Brand ambassadors have not lost their place, but more brands are no longer treating one public figure as the single center of their marketing strategy. The more accurate change is not that brand ambassadors are unwanted. It is that brands are moving from dependence on one face toward a mix of creators, communities, customers, brand characters, and product proof.
This shift has become more visible since late 2024 as audience attention fragments, creator marketing matures, endorsement transparency becomes more important, and marketing budgets face greater pressure to produce measurable results. A famous figure can still deliver reach. Popularity without relevance and meaningful contribution, however, is no longer enough.
Are brand ambassadors really becoming less popular?
The data reveals a trust crisis that is significantly undermining the old model. BBB National Programs reported that 82.7 percent of United States marketers still used influencers in 2024 — but that high adoption rate conceals a fundamental problem: only 5 percent of consumers completely trust influencer content. Reach remains large, but the trust that should be the foundation of this strategy has collapsed.
CreatorIQ also documents a real shift: creator marketing is moving further from the single-celebrity model toward content-first and creator-led strategies. What is weakening is the old model itself — hire one major figure, pay a large fee, place their face across a campaign, and assume that awareness will automatically become trust and sales.
Companies now have more options. They can work with dozens of niche creators, build customer communities, use founders as trusted voices, develop mascots, or turn real product experiences into content. Celebrity brand ambassadors must therefore prove more specific value.
Why does fame not always produce value?
Fame creates initial attention, while value appears only when the figure brings relevance, credibility, and a clear role in the customer journey.
A common problem is selecting a figure mainly by follower count or general fame. A public figure may be highly active but unable to explain the product, lack a credible connection to the category, or fail to inspire trust when making a recommendation. The campaign gains views, but the audience receives no reason to try, buy, or continue using the product.
BBB National Programs surveyed more than 3,700 United States consumers for its 2025 Influencer Trust Index. Fifty eight percent had purchased because of an influencer endorsement. Yet only 5 percent completely trusted influencer content. Authentic reviews, including negative comments, and transparency about commercial relationships were important trust drivers.
The findings reveal a paradox. Public figures can still influence purchases, but the trust behind that influence is fragile. A brand cannot merely purchase access to an audience. It must design a credible reason for that audience to believe the message.
The regeneration problem and the rotation of familiar faces
When the same figures move from one brand to another without a clear category connection, campaigns can lose distinctiveness.
The pool of public figures with national reach is limited. Brands often rotate through the same group of celebrities, athletes, and creators. If one person appears across several categories in a short period, audiences may remember the person while forgetting the brands being promoted.
Regeneration is not simply about finding a younger face. A brand needs people who have authority within a relevant community, communicate in a suitable style, and are willing to contribute beyond one production day. A smaller creator can be more valuable when their connection to the topic and audience is much stronger.
Economic pressure increases scrutiny of large contracts
When budgets tighten, a large fixed fee for a brand ambassador will face higher demands for measurement.
This does not mean every brand will stop using celebrities. The issue is opportunity cost. The budget allocated to one figure may also be able to fund audience research, continuous content production, dozens of niche creators, community programs, sampling, and distribution optimization.
The right decision depends on the objective. A major figure can remain useful for a national launch, brand repositioning, or a category that requires rapid awareness. For product education, trust, and repeated conversion, a network of creators and communities may create more interaction points.
Indonesian examples: not ambassador free, but less dependent on one face
The defensible examples are brands that build several marketing engines at once, not brands claimed to have "never used an ambassador." The absence of a recent announcement is not enough to prove that a company has abandoned the strategy.
Lion Parcel
Lion Parcel is not a correct example of a brand that never used a brand ambassador. The company appointed Joe Taslim for a campaign centered on service reliability and support for small businesses.
Lion Parcel's current public communication also strongly emphasizes the service proposition #BeraniDiandelin. The lesson is important: a public figure may help open attention, but a service promise must become a brand asset that outlives the figure's contract. Without newer internal data, this article does not claim that Lion Parcel has permanently abandoned ambassadors.
HMNS
HMNS illustrates an approach that does not depend on one permanent face. A brand communication case study highlights product storytelling, visual identity, sensory experience, direct social communication, community, and collaborations with influencers and key opinion leaders.
The model is not anti influencer. HMNS distributes influence across many sources while keeping the fragrance and its story at the center. Public figures extend the narrative rather than replace it.
EIGER
EIGER has worked with brand ambassadors, also known as EIGER Friends. The brand also invests in outdoor communities. In 2025, an EIGERIAN event in Malang brought together hundreds of people representing dozens of communities.
This is a hybrid model. Ambassadors provide representation, while communities create experience, category knowledge, and long term relationships that one face cannot build alone.
International examples: brand assets that reduce celebrity dependence
Several global brands show that attention can be built through mascots, users, communities, and creator networks without making one celebrity the permanent center.
Duolingo
Duolingo turned its Duo mascot into a social media character with a consistent personality. The model gives the company a figure it can control, develop, and use continuously without depending on the reputation of one human celebrity.
GoPro
GoPro built a user content system through GoPro Awards. The product and customer footage become both evidence and media. Users do not merely receive the brand message. They help produce the reason the product is worth using.
Gymshark
Gymshark grew through a network of fitness athletes and creators who were close to the community. Influence is distributed across people with strong sporting context instead of placing the entire brand identity on one general celebrity.
These examples do not mean the brands never work with celebrities. The point is that they own marketing assets that continue to work when one collaboration ends.
The Roku Studio 4R Framework for evaluating brand ambassadors
Roku Studio proposes four questions before a brand signs a public figure: Relevance, Resonance, Return, and Risk.
Relevance
Does the figure have a genuine connection to the category, need, or lifestyle of the audience? Fame without category relevance usually creates temporary reach.
Resonance
Does the audience listen to, trust, and respond to the figure? Measure the quality of comments, conversations, and community fit, not only follower counts.
Return
What result should the partnership create? Define indicators such as branded search, visits, product trials, sales codes, leads, or a shift in perception. Awareness alone may not be sufficient.
Risk
Are there category conflicts, excessive endorsements, controversy history, high dependence, or unclear content rights? A public figure is an external party. The brand still needs a plan for reputational change.
When is a brand ambassador still worth using?
A brand ambassador remains worthwhile when the person contributes meaning and access that other assets cannot deliver more efficiently.
The strategy makes sense when:
- The brand needs national awareness in a short period.
- The figure has an authentic connection to the category.
- Their audience matches the intended buyer.
- The figure participates in education, experience, or product creation.
- Content rights can extend across several channels.
- Contribution can be measured through agreed indicators.
A brand ambassador should be avoided when the only reason is that competitors also use famous people, when production and distribution budgets become too small, or when the brand does not yet have a clear product proposition.
What can replace dependence on one figure?
The best alternative is not a single new tactic, but a portfolio of influence that the brand can own, measure, and improve.
- Creator portfolio: several creators with different roles across awareness, education, demonstration, and conversion.
- Community: programs that connect customers through interests, professions, locations, or product use.
- User generated content: real customer experiences that are curated and used with permission.
- Founder or expert voice: internal leaders and specialists who can explain the product credibly.
- Brand character: a mascot or character that can become a long term identity.
- Product proof: demonstrations, evidence, reviews, sampling, and direct experience.
For brands that need to connect positioning, identity, content, creators, and community, Roku Studio helps design a communication system that does not stop at one face.
Conclusion
Brand ambassadors are not disappearing, but their position is changing from the center of strategy to one component in a broader influence system. The right figure can still create significant value. The partnership, however, must deliver relevance, trust, measurable return, and manageable risk.
The change visible since late 2024 is better understood as declining tolerance for shallow endorsements. Brands can no longer rely on purchased popularity alone. They need assets that remain alive after a contract ends: a strong product, a clear story, a community, relevant creators, and customer experiences that can be proven.
Frequently asked questions
Are brand ambassadors no longer effective?The old brand ambassador model is losing its effectiveness. BBB National Programs data from 2025 shows that only 5 percent of consumers completely trust influencer content — even though 58 percent have made a purchase because of an endorsement. Purchases still happen, but the trust that should underpin a long-term strategy has become fragile. Brand ambassadors remain relevant when the public figure has a genuine, authentic connection to the category and the audience, not simply when their fame is attached to a product.
Are small creators better than celebrities?It depends on the objective. Celebrities can create rapid reach, while niche creators often bring stronger context and community relationships. Many brands will achieve the best result through a combination.
Has Lion Parcel stopped using brand ambassadors?Lion Parcel previously used Joe Taslim as a brand ambassador. Based on the public sources reviewed, there is not enough evidence to say that the company has permanently abandoned ambassador strategies. The safer observation is that the service proposition #BeraniDiandelin is also a central communication asset.