Later, she merged her two great loves of music and fashion by co-founding the Music and Entertainment Division at Ford Models, representing celebrity musicians and actors for fashion and beauty collaborations and overall image consulting. During her tenure at Ford, she signed Jessica Simpson and subsequently secured Simpson's first brand endorsement deal. She then went on to join Starworks Group, where she was a partner in the agency. Ainsberg has negotiated celebrity-brand endorsements for global advertisers such as David Yurman, Montblanc, Miu Miu, Kate Spade, H&M, Vera Wang Fragrances, Jones New York, John Varvatos, Krug, Banana Republic, Nautica, and Max Mara amongst others. Today she incorporates all of her experiences and relationships into a thriving business. In this Masterclass, she walks us through the ins and outs of celebrity endorsements and partnerships.

Getting started in the industry

I spent many years in talent representation as a talent manager and talent agent. I founded the music and entertainment division of Ford's modeling agency and represented a bunch of actors and musicians for their endorsement deals. The most interesting thing for me was flipping my career to the other side after many years of representing talent. It's been a very exciting journey for the last 13-14 years of my career. It put me in a seat where I was able to help global brands understand what talent would do and what they would probably never do.

My company SHO+CO is laser-focused on helping brands figure out how to navigate the celebrity landscape. It's all about connection. We connect primarily luxury brands - typically in fashion and entertainment or fashion and beauty - with the entertainment community.

Maintaining relationships

Ultimately our bread and butter are relationships. Everyone thinks it's all about keeping the client, and of course, that's important, but how do you keep the client? You keep them by having relationships in the industry, negotiating on their behalf, and making great deals. A big part of our job is maintaining healthy relationships with stylists, managers, personal assistants, publicists, and the like. Those relationships are the centerpiece of why we're good at what we do.

Forecasting and vetting talent

The single most important thing in choosing a celebrity for a campaign is getting someone who is going to get our client in the spotlight at the right time. If we have a beauty brand with a campaign about to launch, we forecast the right talent by finding out who has a film coming out, is going on tour or has a new record dropping. We look for the perfect face that ticks all of the brand's boxes.

We only present our clients with formally vetted talent. The last thing we want to do is start talking about someone with a client and then find out that they just got an offer in a similar competitive category and they're just about to sign a deal. We strive to give our clients a full digital casting of everyone we recommend based on their objectives. We keep in mind who their customer is and the timeline of their campaign. We build deals to help our clients figure out every single touchpoint of what the talent does, from start to finish, whether it's a six-month deal or a three-year deal.

Follower count is not an indicator of a good match. The most important thing is if they are able to cut through the noise. At the end of the day, we're only looking at what the data tells us.

Impact of digital influencers

Due to connection, experience and relationships, digital influencers have become celebrities in their own right. However, follower count is not an indicator of a good match. The most important thing is if they are able to cut through the noise. At the end of the day, we're only looking at what the data tells us. We care about engagement rates and converting viewers into buyers. We have found that many micro-influencers who only have 35,000 to 70,000 followers have higher conversion rates than macro-influencers who have several million followers.

Celebrity endorsements for charitable campaigns

It works a few different ways. One way is to partner with a brand and make a donation in the celebrity's name. Another way is to approach the celebrity, explain your vision for their partnership and hope that your cause touches their heart. Sometimes celebrities want to tie themselves in with something meaningful, so they might be open to your request.

As the founder of the charitable organization, figure out who is the best person to approach to get the celebrity onboarded - it is usually the publicist. Write a beautiful letter explaining what the organization is doing and give as much information as possible. Ask if they are willing to be on board for some kind of promotion that will help you fundraise.

It is very difficult. I will not sugarcoat this. Celebrities are asked to do about 1,000 things a week. Partnering with a brand can be very helpful. If they know that money is being donated to that charity in their honor, it's easier to get them onboard for different projects.

Celebrities backing out of agreements

I have had celebrities agree to come to an event only to have their publicist contact me and say they can't come. It sucks, but so much of that depends on your relationship with the talent. How many favors can you really ask of the celebrities that you're friendly with? How much can you keep asking people to do things for you? How close is your relationship? Is it a business relationship where I scratch your back, you scratch mine?

One of the things that I guess put us in a great position of leverage with getting people to do a lot for us for absolutely nothing, no payment at all, is that they know we might bring them a really big deal one day. It's the "if you play nice with us, we'll play nice with you" deal.

Finding the right contacts

There are a number of ways to find celebrity contacts. IMDB Pro is excellent for that. Influencer intelligence is also a tool. It is a database that has steep fees, but you get a robust and constantly updated database. The minute someone changes teams, those databases have updated the information.

What is absolutely critical and steadfast is being the kind of booker who maintains solid, respectful relationships with the entirety of the entertainment community because that's the only thing that makes us valuable to clients in the first place.

Who to contact when approaching brands

I would reach out to the CMO. The CMO is generally overseeing all of the advertising at the company. The first thing I would do is try to see if you can do some research. For example, if you want to align your talent with a brand, do a little bit of digging to figure out who the creative director of that brand is. Who is the one moving the pieces around for that brand? You want the creative director, or you want the CMO. Typically the two work together closely.

Respect during negotiations

My job in what we do is to negotiate against the agent. I represent my brand. Their interests are all I care about. The talent's interests are not as much of a concern to me. I have respect for the agent's position because I know that the agent is fighting for their client the same way I'm fighting for mine.

In all the years that I've been doing this, I consider the following one of the most important things I have said to our team, "Our relationships with our clients may come and go. Our relationships with the talent, reps, the publicist, the stylists, the personal assistants, the lawyers, the commercial agents, the theatrical agents, the managers, they are irreplaceable."

What is absolutely critical and steadfast is being the kind of booker who maintains solid, respectful relationships with the entirety of the entertainment community because that's the only thing that makes us valuable to clients in the first place.