The face of a brand as a signal: When does a Celebrity become a brand asset?

The use of famous people in advertising is nothing new. For years, actors, athletes and musicians have lent their image to brands, helping attract consumers’ attention and make brand communications more appealing. Today, however, the phenomenon is far more widespread, and the pool of potential brand ambassadors has expanded to include online creators, who often have their own highly engaged communities.

Take the Polish market, for example. Marcin Dorociński and Piotr Fronczewski appeared in a Tyskie campaign, while Cezary Pazura and Michał Koterski advertised PKO Bank Polski. Meanwhile, Andrzej Bargiel supports BNP Paribas’ brand communications, and Marek Kondrat has been associated with ING Bank Śląski for almost three decades.


Sources: PKO Bank Polski / YouTube, via Press.pl; Tyskie press materials, via PortalSpożywczy.pl.

All these examples involve recognisable people, but they represent different approaches to brand building. Inviting a celebrity to take part in a single campaign is one thing; developing a long-term partnership in which their image becomes a consistent feature of the brand’s communications is another.

The main difference lies in the objectives. In the first case, the brand draws on the star’s popularity to improve the effectiveness of a specific campaign. In the second, it seeks to build an association that will deliver benefits over the longer term.

A celebrity’s popularity is an asset that a brand can use in several ways.

The first is attention. A recognisable actor or athlete can make an advertisement stand out amid the flood of messages, even before the audience knows which product is being promoted. The second is credibility. When people like and trust someone, they may be more receptive to their message, particularly in product categories that require greater consumer involvement.

From a branding perspective, however, the most interesting mechanism is the third: the transfer of associations. Every famous person represents a particular set of traits, values and emotions that a brand may seek to transfer to its own image.

BNP Paribas’ partnership with Andrzej Bargiel is a good example. His sporting achievements are associated with determination, consistency, courage and the ability to assess risk. These qualities fit well with the bank’s communications platform, which is built around the idea of making good decisions. The bank therefore draws not only on the athlete’s fame, but also on the meaning his story conveys.


Source: BNP Paribas Bank Polska / Facebook

This alignment of values does not have to stem directly from the product category. An athlete can be a credible face for a bank, just as an actor can represent a technology company, provided their personality and track record support the intended positioning.

The strength of this approach depends on whether consumers perceive a natural connection between the person and the brand. Without that connection, even a very popular ambassador may remain little more than an appealing addition to an advertisement.

The distinctive brand assets framework, developed by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, defines these assets as elements that enable consumers to recognise a brand even when its name is not directly shown. They may include distinctive colours, shapes, sounds, advertising characters and specific people.

Their strength is determined by two key measures: how strongly an element is associated with the brand and how exclusive that association is. In other words, it is not enough for consumers to recognise a particular face. They must be able to associate it with the right advertiser.

One of the most notable examples in the Polish market is Marek Kondrat’s partnership with ING Bank Śląski, which began in 1998. Over the following decades, the actor appeared in numerous campaigns, becoming a consistent feature of the bank’s communications.


Source: ING Bank Śląski / YouTube, via Wyborcza.biz.

The length of the partnership, the similar narrative style across campaigns and the consistent use of the actor’s distinctive personality created the conditions for building a strong association between him and ING.

Without current research findings on the recognition of this specific asset, it is impossible to assess its strength precisely. However, this long-term consistency illustrates how lasting brand signals are built. Another aspect worth highlighting is that ING has exclusive use of Marek Kondrat’s image: the actor has never taken part in other commercial ventures and had also put his acting career on hold until this year. This is a rare case in the advertising industry.

Many of today’s celebrities and athletes work with more than one advertiser. They build portfolios of contracts with companies in different categories, allowing them to maximise the commercial potential of their image.

A good example is Iga Świątek, whose partners include On, Rolex, LEGO, Visa and OSHEE.


Sources: LEGO, via SportMarketing.pl; OSHEE, via Forbes; Zegarownia.pl.


Sources: Oral-B advertisement / YouTube; Wyborcza.biz; Porsche press materials, via Zwierciadlo.pl.


Source: NowyMarketing.pl

Each of these brands draws on a slightly different aspect of her personality. For On, her sporting achievements and professionalism are key. Rolex benefits from her prestige and international success. The LEGO partnership also reflects the tennis player’s personal interests.

This approach allows advertisers to choose associations that suit their strategies, but it also creates an additional challenge. The more brands work with the same person, the harder it becomes to establish an exclusive link with that person’s image.

This need not be a problem if the goal of the partnership is to gain prestige, reach a specific audience or make a campaign more appealing. However, it becomes much harder to treat that face as the brand’s own distinctive signal.

In practice, the same person can be an excellent ambassador for several companies without becoming a distinctive brand asset for any of them.

A separate issue is how frequently a celebrity appears in advertising. When the same person promotes one product after another, their presence gradually loses its novelty. Consumers may begin to see them primarily as a professional endorser rather than a credible representative of a particular brand.

An interesting example was provided by the Tyskie and PKO Bank Polski campaigns, which launched almost simultaneously in June 2025, both featuring Bogusław Linda. Although they involved different categories, the situation sparked debate in the marketing community about the limits of exclusivity and the potential for conflicting associations.


Sources: Filmweb; Press.pl.

This does not mean that every additional partnership makes an ambassador less effective. However, an assessment should consider not only their popularity, but also how often they appear in advertisements, how many categories they represent and the context of their previous campaigns.

Paradoxically, the more brands invest in a particular star, the harder it may become for any one company to use that star’s fame to set itself apart.

The growth of social media has changed how popularity and relationships with audiences are built. Traditional celebrities gained recognition primarily through television, film, music or sport. Influencers often build that recognition independently, creating content for a specific audience.

Figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau illustrate the scale of this phenomenon. Advertising spending involving online creators in the United States reached approximately $37 billion in 2025 and is forecast to rise to $44 billion in 2026.
Rising budgets reflect a shift in consumer behaviour: social media is a source not only of entertainment, but also of information, opinions and recommendations on what to buy.

According to EY’s global Future Consumer Index study from 2024, as many as 61% of respondents reported having bought a product as a result of an influencer’s recommendation or promotion. At the same time, only 25% followed a creator because of their popularity. Valuable, engaging content mattered much more.

This clearly illustrates the difference between the traditional celebrity endorsement model and influencer branding.
A celebrity primarily brings widespread recognition, often extending beyond specific consumer groups. An influencer, by contrast, can offer much more targeted reach and a relationship with a community whose members regularly follow their content, share their interests and take their opinions into account.

This is why, in some categories, a niche expert with tens of thousands of followers can be more effective than a star who reaches millions of people.

The point, then, is not to choose between a celebrity and an influencer, but to understand what kind of influence the brand needs.

An increasingly interesting development is influencers’ shift from recommending products to launching brands built around their own image.

One of the latest examples is Książulo and the October 2026 launch of the “MUALA na grubo od Książula” pizza in Żabka stores.


Source: Wirtualnemedia.pl.

This differs from a traditional campaign featuring an influencer. It is not simply about promoting an existing product, but about using a personal brand to create a new market offering.

For Żabka, the partnership allows the chain to expand its range with a product that attracts interest from the creator’s community from the outset. Książulo, in turn, gains access to an extensive distribution network that would be extremely costly to build on his own.

This arrangement creates business opportunities, but also carries risks. Książulo gained popularity partly through his independent reviews of restaurants and food products. By launching a product under his own brand, he becomes the subject of reviews himself, rather than simply the person reviewing others.

The discussion around the pizza’s launch shows how fine the line can be between a creator’s authenticity and the commercialisation of their popularity.

Ultimately, the project’s success will depend not on the number of views or comments, but on product quality, repeat sales and the ability to sustain interest beyond the initial wave of popularity.

Working with a famous person involves managing risks that go beyond typical advertising activities.

The first area is reputation. An ambassador remains an independent individual whose statements, behaviour or decisions can affect perceptions of the brand. This is particularly important in contracts spanning many years, where the association with the advertiser is stronger.
The second is control over the use of the ambassador’s image. The brand should clearly define the scope of exclusivity, the rules governing the use of advertising materials, whether the ambassador may work with other organisations and the conditions for ending the contract.

The third risk, which is often underestimated, arises when the ambassador begins to overshadow the brand itself. An advertisement may be appealing, memorable and widely discussed, yet consumers may not necessarily remember who the advertiser was.

This is why celebrity campaigns need to make consistent use of the brand’s other signals: its colours, visual identity, sound motifs and distinctive communication style.

The aim should be to create an advertisement in which the celebrity’s presence strengthens the entire brand identity system, rather than one in which the star takes centre stage at the brand’s expense.

Not every brand needs an ambassador. Nor should a brand hire a celebrity simply because its marketing budget allows it.
If the aim is to quickly generate interest in a campaign, launch a product or reach a new group of consumers, a famous person can be a highly effective choice.

If, however, the ambition is to create a lasting brand signal, a much broader perspective is needed. The potential for a sustained partnership, the associations consumers already hold and the ability to maintain consistent communications all need to be assessed.

It is also important to define how results will be measured. Campaign reach, view counts and unaided awareness of an ambassador reveal little on their own about that person’s contribution to building the brand.

Research testing whether consumers can correctly link a person to a brand, even without seeing its logo or name, can reveal much more. Such tests help distinguish a celebrity’s popularity from an established brand asset.

Alternatives are also worth considering. A brand’s own advertising character, a distinctive graphic style or a consistently developed sound motif may prove more predictable and easier to control over the longer term than a famous person’s image.

Ultimately, the choice should depend on the brand’s strategy and the role the element is intended to play in its communications.

The biggest mistake in using famous faces is equating an ambassador’s popularity with the strength of the advertised brand. These are two different forms of value that do not always go hand in hand.

A famous person can attract attention, strengthen a message or help reach consumers. Becoming a lasting brand signal, however, requires more than a joint campaign: it takes a consistently developed association that becomes embedded in the audience’s memory over time.

An investment in an ambassador should therefore be assessed not only in terms of advertising results, but also in terms of the lasting value it creates for the brand.

A face can be hired for a campaign. Turning it into a lasting brand asset requires the right fit, consistency and time.