In the beauty business, there’s a clever new version of the fame game that guarantees all the benefits of a celebrity affiliation without any need to blow the marketing budget on a famous face to front the brand. This alternative method involves engaging a high-profile celebrity investor – let’s call them a “celestor” – who is prepared to spend time and/or money (and maybe even leverage the contents of their address book) in order to garner credibility and kudos for a company. It’s a way for a brand to engage with a famous person on a more meaningful level. At a time when consumers are increasingly wise to the machinations of the celebrity circus, it would seem to make sense to link up with someone who will add more to the bottom line than just their one-dimensional image.

It’s not all to the benefit of the brand – with the celestor business model both sides stand to gain. The beauty company gets privileged access to a world it would otherwise remain outside of while the celestor has a potentially longer-term outlet for their fame because without careful management, a celebrity has an even shorter career span than a footballer or ballet dancer.