They wear clothing and shoes from specific brands, use only one line of cosmetics, change only the car models but not the brand. They are brand ambassadors. Let's find out who they are and how to become an ambassador.

Who is an Ambassador

An ambassador is a person who represents a brand and its values in a positive light. The word comes from French and translates as "ambassador." And indeed: an ambassador by their appearance, behavior, and loyalty to a brand shows: these items make my life more joyful and happier.

Ambassadors are not company representatives, meaning they do not handle complaints about the quality of goods, nor may they have information about new products or services coming out. Their task is to make the brand recognizable, to gain trust from the audience, and to foster a loyal attitude towards the products. Such advertising appears unintrusive: the ambassador uses the brand's products daily and simply shares about them with their audience.

They broadcast their loyalty to the brand to the masses in various ways: from public appearances in branded clothing and filming commercials to hosting contests and workshops on using the products.

Ambassadors must have a good reputation. Usually, these are individuals whose opinions are valued and whose views are shared. People look up to ambassadors and easily start using the same things or products as they do.

It's important to distinguish ambassadors from influencers. Influencers also collaborate with brands, but their collaboration is usually short-term and exclusively paid. Influencers can simultaneously advertise a competitor's product. But ambassadors cannot. Moreover, sometimes brands include a clause in the contract with an ambassador stating that the fact of collaboration must not be disclosed.

Why do Brands Need Ambassadors?

The answer to this question is simple: potential buyers are more willing to listen to the opinion of a real person—an expert, blogger, media personality. Media personalities, like regular people, go to shops, use cosmetics, and do sports. At the same time, they share their impressions and experiences of using the brand's products.

The most successful example is Michael Jordan, who once wore Nike sneakers and never regretted it. He scored his best baskets in these very sneakers! People see their idol in Nike sneakers, see his victories, and believe the sneakers played a significant role. They trust the ambassador. And if people trust the ambassador, they subconsciously transfer that trust to the brand.

By the way, the collaboration turned out to be mutually beneficial for Jordan and Nike: in 1982, the contract was worth $500,000 plus royalties. In the 2022 fiscal year, the Jordan brand brought Nike $5.1 billion. Jordan himself earned $256.1 million in 2022 alone from licensing his name to Nike.

How to Become a Brand Ambassador

People with a good reputation in their field, experts, can become brand ambassadors. For example, photo and video equipment manufacturers are eager to collaborate with photographers and videographers, restaurants with chefs, critics, sommeliers, and status brands with media personalities.

Some brands focus not on profession but on engagement, mobility, and shared values. The personal qualities of the future ambassador are also important:

• reputation;
• social activity;
• openness and ability to build dialogue;
• loyalty to the brand;
• calm perception of criticism;
• ability to present oneself on camera;
• sincerity and sociability.

Brand ambassadors should understand advertising principles, be able to create quality content, and publish posts on social networks. Here, by the way, social media management services that allow planning content ahead of time would be useful.

Not only famous personalities, but also bloggers or ordinary people with a couple of thousand active followers on social media can become ambassadors. So, here are a few effective ways to become an ambassador.

The Brand Will Find You

They will definitely find you once you have enough followers. For example, 100,000 or more. Then, the brand might approach you with an offer.

Write Directly to the Brand and Offer Yourself as an Ambassador

But you don't need to wait to be noticed; you can write a letter or message to your favorite brand with a proposal to collaborate.

In your letter or message, tell the brand representative what they will gain from collaborating with you. Important information would include your activities, followers' count and locations, post reach on different social platforms, proposed collaboration format, and terms.

Many brands regularly conduct promotions, support bloggers. For example, Sber sought ambassadors among students, Mail.ru Group several times announced ambassador recruitment. Opportunities to become an ambassador are offered by Massimo Renne, Pampers, Canon, and many others.

Photographer: Matt Hardy: https://www.pexels.com/ru-ru/photo/slr-2179205/

Google it

Another option is to type "become an ambassador" into the search bar, and you'll immediately get several options for brands that are friendly towards ambassadors with little or no experience.

Visit a Recruiting Site

Look for suitable job openings on job search sites. For example, HeadHunter offers ambassador vacancies in igaming, where you can apply for a party ambassador, dental clinic network ambassador, and many other similar vacancies.

What Should an Ambassador Do

The main task of an ambassador, as we already mentioned, is to gain the audience's trust in the brand's products. They will never directly urge someone to buy something but will share a positive impression of the product and broadcast the company's values.

Typically, ambassadors do the following:

• use the brand's products;
• publish posts on social media. At the same time, the content usually doesn't have an advertising character and doesn't stand out among other posts;
• participate in the release of special collections;
• run contests where winners receive company products.

Of course, there are other forms of collaboration with brands, and these are usually specified in the contract.

It all depends on the brand and the ambassador. In some cases, payment may be in money, in others, by products of a certain value. There may be a combined form of payment: a monthly financial reward and the ability to use the company's products or services. For example, travel bloggers might get their flights paid for, beauty bloggers might receive product lines, and a natural product brand ambassador might get, say, weekly deliveries of meat and milk. Also, brands may offer ambassadors discounts and special offers.

Most often, ambassadors cannot disclose the terms under which they cooperate with brands.

However, you can be an ambassador for several brands at once. The only condition is that they must be in different directions. For example, you can simultaneously be an ambassador for healthy food, accessories, footwear, and gadgets. The key is that the companies' values don't conflict with each other. Representing, for example, two airlines is not allowed as they are competitors. Similarly, it's prohibited to use the services or products of competitor companies during the ambassadorship.

Why Can a Brand Terminate a Contract?

Most often, two reasons lead to the termination of a contract between a brand and an ambassador: violation of contract terms and ambassador behavior that can harm the company's reputation. Let's give a few examples. Regina Todorenko made inappropriate comments about domestic violence, and Pampers, the company she was an ambassador for, immediately parted ways with her. The funds initially planned for the ad campaign with Todorenko were instead given to families in difficult situations.

Nastya Ivleeva was an ambassador for MTS, but after the infamous "nude party," the mobile operator refused further cooperation.

Screenshot of Regina Todorenko's account.
Johnny Depp also lost his status as a Dior ambassador. This happened during his high-profile divorce from his wife. A wave of negativity hit not only Depp but also the brands he worked with. After the court process, when the negativity subsided, cooperation resumed.

So, not only a media personality but also a blogger with a relatively small number of followers can become a brand ambassador. The key is for both the brand and its ambassador to share values and goals, and for the collaboration to be mutually enjoyable.