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person from film fraternity, athletes, and sports, modelling world etc. it helps in
promoting the product brand and also increasing the sales of the product. Celebrity
endorsement not only has developed in recent years, it is being used from the past
for promoting the product. This type of marketing strategy is used to promote the
product and has proved in itself a boon in advertising world. It is 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 person's 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 subject's attention. Also from
the marketing communications perspective, It is vital that firms design strategies
that help to underpin competitive differential advantage for the firm's product or
services.
The term celebrity refers to an individual who is known to the public (actor
figure, entertainer, etc.) for his or her achievements the areas other than that of the
product class endorsed (Friedman and Friedman, 1979). Celebrities appear in public
in different ways. First, they appear in public when fulfilling their profession, e.g.,
Viswanathan Anand, who plays chess in front of the audience. Furthermore,
celebrities appear in public by attending special celebrity events, e.g., award
ceremonies, Inauguration or world premieres of movies. In addition, they present in
news, fashion, magazines, and tabloids', which provide second information on events
and the private life of celebrities through mass media channel (e.g., Smiriti Irani
being regulated featured in various publications). Last but not the least, celebrities
act as spokes-people in advertising to promote products and services, which is
referred to celebrity endorsement.
(http://pakistanmba.jimdo.com )
Celebrity is a person who has excelled in his / her field of action or activity. In our
day to day activity, we perform many acts, may at home, at work place, on field in
sports, in social life. But these acts may be daily routine or just "acts" per say giving
no extra-ordinary results, not noticed by anybody surrounding, and not taken into
notice by Media. E.g. A bandit queen of chambal valley was very famous, but was
terror before her surrender to police. But she never becomes celebrity. But an actress
Ms Seema Biswas who acted in film on "Bandit Queen" on life of that bandit, became
very famous and a Celebrity. They pull crowds with their presence only. If it is
understood that BIG B is coming for shooting a film, to a particular location on a
particular day , then there is big commotion in that area. Police worry about law and
order situation, even young generation throng there in big nose to have glimpses of
BIG B and even wait since early morning leaving aside their. Celebrities are people
who enjoy public recognition by a large share of a certain group of people. Whereas
attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills are just
examples and specific common characteristics cannot be observed, it can be said
that within a corresponding social group, celebrities generally differ from the social
norm and enjoy a high degree of public awareness.
(McCracken, Grant (1989), "Who is the Celebrity Endorser?" Journal of Consumer
Research, 16 (December), 310-321)
A product endorsement is a form of testimonial from someone which indicates
that they like or approve of a product. Commonly, product endorsements are
solicited from people who are socially prominent, allowing companies to advertise
their products with statements like as used by such-and-such an actress, or the
official product of company/event X. It's hard to miss a product endorsement on
product packaging and in advertisements; most companies keep their endorsements
front and centred so that they are always in the public eye. The concept of the
product endorsement is quite ancient. In England, for example, several companies
have been advertising themselves as by appointment to the Queen for hundreds of
years, indicating that they enjoy the patronage of the British royal family. Consumers
UNDERSTANDING
CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR
AND
DECISION
MAKING
PROCESS
Consumer behaviour is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they
buy
and
why
they
buy.
It
blends
elements
from
psychology,
sociology,
This stage may result into three situations, first is satisfaction where customer is
satisfied and he got expected results but this does not necessitates the repeat
purchase by the consumer. Second is dissonance where the consumer is not satisfied
as he got less utility or less than expected result from the consumption or product
performance. Third is Delight, here the consumer gets more than expected
satisfaction and utility and this will assure the repeat purchase and creation of brand
loyalty.
(Friedman, Hershey H. and Linda Friedman (1979), "Endorser Effectiveness by
Product Type," Journal of Advertising Research, 19 (5), 63-71)
(McCracken, Grant (1989), "Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations
of the Endorsement Process," Journal of Consumer Research, 16 (3), 310-321)
Traditional Factors affecting consumer decision making
There are several factors that affect consumer's decision to purchase a brand
and a product. These factors though at time are not very much visible but they make
an impact and affects sales of a product or brand up to a great extent. The table
below shows some of these factors.
Table1. Factors affecting consumer purchasing decision
(Aaker, David A. (1996), Building Strong Brands. New York, NY: The Free Press)
CONCEPT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
Meaning of celebrity endorsement
In India today, the use of celebrity advertising for companies has become a
trend and a perceive winning formula of corporate image building and product
marketing. Associating a brand with a top-notch celebrity can do more than perk up
brand recall. It can create linkages with the stars appeal, thereby adding refreshing
and new dimensions to the brand image.
In a world filled with faces, how many do you remember? Admittedly the ones
that evoke some kind of feel in you, whether it's humours, acceptance, appreciation
or recognition. These are the faces you'd turn to look at, the ones that would stop
you in your tracks. And that's when you have more than just a face. You have
personality.
"Personality that's reflective of your brand and promises to take it that
extra mile".
The argument supports a position by citing the endorsement of someone who is
well known famous. The person need not necessarily be an authority implies that the
endorser's game alone is sufficient to establish the truth of the position.
As existing media get increasingly cluttered, the need to stand out has become
paramount- and celebrities have proved to be the ideal way to ensure brand
prominence. Synergizing personality with product and message can create an instant
breakthrough. Result? Brand buzz. People begin to notice, opportunities come about.
People want to be part of the brand.
"Touch it. Feel it. Experience it."
'Celebrities as brands' is a concept-selling challenge, as the current notion of
celebrity management is far from ideal - it's perceived as a business that merely
attaches celebrity to the brand to get that added advantage. However, the actual job
is not mere brokerage --- it's about selecting a celebrity whose characteristics' are
congruent with the brand image. Before we proceed to identify the right celebrity or
personality and test the correspondence bias lets first have a look at the literature
survey done, address a few issues involved in celebrity advertising and understand
the methodology of the study. 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,
cultural
difficulties.
Others
claim
that
despite
some
observed
some bigger companies from their global experience introduced the concept of
celebrity endorsement. HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty soap
Lux since the fifties.
Phase 2: The Growth Phase (1980-1990)
the
introduction
of
television
added
variable
effective
medium
of
communication. Indian stars going global with events like Asiads and World Cup
victory. Vimal, Thums-Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the other brands that used
star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. There was a spurt of advertising,
featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige Pressure-cooker), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag Panmasaala), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh
Suitings).
Phase 3: Globalisation
In highly competitive markets, the following realities about brand management
exist: 1. Product differentiating factors are duplicable and imitable.
2. All long existing and successful brands imbue their products with a meaning.
(www.rediff.com - article by Country head, O&M India)
MECHANISM AND THEORIES OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
Celebrity endorsements give a brand a touch of glamour and the hope that a
famous face will provide added appeal and name recognition in a crowded market. In
the battle for the mind, you get the customer excited by showing him a known face,
and an effective demand is created. In short it helps increase the recall value of the
brand. A piece of research states that the target audience age group of 15-30 gets
influenced first by cricketers, then Bollywood stars and only then music, festivals and
food4.
The following are the theories of understanding celebrity endorsement:Source Credibility Theory
to
Source
Attractiveness
Theory,
which
is
based
on
social
explains
the
message
acceptance
in
two
ways:
Identification
and
Meaning Transfer: This stage transfers those meanings to the product. When
skillfully portrayed, celebrities can communicate this image more powerfully than lay
endorsers.
Meaning Capture: This assumes that consumers purchase products not merely
for their functional value but also for their cultural and symbolic value. The theory
says that consumers buy the endorsed product with the intention of capturing some
of the desirable meanings with which celebrities have passed on to the product. This
is more eminent in lifestyle products like clothes, perfumes, cell phones etc.
(Tom, Gail, Rebecca Clark, Laura Elmer, Edward Greech, Joseph Maselli, Jr. and
Harmona Sandhar (1992), "The use of created versus celebrity spokesperson in
advertisements", Journal of consumer Marketing, 9(4), 45-51)
(Misra,S and S,. Beatty, "Celebrity spokesperson and Brand Congruence". Journal
of
Business Research, 21 (1990) pp159-173)
HOW CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT INFLUENCE THE CONSUMER
The basis for the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed advertising can be linked to
Kelman's processes of social influence as discussed by Friedman and Friedman.
According to Kelman, there are three processes of social influence, which result in an
individual adopting the attitude advocated by the communicator:
Compliance, Identification & Internalization:- These latter two processes are
particularly applicable to celebrity-endorsed advertising.
Compliance infers that another individual or group of individuals influences an
individual cause he or she hopes to achieve a favourable reaction from this other
group. This process of social influence is not directly applicable to celebrity
advertising because there is little, if any, interaction between the celebrity and the
consumer.
Identification applies to the situation wherein the individuals emulate the
attitudes or behaviour of another person or group, simply because they aspire to be
like that person or group. This process is the basis for referent power. It was found
that celebrities are more commonly liked than a typical consumer spokesperson.
Internalization as a process of social influence is said to occur when individuals
adopt the attitude or behaviour of another person because that behaviour is viewed
as honest and sincere and is congruent with their value system. The effectiveness of
celebrity advertising traditionally has not been strongly linked to this process, as a
celebrity's reason for promoting a product can just as easily be attributed by the
consumer to an external motive (i.e., payment of fee) as to an internal motive (i.e.,
the celebrity's true belief in the value and benefit of the product). An important issue
of concern relates to the development of a strategy for use in Celebrity Advertising,
which benefits from the dramatic impact of dual support of both the identification
and internalization processes of social influence. Celebrities are well-liked, but the
techniques that can be used to enhance their credibility as spokespeople, and
therefore, tie-in more closely with the internalization process needs to be looked into.
Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers
A study conducted by Charles Atkin and Martin Block focussed on alcohol
advertising and young audience to examine the impact of celebrity advertising in
terms of social effects of advertising. The sponsoring Company is the underlying
source of any advertising message, but the individual models depicted in the
advertising serve as the more visible communicator in many cases. The most
thoroughly studied source quality is credibility research conducted by social
psychologists over the past 30 years demonstrates that a source perceived as highly
credible is more persuasive than a low credibility sender
(Hovland and Weiss, 1951; McGuire, 1969; Hass, 1981).
The sources that companies use to present their advertising message typically
attempt to project a credible image in terms of competence trustworthiness or
dynamism. Celebrity endorsers are considered to be highly dynamic, with attractive
and engaging personal qualities. Audience may also trust the advice given by some
famous person, and in certain cases, celebrities may even be perceived as
competent to discuss the product. Friedman, Termini and Washington cite a 1975
study showing that celebrities are featured in 155 of prime-time TV commercials. A
later survey reported that this proportion was up to 20% (Advertising Age, 1978).
The most widely used celebrities are sports figures, actors or other types of
entertainers. There are several reasons why a famous endorser may be influential: They attract attention to the advertisement in the cluttered stream of messages
They are perceived as being more entertaining
They are seen as trustworthy because of apparent lack of self-interest.
The final element is due to the wide-spread attribution that major stars do not
really work for the endorsement fee, but are motivated by genuine affection for the
product (Kamen et al, 1975).
(Friedman, Termini and Washington, 1977)
ENDORSEMENT: RISKS VS. RETURNS
The basic assumption underlying celebrity endorsement is that the value
associated with the celebrity is transferred to the brand and therefore help create an
image that can be easily referred by consumers. Consequently by association the
brand can very quickly establish the
creditability get immediate recognition and improve sales. However, there are
many risks associated with such endorsers. The brand could slide down just as
quickly as it moved up the consumers mind. There are many cases of brands failing
in the market place despite famous celebrities endorsing them.
Risks
Celebrity overshadows the brand: In certain cases where the celebrity values
category benefit and brand values are not closely linked. There are chances that the
celebrity is remembered more than a brand. Cyber media research study reveals that
80% of the respondents approached for research remembered the celebrity but
could not recall the brand being endorsed.
Necessary Evil: Marketing have felt that once the brand rides the back of
celebrity it becomes difficult to promote it without the star as it becomes difficult to
separate the role of message and the role of the celebrity in selling the brand. The
celebrity activity becomes an addiction and the task to find substitute becomes more
and more difficult.
Celebrity creditability a question mark for the competent customer: Today's
marketing endorsement has to deal with a competitive and knowledgeable customer
who has begun to voice his opinion about their perception about endorsing a brand.
Celebrity is said to befool the public as he is paid to sell and communicate good
things about the brand. Hence the question of creditability of the celebrity being
chosen to protect the brand is becoming pertinent.
Conflicting Image: A mix match between the image of the credibility and the
product can damage both. Unless there is a synergy between celebrities owns image
and that of product category the strategy of endorsement is rendered futile.
Multiple Endorsement: The poly endorsement have lead to a celebrity clutter.
Celebrity endorsing multiple products and multi brands in a category has left the
customer confused and has lead to dilution in the celebrities' value.
Influence of Celebrity scandals and moral violation on brands : a number of
entertainers and athletes have been involved in activities that could embarrass the
companies whose products the endorsed. When the endorser's image is finished. It
actually leads to a greater fall in image for the brand. For instance Azharuddin was
charge with betting and match fixing, which created negative feeling and repulsive
thoughts among people for the products he was endorsing.
Returns
Build Awareness: A new brand can benefit greatly if a celebrity endorses it. It can
attract the customers attention and inquisitiveness to see what product is being
endorsed. Research has shown consumers have a higher level of message recall for
products that are endorsed by celebrities.
Connects Emotionally: some celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan
command great adoration among people. Such celebrities can positively influence
their fans etc. a great extents and hence tend to even connect with the brand
emotionally because of their star enduring it.
Quick Connect: The communication process tends to hasten up due to the more
presence of a celebrity. This is because the star carrying the message tends to click
with the customer more. Because of likeability, recall attractiveness and creditability
thereby helping the company to clearly and quickly pass on the message to the
target customers.
Means of Brand different ion: using a celebrity is a source of brand
differentiation. In a category where a brands is suing a celebrity the first that picks
one up could use it differently itself in the market the same was done by Boost in the
malted beverage category.
Source of Imitation and hence inducing increased product usage: celebrities
actually tend to become models or idols for the target audience who tend to start
using the product just because the celebrity name is attached with it. For instance,
Lux has been used by many as it is a beauty soap recommended by the beauty
queen, Aishwarya Rai.
Better Brand Image: the use of celebrities could also bring in positive image
among the masses for brand. The credibility and authenticity attached with Amitabh
Bachan has inculcated trust for ICICI, Nerolac Paints and many others.
( Clark, Robert C. and Horstman, Ignatius J. (2003) Celebrity Endorsents )
(www.bu.edu/e.con/seminar/micro/pdffav) celebendorse.bu.pdf)
Research methodology
Primary data
Primary data are those which will be collected afresh and for the first time, and
thus happen to be original in character. A structured questioner will be used for the
collection of primary data.
Area of study
The study will be conducted on the peoples of Jodhpur.
Sampling size
Sample size: 100 persons of the city will be interviewed for this research.
Sampling technique
Random sampling technique will be used in this project
Secondary data
These sources contain data, which have been collected and compiled for
detailed study of the topic. The secondary data will be collected from various books,
reports, articles, websites and other sources.
RESULT AND ANALYSIS
The following are the findings regarding the consumer survey conducted by me.
The following graphs show the consumer's perception about different things, as
shown below, their questions:-
Occupation of the
Occupation
No of respondents
Result in %
Business
16
Service class
10
20
Student
25
50
Others
14
50
100
respondent:-
Total
On the basis of research, 50% of the respondents are students, 20% from service
class, 16% from business and 14% from others.
Age of respondent:-
Age
No. of Respondents
Results %
18-25
25
50
26-32
12
24
32-40
10
20
Above 40
Total
50
100
On the basis of survey, more than 60% are between the age group of 18-32.
Gender of the respondent:GenderNo. of respondent
Result in %
Male38
76
female12
24
Total50
100
Among the respondents, 76% are male and 24% are female.
Branded product ownership, among the surveyed people :Branded Product ownership
No. of people
Result in %
Yes
45
90%
No
5
10%
Total
50
100%
90% of the total respondents use branded product.
Do you think companies investing huge money, for using celebrities help them in
increasing their total revenue?
No of people
Number
Yes
27
54
No
12
24
Cant Say
12
24
Total
50
100
More than half the surveyed population believes that a celebrity helps an
organization in increasing its total revenue.
Does the celebrity helps in increasing the market share of the company's brand?
No. of people
Result in %
Usually true
18
36%
Usually not
9
18%
Can't say
23
46%
Total
50
100%
36% of people believe that celebrity doesn't help in increase market share, but
46% of them believe that celebrity mostly helps in increase market share of a brand.
Do you think, a presence of celebrity like Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan in
an advertisement encourages you to buy a product?
No. of people
Result in %
Yes
30
60
No
15
30
Can't say
5
10
Total
50
100
More than 50% people believe that presence of celebrity like Shahrukh Khan and
Hrithik Roshan in an advertisement encourages them to buy a product.
What do you think, do the celebrity themselves uses the product they
themselves endorse?
No. of people
Result in %
Yes
8
16
No
29
58
Can't say
13
26
Total
50
100
On the basis of survey, more than 50% of respondents don't believe that
celebrity themselves uses the product they themselves endorse.
On a personal note what kind of celebrity does you like the most?
No. of people
Result in %
Cricketer
16
32
Politician
1
2
Film star
28
56
Famous personalities
5
10
Total
50
100%
More than 50% among the respondents agree that they like film stars as the
product endorser that they use.
Importance for the consumer:No. of people
Result in %
Price of the product
6
12
Quality of the product
7
14
Value for the money
32
64
Celebrity endorsement
5
10
Total
50
100
More than 60% people believe that value for the money is more important for
them than the celebrity endorsement.
Do you think celebrity endorsement is an important thing in brand promotion?
No. of people
Result in %
Yes
11
22
No
7
14
Can't say
32
64
Total
50
100
More than 60% of the respondents are neither agree nor disagree that celebrity
endorsement is an important thing in brand promotion.
Do you think celebrity endorsement is really effective in reaching its goal?
No. of people
Result in %
Yes
17
34%
No
9
18%
Can't say
24
48%
Total
50
100%
34% people believe that celebrity endorsement is effective, 18% are not agree
and 48% can't about this.
Conclusion
Through analysis and research, this term paper brings forth the following
insights: Celebrity endorsements do work in the Indian scenario. The level and the
magnitude of the effect vary with the celebrity and the product category but most
endorsements have a favourable impact.
The consumer looks for a variety of aspects from the endorsement like the
credibility and likeability of the endorser. Credibility also means the fit between the
brand and the celebrity.
Multiple endorsements do clutter the minds of the consumer.
When one endorser endorses many brands, then the recall of the endorsement
depends entirely on the power of the brand. There are definitely some brands that go
unnoticed and the recall for those stands is at a bare minimum. The company in that
case can heighten the advertising content because that grabs a special place in the
mind space of the consumer.
It is not just the financial gains from the endorsements that matter to the
celebrity. They also look for the fit with the brand and what the endorsement might
do to their image.
Professional performance of the endorser is important in deciding the success of
the endorsement. However, the bad performance should be stretched so as to make
sense to the audience.
More than the bad performance in the professional field, it is the association of
the celebrity with a controversy or ill-behaviour that causes negative impact to the
endorsements. During the match fixing scandal in India, the commercials featuring
Ajay Jadeja and Mohammed Azharuddin were all taken off air so that they did not
have a negative effect on the brand.
The celebrities' accessibility, regional appeal factors, popularity, attractiveness,
belief system are some other important platforms, which are raised when we study
the impact of celebrity endorsement on brands.
Studies indicate that celebrity endorsement has worked well in some consumer
segments while failing in others. Few celebrities have been more successful than
those with almost parallel fame. So the role of celebrity endorsement in the
advertising space is equivocal and cannot be seen as a assured strategic tool to win
profits, market share, revenues, etc.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.thedayaftertomorrow.com
www.synovate.com - 2003
www.indiantelevision.com
www.magindia.com
www.blonnet.com
www.rediff.com - article by Country head, O&M India
indiainfoline.com - article 'Celebrity Endorsements in brands.
www.coolavenues.com
http://pakistanmba.jimdo.com
www.rediff.com - article by Country head, O&M India
www.bu.edu/e.con/seminar/micro/pdffavcelebendorse.bu.pdf