For brands, selecting the right talent for endorsement deals is both an art and a science. Now more than ever, brands and music companies can use data to help in identifying, evaluating and choosing an artist who aligns best with their brands or products.
Using real consumer data from the Luminate Artist + Genre Tracker, the case studies below from the Luminate special report Matching Marketers With Music Talent demonstrate the first step for brands looking to apply a data-driven approach to building a strong consideration set of music artists and identifying those whose fan base matches a target audience of product purchasers.
Our analysis identifies music talent who showed strong affinity (Likability) and purchase likelihood (Brand Endorsement) among product category “superpurchasers,” which are defined as U.S. consumers who indicated in Luminate’s survey they buy more than one product in that category.
“Likability” is defined as the share of artist-aware consumers who say they like the artist “a lot” or “somewhat” (fans of the artist), while “Brand Endorsement” reflects the share who would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to try a product or brand if the artist endorsed it.
Secondarily, our artist selection process intentionally excluded the biggest stars (think Taylor Swift) as we looked to highlight lesser-known artists both old and new whom brands may not have considered without the benefit of data to support their decision-making.
Product Category: Food & Beverage
Superpurchasers: 3+ products among soda, packaged snacks, frozen foods, coffee, energy drinks, food delivery, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
Artist Selected: Bailey ZimmermanBrands can begin the process of identifying the strongest artists for endorsement deals by comparing them along key dimensions among fans of the artist and category purchasers.
For example, by plotting artists according to their Likability and Brand Endorsement scores just among Food & Beverage (F&B) superpurchasers, we can see the relative pros and cons of partnering with each artist.
Bailey Zimmerman’s favorability is uniquely high among F&B superpurchasers, and their purchasing likelihood is also among the highest if she were to endorse a food or beverage product. Plotting artists in this way allows companies to zero in on potential brand partners with high appeal among buyers.
Product Category: Personal Care & Hygiene
Superpurchasers: 2+ products among women’s and men’s personal items, including hair care, skin care, cosmetics
Artist Selected: Ana Bárbara
Looking at Personal Care & Hygiene, we can quickly spot artists with high Likability and Brand Endorsement among superpurchasers in the category.
As a legacy act in the music industry, Ana Bárbara might not be the star that first comes to mind for marketing decision makers, but the data indicates impressively high appeal among superpurchasers in this realm of products.
High shares of category buyers report liking Bárbara either a lot or somewhat (73%) and further would be willing to try a personal care product if she endorsed it (71%).
Product Category: Telecom
Superpurchasers: 1+ cable TV/IPTV, mobile, internet subscriptions
Artist Selected: Bebe Rexha
Recognizable, out-of-the-limelight performers such as Bebe Rexha can still shine through in the data.
In addition to higher awareness among Telecom superpurchasers — consumers with more than one cable, internet or mobile subscription — she has above-average Likability (70%) and purchase likelihood (60%) relative to other artists.
Luminate’s Artist + Genre Tracker is a best-in-class research tool to help the music industry and brands understand consumer attitudes and perceptions toward specific music artists and genres alongside evolving media usage and purchasing behaviors.
Provided by Luminate Insights, it provides U.S. consumer survey results and other performance metrics for over 600 artists and 100 genres or subgenres. Since September 2021, surveys are conducted quarterly online among U.S. consumers age 13+, representative of the general population according to the U.S. Census on age, gender, ethnicity and region.
