“A Brand Ambassador is a formally recognized, long-term representative of the brand.”
-DHPB. (2024). ‘What is a Brand Ambassador?’ Retrieved from https://dhpb.co/brandambassador
Examining the Definition
‘Formally Recognised’
The formal recognition of a person is essential to our laymen understanding of an ambassador. Consider the following claims:
- I am the Ecuadorian Ambassador to the United States.
- I am a L’Oreal Ambassador
How can we assess the validity of these claims? We, of course, need to go to the entity that I am allegedly to be an ambassador to and verify with them that I am indeed recognised as an ambassador (and therefore receive any powers vested in me by that institution).
It is also important that the recognition is formal. Neither someone sent by Ecuador to the USA with an informal brief to discuss certain matters secretly, or someone with a quid pro quo relationship with L’Oreal would be considered by a laymen to be an ambassador.
Therefore, a brand ambassador needs to be formally recognised.
Long-Term
Ambassadors are representatives for some kind of prolonged period of time. Consider the following uses again:
- Ecuadorian Ambassador to the United States
- L’Oreal Ambassador
Would it make sense for either of them to be extremely short engagements? Would you assume that the ambassador to the United States would be in that role for a few hours or at least a year?
In traditional usage, the term almost always implies a long term relationship. While a ‘Brand Ambassador’ or a ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ might be shorter – it still defies common understanding to claim that they were ‘an ambassador to Nike for a few minutes’.
Therefore, I believe a brand ambassador needs to be a role which is long term.
Representative
An ambassador must be vested with some kind of authority to represent the brand. When you are an ambassador you have at least some responsibility to act in a way that aligns with the values of the brand or entity. An ambassador from a country is likely to get fired for making anti semitic remarks for this reason – they are expected to behave in a way that represents the country. In the brand world, Michael Jordan or Nadal would not continue to represent Nike if they made anti semitic remarks either.
In a formal diplomatic setting, we assume the words of the ambassador are taken as almost perfectly aligning with the views of the country they represent. Ultimately, representing their nation is in many ways their function. Similarly in the brand world, it also is assumed that any content made by an ambassador is in some way representative of how the brands want themselves and their products to be understood. It would be bizarre for a brand to say something like ‘We support Alex Honnold for his climbing ability but we do not condone free climbing’. The representation comes with the definition.
Therefore, a brand ambassador needs to be a representative of the brand.
Brand
Clearly, this definition is within the context of being an ambassador to a brand.
DHPB 