Influencer Advisory™

Are celebrity influencers worth it for your brand?

Celebrity influencers pay off when one big name anchors a wide base of creators who already use your product. Here is how to pick one and sign the deal.

Dennis Ksendzov
Dennis KsendzovVerified

Founder · November 10, 2026 · 3 min read

Celebrity influencers work best as one heavy hitter on top of many micro and nano creators. Joel Wong and Josh Mo call this mix the barbell strategy. (Joel Wong + Josh Mo)

A famous name alone often does little. One operator's celebrity endorsers shared a couple of links on X, while the smallest creator sold about 200 a month. (Winning With Shopify Podcast)

I actually think it's the wrong influencer if they're not going to engage and they're not actually going to do stuff with us then it's the wrong influencer

Winning With Shopify Podcast

When should a brand hire a celebrity influencer?

Use the celebrity as the anchor, then put creators under them.

At 50 to 100 million, you need your first celebrity endorsement. A lot of that comes from the Chinese dupes. Once you have a product people actually want, you'll have a line of copycats trying to undercut you on price. A celebrity is the one thing they can't copy.

Brands can leverage smaller tier influencers like Josh Peek and amplify them with paid media to reach audiences similar to those of larger celebrities like Tom Holland.

  • HelloFresh paired Davina McCall with 15 UK micro influencers over 21 days. It got 274% more impressions and 325% extra content. (Influencity · Influencer Marketing)
  • In late 2015, a group of social celebrities on the Litter-Robot 3 launch took the website 10x overnight. (Operators Podcast)
Mass credibility with other influencers

The anchor only works if you pick the right person.

How do you pick the right celebrity influencer?

Pick someone who already uses your product, then test before you sign.

The failure people describe is a celebrity made co-founder who posts 2 or 3 times and nothing happens. Shelf Space, 38:44

Check your own customers and followers first, since the tools exist to find who already buys from you or follows the brand.

  • Cymbiotika says every celebrity posting for it or invested in it used its products first. Cymbiotika, 21:06

We test the big bets first. For big plays like a celebrity signing, we test with Sapiens before you commit.

Once you have the right name, the deal has to keep them posting.

How can I get a celebrity to endorse my product?

Offer a stake or fund their idea, and sign for years.

Liquid I.V. turned down one-off deals and put celebrities on the cap table as owners. (Liquid I.V.)

Red Bull funds cool productions or ideas for influencers instead of paying them directly, unless they are a Red Bull athlete, as it fits their media-focused strategy.

Bondi Sands signs an influencer or celebrity for the long term, 5 to 10 years. (The Science of Advertising Show)

  • Send product to a celebrity's less famous friends. Their posts can make the celebrity want it too. (Common Thread Collective)
You would get flown out to dinners with Kim Kardashians and gifts (Rolexes) for the top winners of competitions in the community.

All of this takes time, contacts and testing before the big check goes out.

More on this:

Can someone find the right celebrity for my brand?

We find the name, test it before you commit, and build the creators who follow it in.

Creators ask to work with you, instead of you chasing them. Lower quotes from the creators who follow the big name in. Buyers trust your brand more from the day the name goes up. Credibility that takes other brands years to build. More interest from retailers. Press you would otherwise pay for.

For qualified brands planning their next quarter. They apply and tell us the one thing they want their program to do next.