Non-Celebrities on the Web, Seeming to Make Non-Pitches

More and more marketers are turning to non-celebrities to pitch their products. From Apple’s “Mac Guy” to that guy who lived in his Nissan Sentra for a week, it’s not just small brands who are getting in on the non-celebrity action.

The reason in the shift to “regular people” spokespeople is well calculated; to appael to the young people blogging, linking and commenting about these characters in the virtual and viral world of the Internet. Appealing to this audience is important because they are highly influential, taking cues from the online buzz.

Additionally, leveraging the popularity of these characters online makes them, and in turn the brand, more engaging to the consumer.

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Non-Celebrities on the Web, Seeming to Make Non-Pitches - New York Times
THE commercials are rambling musings by the comedian Demetri Martin that seem to have little to do with the product, Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system.

Yet Microsoft is tickled with its campaign featuring Mr. Martin. And the same goes for Nissan, which hired a little-known comic to live in a Sentra last fall and blog about it. And for Pepsi,
which is in its third year of featuring a changing cast of comedians —
many unfamiliar to the general public — in its commercials and on a Web
site for its Sierra Mist lemon-lime soft drink.