It’s becoming more common: an agency or brand team lands a healthcare campaign and decides to keep the celebrity engagement work in-house. It’s a well-intentioned effort to move faster, consolidate vendors, or control costs.
But celebrity partnerships are not like creative production or media planning. They live in their own ecosystem—with different rules, different players, and different risks.
At face value, securing a spokesperson might seem straightforward. But behind the scenes, it’s one of the most nuanced and time-sensitive parts of any healthcare campaign. When managed by teams who don’t specialize in this work, cracks form quickly, and they’re often expensive to fix.
Here’s what really happens when agencies try to go it alone.
It’s More Than Just Making a List
Celebrity sourcing isn’t about popularity, it’s about fit. An effective spokesperson doesn’t just attract attention; they lend credibility to a message that often deals with sensitive, clinical, or personal subject matter.
That means the search has to go beyond surface-level research. You need to know more than who’s available—you need deep insight into who aligns with the brand, who’s a fit for sensitive topics, and who can clear potential conflicts behind the scenes. These nuances aren’t on a website. They come from experience and long-standing relationships.
Without longstanding relationships or insight into the talent landscape, outreach can lead to delays, inflated rates, or outright silence. And in healthcare, that kind of slowdown can be a campaign killer.
Strong Relationships with Reps Are Everything
When it comes to successful celebrity partnerships, the relationship between the broker and the agent is often more important than the name attached to the deal. Yes, talent matters, but trust with the reps is what makes the campaign work.
Talent reps are gatekeepers, and their job is to protect their client’s brand, time, and reputation. They don’t grant access easily. But when they know who’s calling—when there’s mutual respect, shared history, and a proven track record—the entire dynamic changes. Communication becomes transparent. Negotiations move faster. And information that would only be shared with a respected and trusted broker evolves the conversation.
These relationships take time to build. They can’t be manufactured in a few emails or over a couple of calls. When these relationships don’t exist, it shows, usually in the form of slowed-down deals, missed opportunities, or reps who quietly walk away before a contract is ever drafted.
We’ve heard it straight from agents…” If you weren’t the one calling, we wouldn’t be doing this” or “If it wasn’t you, we would have walked away by now.” That kind of trust isn’t just a bonus. It’s a necessity. It’s the difference between getting a signature, or losing the opportunity altogether.
Beyond access, it’s about managing expectations and navigating the partnership effectively. An experienced specialist knows where the pressure points are, when you can push, and when you need to hold back. The ability to balance both sides is critical to the partnership and is a difficult task if the talent side doesn’t have the confidence or trust in the buyer. A true expert understands what’s realistic and what’s going to trigger red flags. And most importantly, they know how to keep both sides aligned, so the campaign stays on track, and the relationship stays intact.
Contracts Aren’t Just Legal, They’re Strategic
This is where most DIY efforts get stuck.
Celebrity contracts are highly specific and layered—each one a negotiation between brand, agency, legal, and multiple talent reps (sometimes including managers, agents, publicists, and lawyers). What you think you’ve secured in a call can vanish when the paperwork starts.
Contract terms in celebrity partnerships are complex and constantly evolving, especially when multiple reps, legal layers, and compliance teams are involved. Without experienced oversight, critical details get missed or misinterpreted.
When this process is mishandled, two things happen:
- Campaign momentum stalls
- Everyone gets frustrated, especially the talent and their team
It’s not uncommon to see additional fees added late in the game, or for approvals to get held up because one party misunderstood the deliverables.
Scheduling Is a Full-Time Job
This is the invisible work most people underestimate.
Once a spokesperson is confirmed, someone has to manage their availability—across shoots, interviews, media moments, and sometimes live events. But celebrity calendars are not static. They’re shaped by filming schedules, tour dates, press commitments, and personal obligations.
Without someone actively coordinating logistics, it’s easy for:
- Key dates to shift and collide
- Travel to fall through the cracks
- Talent to arrive unprepared for what’s expected
This isn’t just inconvenient—it puts your campaign timeline at risk. When media is paid, production teams are on set, and legal is watching every line of copy, there’s no room for error. Having someone well-versed in these situations can make or break some major bumps.
Trying to Save Money Can Cost You More
On paper, keeping talent sourcing in-house might seem like a cost-saving move. But in practice, it often leads to costly errors—like selecting the wrong spokesperson, running into unseen conflicts, or mishandling logistics in ways that strain relationships and delay your campaign.
The worst part? These aren’t just internal headaches. They affect how the campaign performs publicly, and how your client evaluates the overall effort.
Specialists Are NOT a Threat to Agency Value, They’re a Partner in Protecting It
This isn’t about taking work away from agencies, it’s about protecting the work you’re already doing. And hopefully expanding it.
When a campaign depends on a trusted voice to deliver a sensitive message, the execution has to be flawless. That means:
- The right name
- A clean, protective contract
- Coordinated schedules
- Message alignment
- And a great experience for everyone involved, from your team to the talent
Bringing in a specialist like The Amy Doner Group isn’t about losing control. It’s about extending your bench to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
We’ve done this for 30+ years. We’ve seen what works—and what quietly unravels behind the scenes. Our job is to make sure your vision lands the way it was meant to.
Final Thoughts
Booking the right celebrity can change the trajectory of a campaign. But doing it right takes nuance, relationships, and a deep understanding of what’s at stake.
Don’t let the most public-facing part of your campaign become the most fragile.
Bring in the experts who do this every day, and let your team shine for what it does best.