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Cameo, a company that helps fans hire celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Rosie O’Donnell to record custom videos for birthdays and other occasions, believes it has a new revenue opportunity: pitching its stable of actors, athletes and influencers for business-to-business sales.
The company, officially called Baron App Inc., on Wednesday is integrating its marketplace into Sendoso, a software platform that companies use to send gifts to new-business prospects, current clients and others. Cameo videos booked through Sendoso will cost the same as those for consumers, with Sendoso collecting a percentage of the revenue.
Participating celebrities set their own rates on Cameo, for an average price of $60 per video, according to the company. The most expensive is Caitlyn Jenner, who charges $2,500, Cameo said.
Sales and relationship-management executives were already starting to use Cameo in their work, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic put a lid on in-person networking, according to Arthur Leopold, chief business officer at Cameo.
“You’re not able to go out to client dinners, you’re not able to go to conferences,” Mr. Leopold said. “Standing out becomes that much more important.”
The sales insights company Gong.io this month hired the actress Lindsay Lohan, for example, to record a personalized message to an executive who attended a virtual conference that it hosted. “You’re an inspiration to revenue and sales people everywhere, so today we are celebrating you,” Ms. Lohan said in the video. “You should be very proud.”
Gong.io also used Cameo to hire Chris Diamantopoulos, who played billionaire investor Russ Hanneman on HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” to promote the conference. “It’s me, Russ Hanneman,” Mr. Diamantopoulos says in the video. “And Gong is all about sales.”
“That Cameo got a lot of buzz on LinkedIn,” said Laura Vitaro, senior manager for account-based marketing at Gong.io. The company bought the videos directly through Cameo but now plans to use the Sendoso integration, she said.
Sendoso, which makes it easier for sales people and others to send everything from electronic gift cards to anything sold on
Amazon.com
and then to track the business results, hopes that Cameo videos will prove valuable in customer relationship management for its clients.
“There’s dozens or hundreds of interactions you may have had with a specific customer,” said Kris Rudeegraap, chief executive at Sender Inc., the company that does business as Sendoso. “One time it might be cupcakes, another day it might be a branded Yeti mug, yet another time it might be a celebrity Cameo that makes your day.”
Cameo already offers a promotional version of its service, in which celebrities agree to endorse products for a higher fee, and is testing live chats with celebrities.
Write to Nat Ives at [email protected]
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