Are you thinking about hiring a celebrity for an event?
Does hiring a celebrity enhance an event?
It will depend on a variety of factors; what the event is for and the demographic of your attendees for starters! The draw of a celebrity attendee or performance is the latest hot topic of conversation between our Event Management Team.
Lets take a look at a few different types of events and see how a celebrity booking might work (or not work as the case may be!)
Celebrity Conference Speaker
For a conference attended by clients and/or prospective clients of your company, a industry-specific celebrity can be a real draw for attendance.
Make sure they have something relevant to say though, ‘motivational stories’ have their place at conferences but if you’ve booked a celebrity as your keynote speaker you really want them to be reinforcing the topic/theme of your conference.
Celebrity Party Performance
You need to think about the purpose of the party: Is it a product launch attending by media and bloggers who will write about the event? Is it a bespoke function designed to celebrate company achievements or encourage team-bonding?
A product launch wants as much attention as possible, but be sure you’re getting the right kind; booking the ‘it’ girl of the moment might detract from the event, whereas a celebrity who works/promotes your industry sector will feel relevant and inspiring.
A party for your team/company really depends on the guests themselves. If they have a shared love of a TV talent show act then go for it. But if you have a vast mixture of ages/tastes amongst your staff it may be harder to find a celebrity that actually appeals to everyone. If the party is a reward for their hard-work it’s not fair to book a celeb that only half the crowd have even heard of …
Our entertainment experts booked gymnastic whizz-kids ‘Spelbound’ (Britains Got Talent winners) to perform at a corporate event recently – have a look at our Spelbound video over on the Effective Event Solutions facebook page.
Celebrity Event Guest
Whilst it would be wonderful to think you could just send a few invites and have a glittering array of acclaimed stars arrive on the day, unless you’ve got big brand appeal you can’t assume celebrities will want (or be able – they have busy schedules!) to attend.
Booking a celebrity guest as a ‘host’ for your event is a great way to use their popularity without it looking like you paid big bucks for a short ‘appearance’. Your event invites can be titled as ‘Company X and Celebrity A invite you’, which gives the whole event a bit more gravitas.
Talking of big brand appeal though, there were a few famous faces enjoying the bespoke cocktail bar run by Effective Event Solutions at the 2014 Glamour Awards – see photos on our facebook page.
Celebrity Show Demonstration
Whether it’s an on-trend piece of technology or a tempting new food product, a celebrity demonstration could be a real show-piece of the event.
Celebrity demos work particularly well at exhibitions, offering a focal point and boosting ticket sales. This could be anything from a cookery masterclass to a DJ showcasing the latest tunes.
One word of advice for any celebrity booking – do your research on the potential celebrity. For example,you don’t want to book the latest popstar to help promote a new car, only to find out that he/she can’t even drive!
For ideas of who you might want to book for any type of event, get in touch with the Effective Event Solutions team via email or this contact form.