To mark its 300th anniversary, Martell called on 300 celebrities to promote its cognac. Diane Kruger was one of them, participating in an ambitious campaign across the brand’s social media accounts. However, on her own Twitter and Instagram, the actress barely mentioned the brand.
Like Martell, most Spirits brands fail to translate traditional promotion methods to digital platforms, according to L2’s Insight Report on brand ambassadors. Barely half of ambassadorships are promoted on brand sites and campaign microsites; 10% of brand ambassadors don’t even have a social media presence.
Kruger does have a Twitter following, which initially was far larger than Martell’s, although the brand’s community grew to overshadow hers during the campaign. She also has an Instagram audience 100 times the size of Martell’s.
However, as a brand ambassador, she did little to promote the brand on either platform. On Twitter, she failed to use the campaign hashtag, include campaign photos in her posts, or even mention the brand at all. On Instagram, she has posted only six photos referencing the brand.
Those six photos received over 55 times more interactions than similar photos posted to the brand account, making clear that Instagram offers brands a prime opportunity to boost engagement through popular ambassadors. However, because Kruger failed to use the campaign hashtag consistently or link to the brand account, Martell missed out on this opportunity.