Celebrity Brand

Endorsement

Prepared By: Ravishankar. I
Roll No.: 215112005













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Endorsement
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In todays competitive world consumers have lots of choice in satisfying their needs
and wants. The prerequisite of any business is to showcase their products/services in the
eyes of the potential consumers. For this marketer use stars to provide services through
endorsement to influence purchase but this can also be a nightmare unless accompanied
by a powerful idea, effective and flawless positioning.
This paper analyzes the relationship between the brand and celebrity endorsement and
the behavior of the consumer in their purchase decision. Especially in Indian market the
attitude of the consumer changes at a rapid pace and they are becoming more aware of
the products that they use to define their self.

Who is celebrity?
A person who enjoys public recognition from a large share of a certain group of
people and uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in
advertisements is known as a celebrity. (McCraken, 1989). They are usually known to the
public for their accomplishments in areas other than the product endorsed by them.
(Friedman & Friedman, 1979). This stands true for classic forms of celebrities such as
actors like Shah Rukh Khan, models like Milan Somen, Sports athletes like Sachin
Tendulkar and entertainers like Malaika Arora Khan but also for less obvious groups
such as businessmen like the and Ambanis or politicians like Rahul Gandhi.(Schlecht,
2003).
A celebrity who represents a brand or company over an extended period of time often
in print and TV ads as well as in personal appearances is usually called a companys
spokesperson. (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1997) The reason for using celebrities a
spokesperson goes back to their huge potential influences. Compared to other endorsers,
types, famous people achieve a higher degree of attention and recall. They increase
awareness of a companys advertising create positive feelings towards brands and are
perceived by consumers as more entertaining (Solomon, 2002) Using a celebrity in
advertising is therefore likely to positively affect consumers brand attitude and purchase
intentions.

What is Brand?
According to Shunu Sen, it is a unique offering to which functional and emotional
associations get attached. A brand is a product that adds other dimensions and
differentiates it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need.
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Brand building is not confined to merely advertising or creating visibility it is about
offering the right marketing mix elements at right time. Ambassador, Binny, Liberty and
Amurtanjan are some of the brands which lost their pioneering market dominance in the
changing market environment.
In this era of digital marketing, whether they use celebrities or not the USP of a brand
continues to be critical. There is a mix of opinion among the consumers about the brand
and entertainment involved in it, but for advertisers the brand should sell with a USP
and this position a brand strongly in the mind of the consumer. Fevistick (adhesive in the
form of a stick) had convenience its buyers.

Role of celebrities in endorsement
Celebrities are mainly used to influence the consumer who comes across these
advertisements as it is accessed in the consumers mind for many days even after the
advertisement. Celebrity endorsement has not always helped in promoting the product but
it has been developed considerably over the years. It is very expensive to endorse a
celebrity for a product but in the long run it has helped in increasing the sales of the
product. Celebrities are also interested in endorsing themselves in the product as they get
compensation for it and their image is been developed considerably.
Businesses have long sought to distract the attention of the potentials customers that
live in a world of ever increasing commercial bombardment. Everyday consumers are
exposed to thousands of voices and images in magazines, news paper, and on billboards,
websites, radio and television. Every brand attempts to steal a fraction of an unsuspecting
persons time to inform him or her of the amazing and different attributes of the product
at hand. Because of the constant media saturation that most people experience daily, they
eventually become numb to the standard marketing techniques. The challenge of the
marketer is to find a hook the subjects attention.
Celebrities as brands is a concept-selling challenge, as the current notion of celebrity
management is far from ideal its perceived as a business that merely attaches celebrity
to the brand to get that added advantage. However, the actual job is not mere brokerage --
- its about selecting a celebrity whose characteristics are congruent with the brand
image. Using celebrities in advertising dates back to the late nineteenth century and this
common advertising practice has drawn a considerable amount of academic and practical
attention. Most academic investigations of celebrity endorsement have been
contextualized in the realm of source credibility and attractiveness models, and suggest
that celebrities exert their influence on consumer through perceived attributes such as
expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness, familiarity, and likeability.
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Celebrities embody a collection of culturally relevant images, symbols, and values. As
the images of the celebrity become associated with the products through endorsement, the
meanings they attach to the product are transferred to consumer through and
consumption. Therefore, the practice for celebrity endorsement should be closely related
to the cultural context in which the images of celebrities are formed and individual
celebrities are selected to be linked with particular products.
Celebrity endorsements are very expensive. Therefore their use in an ad should be
justified. In other words, the message strategy for a brand should strongly warrant the use
a known face in an idea. Sadly, very often the celebrity is hired first and an idea is then
weaved around his or her presence.
The important thing to remember is that putting a celebrity in an ad is not an idea in
itself. Unfortunately, this is how most celebrities are being used in Indian advertising,
where they just become a prop. Ideally, there should be an idea that makes the celebrity
relevant to the product and the consumer.
Celebrity endorsements work best when the celebrity is not introducing the brand.
When the product already has a strong identity and a USP that is well established, then a
celebrity can come in and give the brand an added fillip and generate some more interest
value. However, what is of paramount importance is to find a complete fit between the
values of the brand and the values of the celebrity. One needs to create a unique situation
or story that links the celebrity to the product.

Fundamentals of celebrity endorsements
In India, business has used celebrity endorsements as the main brand building tool.
Before any brand signs on a celebrity, they should consider three main aspects.
Attractiveness of the celebrity: This principle states that an attractive endorser
will have a positive impact on the endorsement. The endorser should be attractive to the
target audience in certain aspects like physical appearance, intellectual capabilities,
athletic competence, and lifestyle. It has been proved that an endorser that appears
attractive as defined above has a greater chance of enhancing the memory of the brand
that he/she endorses.
Credibility of the celebrity: This principle states that for any brand-celebrity
collaboration to be successful, the personal credibility of the celebrity is crucial.
Credibility is defined here as the celebrities perceived expertise and trustworthiness. As
celebrity endorsements act as an external cue that enable consumers to sift through the
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tremendous brand clutter in the market, the credibility factor of the celebrity greatly
influences the acceptance with consumers.
Meaning transfer between the celebrity and the brand: This principle states that
the success of the brand-celebrity collaboration heavily depends on the compatibility
between the brand and the celebrity in terms of identity, personality, positioning in the
market vis--vis competitors, and lifestyle. When a brand signs on a celebrity, these are
some of the compatibility factors that have to exist for the brand to leverage the
maximum from that collaboration.
Even though these three major principles must be adhered to by companies, practically
it might be difficult to find celebrities that satisfy all these three conditions. Depending
on the nature of the brand and the kind of product being used, companies can selectively
emphasize one factor over the other.
The success of any brand can be identified in many ways. Award the celebrity who is
associated with the brand and who created the awareness and attractiveness among the
users. This year Anushka Sharma, was honoured as the celebrity endorser for Reliance
Communications Limited at the NDTV Good Times Gadget Guru Awards. Anushka was
appointed the ambassador for the brand in 2011. Her success in films has created a brand
for herself and the girl next door image adds to it. Canon Power Shot cameras, skincare
brand Nivea, Kara tissues, and Joy face wash, among many more brands leveraging the
actors effervescent and youthful appeal. The actor recently bagged endorsement deals
for TVS Scooty, a move widely seen as an attempt by the brand to strengthen its youth-
centric positioning.

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The extent to which celebrities contribute to enhancement of a brands image
continues. The scale, however, seems to be tilted in the favour of celebrities with a
number of big brands and organizations continuing to use them below the list of top 10
brands endorsed by celebrities.



The percentage of film stars endorsing brands has gone down this year, and that of
sports personalities has increased. However, in the top 10 brands using celebrities for
endorsement, Pepsi is the only brand that uses sports celebrities extensively.


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The absence of sports personalities from these brands ads might be due to the
category they belong to. However, as compared to same period last year, Jan- Sept 2011
has seen a 7 per cent jump in endorsements by sports personalities. TV actors and
actresses endorsing brands has also increased by 1 per cent each though it does not
amount to much, considering the miniscule number of television actors that really do
endorsements. Interestingly, 76 per cent endorsements are still done by film stars despite
a 10 per cent dip over the previous year.

The table below lists the share of the pie endorsed by film, sports and TV
personalities.



Moving now to individual celebrities, Shahrukh Khans movies may have not really
broken box office records of late but it has by no means undermined his position as the
leading celebrity endorser/brand ambassador.



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The health of a brand can definitely be improved up to some extent by celebrity
endorsement. But one has to remember that endorsing a celebrity is a means to an end
and not an end in itself.
An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool that
magnifies the effects of a campaign. The fact to be emphasised is that celebrities alone do
not guarantee success, as consumers nowadays understand advertising. People realize that
celebrities are being paid a lot of money for endorsements and this knowledge makes
them cynical about celebrity endorsements.
A celebrity is used to impart credibility and aspiration values to a brand, but the
celebrity needs to match the product. A good brand campaign idea and an intrinsic link
between the celebrity and the message are musts for a successful campaign. Celebrities
are no doubt good at generating attention, recall and positive attitudes towards
advertising provided that they are supporting a good idea and there is an explicit fit
between them and the brand. On the other hand, they are rendered useless when it comes
to the actual efficiency of the core product, creating positive attitudes to brands, purchase
intentions and actual sales.
According to Katyal (2007), there are certain parameters that postulate compatibility
between brand image and the celebrity, which are as follows:
Celebritys fit with the brand image.
CelebrityTarget audience match
Celebrity associated values.
Costs of acquiring the celebrity.
CelebrityProduct match.
Celebrity controversy risk.
Celebrity availability.
Celebrity credibility.
Celebrity popularity and physical attractiveness
Celebrity prior endorsements.
Whether celebrity is a brand user.
Celebrity profession.
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Indian perspective on celebrity branding
The latter part of the '80s saw the burgeoning of a new trend in India brands started
being endorsed by celebrities. Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons were
roped in to endorse prominent brands. Advertisements, featuring stars like Tabassum
(Prestige pressure cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving
Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings) became common. Probably, the first ad to
cash in on star power in a strategic, long-term, mission statement kind of way was Lux
soap. This brand has, perhaps as a result of this, been among the top three in the country
for much of its lifetime. The objective was to garner faster brand recognition, association
and emotional unity with the target group.
In the Indian context, it would not be presumptuous to state that celebrity
endorsements can aggrandize the overall brand. Example of advertisement campaigns
featuring celebrities, which resulted in brand building and growth in volumes.
Cadburys and Amitabh Bachchan: The commercial, a testimonial by Bachchan a factory
visit, was launched to rebuild the trust in the brand. Twelve weeks after the campaign
was launched, the sales reached 90 per cent of volumes prior to the worm crisis. Big Bs
presence helped the company to get media coverage that added to the campaigns impact.
Santro and Shah Rukh Khan: Shah Rukh was roped in Santro ad to strike an immediate
bond with the consumers. Shah Rukh Khan is an unconventional superhero with a quirky
acting style that matched the image of Santro.
Munch and Rani Mukherjee: The campaign for Munch was aired on TV roped Rani
Mukherjee to give a big brand feel. The company got incredibly good result in recall
and the ad was a big hit with kids. Rani was used as a consumer and not as a film star.
Sachin Tendulkar and Boost: Research indicated that the brands association with Sachin
has consistently been successful in strengthening the brands core values and building
brand stature. Kids look up to Sachin as a true hero, want to emulate everything that he
does and cant seem to get enough of him.

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Global examples
Globally, firms have been juxtaposing their brands and themselves with celebrity
endorsers. The latest successful endorsers from the world of cosmetics to the automobile
world and even elections are noted below:
Rihanna reign on the brands like Vita Coco, Giorgio Armani, Nivea all of whom
got her to rep their products this past year. Rihanna also launched her own
fragrance, Rebl Fleur, for which she is the spokesperson.
With an uber successful music career and fashion and fragrance lines of her own,
Beyonc is already a cash cow, but the singing diva has successfully (as well as
lucratively) lent her star power to a number of brands during 2011, including
LOreal, DirecTV and General Mills.
Lady Gaga was recently named the top-earning female artist of 2011 and with
good reason, thanks to lucrative endorsement deals with Google, Zynga, Gilt and
MAC.
Queen Latifahs long partnership with CoverGirl cosmetics as the face of many of
the brands beauty products as well as her own cosmetic line, the CoverGirl Queen
collection.
Hollywood industry uses the latest political buzz by endorsing a candidate, and
their interviews now focus from publicity to political preference.
Tiger Woods is ranked as one of the most popular brand ambassador. He endorses
TAG Heuer.


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Effectiveness of Noncelebrity endorsements
According to Tom et al (1992) results endorsers were more effective in creating a link
to the product than celebrity endorsers based on the classical conditioning paradigm. This
argument was based on the fact that companies had more controlling power over created
endorsers and they build these characters in such a manner that they are fitting with the
brand and target audience and also that these characters were not allowed to endorse
more than one brand. The celebrity endorsers on the other hand had created a persona of
their own over time and the company lacked control over them.
Recently a number of brands in India are staying away from celebrity endorsement;
instead they are creating unique fictional characters that appeal to a large number of
consumers. Mascots can be regarded as the face of a brand. Be it the Amul Girl who is a
part of every household since 1967, Chintamani, 2005, the common man RK Laxman,
1954, Maharaja 1946 or the latest ZooZoo. Mascots provide an identity to a brand
which is equivalent to the brand itself.


Strengths of a celebrity endorsing a Brand
Brands have been leveraging celebrity appeal for a long time. Across categories,
whether in products or services, more and more brands are banking on the mass appeal of
celebrities. As soon as a new face ascends the popularity charts, advertisers queue up to
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have it splashed all over. The accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by
the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand:
Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of
trust for that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new
products. We had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign. At launch, Shah Rukh Khan endorsed
Santro and this ensured that brand awareness was created in a market, which did not even
know the brand.
Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking
the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable. In the
case of Kalyan Jewelers, where they used top celebrities in India like Amitab Bachchan
and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan successively to create awareness among the people.
PR coverage: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive
celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage. A good example of integrated
celebrity campaigns is one of the Worlds leading pop groups, the Spice Girls, who have
not only appeared in advertisements for Pepsi, but also in product launching and PR
events. Indeed, celebrity-company marriages are covered by most media from television
to newspapers (e.g. The Spice Girls and Pepsi)
Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the
celebrity with the brand thereby increasing the recall value. Sachin Tendulkar for Boost,
MRF, Aviva and Amitab Bachchan for Cadbury, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Parker
and Golf champion Tiger Woods has endorsed Accenture, Rolex, and Nike.
Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and
advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.
Aamir Khan is one of the celebrities who have the ability to attract the consumers based
on the genuineness he poses. He is national brand ambassador of UNICEF to promote
nutrition & child rights apart from the other commercial brands like Tata Sky, Titan, and
Samsung
Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various
demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).
Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a
good bet to generate interest among the masses. Khans and Bachchans and young
cricketers have these attractions
Celebrity is able to build brand credibility in a short period of time (Abbot et al.,
2001). Furthermore, Mullikin and Petty (2006) state that appearing of celebrity in
advertising can built some independent credibility to the advertisement.
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Weakness of a celebrity endorsing a brand:
The celebrity approach has a few serious risks:
The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the
product: Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna,
and Michael Jackson. Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand,
celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse
The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity
overshadowing the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand,
then the audience will remember the celebrity and not the brand. Examples are the
campaigns of Dawn FrenchCable Association and Leonard Rossiter Cinzano. Both of
these campaigns were aborted due to celebrities getting in the way of effective
communication. Castrol commercial featuring Rahul Dravid is another example.
Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may
lose his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances. For example,
the 2003 Cricket World Cup also threw up the Shane Warne incident, which caught Pepsi
off guard. With the Australian cricketer testing positive for consuming banned substances
and his subsequent withdrawal from the event, bang in the middle of the event, PepsiCo -
the presenting sponsor of the World Cup 2003 - found itself on an uneasy wicket
Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to overexposure:
The novelty of a celebrity endorsement gets diluted if he does too many advertisements.
This may be termed as commoditisation of celebrities, who are willing to endorse
anything for big bucks. Example, MRF was among the early sponsors of Tendulkar with
its logo emblazoned on his bat. But now Tendulkar endorses a myriad brands and the
novelty of the Tendulkar-MRF campaign has scaled down.
Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsburys
encountered a problem with Catherina Zeta Jones, whom the company used for its recipe
advertisements, when she was caught shopping in Tesco. A similar case happened with
Britney Spears who endorsed one cola brand and was repeatedly caught drinking another
brand of cola on tape.
Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand: Celebrities
manifest a certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an
egalitarian congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the brand.
Each celebrity portrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and
lifestyle. Madonna, for example, is perceived as a tough, intense and modern women
associated with the lower middle class. The personality of Pierce Brosnan is best
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characterized as the perfect gentlemen, whereas Jennifer Aniston has the image of the
good girl from next door.

Opportunities on celebrity endorsements:
Revive a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the
stagnant chyawanprash category and staving off competition from various brands, Dabur
India roped in Bachchan for an estimated Rs 8 crore.
Mitigating a tarnished image: Cadbury India wanted to restore the consumer's
confidence in its chocolate brands following the high-pitch worms controversy; so the
company appointed Amitabh Bachchan for the job. While Aamir Khan led the Coke
fightback as an ingenious and fastidious Bengali who finally gets convinced of the
product's `purity'
Celebrity Appeal in the region: Steve Waugh campaigning for Tourism
Australia in India since he was one of the popular celebrities from Australia and could
carry the message of Australia as a tourist destination. Other celebrities like Kylie
Minogue, Nicole Kidman from Australia can be prospective endorsers for Brand
Australia but not in the region of India.
Celebrity endorsement can underpin competitive differential advantage among
other companies and sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.

Potential Threats on celebrity endorsements:
Today almost all major brands which play in the business to consumer space are
endorsed by either sports stars or movie stars. I have no doubt in my mind that
endorsements help in brand recall and help in positioning for a particular product. But of
late there have been many challenges with celebrity endorsements; I would like to list
some that come to my mind.
One star too many brands - Lets look at the Indian cricket captain Mahinder
Singh Dhoni. He endorses close to 16 brands. So if a prospect is to name the top brands
Dhoni is associated with I guess e would stop with 5-6. Just does this simple exercise
close your eyes and try to recall the brands. I tried it I got Orient, TVS, Aircel, Pepsi,
Mak, Blank Blank Blank. I cant recall beyond that.
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One product too many stars - Pepsi is a good example which has Ranbir
Kapoor, MS Dhoni, and a host of other celebrities endorsing it. Similarly Coke has
national as well as regional endorsements.
Long association of a brand with a star - Sachin Tendulkar used to endorse
Pepsi, and then he shifted to Coke but I still associate Sachin with Pepsi. Some
associations are hard to break.
So these are just some of the reasons there can be many more. Also some brands never
use celebrities like Amul, Fevicol, Bajaj Automobile, Harley Davidson, Kellogs Chocos,
Surf excel and many more for their endorsements. Even Coke does not use celebrities
outside of India.

CONCLUSION
Celebrity who endorses a brand has a greater impact than just advertising a product.
Their loyalty, resonance and resemblance towards the brand, along with positioning,
pricing and promotion of a brand would take the business to new heights. With the use
of the celebrity, the effect is magnified so as to allow the consumer to equate the
personality and the brand together.
Hence it can be concluded that since there is a heavy advertising clutter and almost no
room left for actual product differentiation in markets, celebrity endorsement strategy can
be used to differentiate products from that of the competitors in mature and saturated
markets, provided the right celebrity is found.
Indians love their celebrities and blindly follow their suit. This has proved to be a
boon for the marketers and celebrity endorsement is just getting better by the day. It has
now become an indispensible part of the marketing communication strategy. Although
endorsing a brand by celebrity could increase the chance of selling, it is the responsibility
for the product/service to satisfy the needs of the consumer.






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