Podcaster and TV personality Hamish Blake is Australia’s number1 broadcast personality as voted by consumers, while Australia’s greatest showman, Hugh Jackman has topped the overall list of celebrities in a 2022 top talent report.
Commissioned by media and marketing agency Talent Corp in conjunction with Lewers Research, the index is a talent measurement system that captures consumers’ awareness of, and attitudes towards, a range of Australian talent, including celebrities, actors, broadcasters, sports stars, and politicians.
The nationally representative survey included more than 5,000 Australians who rated 300+ personalities.
The index is calculated by subtracting the proportion of people who disliked a personality from those who liked or loved them, giving each a score ranging from -100 (universally disliked) through to +100 (universally liked).
Lewers also asked people to provide a few words to describe how they felt about each personality. These words were classified into emotions based on an extensive library of over 20,000 words and phrases to identify how people feel about a personality.
As a final step, respondents played a type of word association game to understand their gut reaction to different personalities.
Jackman is a clear winner, with his score of +74 rating 13 points clear of second ranked Chris Hemsworth on +61.
Hamish Blake was also the only broadcast personality to make the top 10 overall talent list this year, in sixth position.
Talent Corp managing director Mark Noakes said: “The ability of a trusted or popular celebrity to deliver return on investment for a brand is well established. A way to match that presenter with a brand, much less so. The Australian Talent Index seeks to change that by providing the industry with a first of its kind, up-to-date and accurate picture on media, entertainment and sports talent.
"It really is a valuable way for brands and agencies to match, rank and compare talent for campaigns and ambassador roles.
"The propensity for marketers to use social media followers as a way to measure a talent’s worth was alarming for us. Followers and engagement rates are meaningless insights in terms of how an audience will respond to a personality.
"Now using this data and automated AI analysis, Talent Corp can now also accurately inform businesses which celebrities align most closely to their target audience and their brand.”
Lewers founder and CEO Lisa Lewers said: “We have captured sentiment across 300 currently working Australian media personalities, actors and athletes referenced against 12 consumer attitudes and 17 industry sectors as well as a range of geographic, demographic, occupational and consumer interests.
“It is the first study of its kind to leverage AI to understand the breadth and depth of the emotions Australian talent evokes – from love to hate and everything in between. It's a comprehensive lens into how talent makes Australians feel.”
Celebrity endorsement is big business, with brands investing millions in associating with a wellknown personality with their brand. Hamish Blake and his wife Zoe Foster-Blake recently partnered with Tourism Australia and its own campaign testing found that 74% of respondents recognised the brand by the end of the campaign, with the highest point of brand recognition being with Hamish and Zoe.
Hugh Jackman’s partnership with RM Williams helped increased the company’s earnings by almost 50% in just 12 months after engaging the actor as global brand ambassador in 2019. Jackman’s ambassadorship was fundamental to the company's expansion into new international markets.
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