JAIME ZOBEL is designing a limited-edition Cory Aquino Swatch.

The Zobel design is a characteristic marketing coup for the Swiss watch brand that has a long and impressive list of celebrity collaborators and endorsers.

But celebrity marketing isn?t an exclusive domain of Swatch. Indeed, many find the invaluable rewards of associating a brand with a high-profile or well-known figure.

That, despite some people?s opinion of celebrity product endorsers: A disaster waiting to happen.

A celebrity may drive sales to the roof, but when he gets embroiled in a controversy, he is quickly dropped by the brand. Think Olympics champion Michael Phelps, who was dumped by Kelloggs after photos of him allegedly using a bong and marijuana surfaced on cyberspace.

Closer to home, brands ? and ultimately, the consumers ? are more forgiving.

For instance, tongues got wagging when actress Katrina Halili?s billboards for Flawless, a company owned by Doctor Vicki Belo, weren?t taken down quickly enough at the height of the Hayden Kho sex-video scandal. A spokesperson for the company said Flawless simply opted to carry out the entirety of Halili?s ?unwritten? agreement with the company. (The billboards have since been taken down.)

Kris Aquino, who has also figured in countless controversies, is still one of the most in-demand (if not the top) product endorsers ?perhaps even more so when she?s in the midst of hullabaloos.

Added premium

Whatever the perils, many companies can?t seem to do without the added premium of having a celebrity face associated with their brand.

?It has worked all these 20 years. And the impact on sales is obvious,? says Gift Gate maven Virgie Ramos. She has enlisted a long and impressive list of endorsers for Swatch through the years, from Mikee Cojuangco to Inno Sotto, John Lloyd Cruz and now, artist-industrialist Jaime Zobel with the Cory Aquino watch. (Zobel also designed another Swatch for the Philippine Centennial.)

But for Sheree Gotuaco, who owns the clothing brands Ensembles and Freeway, celebrities are just ?icing on the cake, not a magic solution for a brand. The merchandise should be good and could be sold on their own? If you have the merchandise down pat, then [a celebrity endorser] is worth it,? she says.

Other brand owners insist a famous face is vital in creating awareness for a label. There?s Folded & Hung, which, according to CEO Ronald Pineda, hinged its nationwide expansion on the fame of actress Claudine Barretto, who, at the time, was doing the hit TV drama ?Marina.?

?It was all right [to have no image model] when we were only in Metro Manila,? Pineda explains, ?but when we had to go to the province, we needed a celebrity. It?s very effective because [those in the provinces] see them on TV.?

Roxanne Ang Farillas, vice president of Plains and Prints, agrees. The clothing brand she established with her husband in 1994 took the gamble for the big time in 2002 when they signed up controversial actress Gretchen Barretto, plastering her pretty face on massive billboards all over Edsa.

It was a good fit: the actress boosted sales and awareness for the brand.

Not just show biz

Endorsements, however, are no longer limited to show-biz personalities. Brands have since expanded their sights to include fashion designers, chefs, socialites, athletes, politicians, bloggers and media personalities.

Albert Cuadrante, marketing director of Red Ribbon Bakeshop, says sales increased way beyond their initial target of under 10 percent when the company introduced the designer wedding cakes of Frederick Peralta and Rajo Laurel.

?For the category, sales growth was 20 percent,? he says, though he?s careful not to label Laurel and Peralta as endorsers. ?They?re well-known artists who are part of our [design] team.?

While its biggest competition, Goldilocks, is being endorsed by Aquino, Cuadrante says Red Ribbon isn?t going down that path at the moment. ?We?re not closing our doors? If it?s the wrong fit, it doesn?t necessarily boost sales.? For instance, he says, he doesn?t see someone even as famous as Piolo Pascual fitting the image of the bakeshop chain.

Pineda, who has also worked with fashion designer Ivarluski Aseron and media fixtures like Jenni Epperson and Tim Yap, says his approach is two-pronged: to target the masses with the show-biz endorser and the higher-end market with the designer collaboration.

He?s not alone: there?s Gotuaco?s partnership with designers Debbie Co and, previously, James Reyes for Ensembles. Laurel has also done a pocket collection for Plains and Prints, and Randy Ortiz has also just introduced his designs for the brand.

?When you use a celebrity, the result is long-term, as the consumers will associate your brand with her,? explains Gotuaco. ?It?s short-term and product-driven when you work with a fashion designer. It?s in the store right away, but that?s it.?

Apart from the celebrity fitting the image of the brand s/he?s endorsing, it seems there?s no hard-and-fast criteria for picking an endorser.

Gotuaco, whose Ensembles uses the relatively low-key Carmina Villaroel, says it?s vital that the celebrity isn?t overexposed as it might confuse buyers. (The effect is possibly even more confounding when an endorser switches allegiances to a rival brand, say, Sharon Cuneta?s recent move from Globe to Smart.)
Squeaky clean

?[A] squeaky-clean [image] isn?t a must,? Ramos says, ?but we don?t go out of our way to look for controversial people either.?

?[E]ven if endorsers have squeaky-clean images, they still can?t please everyone,? says Farillas. ?Some will like them, some will not.?

But what of endorsers who get entangled in scandals?

?I don?t think we felt any negative effect on sales when our endorsers [were] involved in scandals,? says Farillas of tabloid-gossip fodder Barretto. ?Our customers are smart enough to look beyond the endorser to realize that there is a good brand behind the advertising.?

Scandals or none, the value of a brand ambassador, apparently, can be assessed long before the company sees the bottom line. Some celebrities, in the end, says Gotuaco, are just ?too expensive.?