Celebrities have serious cachet, and Jobi Brands is capitalizing on it.
Jobi is an early-stage venture capital firm and studio. Jobi Brands, the venture studio, incubates celebrity-backed businesses and helps its famous co-founders develop a cohesive strategy and consistent messaging across channels, according to Lanie Shalek, director of growth marketing.
The first brand to spin out of Jobi Brands was Courteney Cox’s high-end home goods brand, Homecourt, in fall 2020. The venture studio’s sophomore effort – Kaley Cuoco’s forthcoming pet care brand, Oh Norman! – will launch later this year.
Working with a celebrity founder comes with some unique marketing advantages, Shalek said.
For instance, when they mention their products on a talk show, celebrities can immediately boost brand exposure and awareness. They often have a sizable social media presence and following as well.
But above all, “celebrity gives your brand credibility,” Shalek said.
There are no shortcuts in marketing
Of course, that credibility only holds water if there’s an authentic fit between the celebrity and what they’re selling.
Without background research, a celebrity’s relationship with a brand can ring false. Teetotaler Jennifer Lopez, for instance, faced skepticism from fans when she launched an alcohol brand, Delola, in April.
To ensure a fit between the celebrity and the brand, Jobi does its due diligence.
“Beyond ensuring a good category match, we also dive into the type of content they post on their socials and what is organic for them,” Shalek said. “We encourage a broad mix of content types and that celebrities post regularly about non-brand topics in their life as well.”
Strategic insights must also underpin the brand if it’s to get past stumbling blocks.
Some brands “create mediocre products, hoping that simply attaching a celebrity name will drive sales,” Shalek said. But celebrity status alone isn’t enough for long-term, sustainable growth.
“Ultimately, a company needs to make products that people want to continuously buy,” Shalek said. A celebrity association might persuade curious customers to try a product for the first time, but product quality and target market match will keep them coming back.
Market research not only gives brands a sense of how they stack up against the competition before they launch; it also helps them evolve in response to changes in the landscape.
For instance, with acquisition costs rising on many digital platforms, “it’s important to be omnichannel,” Shalek said.
Homecourt, which was mostly DTC in its first year, has recentered around high-end retailers since then. Similarly, as popular as online shopping is among pet owners, people still do enough shopping for their pets in person that investing in physical shelf space remains worthwhile for pet brands.
Just as Jobi is careful to ensure alignment between the brands and celebrities it partners with, it’s also selective about entering new verticals.
“We do a lot of research into a category before we decide that this is a vertical that we’re interested in pursuing,” Shalek said.
Throw me a bone
For example, based on extensive consumer interviews and competitive research, Jobi made the decision to embark on a pet-focused vertical in early 2022. It spoke to pet owners and pet space specialists to understand the needs of pet owners and looked at what products existing pet brands were selling to identify gaps in the market.
The pet care category is particularly interesting because of the “increased humanization of pets,” Shalek said.
Thanks to this anthropomorphizing, human trends like eco-friendly products, CBD supplements and fitness trackers eventually transfer to pets, she said. And services like pet daycares and spas are on the rise, presumably because pet owners don’t want to leave their pets home alone.
Something Jobi Brands sees missing in the market is breed-based personalization for dog owners. Many brands that cater to canines only differentiate between big and small dogs, not King Charles cavaliers versus golden retrievers, for example.
“There’s not one source of information that speaks to [King Charles cavaliers], like that they’re prone to [a certain] illness,” Shalek said.
There’s a strong potential business opportunity to develop content, products and services specific to pet breeds, then target people who own those breeds with different types of ads.
To that end, Jobi Brands is keeping tabs on pet-focused online and in-person communities, such as dedicated Facebook pages, which brand marketers could tap into.
And there’s a lot to tap into.
The US pet market will increase to $200 billion by 2030, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report, showing that consumers are eager to spend more on their furry darlings. After all, they’re family.
“People have delayed having kids,” Shalek said, “and have taken pets as their children, essentially.”
