We offer novel insights into the role of celebrity in navigating reputation uncertainty, based on a rapidly growing financial services firm. Unusually, celebrity was used to signal prudence, and helped draw attention to changes in the firm’s product mix in response to a favourable regulatory change that had the effect of mitigating reputation uncertainty. Yet paradoxically, the inherently fleeting nature of celebrity raised persistent worries about the firm’s future. We draw out the implications of these findings for how we theorize celebrity in relation to reputation reconstruction. First, as spatially and temporarily bounded and conditioned. Second, as symbiotically linked to particular organizations. Third, through the co-usage of media and traditional social ties. Finally, we argue that successful reputation building cannot succeed without the ability to pick favourable circumstances.