The Tony Stark Effect – Celebrity Endorsements

In a previous blog, the role of MVP’s in product development was discussed, and how the necessity of them could be avoided through strategies such as the use of celebrity endorsements.  Not just for the Lean Startup method, traditional methods can also make use of celebrity endorsements, as the benefits contribute the appeal of the product and brand, and add an element of trustworthiness to the sale.

Having a famous endorse can wield many benefits, especially one that relates well to the targeted market segment. The advantages of celebrity endorsements are magnified when the celebrity is perceived to be an expert, such as famous athletes being endorsers for running shoes. However, the risks of a celebrity endorser could be endorsers going rogue, whether it be from actions in their personal lives affecting their reputations, or disloyalty to the brand.

However, what happens when the brand’s primary innovator is the celebrity endorsing it. Gone is the idea of an engineer or scientist being an introverted lab geek, as innovators such as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk have become household names. While the innovation from a person is required to give them a reputation in the first place, once a sort of celebrity status is achieved, the innovator could leverage his or her fame to selling new products.

Recently, Elon Musk has emerged as a real-life Tony Stark, who is said to have been based off of Howard Hughes, a celebrity inventor from the 1960’s. The risk of celebrities not living up to expectations as endorsers is minimized, especially as nobody could be expected to be any more of an expert in the field than the actual technical experts. However, not everyone can take advantage of the “tony Stark effect,” as it would require a strong knowledge base of economics and marketing, in addition to the innovation.

What do you think? Can innovators become celebrity endorsers for their own products? What other examples of this can you think of? Comment below with your thoughts!