Do you know your Dave Brown Index number? Were you even aware that there was a Dave Brown Index? Well there is and it’s used every day to make decisions that effect what you see on TV, in magazines and on the internet. So what is the Dave Brown Index? Well first, to be clear it’s DAVIE, not David. To my knowledge there is no David Bowie Index. In fact the idea of a David Bowie Index sends shivers down my spine.
The index is was developed by Dave Brown Entertainment back in 2006. What it does is measure how well a celebrity can “influence brand affinity and consumer purchase intent”. In English, it figures out how much a celebrity endorsing a product makes us loyal to the product makes us want to purchase that particular product. Just because it’s endorsed by the celebrity.
Think about some of the products in your home. What made you buy that particular product? In a lot of cases, it’s the celebrity that endorsed it. Do you drink AMP energy drink? Did you before they signed on to sponsor NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr? You like Michael Jordan? Then you are probably wearing Hanes underwear. You are wearing underwear right? Why do you think companies pay hundreds of thousand of dollars to a celebrity to appear in their ads? Because the Dave Brown Index tells them that if that particular celebrity endorses the product, people will go out and buy it.
According to the Dave Brown Index, they evaluate a persons appeal and relevance to a brand. The index can determine how much a celebrity can influence key groups by sex, age and ethnic background. An advertiser can go to the Dave Brown Index and ask for someone who will influence 25-30 year old white females to buy a certain products and the index will tell them who the best celebrity is to endorse the product.
Frankly, it just shows me that no matter how different and individual we all claim to be, we’re not really that much different from each other. So back to the original question. Do you know your Dave Brown Index number? Unless you are a celebrity that are included, you don’t have one. Don’t feel bad though, I don’t have a Dave Brown Index number either.
