Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir #48: Long Time Running

sap5

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I think that’s her personal mission and she tries to choose companies that align with that. I thought she might be trying to focus on health and wellness brands and I suppose The Brick falls under that. I just find it hard to believe she really really loves this company and if you’re the face of too many companies, then it starts to all mesh together and you’re at risk of making people feel saturated and your value commercially is not as high. Not a shade against Tessa, because like others, I enjoy seeing her. I even like the Kurt Browning commercials. I even get nostalgic thinking about his Diet Coke commercials. We don’t often see Canadian skaters get offered commercials on tv anymore.
I’m not in Canada, so I don’t know how saturated she is. However, considering how that dry shampoo ad got so many likes and is continuing to get them, it seems to me that she’s not yet over saturated and people continue to enjoy seeing her.
 

honey

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A few months after the 2018 games during a work retreat, somehow the subject of Virtue/Moir came up amongst my colleagues. I would say not one of them are skating fans, and would not seek it out to watch except for the olympics. However, such was the power of V/M at the time that every one of my coworkers knew about V/M and could rattle off details about them. I remember being surprised and pleased to see two skaters having broken through the casual fan barrier to truly be household names.

However, the conversation quickly turned to Tessa’s instagram account. My manager at the time said something like “I had to stop following her because I was just bombarded with one ad after another”. This was maybe 6-8 months post 2018 Olympics. Some others agreed with my manager’s comment, and some said they didn’t mind.

I think it can vary a lot by person in terms of what content they enjoy. I do feel that Tessa is at risk of being over saturated right now. She is involved with so many brands that it becomes difficult to believe anything she says. Does anyone really think Tessa would choose on her own volition to drive a Buick if she weren’t being paid to do so?

That said, for me, I will keep following her. I do get annoyed by the corporate feel of her Instagram feed. But I am a skating fan, a V/M fan and will be interested in what she’s posting regardless. I do think for a more casual fan this might not be the case and there may be a lower threshold for what they are going to be interested in.

But I have to think she’s doing fine in terms of content. She’s clearly not hurting for followers and companies willing to shell out $$$ for her. That might not last forever, so gotta make that money while you can I guess.
 

canbelto

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Am I the only one who remembers that Tessa used to be funny on her social media? She had a sarcastic, self-deprecating sense of humor that was at odds with her public persona. I loved following her. But when V/M won the second OGM her endorsements blew up and I think she might have gotten a social media manager. Idk. But a few years ago Tessa was funny and real on her social media.
 

elisa_p

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I don't really know her personally, but I doubt her social media is very indicative of what her personality is like. I'm pretty sure she's curating an image to get sponsorships and likes (which is fine...get that coin!) which is probably why some may find her SM post 2018 much different than in 2014. I actually think that this might be lucrative for her for a long time as she has the ability to change her aesthetic to keep her target audience interested. My only issue with her SM is how she's built it on empowering girls and woman but in my opinion has actually not done anything or said anything of real value to do so. I personally think that if you're going to build your brand on that, then you need to speak out which is something she rarely does. So I wish she had just gone the wellness route personally...maybe she'll switch into that at some point because to me she's much more GOOPesque in her content than female empowerment. I think she would do great with a skincare/wellness line...Maybe something like Jessica Alba's honest company. I would certainly buy her skin care products! Sometimes I do get the feeling that she doesn't really know what she wants to do post skating but this is a avenue that's available to her so she takes it. But I don't really like making such assumptions because I don't know her so I could just be off base.
 

Sonata

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Am I the only one who remembers that Tessa used to be funny on her social media? She had a sarcastic, self-deprecating sense of humor that was at odds with her public persona. I loved following her. But when V/M won the second OGM her endorsements blew up and I think she might have gotten a social media manager. Idk. But a few years ago Tessa was funny and real on her social media.

I definitely remember this. She would makes jokes about being told she looked like Katy Perry and needing to find a candy bra with fireworks. She joked with Ryan Reynolds about getting a mini van with Scott to raise his kids. Or even those candid photos she used to do where she’d take pictures from her walks. This is why I really don’t think she controls most of her posts anymore. It’s funny to think that she had no social media presence compared to other skaters for many years.

I do think she is at risk of oversaturating the commercials because you can see that even on this thread of truly long term fans, some people are turned off by the number of ads. I suppose it’s a risk but she is also moving away from figure skating being her main area of focus.
 
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puglover

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I have never followed Tessa at all on instagram but after these posts, our of curiosity, I looked her up. Although I agree it is a little much, there is a clip of Tessa dancing, brief snatches, with Sam C. and Scott and man - she's got the moves.
 

sap5

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I definitely remember this. She would makes jokes about being told she looked like Katy Perry and needing to find a candy bra with fireworks. She joked with Ryan Reynolds about getting a mini van with Scott to raise his kids. Or even those candid photos she used to do where she’d take pictures from her walks. This is why I really don’t think she controls most of her posts anymore. It’s funny to think that she had no social media presence compared to other skaters for many years.
So you think she's hired someone to make her social media more uninteresting?
 

canbelto

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She obviously uses professional photographers who give her social media an extremely polished, corporate look. They usually don't shoot at a person's actual residence, but have a studio where someone can be seen "sleeping" on a bed, or "eating" in a kitchen.

Not every influencer does this. Jennifer Aniston for instance mostly uses candid shots.
 

sap5

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More formulaic/professional is what I would assume?
I would think a professional social media manager would know that the purpose of social media is to increase engagement, so making it more formulaic wouldn't be what they'd do.
 

overedge

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I had no idea that Tessa was a spokesperson for The Brick. I'm not sure I'd buy a mattress because an OGM recommended it, but whatever.

The Brick was founded by Bill Comrie, whose sons all play hockey. His son Mike was in the NHL and used to be married to Hilary Duff. Maybe Tessa decided to work with the Brick because of the ice connection.....
 

sap5

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It isn't what they'd do? That's what I've generally seen :slinkaway:
Maybe you haven’t seen good ones?

ETA: Just saw that Tessa is thinking of using tiktok— that would be a great way to keep things interesting, depending on how she uses it.
 

chantilly

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Just for reference I saw a Subway commercial tonight with that famous female soccer player from USA.
The controversial one from the last cup or games.


Sorry not a soccer fan, but I did recognize her.
Even Jennifer Aniston is doing less then sexy skincare contract.

My point being that as a female athlete in Canada in a generally less popular sport Tessa’s IMO is making the most of her opportunities.
I also saw tons of non ad related stuff on her Instagram.

it’s the way things are done now in the world to get ahead/ a following/ recognition.

Practically no one under 30 uses email or Facebook.

it’s all about branding on Tik Tok and Instagram.

I think we should all just maybe dial back the judgement and criticism on Tessa.

She’s rolling with the times and making the most of her opportunities.
 

Sonata

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So you think she's hired someone to make her social media more uninteresting?
They're less interesting because there's less of the personal wit we saw at the beginning, or it's more diluted. I'm sure she does have some control, but she's delegating more. There's only so much time in a day and probably someone in PR is managing all the copyrighted images from the different companies, so I get it.
She obviously uses professional photographers who give her social media an extremely polished, corporate look. They usually don't shoot at a person's actual residence, but have a studio where someone can be seen "sleeping" on a bed, or "eating" in a kitchen.

Yes to this. I'd be concerned if they were going into her home watching her sleep to take photos :p

She's posted that she's thinking about posting TikTok Tueday. I kind of like this idea.
 

sap5

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I think we should all just maybe dial back the judgement and criticism on Tessa.

She’s rolling with the times and making the most of her opportunities.
Like I said before, it appears that Tessa has even more followers on IG now than she had post-PYC, so yes, she is doing extremely well for herself. That shouldn’t mean that people can’t judge or criticize her content? We’re just discussing on a discussion board.
 
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canbelto

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This is IMO what's wrong with Tessa's SM.


This is a sponsored post that's so obviously a sponsored post. She's posing in a "bed" that's obviously in a studio and she looks like she's shooting a commercial. Which she is. But the point of SM is to not seem like a commercial.

As a comparison, this is Katia's post about a sponsor she is (nutrition school):

This shot seems candid, even though it's for a sponsored post. She brings her own story into the equation and talks about how she struggled with her relationship with food.
 

marbri

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This is IMO what's wrong with Tessa's SM.


This is a sponsored post that's so obviously a sponsored post. She's posing in a "bed" that's obviously in a studio and she looks like she's shooting a commercial. Which she is. But the point of SM is to not seem like a commercial.

As a comparison, this is Katia's post about a sponsor she is (nutrition school):

This shot seems candid, even though it's for a sponsored post. She brings her own story into the equation and talks about how she struggled with her relationship with food.
Katia's post might be plugging Nutrition school but she is also asking in that post for those who are interested to contact her with personal stories for an assignment she has to do for her course at Nutrition School. So not really the same thing as Tessa doing commercials for brands willing to pay her to help sell their shit....

A lot of what Tessa shares on her instagram account are professional photo shoots that end up in print as well (storefront, billboard etc..) so I would guess she has to link them on her instagram as well.
 

morqet

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My only issue with her SM is how she's built it on empowering girls and woman but in my opinion has actually not done anything or said anything of real value to do so. I personally think that if you're going to build your brand on that, then you need to speak out which is something she rarely does.
Yeah... the only thing that's being empowered by her SM at the moment is her bank account. It won't appear to be authentic if the only time she talks about empowerment is when she's being paid for it. I get that the pandemic means that some activities have been curtailed, but I think her overall brand would be helped by mixing in more of her own thoughts or actions in this sphere that aren't tied to a particular brand.
 

Khaleesi

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Yeah... the only thing that's being empowered by her SM at the moment is her bank account. It won't appear to be authentic if the only time she talks about empowerment is when she's being paid for it. I get that the ********* means that some activities have been curtailed, but I think her overall brand would be helped by mixing in more of her own thoughts or actions in this sphere that aren't tied to a particular brand.
And this is my biggest problem. It just rings false. Just a lot of platitudes but no actual action behind the words. I wouldn’t have an issue if she was just shilling stuff on social media a lot of celebrities do that. It’s the way Tessa presents it that her shilling is helping others that irks me. Or that she only works with companies that their mission statement aligns with hers. I looked up the mission statement for Buick and all they say is “to be the premier quality vehicle retailer in the world.” That has nothing to do with empowering women.
 

Sylvia

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October 28, 2020 article:
Excerpt:
Buick has not typically been seen as a “youthful” brand, or one that caters to women. But MacPhee says the Encore in particular is the top female-focused model GM sells, and one of the most female-focused brands in automotive as a whole. To continue that momentum, it is continuing an ambassador-based influencer strategy that has delivered Buick great success over the last three years, bolstered with someone like Virtue.
Virtue has long stood for the empowerment of women in sport in the eyes of Canadians, but with her recent move to Toronto to work on her MBA following her retirement from skating last fall, McPhee says it also allows her to stand for the empowerment of women in business, embodying a busy lifestyle and ambitions many within its target can relate to. He adds that consumers have a more critical eye on influencer partnerships these days, and Virtue allows Buick to touch on those things in a more authentic way.
 

overedge

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There are a million (<---probably an underestimate) organizations and people who claim to be passionate about empowering women or empowering women in business. Hiring a woman to be the spokesperson for a car brand has approximately zero to do with actually empowering women in a meaningful way.
 

Alilou

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There are a million (<---probably an underestimate) organizations and people who claim to be passionate about empowering women or empowering women in business. Hiring a woman to be the spokesperson for a car brand has approximately zero to do with actually empowering women in a meaningful way.
Exactly this! It's all just more blah blah blah. And I'm a Tessa fan - when she's skating.
 

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