Despicable: The next biggest craze – is it worth it?

Stephanie Schulman

Former Friends star Lisa Kudrow sums it up best when she recently said, “it makes me cringe that despicable has become the biggest craze in entertainment." And she’s not talking about the fact that a Friends reunion still isn’t in the works. She’s talking about the latest and greatest out of New Jersey –MTV’s Jersey Shore cast. With personalities like Snookie and “the situation” getting paid thousands of dollars for guest appearances how do we go about steering our clients towards a new class of influencers that bring a truly different shift in perception to the table?

And speaking of tables who would have thought an outraged NJ housewife’s famous table flip would have caused so much hype? I’ve been involved with many programs focused on moms but do we need to be giving some thought to taking our mom target to the next level –housewives? When the Real Housewives of New Jersey show on Bravo debuted, I was interested to see how people’s perceptions of being from NJ would evolve. Growing up in NJ myself (for those of you who really know me fairly close to where they filmed the show J) I wouldn’t say I can relate to the NJ housewives cast; yet the housewife phenomenon is one that companies are trying to relate to more and more.

Kodak brought on New York Housewife Jill Zarin as a spokesperson for Kodak Gallery. Rationale for bringing her on probably seemed like a no brainer to Kodak ---she appeals to moms, she has a good reputation (no skeletons thus far), the housewives show on Bravo is huge so that means great publicity for Kodak, right? Well, not exactly. On a recent episode of Season 2 of The Real Housewives of New York, Jill is criticized by fellow housewife Ramona for working with Kodak at a Kodak-sponsored party. Points that Kodak would do anything to avoid were thrown out by Ramona in her quest to question Jill’s decision to work with a company that has “falling stocks” and is “a little antiquated.”

This example is one of many that prove we need to keep thinking ---does a product’s moment of fame outweigh the risks?  If you’re doing your job right, you’re taking any potential risks into account before signing onto a product placement opportunity or brand ambassador. But as Kodak would now agree, risk free might not exist anymore – often because of reasons that aren’t always in someone’s control (I think you all know who I’m talking about here).  

At the end of the day would you call Mike, “the situation,” a good brand ambassador? Probably not. But do our clients want to be in on the Jersey Shore situation? Surprisingly so. I was in a brainstorm with one of our more conservative brands and the excitement was incredible when the idea of seeing “the situation” with their  product came from the head client herself. A tactic we’d be hesitant to recommend was now the hero idea out of the brainstorm.

Some clients may want to look into the idea of product placement to get in on the action vs. engaging a brand ambassador, especially as paid spokespeople are getting harder and harder to book.  So when we all starting 2011 planning for our clients let’s keep in mind what will put your brand in a situation for the best. Keep an open mind and let’s face it, despicable may not be such a bad thing.