December 4, 2025
Image Press Agency/Depositphotos.com
Do Celebrities Help Boost Holiday Campaigns?
Celebrities are again appearing widely across many of this year’s holiday campaigns although studies have long questioned their effectiveness.
The stars coming out for holiday campaigns this year include Walton Goggins for Wal-Mart; Keira Knightley for Waitrose; Mariah Carey for Sephora; Kylie Jenner, Paris Hilton, and Khloé Kardashian for Ulta; Martha Stewart for American Eagle; Jennifer Saunders for Burberry; Benedict Cumberbatch for Amazon; and Kyle MacLachlan for Nordstrom.
Among the research finding celebrities failing to deliver: a 2010 study from Brand Strategy Insider showing that fewer than 12% of ads featuring celebrities exceeded a 10% lift. The consultancy said celebrity-backed ads have become less relevant as consumers have gained more control due to the arrival of social media.
Brand Strategy Insider said at the time, “Today’s consumer is informed, time-compressed, and difficult to impress, and they are only influenced by ads that are relevant and provide information. They don’t want to have products pushed at them, even from a celebrity.”
On the other hand: More recent research produced last year from Zappi, a London-based research firm focusing on the creator economy, found celebrity-driven ads grab people’s attention, and can create an emotional connection. Ads featuring celebrities had an average distinctiveness score of 3.5, while ads without a celebrity boasted an average score of 3.3.
However, Zappi’s study found brands are increasingly turning to influencers, especially micro- and mid-tier influencers, rather than A-list celebrities — at least partly because the former are often more aligned in supporting the brand’s story. Zappi wrote, “The celebrity has to at least enhance the story in some way or play on what they are known for. Ultimately, when a celebrity is there just for attention, they can end up overshadowing the brand.”
Celebrities Can Help Boost Holiday Cheer via Their Own Cache
A 2022 study from researchers at Wharton nonetheless found celebrity advertising works, in part, because their mere presence increases the chances participants chose a product compared to non-celebrity actors. Tracing the reasoning in evolution, the researchers posited that the high social status and prestige associated with celebrities leads consumers to want to make the same choices as them, including having the products they’re promoting.
“That doesn’t mean a celebrity can make you choose a product that you hate,” Elizabeth (Zab) Johnson, a co-author and executive director and senior fellow at the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, told Knowledge at Wharton.
“Your strong preferences — if you absolutely love or hate something — don’t move, but there is a lot of wiggle room in there with products you might not yet have strong feelings about,” Johnson added.
A recent white paper, “Maximizing Celebrity Ad Effectiveness” from Human Made Machine, the market research firm, found 80% of ads with top-tier celebrities drove significant increases in unaided brand awareness. However, “true effectiveness” was found to come from authentic alignment between the ambassador and a brand’s values. The study stated, “Ads are most effective when brands use partners who reflect the brand’s values authentically, and tell stories that fit naturally into a broader brand narrative.”
BrainTrust
Dick Seesel
Principal, Retailing In Focus LLC
Mark Self
President and CEO, Vector Textiles
Shep Hyken
Chief Amazement Officer, Shepard Presentations, LLC
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Why are so many celebrities fronting holiday campaigns?
Do you see more pros than cons in using celebrities to boost awareness during the holiday shopping season?
Poll
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I can’t say that most of the celebrities cited are the kinds of A-listers who will do Super Bowl ads. Maybe this helps retailers break through the clutter, but does anybody recognize Walton Goggins beneath his Grinch makeup? (How many people know who he is in the first place?) The marketers and retailers with the most compelling value message will win market share during this year of economic stress…not necessarily the stores using celebrity spokespeople to gain attention.
Using celebrities in holiday campaigns leverages a proven marketing tactic that has become even more powerful in today’s social-media-driven world. Celebrity endorsements date back centuries — from royal warrants in the 18th century to early mass-market ads like Pears Soap featuring a stage actress in the 1880s. What remains unchanged is the fundamental value: celebrities draw immediate attention, provide familiarity, and evoke aspirational appeal. In a competitive holiday marketing scene, a recognizable face can stand out from the noise, hasten shoppers’ decision-making, and offer a brand a credible, emotionally compelling platform. Studies indicate that products associated with celebrity endorsers tend to spark quicker purchase decisions and generate greater confidence.
I see more pros than cons in using celebrities to boost holiday awareness — when done right. The upside: enhanced visibility, potential to reach new or broader demographic segments, elevated brand perception, and the chance to create a cultural moment that feels bigger than a simple sale. Especially in the digital/social-media economy, where stories and shareable content matter, celebrity-driven campaigns tap into not just purchasing impulse but social currency. But there are downsides if the fit is wrong — over-exposure, cost, misalignment of values, or a celebrity whose persona overwhelms or contradicts the brand.
In my view, the continued relevance of celebrity endorsements for holiday campaigns comes down to two conditions: alignment and authenticity. Brands must choose celebrities whose image, values, and audience align cleanly with their own, and ensure the campaign adds storytelling value beyond just “celebrity = glamour.” When that alignment holds — and especially when social media amplifies the campaign — celebrity endorsement remains a powerful tool. In short: it’s not nostalgia marketing for its own sake — it’s strategic storytelling and cultural resonance, adapted for a modern consumerscape.
Marketing is about grabbing attention and creating feelings that then motivate people to buy. Celebrities aid both of those things if they help to cut through noise and if they make consumers pay attention to products. Driving customers to buy because a celebrity is associated with a product is possible, but it only works in specific circumstances. Will I buy Burberry simply because Jennifer Saunders is fronting a campaign? No, absolutely not. Will I pay attention to the advert because Jennifer Saunders is funny and a British icon. Yes, I will.
Does anyone care what Paris Hilton thinks? Sydney Sweeney? Sure, but only because she refused to be drawn into a forced apology for the jeans/genes ad. I believe their pull is waning right now. Cleverness in the messaging and value in the product will win the day, not whether or not Kim K. wears something.
Celebrities do several things for campaigns (any time of year, not just holidays). They are influencers; they can be trusted sources, and their recognition draws the customer’s attention. That last one is important. An automobile ad with unknowns will typically not have the same impact as one with a recognizable celebrity. And consumers have higher brand recall when one of their favorite celebrities is in it.
Why are so many celebrities fronting holiday campaigns? Money, baby. It’s a lucrative gig.
Do celebrity endorsements encourage me to buy whatever they are selling? Not a chance because I am old enough to know they are paid to plug that particular product. I do think, however, that celebs in ads connect with younger consumers. And maybe that’s the point.
Celebrities can help boost holiday campaigns (or any campaign really) when their image feels like a natural fit for the brand. Attention is easy to buy; relevance is harder. In many cases, the strongest partnerships use the celebrity to carry the story forward, not become the story itself.
More celebrities are fronting holiday campaigns because attention is scarce during peak shopping season, and the Wharton research confirms that celebrities trigger social status copying. Consumers genuinely want to emulate high-status choices. But asking ‘pros and cons’ frames the wrong question as we get deeper in agentic commerce and the emerging delivery system. When consumers instruct their AI agents to find ‘products Mariah Carey uses,’ they’re still copying taste and signaling status, but now that request requires machine-readable data, not an emotional creative. The celebrity’s pull with consumers drives the filter request; the data structure determines whether your product appears in results. Retailers spending millions on celebrity campaigns must ensure those relationships aren’t just beautiful advertising, but structured metadata that AI agents can act on.
Celebrity = attention, and in an attention economy that might help. You’ve got the shoppers attention, so now what? Does celebrity = authenticity? Nope, so for a lot of people celebrity might just mean they paused for a second or two in their shopping journey. Is attention always positive? Nope. Let’s ask Gap about a certain entertainer. Celebrity = attention, and attention counts. But the instant I am paying attention the content has to resonate absent the celebrity. If celebrity doesn’t very quickly make the leap to authenticity, it was marketing $$$ down the drain for this shopper.
Celebrities’ halo effect can be a shortcut to deeper brand trust, loyalty and holiday sales. Strategically collaborating with stars can cut through the holiday clutter, keep retailers top-of-mind and increase retailers’ “cool factor” among the audience segments they most desire.
Although I already throw bags of money at Walmart and Amazon each week, their holiday campaigns with Walton Goggins and Benedict Cumberbatch deepened my enthusiasm while doing so.
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I can’t say that most of the celebrities cited are the kinds of A-listers who will do Super Bowl ads. Maybe this helps retailers break through the clutter, but does anybody recognize Walton Goggins beneath his Grinch makeup? (How many people know who he is in the first place?) The marketers and retailers with the most compelling value message will win market share during this year of economic stress…not necessarily the stores using celebrity spokespeople to gain attention.
Using celebrities in holiday campaigns leverages a proven marketing tactic that has become even more powerful in today’s social-media-driven world. Celebrity endorsements date back centuries — from royal warrants in the 18th century to early mass-market ads like Pears Soap featuring a stage actress in the 1880s. What remains unchanged is the fundamental value: celebrities draw immediate attention, provide familiarity, and evoke aspirational appeal. In a competitive holiday marketing scene, a recognizable face can stand out from the noise, hasten shoppers’ decision-making, and offer a brand a credible, emotionally compelling platform. Studies indicate that products associated with celebrity endorsers tend to spark quicker purchase decisions and generate greater confidence.
I see more pros than cons in using celebrities to boost holiday awareness — when done right. The upside: enhanced visibility, potential to reach new or broader demographic segments, elevated brand perception, and the chance to create a cultural moment that feels bigger than a simple sale. Especially in the digital/social-media economy, where stories and shareable content matter, celebrity-driven campaigns tap into not just purchasing impulse but social currency. But there are downsides if the fit is wrong — over-exposure, cost, misalignment of values, or a celebrity whose persona overwhelms or contradicts the brand.
In my view, the continued relevance of celebrity endorsements for holiday campaigns comes down to two conditions: alignment and authenticity. Brands must choose celebrities whose image, values, and audience align cleanly with their own, and ensure the campaign adds storytelling value beyond just “celebrity = glamour.” When that alignment holds — and especially when social media amplifies the campaign — celebrity endorsement remains a powerful tool. In short: it’s not nostalgia marketing for its own sake — it’s strategic storytelling and cultural resonance, adapted for a modern consumerscape.
Marketing is about grabbing attention and creating feelings that then motivate people to buy. Celebrities aid both of those things if they help to cut through noise and if they make consumers pay attention to products. Driving customers to buy because a celebrity is associated with a product is possible, but it only works in specific circumstances. Will I buy Burberry simply because Jennifer Saunders is fronting a campaign? No, absolutely not. Will I pay attention to the advert because Jennifer Saunders is funny and a British icon. Yes, I will.
Does anyone care what Paris Hilton thinks? Sydney Sweeney? Sure, but only because she refused to be drawn into a forced apology for the jeans/genes ad. I believe their pull is waning right now. Cleverness in the messaging and value in the product will win the day, not whether or not Kim K. wears something.
Celebrities do several things for campaigns (any time of year, not just holidays). They are influencers; they can be trusted sources, and their recognition draws the customer’s attention. That last one is important. An automobile ad with unknowns will typically not have the same impact as one with a recognizable celebrity. And consumers have higher brand recall when one of their favorite celebrities is in it.
Why are so many celebrities fronting holiday campaigns? Money, baby. It’s a lucrative gig.
Do celebrity endorsements encourage me to buy whatever they are selling? Not a chance because I am old enough to know they are paid to plug that particular product. I do think, however, that celebs in ads connect with younger consumers. And maybe that’s the point.
Celebrities can help boost holiday campaigns (or any campaign really) when their image feels like a natural fit for the brand. Attention is easy to buy; relevance is harder. In many cases, the strongest partnerships use the celebrity to carry the story forward, not become the story itself.
More celebrities are fronting holiday campaigns because attention is scarce during peak shopping season, and the Wharton research confirms that celebrities trigger social status copying. Consumers genuinely want to emulate high-status choices. But asking ‘pros and cons’ frames the wrong question as we get deeper in agentic commerce and the emerging delivery system. When consumers instruct their AI agents to find ‘products Mariah Carey uses,’ they’re still copying taste and signaling status, but now that request requires machine-readable data, not an emotional creative. The celebrity’s pull with consumers drives the filter request; the data structure determines whether your product appears in results. Retailers spending millions on celebrity campaigns must ensure those relationships aren’t just beautiful advertising, but structured metadata that AI agents can act on.
Celebrity = attention, and in an attention economy that might help. You’ve got the shoppers attention, so now what? Does celebrity = authenticity? Nope, so for a lot of people celebrity might just mean they paused for a second or two in their shopping journey. Is attention always positive? Nope. Let’s ask Gap about a certain entertainer. Celebrity = attention, and attention counts. But the instant I am paying attention the content has to resonate absent the celebrity. If celebrity doesn’t very quickly make the leap to authenticity, it was marketing $$$ down the drain for this shopper.
Celebrities’ halo effect can be a shortcut to deeper brand trust, loyalty and holiday sales. Strategically collaborating with stars can cut through the holiday clutter, keep retailers top-of-mind and increase retailers’ “cool factor” among the audience segments they most desire.
Although I already throw bags of money at Walmart and Amazon each week, their holiday campaigns with Walton Goggins and Benedict Cumberbatch deepened my enthusiasm while doing so.