If you’ve seen the most recent TV commercials from Macy’s, you might have thought you were watching highlights from a red carpet event. These spots feature A-list stars like Sean “Diddy” Combs, Taylor Swift, Martha Stewart and more. All hanging out in the store with a manager named Harold. A clever voice-over line ties it all back to the retailer: “Watch one star bring all these stars together. That’s the Magic of Macy’s.”

It seems like a winning way for Macy’s to draw more shoppers into its store. After all, isn’t star power one of the easiest ways to generate buzz and drive sales? Not quite so fast. Launching a successful celebrity brand extension requires some serious strategy. Otherwise, even celebrity brands can find themselves tossed into the clearance bin.

Luckily, Macy’s celeb products have it right. They tap two proven strategies for long-term success from our “10 Ways to Extend Your Brand:”

Strategy 1: Leverage a Celebrity Lifestyle
Many of the celebrities featured in Macy’s new ad campaign live glamorous, envy-worthy lives. They have fancy clothes, big houses and successful careers. So it’s no wonder that some consumer aspire to those same star trappings. When celebrities represent aspirational lifestyles, their brand names can extend successfully into products related to that lifestyle. Many fashion and beauty products succeed with this strategy.

At Macy’s, the celebrity lifestyle brands revolve around music stars. Guitarist Carlos Santana sells a line of signature shoes at the retailer that epitomize his rock-and-roll lifestyle. High-end sexy style defines rapper Sean Combs, and fans can mimic his look with pieces from his Sean John apparel line at Macy’s. Perfumes are another perennial favorite for celebrities, and Macy’s sells fragrances from teen heartthrobs Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. These beauty products are an easy way for fans to experience a bit of the pop-star life.

Strategy 2: Leverage a Celebrity Expertise
Some stars are famous for more than their pretty faces and fancy clothes. In fact, a celebrity can be viewed as an expert at anything from cooking to managing money. And this perceived expertise can help brand extensions in related categories succeed at the product sales box office. Two well-known names leverage this strategy at Macy’s.

You might think of Martha Stewart as a domestic goddess, but she’s also the queen of leveraging her celebrity expertise with brand extensions. A noted expert in just about everything to do with the home, she’s successfully translated this expertise to furniture, bedding cookware and much more. Celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson follows a similar branding strategy. He’s leveraged his cooking prowess to move out of the kitchen and into a line of cookware at Macy’s.

Have you noticed other celebrities tapping into these winning brand extension strategies? What are your favorite celebrity products?

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