets from some of the biggest brands in the world, celebrities are actually quite low on the totem pole for their ability to drive distinctiveness.

Consider instead a brand character. It needn’t have anything to do with your product or service in order to be effective, just read our list of brand characters with cut through and you’ll note geckos for insurance, k-9’s for crime, and numerous nepo babies who’ve all become branding sensations.

If celebrities are meant to drive distinctiveness for your brand, be strategic. KFC puts star power behind other long-standing assets, but they don’t let them eclipse the brand itself. If an understated approach is needed, incorporate other Distinctive Brand Assets alongside the celebrity to amplify their impact. Take Ben Affleck’s Dunkin’ Donuts ads as an example—the version with stronger branding links significantly boosted Brand Attribution, while the more subtle execution fell short.

See too, further examples and insight into celebrities and influencers as Distinctive Brand Assets here.

Reach out to us if you’d like to measure the impact of your Distinctive Brand Assets.