Advantages of Celebrity Endorsement

First of all we see that some researches shown that more than 20 percent of all TV advertisements include celebirities and advertisers pay a lot of money for their services (Belch & Belch, 2001) and advertisers are ready to pay a lot of money to celebrities who are liked and respected by the consumers (Shimp,2003) Because advertisers think that a popular celebrity can effect consumers feelings and their purchase behavior and they believe celebrities can influence the consumers persuasion of the product according to the image of it (Belch & Belch, 2001) It can act as a signboard to the products quality and considerably increase the reputation of a brand (Pringle,2004) and can take the attention of consumers in the markets where motivation to choose between the products is difficult and low (Fill, 2005). Because of this the money advertisers pay for the celebrity endorsers mostly justified (Shimp,2003) And even the investment community see the value of celebritiy endorsers as a remarkable investment and think it is deserved to pay that much money on celebirities (Shimp,2003) There are alot of reasons why celebrity endorsement is a good investment. Due to Fill (2005, p 533) celebrities can make the advertising message to take attention among the clutter and noise in many markets which the noise and clutter is too much. Because using products which have a celebrity relation, consumers can a little bit extra aware of the product and this can be enough for them to joggle the balance in favour of one brand instead of its competitors in the supermarket shelf (Pringle, 2004). There is also some evidences that it is the most effective in sustaining recollection of the advert and the brands name, without giving notice the products type (Friedman & Friedman 1979)

However marketers must first find the celebirity who can best fit and represent the image of the product and its meaning (Belch & Belch, 2001). Because, the credibility of the celebrity is important to create believable relation between the meanings which is associated with the celebrity and the product (Pickton & Broderick, 2005) Therefore brands must consider 3 main components the credibility comprise. They are attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise (Pickton & Broderick 2005) Considering to these components, celebrity endorser must match with the product and the products personality as closely as possible to be credible. Because every product has its own personality and if the celebrity and products personality is very close to each other or very similar with each other then it will be much more effective (Fortini & Campbell 1992). For example a well-known athlete with good reputation and with a good match with the product may convince potential buyers that the product can improve their performance (Belch & Belch, 2001). We can give a lot of examples about it. For example . Nike which is very well known for its consistent use of celebrities to endorse the brand and had made a lot of successful celebrity endorsers collaborations. One of these successful collaboration happened between Nike and Tiger Woods As we all know Nike has a lot of sports equiments and accessories but had no experience in golf. Mostly a brand like Nike expected to be not very successful in golf because golf is a very elite game. However they chose to collaborate with the best golf player in the world and have him endorse the brand. This person is the world-known golf player Tiger Woods. As is known

today, Nike has emerged highly successful in golf because since the company signed with Tiger Woods in 1996, have seen a $50 million revenue growth. Nike's golf line grossed more than $250 million in annual sales. In 2000 he renegotiated a five-year contract estimated at $125 million. Another successful endorsement is also happened between Nike and Micheal Jordan. It became so successful that Nike and Jordan launched a new brand called the Air Jordan line of sport shoes.Furthermore there are other good examples Reebok and tennis player Venus Williams signed the most lucrative endorsement agreement for a female athlete, a five-year, $40-million deal with Reebok. And this campaign became also very successful.

"There are several benefits to having celebrities endorse products or services. Research has indicated that customers are more likely to choose goods and services endorsed by celebrities than those without such endorsements (Agrawal & Kamakura). Another advantage to celebrity-based campaigns is that famous people hold the viewer's attention. In this era of sound-bytes and channel surfing, there is a demand for people's time and focus. For instance, a commercial with the WNBA's Lisa Leslie or NHL's Wayne Gretzky is more likely to keep a television remote control clicker on the channel versus a commercial with a local doctor or dentist. The third benefit of using celebrity endorsers is that s/he can provide testimony for a product or service, particularly when the product has contributed to their celebrity. Consumers may be more likely to try a motor oil endorsed by Al Unser, Jr.. This relationship can increase a consumer's belief and trust in the product and its benefits. The more familiar an endorser, the more likely consumers are to buy the endorsed product (Miciak & Shanklin).

In addition to this the other successful celebrity endorsements are: Calvin Klein Scarlett Johansson Gap - Madonna Adidas - David Beckham Chanel Nichole Kidman Givenchy - LIV TYLER Daniel Craig - Aston Martin Revlon - Cindy Crawford Burberrys - Kate Moss Versace - Madonna

Nike Roger Federer Gilette- David Beckham Rolex Roger Federer Dunlop - John McEnroe Adidas - Prince Naseem Hamed, and so on

In conclusion the good match with product and celebrity can make the advertising more believable (Agrawal & Kamakura 1997; Friedman & Friedman 1979), can improve the brand recognition, create a positive attitude towards the brand name and create a distinct personality for the brand (Agrawal & Kamakura 1997)

Disadvantages of Celebrity Endorsement

The role of celebrities play in peoples lives goes beyond a voyeuristic form of entertainment, but actually fulfils an extremely important research and development function for them as individuals and for society at large Pringle (2004) According to Pringle the role of celebrities in our lives is very effective because they found that their informal IPA survey shows that 84% of them had one time or more, been told that they remind someone famous (Pringle 2004) And perhaps a lot of people empathize theirselves with some sort of celebrities (Pringle 2004) Therefore companies must consider about the solutions of using celebrity endorsement and must be careful about the overshadowing or overexposing which can effects the consumers reception (Belch & Belch, 2001).

In addition to this there are some other potential problems about using celebrities (Fill 2005) Because in long term relationship between the celebrity and the brand can effect the audiences behavior and can have an impact on the consumers. And if the celebrities positive image changes and there would be some problems occur on the consumers perception of the brand (Fill 2005) Because there are some evidences that a companys sales can decline by the negative images of the celebrity who endorsers the brand (Shimp 2003) For example Kate Moss and H&M. After pictured taking drugs in Daily Mirror newspaper, a lot of brands she endorsed such as Chanel, H&M cancelled their campaigns and contracts with her. Chanel didnt renew the contracts with her whereas H&M completely cancelled it. Because the H&M company argued that most of their clients are young people, and any association with drugs can damage the chain's image. Another example of this, Air Jordan's generated revenue sales of $130 million in the

first year. But after Jordan missed 62 games, the sales dropped miserably in the second year. As we can see celebrities can effect the brands image easily.

Another problem is the overshadowing the brand which means that consumers may only give attention to the celebrity and fail to realise the brand (Belch & Belch, 2001; Gellene,1998) and remembers the celebrity but not the messge given by the advertising so celebrity may became at the first place more than the brand and product (Fill 2005). For example Rod McCulloch who is the head of the acting school of communication at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst. Point out that Tiger Woods's involvement in a campaign for shaving products as an example of a celebrity overshadowing the brand: "I can remember him but I don't know what brand he was endorsing and it can't be a great ad if you can't remember the brand."

The other problem about celebrity endorsement is overexposure. This problem occures when a celebrity endorses too many companies and products (Belch & Belch, 2001).For example Tiger Woods and David Beckham. Tiger Woods endorse for Nike, Buick, American Express, Accenture, Electronic Arts and Tag Heuer. David Beckham endorse for Adidas, ESPN, and Motorola, Gilette, Pepsi, even in soccer-lite America and more.Because of endorsing too much company the perceived credibility may suffer (Shimp,2003) .

There are some considerations to using sport celebrities as endorsers. The primary issue concerns the high financial commitment to secure the big name endorsers. Pepsi paid Shaquille O'Neal $25 million to endorse the popular soda product. Tiger Woods received $40 million from Nike to support the company's youth marketing campaign. Although these large companies do not have a problem spending top dollar necessary to acquire famous personalities, most small companies struggle to afford any celebrities, let alone ones that cost $25 or $40 million dollars. It is a bigger risk for the smaller companies to invest large amounts. The State of Celebrity Endorsement in Sport : by Amy Dyson and Douglas Turco (Illinois State University Conclusion

As we can see if the companiess celebirity endorsement be successfull and a celebrity image matchs with the brand and the target audience this good selection can make both company and celebirity gains (Shimp, 2003) but if the celebrity endorsement doesnt work, marketers must think about the consequences of the bad match. Nevermore celebrity endorsement is effective and attractive and take peoples attention (Fill,2005)

Advantages from using celebrity endorsement

A celebrity can enhance brand equity (Till, 1998) Consumers attitude toward a brand can be changed or affected by celebrity (Till, 1998). Celebrity can contribute, freshen and add a new dimension for a brand (Till, 1998). Culture road block can be manipulated by using celebrity with worldwide reputation (Kaikati, 1987). 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. Atkin and Block (1983) suggests that celebrities may help advertisements stand out from surrounding clutter, thus improving their communicative ability Advertisers believe, that consumers will buy products associated with people they admire and respect (Wright, 2000). Celebrity endorsement can underpin competitive differential advantage among other companies (Wright, 2000) Celebrities make advertisement believable (Kamins et. al., 1989) They help in brand name recognition (Petty, Cacioppo, Schermann, 1983) Enhance message recall (Friedman and Friedman, 1979) Influence consumers purchase intentions (Tripp, Jensen, Carlson, 1994)

Create a distinct personality to the endorsed brand (McCracken, 1989).

But it is not without risk, the negative aspects of celebrity endorsement also should be considered. Disadvantage from using celebrity endorsement

Consumers skepticism; consumers might not believe that the endorsers really consume the product that they endorse (Hsu and McDonald, 2002). Consumers give less credibility to celebrities who endorse many products (Tripp et al., 1994). On the one hand, single endorser for one product might be seen as boredom. On the other hand, consumers might get confused by using multiple celebrity endorsement (Hsu and McDonal, 2002). Louie and Obermiller (2002) state that celebrities who are blamed for negative events (e.g. accidents) can have detrimental effects on the products they endorse. Another risk can arise if celebrity loses his/her fame, his/her image changes resulting to contradicting image of endorsed brand Vampire effect or celebrity vamping can be perceived, when endorsing celebrity is too attractive, drawing attention away from the product (Rossiter and Percy, 1997) endorsers effectiveness is reduced when there is a bad fit between the endorsing person and the product (Till and Shimp, 1998)