In the week before the first F1 Grand Prix of 2009 it was interesting to see reigning F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton come top of a poll of UK consumers on their favourite brand ambassadors, in an annual survey by UTalkMarketing. Hamilton polled 15% of the votes, beating last year’s favourite, Jamie Oliver, into second place with 12%.

Good news for Hamilton’s various personal and team sponsors, albeit that with his McLaren reportedly lacking pace in pre-season testing, success on the track this year may be more elusive.

However, given the perennial reliance by so many brands on celebrity-fronted ad campaigns, I found the survey’s insights into consumer attitudes to celebrity endorsement even more instructive, with 72% of consumers saying that the use of a celebrity has no impact on their propensity to purchase, and 70% agreeing that there are too many celebrity-endorsed products on the market.

You can read the full survey here.

By Tim Crow on March 23rd, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Default, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Sales promotion, Sponsorship

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