The use of celebrity spokesperson video on the internet is an entirely new service offering. It was pioneered by Live On Page, who offers this elite product to some larger companies. These companies are realizing that hiring a recognizable celebrity might be outside their marketing budget for broadcast TV, but they can easily afford to hire the same celebrity for the more limited exposure on their website. This can give credibility and implied endorsement instantly.
Since the real challenge in any website is to get the visitor to awake from their search-and-bounce stupor, the use of a celebrity spokesperson might be the ultimate secret weapon. The use of Live On Page video spokesperson leads to a typical 30% decrease in bounce rate from the home page, a 50% increase in visit length and 50% increase in the number of pages visited. Of course all of these results rely on the believability and conversational tone of the script and actor skill.
Online marketers spend money and time attacking the issues of bounce rate, visit length and pages viewed. However, all three of these parameters are altered when the site effectively and quickly communicates it's main purpose and the most important actions and options available to the visitor. In other words, effective communication can solve all of these issues.
To build a site with this strategy in mind, the design centers around the core conversion goal for the site. The video spokesperson scripts and deployment is then built to enforce this core goal for the site and usher visitors along this path. When compared to traditional web design, this is completely upside down and yet it is the design strategy that makes the most intuitive to every person in terms of their own experience searching the web.
While celebrity actors may not be cost effective for smaller businesses, they still offer the promise of instant credibility and differentiation. When a small business owner can have a famous person stand on heir site, they are certain to stand out from everyone else. The only remaining question is whether the website gets significant traffic. Entertainment media is switching to the internet on sites like Hulu and Youtube. Shows like "The Guild" are entirely viewed online. As the public's attention shift more and more to the internet, Celebrities will need a new venue to leverage their recognition and companies will need new methods of leveraging celebrity endorsement. A company would never be able to purchase a celebrity to stand at the doorway of their brick and mortar location as a greeter, as Live On Page video spokesperson. but they can hire a celebrity to stand at the doorway of their virtual storefront and do exactly the same thing.