It was a summer of celebrity brand deals in the spotlight: KATSEYE x Gap, Gavin Casalegno x Dunkin’, and of course, Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle. They were buzzy, costly, and omnipresent. Though a celebrity-fronted campaign might be common, Keith Gelman, founder of entertainment marketing agency Talent Partnership Advisors, said that they don’t come without expense and consideration—the AE-Sweeney partnership, for example, was the brand’s biggest investment in a campaign to date. And the difference between a brand paying top dollar for talent and being able to save some cash? Gelman said that often, it’s simply knowing that it might be a possibility. “I’d see brands come into the picture and want to work with an artist, and they would spend a million dollars one day, and then the next brand would come in and spend $3 million with the same artist,” Gelman told Marketing Brew. “I always felt that there was like an inequity there that needed to be balanced.” Over the years, he’s narrowed down what it takes to broker what he calls “the best deal.” Gelman founded TPA after spending eight years at Live Nation, where he was a lead in the global partnerships division and observed the intricacies of how celebrity-brand relationships worked, particularly how each navigated the others’ differing priorities. He’s found disconnect when a celebrity might not understand what an ad campaign is asking of them, or when a brand might request more celebrity assets than necessary, and he’s made it his job to navigate these discrepancies in the interest of the brand. Continue reading here.—JN | 
.jpg)
