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While some A-listers shirk the paparazzi, others accept that the press pack are part and parcel of show business. Some celebrities even stage their own photoshoots, inviting photographers to capture seemingly candid moments and shop them around the tabloids.
Now, advertisers including Velveeta, CeraVe and Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta are taking a leaf out of the celebrity paparazzi playbook—blurring the lines between the worlds of marketing and entertainment.
In early April, actress Julia Fox debuted hair dye product Velveeta Gold at a New York Knicks game. Naturally, a paparazzo snapped her new look, and a Mail Online article swiftly followed: “Julia Fox covers her Velveeta pin curls with retro scarf while braving NYC’s 45F-degree rainy weather.”
The Kraft-owned brand hoped the photos—which captured Fox out in the wild as she’d typically be seen—would generate buzz and cement Velveeta’s status as a lifestyle brand (something it’s been working on with agency Johannes Leonardo over the past couple of years).
Immediate results showed that the plan worked. On the launch day, the stunt scored a social sentiment of 51.3% positive and 47.6% neutral, Velveeta brand manager Stephanie Vance told ADWEEK. To date, it’s clocked over 1 billion earned media impressions.