Report: Mascots Top Celebrities In Social-Media Buzz

If you're keeping score: Pillsbury Doughboy, 10, LeBron James, 1.

According to a USA Today story, the familiar Pillsbury Doughboy mascot garners more than 10 times the social-media buzz related to its brand, Pillsbury, than celebrity endorser LeBron James does related to his biggest brand sponsor, Nike, according to research to be released Monday by Synthesio, a social-media monitoring specialist.

"LeBron probably brings a lot of value to Nike, but in terms of social media and Nike, he has virtually no value at all," says Loïc Moisand, co-founder and CEO of Synthesio. "If you're a marketer that wants to raise awareness in social media, it's useless to spend money on celebrities," he says.

It's an age-old argument that will probably never be settled: Do brands get their money's worth from celebrities? In terms of social-media eyeballs -- which typically relate to a younger and often more desirable demographic, it appears that mascots leave celebrity endorsers in the dust.

"It's the cuddle quotient," explains brand consultant Kate Newlin. While mascots can seem sweet, charming and integral to a brand, celebrity endorsers often seem to be little more than "rented," she says.

Except GoDaddy's Danica Patrick, that is.

Patrick, the race car driver, finished about four times higher than any other celebrity endorser in brand-related social-media buzz in the social-media research report. Moisand says it's in part, because Patrick frequently mentions GoDaddy in tweets from her personal handle. Also, he says, "she appears reachable."

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