Welcome to Amy’s Spotlight: From Hollywood to Healthcare. The blog will periodically provide commentary from Amy Doner, President and Founder of The Amy Doner Group, an established celebrity and talent procurement agency specializing in the pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare industries. Amy will offer her perspective on the influence celebrity, pop culture and related trends can have on today’s health-minded world and your business.
Celebrity Recruitment: Being a Good Sport
Sports news used to be confined to the back section of the local paper. When did sports become so newsworthy?
Yes, news about athletes was once only reserved for the sports pages. We wanted to look up last night’s score, check who hit a home run and even just know what teams were playing that night. We now live in an era where sports news – the good, bad and even controversial – has become the headline. Whether watching this year’s World Cup, Derek Jeter’s final year as a New York Yankee or how planning for the country’s first ever cold weather Super Bowl would play out, sports and news can be one in the same. Stadiums keep filling, all-sports networks are thriving and social media allows for athletes to be watched practically 24/7 on and off the field. America’s thirst for sports is still at a peak.
When people often think of celebrity health endorsements, it is logical for athletes to come to mind. Is involving a sports celebrity a must-have to maximize a health education campaign?
It is definitely reasonable to consider athletes – who thrive on a healthy and fit lifestyle– as natural fits to spearhead a health education campaign. The public looks to their favorite athletes to help influence these good health decisions. And, athletes can, in turn, be motivated by their legions of fans to maintain their physical fitness so they can always exhibit this role model behavior. So while athletes are a logical choice for so many reasons, they can also complement other types of celebrities outside of the sports world with as equally an important connection to the campaign.
How often do you work with athletes currently at the “top of their game” versus those who might be retired or no longer playing as regularly?
The most important criteria for celebrity recruitment in our business is to find the right fit for the right subject matter. Whether athletes are at the top of their game, retired, or no longer playing as regularly, if they or a loved one are directly affected by a health issue, The Amy Doner Group will do our best to recruit that right fit. We then also take into account how busy the athlete and our program requirements to determine further confirm if this right fit can translate into the right timing to meet our client’s needs.
In addition to the use of a celebrity to serve as a credible “voice,” how else can sports intersect with a health education campaign?
The team at The Amy Doner Group has integrated sports into a wide range of health education campaigns, sometimes even without the use of a celebrity at the helm. We have coordinated with hospitals to sponsor sporting events, partnered with patient groups to offer health screenings at stadiums, and identified publicity opportunities for a notable public figure to “throw out the first pitch” or initiate a coin toss.
Post a question or comment here. For more information about The Amy Doner Group, go to AmyDonerGroup.com