The Mothers’ Group updates (RED) Ambassadors Phoebe Robinson and Lexi Underwood, and (RED) President and COO Jennifer Lotito on efforts to reduce HIV in Tanzania.Credit: Sam Vox
I recently found myself at Studio 71 in Los Angeles with actress Lexi Underwood and nearly two dozen young celebrities, social media influencers and talent managers.
It had been six months since Underwood and I traveled to Tanzania together to visit a number of local health facilities and organizations that provide life-saving testing, treatment and care to marginalized communities. Underwood was so moved by her experience that she gathered some of her closest friends over dinner to share her journey and enlist their support.
Returning to New York filled with gratitude and hope for the future, I began thinking about organizational best practices that lead to effective talent engagement. Here are some tips for working in this extremely rewarding and occasionally challenging environment.
Find the right speakers
When mission-driven organizations consider celebrity talent and engagement, the conversation often goes, “Who’s the biggest star we can get?”
Name awareness alone should not drive your brand ambassador and spokesperson strategy. Instead, you should look for the most powerful voices that share a deep, personal connection to your organization’s mission and work.
Javier Muñoz is such a powerful spokesperson for our AIDS organization not only because he is an accomplished actor and singer, but because as an HIV positive he can speak authentically about our work and mission. Sudanese track and field star Yiech Biel is a successful goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees because of his own refugee experience.
If the ambassador you work with isn’t 100 percent invested in your organization and your cause, neither will their audience. Real passion and enthusiasm goes a long way.
Look for the brightest stars, not just the biggest.
Find new and fresh voices
Your ambassadors and celebrity speakers should reflect the diversity of your audience. So take stock of your supporters – who are they and who are the people who resonate with them? Many mission-oriented organizations now have multi-generational audiences. If your ambassadors don’t reflect that, then maybe it’s time for a change.
I’ve learned a lot about this over the last few years. In the early days of my organization, the vast majority of our audience were U2 superfans. Over time, our audience has evolved significantly, with our supporter base expanding to Gen X and now Millennials and Gen Z. Each generation deals with different celebrities, and these celebrities are now emerging from an ever-widening base of places.
The rise of social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and gaming sites like Twitch have spawned a whole new universe of creators and influencers, many of whom have diligently built large, devoted fan bases.
A Morning Consult survey found that 72 percent of Gen Z and Millennials follow at least some influencers. These changes should impact how you target brand ambassadors to ensure they reflect the diversity of interests of your audience.
There is a vibrant group of young change-makers out there whose passion for issues surrounding fairness, justice and equality is as infectious as it is impactful. Ignore them at your own risk.
Create an engagement program
If your organization is considering collaborating with a celebrity, it helps to have a strong, established engagement program.
If you don’t already have this, consider appointing a person or team within your organization to manage these relationships and serve as the single point of contact for all things internal and external ambassador engagement. You should clearly define the goals of your engagement program to ensure they align with your organization’s mission and annual goals. The more structure you can implement in the frontend, the stronger your program will be in the long run. This may require you to ask some tough questions like: how long will we work with each ambassador? How will we involve them and how will they involve us?
You should create a clear process for prospect identification and pitching. And if you’re lucky enough to find someone interested in collaborating, have a handbook ready to announce their involvement, which may well include earned, paid, and digital media.
Once they have joined your organization, help your ambassador with onboarding. Show them the impact of your work first hand. And make sure they understand your company’s history, strategy, key messages and goals.
I’ve seen many companies spend hours daydreaming about which celebrity they want to work with, and not nearly enough time to strategize and execute to ensure the eventual relationship is successful. First create your engagement program. Then you start requesting the bright lights.
Keep the ambassadors engaged
Like all of us, celebrities are busy people. Supporting your organization may be her passion, but it’s not her career. It’s always a real compliment when celebrities proactively approach you with exciting opportunities. But that should be treated as a bonus and not an expectation. Part of your annual organizational plan should include how you will work with Ambassadors and other famous supporters in your various key moments, campaigns and activations.
If you don’t regularly feed the relationship with interesting engagement opportunities, her attention will rightly be diverted elsewhere. Your requests should be varied and always make it clear how your organization will benefit from the Ambassador’s attendance.
One of the best ways to engage Ambassadors and Speakers is to meet them where they are. A few years ago, my organization started working with actor Dayo Okeniyi. When we learned that Okeniyi is passionate about mental health, we looked for ways to use that interest to shine a spotlight on the intersection of AIDS and mental health. This has not only kept Okeniyi motivated and enthusiastic about the work, but also allowed us to highlight an overlooked component of our organization’s mission.
It also helps to know what your ambassadors don’t want you to do. Many celebrities are not interested in Schilling partner brands, corporate sponsors or products. One easy way to lose talent is to ask them to do something they could otherwise get paid well for. Get creative with your questions and look for areas of common interest to keep both your audience and theirs engaged.
Invest in partnership
The most successful and fruitful relationships between mission-oriented organizations and celebrities function as true partnerships. It is imperative that your ambassadors believe in your mission and support the cause. But you shouldn’t take their volunteerism and generosity for granted.
Embrace the value exchange. There is an unspoken halo effect emanating from famous people working with mission-driven organizations that should not be ignored. Just as you hope your ambassadors will celebrate your organization at key moments, the same obligation applies to you. When your artist or actor ambassador releases a new song or movie, be sure to share the news with your audience and celebrate their accomplishments.
After big activations and moments, it’s always good to make sure both sides are benefiting equally from the relationship. I firmly believe in the power of handwritten thank you notes. Life moves fast for everyone, but never fast enough where you can’t take a few minutes to send flowers or a thank you note.
Just as you must make every effort to build and maintain fruitful friendships, the same is true when working with Ambassadors and other staff. Never treat a one-way street like a one-way street.
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For the last 25 years I have worked at the intersection of global health, partnerships, corporate governance and social responsibility. As President and Chief Operating Officer of (RED), the organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to fight AIDS and the injustices that make pandemics possible, I have seen the private sector’s ability to transform lives in underserved communities around the world and to rescue . At (RED) I oversee short and long term priorities that build the brand and create sustainable funding and awareness for global health. I oversee relationships with (RED) partner brands including Apple, Bank of America, Salesforce, Stellantis and others that have raised over $700 million for the Global Fund and impacted over 245 million lives. Prior to (RED), I was a Senior Partner at Ogilvy Worldwide, responsible for leading global accounts for IBM and American Express.
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