In the sales industry, tying together an individual brand with the corporate brand can be a high reward strategy, but it is also a very risky one.
While right now very common in the reverse mortgage side, those of us of a certain age remember the “Phil Rizzuto for The Money Store” ads. Then there was
Even corporate executives have gotten into the act, with Valley National Bank’s Gerald Lipkin promoting the company’s mortgage business in television advertisements.
Vincent Ciardelli, the president and CEO of Guaranteed Rate is prominently featured in a B2B advertisement in the April issue of Origination News.
These executives, many believe, can more effectively represent a product than a paid pitchman or woman.
The risk of such a strategy became evident earlier this week, with the firing of George Zimmer as executive chairman of the Men’s Wearhouse. Zimmer has long been the face of the company and in the Twitter era, the negative reaction has hit Men’s Wearhouse like a pile of bricks.
Ironically, media reports indicate that the company still owns the rights to use Zimmer in its advertising but given the bad publicity, that could backfire if they go ahead.
The situation at Men’s Warehouse is still playing out, and those responsible for mortgage company consumer and/or B2B marketing efforts should pay attention to how it does.
