pros and cons of celebrity marketing

JAGANNATH INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

A SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT

PROS AND CONS OF CELEBRITY MARKETING

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENT

OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (B.B.A.)

BBA III (M/E)BATCH -2009-2012

Submitted To: Submitted By: Mrs Tanvi Gupta Syed Isabat Hussain Rizvi Project Mentor


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take an opportunity to thank all the people who helped me in

collecting necessary information and making of the report. I am grateful to all

of them for their time, energy and wisdom.

Getting a project ready requires the work and effort of many people. I would

like all those who have contributed in completing this project. First of all, I

would like to send my sincere thanks to MRS TANVI GUPTA for her helpful

hand in the completion of my project.

NAME: SYED ISABAT HUSSAIN RIZVI

DATE:

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgment

Contents

1) Executive Summary……………………………………………………………4

2) Introduction to the Topic…………………………………………………..5

a .Purpose Of Marketing Promotion…………………………………….9

b. Pros and Cons of Celebrity Endorsement………………………..21-22

3) Company Profile…………………………………………………………..32

4) Research Methodology …………………………………………………..47

a. Primary Data

b. Secondary Data

5) Analysis and Interpretation……………………………………………….48

6) Conclusion and Recommendation………………………………………65

a. Questionnaire………………………………………………………….66

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………69

a. Books

b. Magazines

c. Internet

i. Sites……………………………………………………………..70

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

It is a known fact that the best endorsements achieve an eclectic balance between

the product (brand) and the celebrity. Giving a brand a 'face' is more than just a

marketing strategy to increase sales or gain market share, it is a decision that can

change the future of the brand forever.

Choice of the celebrity, hence, is of utmost importance and is usually done based on

many different parameters - appeal, looks, popularity or even just a fantasy figure to

endorse a brand.

In today's highly competitive markets, big brands are at logger-heads when it comes

to products, each having a similar product to that of a rival. Where does one brand

gain that quintessential advantage - advertising, service, promise of trust, or even

the all important price factors? Advertising seems to be the best platform where

brands prefer to compete on - right from hiring the best advertising agencies to

getting the biggest celebrities. What would be the formula to success then? Well, a

good creative agency, a large enough promotional budget and a huge star to

endorse your brand would definitely ensure in the minds of a brand management

team a feeling of security, success and a triumph over the competitors brand.

The general belief among advertisers is that brand communication messages

delivered by celebrities and famous personalities generate a higher appeal, attention

and recall than those executed by non-celebrities. The quick message-reach and

impact are all too essential in today's highly competitive environment.

The different models applied by brands to achieve the full potential of such

endorsements, highlight the need for a convergence between the theoretical and

pragmatic approaches of brand building and effective advertising. The importance of

a celebrity-brand match and the various roles played by them as brand-associates

show the momentum this strategy has gained in the last decade or so. We put

forward certain ideas like 'positioning by association', 'diminishing celebrity utility' and

the Multiplier Effect which show the triangular relationship between the brand, the

consumer and the celebrity.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

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Celebrities have always been the easiest way for a new product launch (consumer

goods) and will remain to do so in the near future on account of their mass appeal

and a world full of star stuck loyal fans. But the impact on the brand is much greater

than just an advertisement showing a celebrity.

We have seen that the correct choice of a celebrity can surely increase sales but

when it comes to long term loyalty and impact on the brand. The effect is yet

somewhat debatable. In the end, the product must deliver for the customer, no

matter who endorses the product, if the customer does not see himself getting value

from his purchase, he will not buy it. But yes, celebrities over time can influence the

loyalty and make a person friendlier to a brand. Brand and celebrities are here to

stay for a long time and in this age of slick advertising and mass media and

unthinkable budgets, celebrities are having a field day charging huge amounts and

making more money than their mainstream professions. But then do they really care

about the brand? Or is it just the money? But the bottom line, celebrity endorsements

are here to stay.

Let us accept one thing - the world of advertising and brand building does not believe

in the Laissez-Faire principle. Unless you reach out to the customer, make him think

and nudge him that little bit, you will fall short of your targets and that is a cardinal

sin, given the competition. The brand managers work on an extremely sleek,

thought-controlling process which may be propounded as the Multiplier Effect. They

are smart, pragmatic people and know very well that Mr. Singh, sitting in his cosy

home in Delhi and watching his favourite action hero driving the brand new LX car

model, would not walk up to the car showroom next day and book one for himself.

They offer simple feelers like concept and lifestyle to him, which are inherent to the

product advertisement, with or without the celebrity endorsement.

With the use of the celebrity, this effect is shrewdly magnified so as to allow the

consumer to equate the personality and the brand together. Hence, whenever the

consumer is watching the several images of her favorite actress alone, it conjures up

multiple impressions of her sipping the XY brand of coffee, each time.

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The brand's ultimate goal is to be at the top of her choice bracket and it achieves this

goal by being omnipresent in her memory through related celebrity imagery. Does it

justify the obscene amounts of money paid to these celebrities? For firms with

annual turnovers in excess of Rs. 1000 crores, an endorsement deal of Rs. 5-6

crores for such a response would indeed be a smart deal. In a Synovate/Blackstone

Market Facts Survey in India in late 2003, almost 47% respondents affirmed celebrity

influence on their purchase behaviour. That's a lot of people influenced by celebrity

endorsement! Talking about successful switchovers by celebrities among

competitive brands, Aamir Khan had a 78% top brand recall with Coke. But such

transitions are rare and involve a lot of hard work behind the scenes to dab any

leftover effects of the celebrity's previous liaison with the competitor.

While speaking of celebrities, we should be very clear as to who this term connotes

to and the powers they carry. Fido Dido for 7-UP, the Amul Girl or Tony the Tiger for

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes are as much a celebrity as any breathing face. They reach

their target consumer, they move the product, and they carry the brand. That's what

counts. Of course, the gestation period is higher in the case of such creatives, but in

the event of a hit, the comparative risks are minimized. After all, they cannot get

drunk, attract a controversy or commit a crime, as long as the management wants. In

short, they are 'safe floaters' vis-à-vis their unpredictable human counterparts.

Undoubtedly, there are many advocates for the clamp down upon the

commercialization of consumer emotions and money-making attitude of endorsers.

But the celebrities have circumvented these allegations by appearing in non-

commercial advertisements. When Aishwarya Rai appeals to the nation to donate

their eyes while she personally pledges them, she strikes a chord with millions of

viewers. Shabana Azmi inspires a sense of tremendous awe and respect while being

shown as visiting HIV patients.

This reverence is what is later harnessed by the brands in the commercial angle.

You grow in stature with the person. No matter how much we raise a hue and cry

over one celebrity being all over the place and marketing just about everything, it still

works for most of us.

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Indeed, the premise that celebrity advertising has the power to propel a brand and

drive the sales can be argued. The Pareto Principle is widely debated and the 80-20

rule does not have many takers in the advertising industry. That, "20% of advertising

creates 80% of demand or sales", may or may not be true. In either case it does not

help. The word remains that for a scintillating endorsement, you need much more

than a glowing face and aesthetic advertising. You should back it up with your

operational and communication skills.

Using a celebrity in advertising is no panacea and the success of this process

depends on several factors as discussed above. The careful selection of celebrity,

matching the target segment and brand values, should be inherently stressed upon.

The advertisers can use the Q Score, developed by a U.S. based marketing

research agency, which considers two factors - awareness and likeability, while

evaluating the celebrity. Another important factor is the flexibility with which the

companies can go in for hedging the risks associated in hiring a celebrity. They

choose personalities from various fields or even appealing to various consumer

perceptions, so that they can minimize the damage in cases of negative publicity due

to any celebrity mistake. The cola brands spread their endorsements across a wide

'variety' of celebrities such that even if one falls, the others are still holding the fort.

Marketing Promotion, a key ingredient in marketing campaigns, consists of a diverse

collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or

greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade.1

Whereas advertising offers a reason to buy, Marketing Promotion offers an incentive

to buy. Marketing Promotion includes tools for consumer promotion (samples,

coupons, cash refund offers, process off, premiums, prizes, patronage rewards, free

trials, warranties, tie-in promotions, cross-promotions, point-of-purchase displays,

and demonstrations); trade promotion (prices off, advertising and display allowances,

and free goods); and sales force promotions (trade shows and conventions, contest

for sales reps, and specialty advertising). These tools are used by most

organizations, including non-profit organizations. Churches, for example, often

sponsor bingo games, theatre parties, testimonial dinners and raffles.

A decade ago, the advertising to sales-promotion ratio was about 60:40.

Today, in many consumer packaged-good companies, Marketing Promotion

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accounts for 65 to 75 percent of the combined budged. Marketing Promotion

expenditures have been increasing as a percentage of combined budget expenditure

annually for the last two decades. Several factors contribute to this rapid growth,

particularly in the consumer markets.2 Promotion is now more accepted by the top

management as an effective sales tool; more product managers are qualified to use

sales-promotion tools; and product managers are under pressure to increase current

sales. In addition, the number of brands has increased; competitors use promotions

frequently; many brands are seen as similar; consumers are more price-oriented; the

trade has demanded more deals from the manufacturers; and the advertising

efficiency has declined because of rising costs, media clutter, and legal restraints.

The rapid growth of sales-promotion media has created clutter similar to the

advertising clutter. Manufacturers have to find ways to rise above the clutter-for

instance, by offering larger coupon-redemption values or using more dramatic point-

of purchase displays and demonstrations.

Purposes of Marketing PromotionSales-promotion tools vary in their specific objectives. A free sample stimulates

consumer trial, whereas a free management-advisory service aims at cementing

long-term relationship with a retailer.

Sellers use incentive-type promotion to attract new triers, to reward loyal customers,

and to increase the repurchase rates of the occasional users. Marketing Promotion

often attracts brand switchers, who are primarily looking for low price, good value, or

premiums. Marketing Promotions are unlikely to turn them into loyal users. Marketing

Promotions used in markets of high brand similarity produce a high sales response

in the short term but little permanent gain in the market share. In markets of high

dissimilarity, Marketing Promotion can alter market shares permanently.

Farris and Quelch cite a number of Marketing Promotion benefits flowing to

manufacturers and consumers.3 Marketing Promotion enable manufacturers to

adjust to short-term variations in supply and demand. They enable manufacturers to

test how high a list price they can charge, because they can always discount it. They

induce the customers to try new products instead of never straying from current

ones. They lead to more varied retail formats, such as every-day-low-price store and

the promotional-pricing store. They promote greater consumer awareness of prices.

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They permit manufacturers to sell more than they would sell at list price. They help

the manufacturer adapt programs to different consumer segments. Consumer

themselves enjoy some satisfaction from being smart shoppers when they take

advantage of price specials.

Today many marketing managers first estimate what they need to spend in trade

promotion, then what they need to spend in consumer promotion. Whatever is left

they will budget for advertising. There is danger, however, in letting advertising take

a back seat, because advertising typically acts to build brand loyalty. The question of

whether or not Marketing Promotion weakens brand loyalty is subject to different

interpretations. Marketing Promotion, with its incessant prices off, coupons, deals

and premiums, may devalue the product offering in the buyers’ minds. Buyers learn

that the list price is largely a fiction. However, before jumping to any conclusion, we

need to distinguish between price promotions and added-value promotions.

However, usually, when a brand is price promoted too often, the consumer begins to

devalue it and buy it mainly when it goes on sale. So there is risk in putting a well-

known brand leader on promotion over 30 percent of time.() Dominant brands offer

deals frequently, because most deals only subsidize current users. Brown’s study of

2,500 instant-coffee buyers concluded that:

Marketing Promotions yield faster and more measurable responses in sales

than advertising does.

Marketing Promotions do not tend to yield new, long term buyers in mature

markets because they attract mainly deal-prone consumers who switch

among brands as deals become available.

Loyal brand buyers tend not to change their buying patterns as a result of

competitive promotion.

Advertising appears to be capable of deepening brand loyalty.4

There is also evidence that price promotions do not build permanent total category

volume. Small share competitors find it advantageous to use Marketing Promotion,

because they cannot afford to match the market leaders’ large advertising budgets;

nor can they obtain shelf-space without offering trade allowances or stimulate

consumer trials without offering incentives. Price competition is used by small brand

seeking to enlarge its share, but it is less effective for category leader whose growth

lies in expanding the entire category.5 The upshot is that many consumer packaged

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goods companies feels that they are forced to use more Marketing Promotions than

they wish. They blame the heavy use of Marketing Promotion for decreasing brand

loyalty; increasing consumer price-sensitivity; brand quality image dilution, and a

focus on short-run-marketing planning.

Major decisions in Marketing PromotionsIn using Marketing Promotion, a company must establish its objectives, select the

tools, develop the program, pretest the program, implement and control it, and

evaluate the results.

Establishing the objectivesMarketing Promotion objectives are derived from broader promotion objectives,

which are derived from more basic marketing objectives developed for the product.

For consumers, objectives include encouraging purchase of larger-sized units,

building trial among non-users, and attracting switchers away from competitors’

brands. For retailers, objectives include persuading retailers to carry new items and

higher levels of inventory, encouraging stocking of related items, offsetting

competitive promotions, building brand loyalty, and gaining entry into new retail

outlets. For the sales force, objectives include encouraging support of a new product

or model, encouraging more prospecting, and stimulating off-season sales. 6 See

“Marketing Memo: Marketing Promotions as brand builders.”)

Marketing Memo: Marketing Promotions as brand builders

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Building brand awareness is a long-term process. What a brand does today predicts what it will do tomorrow. Sales promotions are short term and temporary. Here are some of the tips on how to make a sale promotion an effective brand-building tool.

Make sure the promotion is justified: A new store opening, a company anniversary, and other kinds of celebrations are all good reasons for running a promotion

Tie the promotion to brand’s image: Birth dates and anniversaries are good

Look at every both for the sales job it can do and as a communication tool: A promotion is one of a brand’s many voices; it can help build brand awareness if it says the right things


Source: Adapted from Jacques Chevron, “Branding and Promotion: Uneasy

combination.” Brand week, September 14, 1998, p.24

Selecting Consumer-promotion tools The promotion planner should take into account the type of the market, Marketing

Promotion objectives, competitive conditions, and each tool’s cost effectiveness.

The main consumer promotion tools are summarized in the following table. We can

distinguish between manufacturer promotions and retailer promotions. Marketing

Promotions are most effective when used together with advertising. In one study, a

price promotion alone produced 15 percent increase in sales volume. When

combined with feature advertising, sales volume increased 19 percent; when

combined with feature advertising and a point-of-purchase display, sales volume

increased 24 percent.

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Major Consumer promotion tools:

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Samples: Offer of a free amount of a product or service delivered door to door, sent in the mail, picked up in a store, attached to another product, or featured in an advertising offer.

Coupons: Certificates entitling the bearer to a stated saving on the purchase of a specific product; mailed, enclosed in other products or attached to them, or inserted in the magazine and newspaper ads.

Cash Refund Offers (rebates): Provide a price reduction after purchase rather than at retail shop; consumer sends a specified “proof of purchase” to the manufacturer who “refunds” part of the purchase price by mail.

Price Packs (cents-off deals): Offers to consumer savings off the regular

price of a product, flagged on the label or package. A reduce price pack is a

single package sold at the reduce price (such as two for the price of one). A

banded pack is two related products banded together (such as a toothbrush

and toothpaste)

Premiums (gifts): Merchandise offered at a relatively low cost or free as an incentive to purchase a particular product. A with-pack premium accompanies the product inside or on the package. A free in-the-mail premium is mailed to the consumers who send a proof of purchase. A self-liquidating premium is sold below its normal retail price to consumers who request it.

Frequency Programs: Programs rewarding the consumers whose frequency and intensity in purchasing the company’s products and services is higher.

Prizes (Contests, sweepstakes, games): Prizes are offers of the chance to win cash, trips, or merchandise as a result of purchasing something. A contest calls consumers to submit an entry to be examined by panel of judges who will select the best entries. A sweepstake asks consumers to submit their names in a drawing. A game presents the consumers with something every time they buy to help them win prizes.

Patronage awards: Values in cash or in other forms that are proportional to patronage of a certain vendor or group of vendors.

Free Trials: Inviting prospective purchasers to try the product without cost in the hope that they will buy.

Product Warranties: Explicit or implicit promises by sellers that the product will perform as specified or that the seller will fix it or refund the customer’s money during a specified period.

Tie-in promotions: Two or more brands or companies team up on coupons, refunds, and contests to increase the pulling power

Cross-promotions: Using one brand to advertise another noncompeting brand.


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Selecting trade-promotion toolsManufacturers use a number of trade promotion tools. Surprisingly a higher

percentage of promotion pie is devoted to trade promotion tools (46.9 percent) than

to consumer promotion (27.9 percent), with media advertising capturing remaining

25.2 percent. Manufacturers use award money to the trade

1. To persuade the wholesaler or retailer to carry the brand;

2. Persuade the retailer or wholesaler to carry more units than the normal

amount;

3. To induce the retailers to promote the brand by featuring, display, and price

reductions and;

4. To stimulate retailers and their sales clerks to push the product.

The growing power of large retailers has increased their ability to demand trade

promotion at the cost of consumer promotion and advertising.8 The different trade

promotions are

Source: For more information, see Betsy Spethman, Trade Promotion Redefined,

Brandweek, March 13, 1995, pp. 25-32

Selecting Business- and sales-force-promotion tools Companies spend billions of dollars on business-and sales-force-promotion tools as

shown in the table. These tools are used to gather business leads, impress and

reward customers, and motivate the sales force to greater effort. Companies typically

develop budgets for each business-promotion tool that remain fairly constant from

year to year.

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Price off (off-invoice or off list): A straight discount off the list price on each case purchased during a stated time period.Allowance: An amount offered in return for the retailer’s agreeing to feature the manufacturer’s products in some way. An advertising allowance compensates the retailers for advertising the manufacturer’s product. A display allowance compensates them for carrying a special product display

Free Goods: Offers of extra cases of merchandise to intermediaries who buy a certain quantity or who feature a certain flavor or size


In terms of the future, celebrity endorsements are here to stay. Their ability to cut

across the classes, caste barriers and apprehensions are simply too important to be

sidelined. They have been time-tested and delivered results repeatedly, given good

hands. One could continue to wonder if these celebrity-hawkers are worth the money

and the tantrums, but in a world of brand clutter and product muddle, celebrities

seem to hit the nail on the head, more often than not. And to be honest, let's look

around ourselves, why only Jane, we all in a little appreciation of those stars aren’t

gazing back at us! Although past research documents a general tendency for

consumers to believe in the purity of the motives of celebrity endorsers, it is likely

that this tendency varies substantially both across consumers and across endorsers.

For example, Tripp showed that celebrities who endorse several products are viewed

as less credible endorsers than those who endorse only a single product. also

demonstrated that celebrities who are blamed for negative events (e.g. accidents)

can have detrimental effects on the products they endorse. In short, the

effectiveness of a celebrity endorser is dynamic, dependent on the celebrity, the

product, and perhaps even societal conditions at the time and place where the

advertisement is shown. As such, it could be fruitful to abandon the use of traditional

measures of the celebrity endorser's trustworthiness or credibility in general in favor

of directly measuring the degree to which individuals evaluate the celebrity as liking

the endorsed product after viewing the advertisement. Such evaluations fit under a

class of judgment that has been referred to as “correspondent inferences”

Correspondent inferences more generally refer to any judgment in which observers

use an individual's behavior (e.g. an endorser saying that she loves Cheerios cereal)

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Trade Shows and Conventions: Industry associations organize annual trade sows and conventions. Business marketers may spend as much as 35 percent of their annual promotion budget on trade shows

Sales Contests: A sales contest aims at including the sales force or dealers to increase their sales over a stated period, with prizes (money, trips, gifts or points) going to those who succeed

Specialty Advertising: Specialty advertising consists of useful, low cost items bearing the company’s name and address, and sometimes an advertising message that salespeople give to prospects and customers. Common items are ballpoint pens, key chains, flashlights,


to infer congruent dispositions in that individual (e.g. inferring that the endorser

actually does love Cheerios cereal). We propose that correspondent inferences are a

direct measure of a celebrity's credibility in the specific context of the advertisement,

and thus should predict consumers' attitudes toward the advertised product.H1.

=Correspondent inferences will be positively associated with attitudes toward the

advertised product. Another interesting question in this context is whether

consumers will tend to make correspondent inferences about celebrity endorsers.

Early social psychological work in attribution theory suggests not – a large

endorsement fee should be viewed as a strong incentive toward endorsement

behavior, and thus observers should doubt that endorsements reflect true liking for

the product on the part of the endorser. However, research indicating that celebrities

are especially credible and trustworthy endorsers (e.g. Freiden, 1984) suggests that

consumers might believe celebrities like the product regardless of endorsement fees.

Furthermore, research examining a phenomenon called “correspondence bias”

suggests that observers are biased such that they tend to attribute behavior to

personal characteristics of the individual performing that behavior (e.g. liking for the

product) even when situational factors (e.g. endorsement fees) are sufficient to fully

explain the behavior.

Celebrity attributes that influence endorsement effectivenessPrevious research examining the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements has

focused primarily on personal attributes of the celebrity that enhance his or her

persuasiveness For example, a number of researchers have used models in which

“source credibility”, typically viewed as a function of trustworthiness and expertise, is

the primary factor determining how influential the endorser will be Trustworthiness

refers to the general believability of the endorser, and is thus broader but

conceptually similar to correspondent inferences about the endorser. Expertise

refers to the product knowledge of the endorser and thus to the validity of his or her

claims regarding the product, and is believed to be a factor that increases

persuasiveness above and beyond the effects of trustworthiness.H3.=Perceived

product knowledge of the endorser will be positively associated with attitudes toward

the advertised product.Other researchers have emphasized the importance of

source attractiveness in determining liking for the endorser and thereby increasing

endorsement effectiveness To the extent that attractiveness is an important

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determinant of endorsement effectiveness, research based on the matchup

hypothesis for a discussion of the matchup hypothesis in relation to endorser

expertise) suggests that its importance is limited by the degree to which

attractiveness “fits” well with the advertised product Thus, for example, physical

attractiveness might be useful when selling cosmetics but not when selling

computers. Furthermore, although source attractiveness research has focused

primarily on physical attractiveness, attractiveness can also be viewed more

generally as a positive attitude toward the endorser. Such positive attitudes might

result from admiration or perceived similarity although effective advertising is more

likely to rely on the admiration component because the influential power of celebrities

is closely connected to their status as role models.

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Figure 1 Model predicting attitude toward the advertised product in Experiment 1

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2. Model predicting attitude toward the advertised product in Experiment

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The argument for Celebrity Endorsement

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 have it splashed all over. Witness the spectacular rise of

Sania Mirza and Irfan Pathan in endorsements in a matter of a few months. 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.

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 World’s leading pop groups, the

Spice Girls, who have not only appeared in advertisements for Pepsi, but also

in product launching and PR events.

Time saving: Celebrity is able to build brand credibility in a short period of

time.

Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of

the celebrity with the brand thereby increasing the recall value. Golf champion

Tiger Woods has endorsed American Express, Rolex, and Nike. Actress

Catherine Zeta-Jones is used by T-Mobile and Elizabeth Arden. 007 Pierce

Brosnan promotes Omega, BMW, and Noreico.

Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a

persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the

consumer will also benefit.

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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. Last

year, when the even more controversial pesticide issue shook up Coca-Cola

and PepsiCo and resulted in much negative press, both soft drink majors put

out high-profile damage control ad films featuring their best and most

expensive celebrities. While Aamir Khan led the Coke fightback as an

ingenious and fastidious Bengali who finally gets convinced of the product's

`purity,' PepsiCo brought Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar together

once again in a television commercial which drew references to the `safety' of

the product indirectly.

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.

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.

Providing testimony: Another 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. The more familiar an endorser, the more

likely consumers are to buy the endorsed product.

Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into

the stagnant chyanwanprash category and staving off competition from

various brands, Dabur India roped in Bachchan for an estimated Rs 8 crore.

Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.

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The argument against Celebrity Endorsement

The celebrity approach has a few serious risks:

1. 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.

2. 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 French—Cable Association and

Leonard Rossiter—Cinzano. Both of these campaigns were aborted due to

celebrities getting in the way of effective communication. Another example

could be the Castrol commercial featuring Rahul Dravid.

3. Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The

celebrity may lose his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional

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performances. For example, when Tendulkar went through a prolonged lean

patch recently, the inevitable question that cropped up in corporate circles - is

he actually worth it? 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

4. 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.

5. Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsbury’s 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.

6. 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

characterized as the perfect gentlemen, whereas Jennifer Aniston has the

image of the ‘good girl from next door’.

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Brand, Celebrities & Consumer

Factors Impacting a Brand while being viewed by a Consumer in Media

The model above shows the various factors that affect a celebrity endorsed brand

while viewed by a consumer in the media (both TV and print). The central idea being

the impact on brand. The three major parts to a brand being shown are: -

The Product

Advertisement

The celebrity endorsing it

It is important is to study the relationship between these factors and how they

together act for or against the brand.

The product is important, of course, it may fulfill a need, want or a desire. Quality is

quintessential and, hence, nowadays it is understood the product is of highest

quality. So what next? The advertisement is important as a good product could see

an early exit if the advertisement is handled badly, and otherwise, a mediocre

product which is tastefully handled goes a long way. Lastly, the celebrity in the

advertisement, recall, trust, familiarity are some of the reasons that they are used.

Now consider the interactions of these individual factors. The best of superstars can

~ 25 ~


be doing the advertisement but if the product is far from the image the star has, the

whole advertisement is a waste. Imagine an Amitabh doing an advertisement for ad

for youth apparel. Well, exceptions can be there but then again it depends on the

way it is done. Believability is of vital importance, the TVS Victor advertisement

shows us the bike being compared to the bat of Sachin and the strokes he plays.

(Classically executed advertisement with the bike and Sachin coming out as

winners). The relationship between a product and its advertisement again can be

either dependant or none. In that case, a shock value makes people remember the

brand better and, hence, a possible long term loyalty.

Selection of Celebrity

Anyone who is famous may be the right celebrity. However, the appropriateness of

the celebrity largely depends on the product or service. Most advertisers insist that

their celebrity spokespeople have charisma and current popularity. That is why we

see more movie and television stars, athletes, real-life heroes, and musicians acting

as brand ambassadors in the market.

The choice of celebrity is critical for the success of the advertisement. The celebrity

should have high recognition, high positive affect, and the image of the celebrity

must match with that of the product. For this reason, famous sportsmen are used to

endorse sporting goods: Michael Jordan & Nike, Tiger Woods and Nike, David

~ 26 ~


Beckham endorses Adidas, etc. While it is totally inappropriate for movie stars to

endorse a sports products.

Celebrity endorsements must be used judiciously. If the celebrity is too famous or too

popular, then the celebrity will overpower the product - i.e., people will remember

seeing only the celebrity and forget the product. This happened when Britney Spears

came in a Pepsi Commercial in 2001. Britney Spears was at the height of her

popularity - viewers saw the advertisement to see Britney Spears and forgot all about

Pepsi. In India, Hollywood actress Dimple Kapadia in a sexy swim wear was used in

a Cinthol soap advertisement - People remember seeing the actress - but the soap

was forgotten.

The cost benefit analysis of using celebrity in marketing communications is bit tricky.

But the general belief is that using celebrity is a lot cheaper in building a brand. For

example, S.Kumar’s built the brand "Reed & Taylor’s" as a premier suiting material

by having Amitab Bachan in its advertisements. To achieve the same without a

celebrity would have taken longer time & more money. In a span of less than two

years after launch, the brand Reed & Taylor’s" has become the second largest seller

of cloth for men’s suits in India.

Selection of the right celebrity is crucial. The needs of the brand—rather than the

fame of the celebrity—should be the primary criteria when selecting a celebrity

spokesperson. The celebrity's physical attractiveness, values, and credibility also

matter tremendously. However, it would be suicidal to forget about the target

audience.

Types of Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity branding has many aspects. A slight change in the type of branding used

can result in either a great success or a dismal failure. Celebrity branding falls into

five general categories:

Testimonial: The celebrity acts as a spokesperson for the brand.

Imported: The celebrity performs a role known to the audience.

Invented: The celebrity plays a new, original role.

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Observer: The celebrity assumes the role of an observer commenting on the

brand.

Harnessed: The celebrity's image is integrated with the ad's storyline.

Facts over the Years

Approximately 60-70% of all television commercials feature famous people.

Aishwarya Rai had once endorsed 'Fuji-Film' camera rolls. The company

made an agreement with her to endorse their camera rolls. But, Aishwarya's

magic did not work there and they had to terminate the contract.

Amitabh Bachchan (AB) was seen endorsing Maruti's Versa Car. The AB

factor worked wonders as far as generating curiosity was concerned but the

actual product couldn't meet the expectations of people, and hence, the

endorsement strategy didn't work. He has been used very effectively by

Parker Pens, ICICI Bank and Cadbury's to name a few.

Bata’s sales doubled soon after they adopted Rani Mukherjee as their brand

ambassador.

Magic Johnson lost his endorsement deals when he announced in 1991 that

he's HIV-positive. It wasn't until July 2003 that he landed his first endorsement

deal since the announcement.

Ticket sales at Wimbledon are known to have shot up significantly for all

matches featuring the latest 'sex-symbol' on the circuit - Anna Kournikova. An

average player who is yet to win even a single tennis tournament, Anna is

known to have earned far more from endorsements than her tennis career

could ever have given her.

Celebrity Endorsements as a StrategyHow Tiger Woods’s endorsement of Accenture is beneficial to the company in

sending the message of high performance. This is just an example of having

celebrity endorsement. Marketers of consumer products have long used celebrities

to endorse their product - and this has become a common strategy. I therefore have

chosen to write about the theory and the intentions behind the strategy of using

celebrity endorsements.

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Objectives of Marketing Communications

Defining the objectives of the advertisements is the first step. In general, there are

four major objectives for any advertisement. Note that not all advertisements need to

have all the objectives.

1. Establish the product need

Establishing a need for a product or a product category is the necessary first

step. This is more important in new-to-world category of products In Indian

context, consider the advertisement for Polio Immunization drive - the TV

advertisement featured Amitabh Bachchan telling that immunization is a must

for every child - while people suffering from polio are shown in the background

along with healthy kids. This advertisement used a celebrity to create the

need for polio immunization.

Another good example is Toyota’s advertisement of Innova in India. The TV

advertisement prominently shows Amir Khan playing different roles while

traveling in an Innova. The different roles - establish the need for such a big

car in India. ( Note that Indian car market is dominated by small cars - which

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can seat only four adults, Toyota wanted to establish the need for a 8 seater

car in India)

2. Create Brand Awareness

Once the need for a product is established, customers must be able to

associate the brand with the product category. For example iPod is strongly

associated with portable MP3 players, Nike with sports shoes etc..

A classic example of this is Nike’s use of Michael Jordan advertising for Nike.

This advertisement instantly created a strong association of Nike with

basketball shoes.

3. Set customer expectations

Brand value comes from the customers experience with the product. If the

product meets or beats his expectations, then a positive brand image is

created, else a negative brand image is created. Therefore it is essential to

set the customer expectations accordingly.

This is most common in established consumer products - Beauty products,

household cleaning products, food products etc.

Create a purchase intention

These are marketing promotion advertisements - Buy one, get one free, or get

additional discounts if you buy within a particular date etc.. The sole purpose of such

communication messages is to encourage customers to buy immediately or within a

short period after seeing.

Use of celebrity endorsements to create a purchase intention has been very limited.

This is mainly because such advertisements adversely affect the personality brand

value of the celebrity. Being associated with a discount deal is not favorable image

for the celebrity and the customer.

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CHAPTER II COMPANY PROFILE

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COMPANY PROFILE

Public Research has shown that there are three aspects that influence a customer's

attitude and, hence, the long term impact on the brand - Attractiveness,

Trustworthiness and Expertise. The matrix below shows us the images and the

celebrities: -

Aspect of Brand Image Celebrity Product

Attractiveness

Elegance Aishwarya Rai Nakshatra Diamonds

Beauty Madhuri Dixit Emami

Classy Saif and Soha Ali Khan Asian Paints-Royale

Stylish Saif Ali Khan Provogue

Amitabh Bachhan Reid & Taylor

Trustworthiness Honest Tarun Tejpal Tehelka

Reliable MS Dhoni TVS Star City

Expertise Knowledge Sachin & Sehwag Reebok

Qualified Naina Balsavar Shampoo

Hence, we see depending on the product and aspect of brand, the choice of the

celebrity is important so that the celebrity can reflect that and not go against the

brand.

We talk about Brand Equity, Brand Identity and Position. It is worthwhile to see the

effect of a celebrity on these critical elements. Brand equity essentially made up of

loyalty, awareness, perceived quality, associations, and other proprietary brand

assets. The celebrity should be chosen in such a way as to reinforce and strengthen

the brand in all these elements but the question is, can he? Take an example of

another star Fardeen Khan, who endorses Provogue. Snazzy fashionable apparel

from an Indian manufacturer with the backing of a star son was a great idea for the

brand image. It was able to attract new customers who were fashion conscious but

unable to afford high price international brands.

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Awareness of the brand was phenomenal as fashion shows, print and media

advertising was booming and Fardeen and Provgue had become a national

phenomenon. Quality was given utmost importance and, hence, from the

manufacturer side, the commitment to the customer was complete. Competition was

present but sales figures showed Provogue reaping handsomely. Then the image of

the so-called Bad Boy Fardeen emerged with the drug and brawls in night clubs.

This did lead to a certain discontent amongst fans of the star and the brand. But

remarkably not much effect on sales. It seemed that the consumers had forgotten

Fardeen's issues and remained loyal to the brand. Today Fardeen is still the

mainframe picture of every advertisement and the brand has not lost any of its shine.

Measuring a Celebrity Endorsement

It becomes very important to measure the effectiveness of a celebrity (or determine

the worth of one). Few of the methods of measurement that are in practice are: -

The Q-SCORE Method

The FRED Principle

The Q-SCORE Method

There is a way to measure the credibility, believability, popularity, and like-ability of a

celebrity. It's called a Q-Score, and you can purchase the Q-Scores of the

candidates you're considering.

Consider both sides of the deal - for a client who wanted to use a celebrity endorser,

and for a celebrity who was looking for an endorsement opportunity. Once you've

defined the kind of endorser you need (e.g., athlete, actor, male/female, young/old,

etc.), its well worth going through the Q-Score exercise.

Evaluating the contribution of the endorser after you've already made the decision is

not nearly as straightforward. One time, many years ago, a company actually shot a

commercial with a well-known (high Q-Score) endorser for national use, and it shot

the same commercial with a good actor, not so well-known. The company ran a

limited market test for 6 months with the unknown actor (cutting in the commercials

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locally, over national network schedule) so could quantify the sales impact of the

celebrity. By the way, the celebrity was worth every penny of his outrageous fee. It

ended up using him for years, and he helped the brand reach market leadership

almost entirely on the strength of the commercials in which he appeared.

The FRED Principle

This concept is seen as the foundation of a successful endorser selection.

F is for Familiarity. The target market must be aware of the person, and perceive

him or her as empathetic, credible, sincere and trustworthy.

R is for Relevance. There should be a meaningful link between the advertised

brand and the celebrity endorser, and more important, between the celebrity

endorser and the defined target market. The audience must be able to identify with

the person. If consumers can immediately associate with an endorser, they will feel

more predisposed to accepting, buying and preferring the brand to competition.

E is for Esteem. Consumers must have the utmost respect and confidence for the

celebrity. Amitabh Bachhan & Tendulkar have these. So do Shahrukh Khan, Preity

Zinta, Kapil Dev among others. The public respect them because of their

distinguished careers and unassailable salesmanship.

D is for Differentiation. The target consumers must see the endorser as a cut

above the rest. If there is no perceived disparity among celebrities, then the strategy

will not work. Michael Jordan is an example of an international celebrity that rises

above the clutter. This proves to be a huge contributory factor to his effectiveness as

an endorser.

The Fred concept is not a guarantee to success, but it can serve as a guideline when

selecting a spokesperson. Each organization and its objectives are different, and

should be evaluated on an individual basis.

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THE IMPACT

As defined earlier, impact would be both short term and long term, but here the focus

would be more on the long term implications of the brand. Measurement of this

would be challenging and data would be difficult to obtain. The parameters on which

impact could be measured would be on a comparative basis of the brand before and

after the celebrity began endorsing the brand. Sales / revenue, market share, brand

recall, level of repurchase, brand loyalty, trust, image and perception of the brand

per say.

In this trend of creative advertising, we see usage of celebrities of all walks in life -

particularly actors, film stars, models, sports persons, and the whole gamut. But the

usage can always backfire if the choice of the star is completely contradictory in

nature to the brand. Believability and association of brand to celebrity is important.

Selection of celebrities can be done while they are at their peak or when they are

destined for greatness in the near future. Again a risk that may go either way. What

is important at some level is the value that a celebrity adds to a particular brand. The

advertiser tries his best to make the celebrity and brand as analogous as possible.

The celebrity endorser is seen to score quite well on dimensions such as

trustworthiness, believability, persuasiveness, and likeability when tested for reaction

from people. This is important to a marketer as if he can get a celebrity to make the

masses follow, believe or listen to him, he has been successful.

As discussed by Kelman (1961), the basis for the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed

advertising can be linked to this process of identification and internalization of the

desired behavior. Price of fame may be high for the celebrity endorsed brands but

they have both what the markets and the everyday common man want - attention,

power and star sizzle.

Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition of a large group of people.

Celebrities may convey a broad range of meanings, involving demographic

categories (e.g., age, gender and status), personality and lifestyle types. For

instance, people adore Sachin Tendulkar because he represents a middle-class

~ 35 ~


Maharashtrian boy who made it big with sheer hard work. Likewise, Amitabh

Bachchan for most is an icon of style, trust and dependability.

Though marketers should remember that celebrities are mere living beings like us

and if they can highlight the benefits or advantages of a brand they can also have

some uncanny negative impact. Theory and practice suggests that the use of stars

and their unleashing power in advertising generate a lot of publicity and attention

from the public but the underline questions are, do these stars really help a brand by

increasing its sales? On the other hand, can they really have an Impact on the

person's consumption pattern, thereby changing his brand preference? How an

advertisement featuring a celebrity can influence consumers buying decision and

can create an association between a brand and a common man.

To answer these questions, the article will examine the relationship between

celebrity endorsements and brands, and the impact of celebrity endorsement on

consumer's buying behaviour as well as how consumer makes brand preferences.

We will apply a wide range of accepted principles of how consumers brand attitudes

and preferences can be influenced, how buyer's behavior can be influenced, how

buyer's behavior can be molded. We will use the principles of credibility of source

~ 36 ~


and attractiveness, the match-up hypothesis, the consumer decision-making model

and the communication model to understand this phenomenon.

Brand- A layman perspectiveBrand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational and cultural image that you can

associate with a company or the product. Few examples will bring home the

meaning i.e. Amul - utterly butterly delicious; Coke – thanda matlab coca-cola;

Pepsi – Yeh dil mange more; Kurkure- Masti bole to kurkure and Daewoo ka India.

These examples convey one message that when people watch advertisement a

connect is being created and result is that people go for experience of buying.

People feel by using the brand they will portray certain traits or characteristics that

otherwise they do not have. This generates a certain level of emotional affiliation and

a sense of fulfillment. It is this emotional relationship with brands that make them so

powerful.

Advertisements enforces what exactly the brand stands for and what to expect by its

consumption and above all what factors, features and attributes makes it better from

competition. Advertisements along with other marketing efforts generate

expectations and feelings in a customer and force them to think when they see or

hear the brand name. This Thinking process and emotional bonding gets more

mature and relevant when a celebrity endorses the brand. The subjective intangible

feelings of a customer become objective and tangible in the form of celebrity and the

level of expectations will rise. The customer will start to perceive himself in the

reference frame of the celebrity after the brand or the advertised product has been

purchased or consumed by him.

CelebrityCelebrities are people who enjoy public recognition and mostly they are the experts

of their respective fields having wider influence in public life and societal domain.

Attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary life style or special skills, larger than life

image and demigod status can be associated with them.

It is safe to deduce that within a corresponding social group celebrities generally

differ from the social norm and enjoy high degree of public awareness.

Celebrities appear in public in different ways. To start, they appear in public when

fulfilling their professional commitments example: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who

played cricket in front of an audience in Twenty-Twenty World Cup. Furthermore,

celebrities appear in public by attending special celebrity events, example: the movie

~ 37 ~


award nights; special screening; world premiers of movies or for social causes.

These celebrities have universal presence and appeal, they are present everywhere,

in news, fashion shows and magazines, tabloids and above all advertisements.

Celebrity and a BrandStar power in India can be gauged by the successful endorsements done by

Sharukh Khan (Pepsi, Hyundai Santro, Sunfeast, and Navratan etc.), Amitabh

Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Hrithik Roshan and the others. The

inevitable question is, if and how the lively interest of the public in the rich and

famous can be efficiently and effectively used by companies to promote their brands

and consequently to increase their sales revenues.

This fact can be brought out by using certain examples i.e. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan

promoting Cadbury chocolates after the fiasco of infestation when the image of

Cadbury India went very low in the eyes of people. Soon the company found a

perfect fit and a reliable celebrity to transmit the correct message and help

regenerating the lost trust. The fit between the product and celebrity is evident as Mr.

Bachchan and Cadbury chocolates both have tested troubled times and still they

stand tall and the love and trust they both share with the people all across India. This

is a live example of how a celebrity brought certain attributes to a product like

chocolate.

Actor Sharukh khan has also endorsed diversified products. His endorsement basket

is ranging from Hyundai Santro to Sunfeast biscuits on one hand and from Compaq

computers to Videocon electronics on the other.

According to Advertising research companies both the actors are doing well and the

ad spent on both by the companies is increasing at a phenomenal rate, so does their

basket of endorsements. These actors bring reliability and trust in the brand and

above all, they help in increasing the sales revenues.

Celebrity endorsements are powerful, has become evident from the above two

examples but, why is it so? This power is offered by the following elements, which

also creates a 'Top of the Mind Position'.

* Instant Awareness, knowledge about the brand and easy recall.

* Values and image of the brand is defined, highlighted and refreshed by the

celebrity.

* The celebrity adds new edge and dimension to the brand.

~ 38 ~


* Credibility, trust, association, aspiration and connectivity to brand.

* Belief in efficiency and new appearance that will result in at least trial usage.

Understanding Consumer BehaviourConsumer behaviour is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy

and why they buy. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, sociopsychology,

anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision-making

process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual

consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an

attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the

consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in

general.

The study and knowledge of consumer behaviour helps firms and organizations to

improve their marketing strategies and product offerings. Following are the important

issues that have significant influence on consumer's psyche and their ability to take

decisions:

The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between

different alternatives (e.g., brands, products);

The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment

(e.g., culture, family, signs, media);

The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing

decisions;

Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities

influence decisions and marketing outcome;

How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products

that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the

consumer; and

How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and

marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Their Age, Religion, Culture, Income, informal group and Referent Group.

Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by taking the consumer

into consideration.

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Consumer Decision-making process

The given process is very complicated though on first sight it does not look so.

Process starts with problem recognition or with an unsatisfied need. Something that

a consumer would like to have or purchase in order to attain satisfaction. This need

can be Psychological, attitudinal or Physiological but yes it should have the capacity

to be fulfilled by consuming a particular product or service.

To satisfy the given need what all are the components that should be taken into

consideration and how we can maximize the satisfaction is the next stage. In this

stage, we will cover ability to purchase, level of involvement, people whose opinion

will count and other relevant details that will help us in optimizing satisfaction.

Based upon information search we will generate various alternatives i.e. which brand

or product is affordable for me, where will it be available comfortably and above all in

comparison to other brands or products how better or economical it is.

Evaluation stage will look like cost benefit analysis and based upon maximum value

or utility per rupee spend, we will decide or shortlist the product or brand. This is the

decision and confirmation stage where the consumers prepares himself for the

purchase of a particular brand and give preference to one and only one over and

above the others.

~ 40 ~


Next comes the purchase when the consumer will finally go to the market and look

for the brand or the product, physically verifies it and purchases it.

Last is the post purchase Evaluation in which the customer wants to justify his

consumption or purchase decision. He tries to find out whether his purchase decision

was right or not. Companies make lot of effort to tackle this situation successfully

and they want the customer to be satisfied with their product.

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.

Traditional Factors affecting consumer decision makingThere 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.

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Impact of a Brand on consumer purchase decisionResearch studies have proven that known products and names are sold more than

unknown ones. Therefore, a known brand or an optimally exposed brand will find

more recognition and buyers in the market in comparison to completely unknown or

unexposed brand. Recognition of brand and its significance along with the traditional

factors plays a very significant role in consumer decision-making process.

More or less every consumer has a brand preference and given the affordability and

societal norms, each buyer would like to buy and consume one of the highly

acceptable, recognizable, and reputed brands.

The above given model explains the important role that a brand plays in three

different stages of consumer's purchase decision making. A consumer start

collecting data or information about his favourite brand than he keeps his favourite

as one of the alternatives and he evaluate his selected brand against all available

options and on finding it suitable or best among all options based upon a qualitative

and quantitative evaluation he will ultimately purchase the selected or favourite

brand.

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The diagram above explains how various traditional factors along with brand

preference interact during purchase decision process and finally results into a

consumer's final product choice or ultimate purchase.

Celebrity and a brandSurveys suggest that compared to any other types of endorsers, famous people

achieve a higher degree of attention and recall. They increase awareness of a

company's advertising as well as help in retention of message in the psyche of the

audience. They can also help the company in reducing their expenditure on Media

and other forms of publicity. An example will bring more clarity, When S Kumars, a

known textile brand entered into readymade garments business they used Hrithik

Roshan, then the hottest advertising icon for their launch advertising for TAMARIND,

now one of the premium readymade brands. They reckoned that they have spent 40-

50 percent less on media due to sheer impact of using hottest star like Hrithik. The

Ad recall was as high as 70 percent and the campaign can be termed as a great

success.

Celebrities also create positive feelings towards brands, connect user to brand and

are perceived by consumers as more entertaining.

Using a celebrity in advertising or for any, other type of communication for brand

building is likely to positively affect consumers' brand preference, brand attitude,

brand association and purchase intentions. To ensure positive results, however, it is

critical for advertisers to have a clear understanding of consumer's reactions and

reinforcement of celebrity endorsement. The impact of celebrity endorsement on any

brand as well as on consumer's purchase decision is very critical.

~ 43 ~


Source CredibilityCentral goal of advertising is the convincing of consumers and persuasion to

purchase, the ultimate objective, though not openly spoken, is to some how attract

consumers to the market offering of the company, generating positive attitude,

reinforce positive association and ultimately to generate sales, may be a trial

purchase. At later stages, the sponsor may work towards creating a brand loyalty but

generating initial sales or increasing the existing sales is the primary objective. In this

respect, the credibility of an endorser along with advertisement plays an important

role in convincing the target audience of the attractiveness of the company's brand

and generates sales. Pursuing a celebrity endorsement strategy enables advertisers

to project a credible image in terms of expertise, persuasiveness, trustworthiness,

and objectiveness.

To create effective messages, celebrity advertisers also have to consider the

attractiveness of the spokesperson. Source attractiveness refers to the endorser's

Physical appearance, Personality, Likeability and Similarity to the receiver, thus to

the perceived social value of the source. This behavior mainly goes back to halo

effect, whereby persons who perform well on one dimension example: physical

attractiveness or top professional performance, social status are assumed to excel

on other levels as well i.e. happiness and coolness. This is evident from the use of

Fardeen Khan, modern, dynamic, outgoing and smart personality for Provogue; he

translates the modernism of the brand well. Titan uses Aamir Khan in his different

avatars for communicating to the public that their watches are as reliable and

passionate as Aamir is for films. Both Fardeen and Aamir carry the message well

and enhance the credibility of the brand they endorse.

Establishing a Perfect MatchResearch proves that a spokesperson especially for a service product or

organization (ICICI- First Amitabh Bachchan, now Shahrukh Khan) interacts with the

type of brand being advertised. These stars communicate the value of the product

and transform an ordinary service into a miracle solution for all problems of an

ordinary customer.

According to Friedman and Friedman (1979), a famous relative to a 'normal'

spokesperson is more effective for products high in psychological or social risk,

involving such elements as good taste, self-image, and opinion of others. Several

~ 44 ~


research studies have examined the congruency between celebrity endorsers and

brands to explain the effectiveness of using famous persons to promote brands.

In India, a brand called Reid & Taylor presented its perfect example when they first

launched their advertising campaign featuring James Bond fame of the time Mr.

Pierce Brosnan along with the tagline 'BOND WITH THE BEST' but the James Bond

idea did not worked and the company was not happy with the results.

After the debacle of the first campaign, company introduced a family ad where

children are celebrating there parents silver wedding anniversary and they are out

with their father to purchase a suit for him. Even this commercial did not work and it

was taken off the air. As a last resort, company introduced Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as

Reid & Taylor man, a man propagating the brand for special occasion and for very

special people in life. The commercial from the initial days got good response and

did extremely well as people were able to connect with Mr. Bachchan and the values

he was propagating.

For the masses, there was a perfect match of an ideal Indian family man, a star and

a good quality but bit highly priced brand reserved especially for special occasions

and for very special people.

Second example that can be quoted is of Vishwanathan Anand, who endorsed NIIT.

NIIT adopted a very smart strategy by roping in Vishwanathan Anand an

international chess wizard for their advertising campaign. As chess is considered to

be a game full of strategies and a game for smart people and when one of the greats

of the game is asking people to join NIIT it was suppose to have a positive influence

on the people and actually it had. There was complete congruency and compatibility

between the celebrity endorser, the product and the message.

Contrary to only favorable outcomes, there are several examples where the product,

even the entire campaign collapsed due to heavy weight celebrity as the agency or

the ad failed to establish the relationship between the endorser and the product.

Keeping the focus only on success, where the product and the celebrity were a

perfect match, following are few examples:

Celebrity Endorser Company / Product

Amitabh Bachchan*Dabur, Reid and Taylor, Parker and

*Cadbury

Shahrukh Khan *Santro

~ 45 ~


*Videocon

*Sunfeast,and Pepsi

Juhi Chawala * Kurkure

Ustad Zakir Hussain * Taj mahal tea

Aamir Khan

*Titan

*Coke

* Toyota Innova

Aishwarya Rai*Nakshatra

* Lux

Rani Mukherjee*Fanta

* Nestle Munch

Kajol and Ajay Devgan*Whirlpool

* Tata Indicom

The campaigns are not only basking with the glory of success stories, but there is

considerable number of failures as well. Assuming that a person just have to be

famous to represent a successful brand, however, would be incorrect and may turn

out to be a very dangerous preposition resulting into a big calamity for the entire

advertising campaign or the brand.

Very well accepted and attractive super stars like Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh

Bachchan failed in turning their endorsements into success i.e. Maruti Versa similarly

Virendra Sehwag also failed to deliver Reliance Telecommunication with the master

stroke of his cricketing genius.

Among the possible reasons identified by several authors, including overexposure

and identification, the 'match-up hypothesis' specifically suggests that the

effectiveness depends on the existence of a 'fit' between the celebrity spokesperson

and endorsed brand.

Empirical work on the congruency of brand with the celebrity often has concentrated

on the physical attractiveness of the endorser. Results show that an attractive

spokespersons are more effective in terms of attitude change when prompting

brands that enhance one's attractiveness i.e. cosmetics; health drinks or fashion

wear.

~ 46 ~


Primary data states, for celebrity spokespersons to be truly effective, they should be

knowledgeable, experienced, mature, and a bench mark in their respective field and

qualified to talk about the product.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Sample size

For the investigator study, the scope is being restricted with to the commercial

department of the Celebrity Marketing which is dealing with the management of

inventory (including raw material, stores and spares, finished goods), would be 100

customer.

Primary data

Is the first hand data, which are selected a fresh and thus happen to be original in

character. Primary Data was crucial to know various customers and past consumer

views about bikes and to calculate the market share of this brand in regards to other

brands. Primary data is collected during the survey with the help of questionnaires

Secondary data

Secondary data are those which have been collected by someone else and which

already have been passed through statistical process. Secondary data has been

taken from internet, newspaper, magazines and companies web sites.

Limitation (if any)

1. It was observed that the most of the customers were not playing

Proper attention to fill the questionnaire

2. The research is confined to a certain parts of New Delhi and does not

necessarily shows a pattern applicable to all of Country.

3. Some respondents were reluctant to divulge personal information which can

affect the validity of all responses.

~ 47 ~


CHAPTER-III ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

~ 48 ~


ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

It is a known fact that the best endorsements achieve an eclectic balance between

the product (brand) and the celebrity. Giving a brand a 'face' is more than just a

marketing strategy to increase sales or gain market share, it is a decision that can

change the future of the brand forever.

Choice of the celebrity, hence, is of utmost importance and is usually done based on

many different parameters - appeal, looks, popularity or even just a fantasy figure to

endorse a brand.

In today's highly competitive markets, big brands are at logger-heads when it comes

to products, each having a similar product to that of a rival. Where does one brand

gain that quintessential advantage - advertising, service, promise of trust, or even

the all important price factors? Advertising seems to be the best platform where

brands prefer to compete on - right from hiring the best advertising agencies to

getting the biggest celebrities. What would be the formula to success then? Well, a

good creative agency, a large enough promotional budget and a huge star to

endorse your brand would definitely ensure in the minds of a brand management

team a feeling of security, success and a triumph over the competitors brand.

The general belief among advertisers is that brand communication messages

delivered by celebrities and famous personalities generate a higher appeal, attention

and recall than those executed by non-celebrities. The quick message-reach and

impact are all too essential in today's highly competitive environment.

The different models applied by brands to achieve the full potential of such

endorsements, highlight the need for a convergence between the theoretical and

pragmatic approaches of brand building and effective advertising. The importance of

a celebrity-brand match and the various roles played by them as brand-associates

~ 49 ~


show the momentum this strategy has gained in the last decade or so. We put

forward certain ideas like 'positioning by association', 'diminishing celebrity utility' and

the Multiplier Effect which show the triangular relationship between the brand, the

consumer and the celebrity.

India is a country where people are star-struck by film stars, cricketers, politicians,

and even criminals. Why? Populations of 1 billion and ticking, everyday people need

something or someone to look up to. A sense of security, admiration, comfort,

familiarity, and above all, someone they aspire to be at some hidden level in their

lives. And clever marketers leverage this very celebrity appeal and are successfully

carrying out their jobs by giving the bottom lines of all the brands what they want -

profit, market share and even recall. But how much star power is too much? "Does

Amitabh really use Tide," asked a 6 year old to her mother. Her mother laughs and

says, "No way, just a gimmick." What does that do to the brand?

Now, despite the potential benefits derived from celebrity endorsements, they

increase a marketer's risk manifolds and should be treated with full attention and

aptitude. A brand should be cautious when employing celebrities to ensure promise

believability and delivery of the intended effect. The growing importance of mythical

characters as celebrities and their sway over the target segments are ample proof of

public demand for icons to look up to. As the celebrities traverse from a mere

commercial presence to public welfare message endorsements, a whole new

dimension is added to this process and helps us in achieving a holistic view of the

impact which celebrities generate in every sphere and segment through their well-

versed endorsements.

At the end of the day, do any stakeholders in a company (employees, contractors,

customers, shareholders, communities the company supports with jobs) benefit from

a celebrity endorsement?

Does anyone buy a product because a Bollywood or TV actor/actress stands up and

reads a script in somewhat convincing manner? Are their distinctions in how

consumers perceive these types of endorsements and respond to them?

~ 50 ~


What happens when a celebrity endorser gets involved in a public scandal, or worse,

dies? Will the product lose consumer support or perish?

The most 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. A celebrity's presence

in the ad should be contextual.

Celebrity endorsement cannot guarantee fool-proof success. The celebrity

endorsement strategy must be integrated with target market characteristics, and the

other elements of the marketing mix such as product design, branding, packaging,

and pricing. The message execution that will be mouthed by the celebrity must

likewise be made clear and single-minded. You can do this cleverly by aligning the

spirit of the brand to the product, or by using a celebrity because it ensures that

people will notice you, and hopefully remember what the brand is saying. Smart

associations are ones where the former happens.

Before we go into analyzing success and failure stories of brands, we examine the

title once again and try looking at it extremely minutely.

Relationship between a Celebrity & a Brand

To understand how consumers associate celebrities to brands is well documented by

a research study by Anderson (1976); Collins & Loftus (1975); Rumelhart, Hinton &

McClelland (1986). In their study, associative learning principles were based on a

conception of memory as a network consisting of various nodes connected by

associative links. In the research context, celebrities and brands both represent

nodes, which initially are unconnected but become linked over time through the

endorsement process.

~ 51 ~


When a consumer thinks about a brand, the link with the celebrity node is animated

to a certain level through spreading activation (Anderson 1983a). The joint activation

of brand and celebrity provides a path over which one's evaluation of the celebrity

has an opportunity to transfer to the brand. The key to the process is the

simultaneous activation of the brand and celebrity nodes. Negative information about

the celebrity activates the celebrity node, which then activates the brand node to

some degree and allows reduced evaluation of the celebrity to transfer to the brand.

Studies by Noffsinger et al. (1983) and Judd et al. (1991) provide empirical evidence

demonstrating that attitudes can be affected in such a way.

It is also important to view the consumer in their social and cultural setting to further

see how celebrity endorsements increase sales and impact brands over time.

Celebrities usually form a very good example of a reference group appeal. This is

particularly beneficial to a marketer and a brand who can cash in on the success of

the star and, hence, push his brand. People who idolize their celebrities, hence, have

a biased affinity to the brand their favorites endorse. As time passes on, they believe

that they by adopting the brand that their celebrity endorses are becoming more like

them. Celebrities can be used in four ways namely: testimonial, endorsement, actor

and spokesperson.

Right now the current hot favorite in India is roping in celebrities for social causes

like pulse polio, etc. This has shown to be having a positive effect on the people. In

India, Bollywood and sport personalities rule the mind-space and airwaves.

~ 52 ~


A recent study by FCB-ULKA was done on celebrity endorsements in India. Here,

they discussed two parameters: Compatibility Index and Trait Index when it came

to finding the relationship between a celebrity and a brand.

Compatibility Index meant that the consumers saw a suitable match between the

brand and the celebrity. Trait Index was based on the match between brand and

celebrity personality traits. The numbers showed that Compatibility Index was more

favorable than Trait Index. E.g., Hrithik Roshan scored high on his Compatibility

Index (100) as compared to his Trait Index with Coca Cola. But the end user being

the consumer preferred him. The other startling fact was the high points 93 and 100

by Salman Khan. But Thums-Up had to drop him after Salman's accident. But people

still associate Thums-Up with the Khan. The other important factor is unaided

association and Salman scored higher than other competition. But in the long run, to

protect the brand image, Salman was dropped. So what is important is the way the

customer perceives a brand and the celebrity, so if the celebrity is favored, it does

have a positive influence over the brand. The other factor is the sheer image or

popularity of the star, if the star's image is larger than life, for example, for Amitabh

Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar, the Compatibility Index seems to be a natural

collorary.

Taking the millennium superstar Amitabh Bachchan, as an endorser, he fulfills all the

FRED objectives, namely, Familiarity (target market is aware of him, finds him

friendly, likeable, dependable and trustworthy); Relevance (which says that there

should be a link between the endorser and the product as well as between the

endorser and the audience); Esteem (the polio endorsement, for example, is

successful as the masses see him as a credible name-face-voice); Differentiation (in

all his projections, he is seen to be one among the masses, and yet he towers above

them. He is different). His appeal is universal; lesser mortals merely cater to specific

niches. While there may be different reasons, depending on the category, the

lifecycle stage in which the brand is, and the particular marketing mantra being the

flavor of the moment, the main reason is to make the brand stand out and to facilitate

instant awareness.

For example, in the much talked about Shah Rukh - Santro campaign, the

organization wanted to overcome the shortcoming of an unknown brand, Korean at

~ 53 ~


that. The objective of the company was to garner faster brand recognition,

association and emotional unity with the target group.

The Santro ad showed the highest recall amongst auto ads, despite average media

spends for the category. Reason being simple - star power paid off.

Another example was the launch of Tamarind by S. Kumar, they reckoned they

spent 40-50 per cent less on media due to the sheer impact of using Hrithik Roshan

who was riding on the 'Kaho Na Pyar Hai' wave of Success. Ad recall was as high as

70 per cent, and even the normally conservative trade got interested (so while a new

brand would normally take 8-10 months for entry into a Shopper's Stop, Tamarind

was prominently displayed within 20 days of launch). But now looking at the long

term effects of Hrithik, his movies began to flop and it may seem a sheer co-

incidence that the Tamarind brand died out as well.

Looking on the flip side, the biggest concerns from the advertiser's point of view is

that of 'vampiring' - the celebrity being bigger than the brand. Consider the 1980s

when Dinesh Suitings chose Sunil Gavaskar as their brand endorser. Soon it was

seen that Gavaskar completely overshadowed the brand. A similar case was that of

Shah Rukh and Mayur Suitings, where post termination of the contract, the corporate

had to vest crucial monies in a campaign where the sole objective was to wean the

brand identity off Shah Rukh Khan. So having a celebrity who may outshine your

product is not such a viable idea is the common consensus.

The other problem is that of duration of endorsement, and a possible mismatch

between the celebrity's life cycle and that of the brand. Owing to unavailability of

dates, sometimes long-term contracts are signed, but the celebrity's life might be

over soon. Multiple endorsements are the other problem. There is unfortunately a

limited pool of celebrities who can resonate with consumers. So you have the same

celebrity endorsing several categories, as in case of Shah Rukh and Sachin, who are

completely over-exposed - one would assume a fair degree of confusion and little

room for credibility, and hence, a possible devaluing amongst customers.

Studying TV and print advertisements, one will realize that either some celebrities

are endorsing several brands or a specific brand is endorsed by different

~ 54 ~


spokespersons. These concepts are called multiple brand endorsement and multiple

celebrity endorsement respectively.

The question is, does this special form of celebrity endorsement affects consumers'

brand attitudes? Following Tripp et al. (1994), the endorsement of as many as four

products negatively influences the celebrity spokesperson's credibility (i.e., expertise

and trustworthiness) and likeability. They further add that these effects are

independent of the celebrity, i.e., the perceptions of even well-liked stars can be

influenced. Reasons may be found in the lack of distinctiveness, with one famous

person endorsing several products instead of concentrating on and representing one

specific brand. Though these findings may be valid, it does not automatically mean

that the concept of multiple product endorsement is useless. Further, research is

suggested on potential positive effects, like transfer of positive brand images, and on

the shape of consumers' response when more than four products are endorsed.

Is celebrity advertising effective?

What are the benefits of representing India in the national cricket team? It is an

opportunity to compete with the best in the world and pitch one's talent against the

best.

It is an opportunity to travel around the world. It is an opportunity to uphold national

pride. And make good money from every match played.

But there is more, a ticket to modelling in the advertising world (and a future perhaps

in Bollywood). Not surprisingly it's a very attractive profession. As advertisers pour

crores of rupees every year, into celebrity advertising.

Think of Sachin Tendulkar. He means Pepsi in soft drinks, Boost in malted

beverages, MRF in tires, Fiat Palio in cars, TVS Victor in two-wheelers, Colgate

Total in toothpastes, Britannia in biscuits, Visa in credit cards, Airtel in mobile

services and Band-aid.

Clearly, an overload of brands and categories associated with one star.

~ 55 ~


In the advertising world, celebrity advertising is seen as a substitute for 'absence of

ideas' -- and actually frowned upon. Yet it appears again and again.

The reasons are quite insightful.

A client hits upon celebrity as a solution when his agency is unable to present to him

a viable, exciting solution for his communication/marketing problem. He then feels

that the presence of a well-known face is an easy way out. It is rare that there is an

idea on the table and client and agency mutually agree that the presence of a

celebrity will actually lift the script. This is very similar to Bollywood blockbuster films

where the cast is decided upon and the script either written accordingly or re-

engineered around the cast!

There is no doubt that celebrity advertising has its benefits –

The four Qs:

Quick saliency: It gets cut through because of the star and his attention getting

value. Goodlass Nerolac has ensured high saliency for its brand with the inclusion of

Amitabh Bachchan in its advertising.

~ 56 ~


Quick connect: There needs to be no insight but the communication connects

because the star connects. Sachin, Shah Rukh and their ilk's ensure an easy

connect for Pepsi with the youth.

Quick shorthand for brand values: The right star can actually telegraph a brand

message fast without elaborate story telling. Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar seem

to have done that successfully for Boost in the early '90s. And helped to differentiate

it in the malted beverages market.

Quick means of brand differentiation: In a category where no brand is using a

celebrity, the first that picks one up could use it to differentiate itself in the market.

Boost did it in the malted beverage category.

And Preity Zinta does all the above four for Perk -- connecting with the youth and

reinforcing the brand's youthful, spontaneous, energetic values.

In general celebrity endorsements are impelled by virtue of the following motives:

Instant Brand Awareness and Recall.

Celebrity values define, and refresh the brand image.

Celebrities add new dimensions to the brand image.

Instant credibility or aspiration PR coverage.

Lack of ideas.

Convincing clients.

An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool that

magnifies the effects of a campaign. But the aura of cautiousness should always be

there. The fact to be emphasized is that celebrities alone do not guarantee success,

as consumers nowadays understand advertising. They know what advertising is and

how it works. People realize that celebrities are being paid a lot of money for

endorsements and this knowledge makes them cynical about celebrity

endorsements.

Compatibility of the celebrity’s persona with the overall brand image

~ 57 ~


A celebrity is used to impart credibility and aspirational 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.

Certain parameters that postulate compatibility between the celebrity and brand

image are

Celebrity’s fit with the brand image.

Celebrity—Target audience match

Celebrity associated values.

Costs of acquiring the celebrity.

Celebrity—Product match.

Celebrity controversy risk.

Celebrity popularity.

Celebrity availability.

Celebrity physical attractiveness.

Celebrity credibility.

Celebrity prior endorsements.

Whether celebrity is a brand user.

Celebrity profession.

Successful celebrity endorsements for a brand- An Indian perspective

In the history of advertising — products or services, political parties or ideas —

celebrities have played a seminal role in boosting the bottom line. Whether what's on

offer is a soft drink, beauty aid, ideology or public health message, it's the celebrity

endorsement that makes the difference between recognition and anonymity.

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

~ 58 ~


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.

In recent times, we had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign with the objective of

mitigating the impediment that an unknown Korean brand faced in the Indian market.

The objective was to garner faster brand recognition, association and emotional unity

with the target group. Star power in India can be gauged by the successful

endorsement done by Sharukh for three products- Pepsi, Clinic All Clear and Santro.

Unique selling propositions are best boosted when a popular credible figure vouches

for it. A Govinda who claims to wear a particular brand of banian impels scores to

switch brands. An Aishwerya Rai pledging her eyes motivates thousands to queue

up to pledge theirs.

In the Indian context, it would not be presumptuous to state that celebrity

endorsements can aggrandize the overall brand. We have numerous examples

exemplifying this claim. A standard example here is Coke, which, till recently, didn't

use stars at all internationally. In fact, India was a first for them. The result was a

ubiquitously appealing Aamir cheekily stating Thanda matlab Coca Cola. The recall

value for Nakshatra advertising is only due to the sensuous Aishwarya. The Parker

pen brand, which by itself commands equity, used Amitabh Bachchan to revitalize

the brand in India. According to Pooja Jain, Director, Luxor Writing Instruments Ltd

(LWIL), post Bachchan, Parker's sales have increased by about 30 per cent.

Review of literature:-

Attribution theory and endorsement effectivenessAlthough past research documents a general tendency for consumers to believe in

the purity of the motives of celebrity endorsers, it is likely that this tendency varies

substantially both across consumers and across endorsers. For example, Tripp

showed that celebrities who endorse several products are viewed as less credible

endorsers than those who endorse only a single product. also demonstrated that

~ 59 ~


celebrities who are blamed for negative events (e.g. accidents) can have detrimental

effects on the products they endorse. In short, the effectiveness of a celebrity

endorser is dynamic, dependent on the celebrity, the product, and perhaps even

societal conditions at the time and place where the advertisement is shown. As such,

it could be fruitful to abandon the use of traditional measures of the celebrity

endorser's trustworthiness or credibility in general in favor of directly measuring the

degree to which individuals evaluate the celebrity as liking the endorsed product

after viewing the advertisement. Such evaluations fit under a class of judgment that

has been referred to as “correspondent inferences” Correspondent inferences more

generally refer to any judgment in which observers use an individual's behavior (e.g.

an endorser saying that she loves Cheerios cereal) to infer congruent dispositions in

that individual (e.g. inferring that the endorser actually does love Cheerios cereal).

We propose that correspondent inferences are a direct measure of a celebrity's

credibility in the specific context of the advertisement, and thus should predict

consumers' attitudes toward the advertised product.H1. =Correspondent inferences

will be positively associated with attitudes toward the advertised product. Another

interesting question in this context is whether consumers will tend to make

correspondent inferences about celebrity endorsers. Early social psychological work

in attribution theory suggests not – a large endorsement fee should be viewed as a

strong incentive toward endorsement behavior, and thus observers should doubt that

endorsements reflect true liking for the product on the part of the endorser. However,

research indicating that celebrities are especially credible and trustworthy endorsers

(e.g. Freiden, 1984) suggests that consumers might believe celebrities like the

product regardless of endorsement fees. Furthermore, research examining a

phenomenon called “correspondence bias” suggests that observers are biased such

that they tend to attribute behavior to personal characteristics of the individual

performing that behavior (e.g. liking for the product) even when situational factors

(e.g. endorsement fees) are sufficient to fully explain the behavior.

FINDING AND INFERENCES

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, below their questions:-

~ 60 ~


1. Percentage of cell phone ownership, among the surveyed people.

2. Cell phone buying behavior.

4. Motivating factor for buying a new cell phone.

For a cell phone consumer brand ambassador matters least to them while latest

trends matters the most.

4. Motivating factor for buying different products.

a) Motor vehicle

~ 61 ~

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

luxury selfesteem

brandname

celebrity

percent

fewer prices,

14dis-

counts and of-fers; 15

latest trends;

65

brand am-

bass-odor; 6

percent

fewre pricesdiscounts and of-ferslatest trendsbrand ambassodor

f

Percent %

on your own

with others

Yes

Percent

Yes No


Luxury matters the most in final decision making for a motor vehicle consumer,

followed by self esteem.

b) Clothing

Celebrity matters most to a shopper, but in this case as well people wants to follow

the latest trends or fashion, that fashion could be initiated by a celebrity or a brand

ambassador.

c) Food Products

Similarly quality of the product matters most to a food products consumer in the final

decision making,

~ 62 ~quality brand name clebrity attractive

package

0

10

20

30

40

50

48

12 1525

percent

percent

status fewer prices latest trends

celebrity05

1015202530354045

percent

percent

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

luxury selfesteem

brandname

celebrity

percent


a celebrity might help them considerably in raising awareness of the product but not

in buying behavior.

5.

More than half the surveyed population believes that a celebrity helps an

organization in increasing its total revenue.

6.

Similarly around half of the surveyed people believe that a brand ambassador

doesn’t always result in increase in the market share of the product, but 36% of them

believe that a celebrity mostly results in raising the market share.

~ 63 ~

mostly true; 36

mostly not; 18

can't say ; 46

percent

mostly true mostly not can't say

percent

can't say, 24

no, 24yes, 52

yes

nocan't say


7.

Around 60% of the surveyed people believe that a celebrity like Shahrukh Khan and

Hrithik Roshan in an advertisement motivates them to buy that product.

8.

Around 60% of the surveyed people believes that a celebrity asks them to them buy

the product but they themselves don’t uses their endorsed product.

RECOMMENDATION

After analyzing the whole survey results, one can easily draw the following

conclusions.

1. Cell phone penetration is very high among the youngsters, especially in the

metros.

~ 64 ~

yes no can'tsay0

10

20

30

40

50

60

12

58

30

Series2

percent

yes, 60

no, 30

can'tsay, 10

yes no can'tsay


2. Celebrity endorsement plays a very minute role in final decision making for

buying a new cell phone (6% only). A celebrity might help in easy

recognization and popularity of a product but not in final decision making.

3. If a consumer wants to purchase a new cell phone then latest technology

matters the most to him/her and brand ambassador matters least to them.

4. Effect of brand ambassador differs with different products, according to our

survey results, it matters most in case of clothing and food products. Because

people tends to be more choosy in case of high attachment and costly

products like cars.

5. A common man feels that a celebrity helps an organization in increasing their

total sales and hence the revenue.

6. A brand ambassador also helps in increasing the market share of the product.

7. Three fifth of the surveyed people feels that a celebrity like Shahrukh or

Hrithik motivates them to buy a product.

8. But vast majority of the surveyed people (60% approx) feels that celebrity

themselves don’t use their endorsed products.

9. Film stars are the most popular celebrities among all, followed by cricketers.

10.More then 60 % surveyed people feels that Shahrukh Khan is the fittest brand

ambassador for Nokia Communications.

11.Popularity of Hrithik Roshan is slightly more then that of Shahrukh Khan as a

brand ambassador of a cell phone.

12.Priyanka Chopra is not that popular as a brand ambassador of cell phones as

Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan are. Just 32 % of surveyed people

consider her as a good brand ambassador of Spice mobile.

13. In final decision making, a value for money is most important for a consumer

and a brand ambassador matters the least.

14.Around 75% of the surveyed people feel that celebrity endorsement helps an

organization in easy reorganization of their products.

15.According to the surveyed people, the high cost of a celebrity is the biggest

drawback of celebrity brand endorsement followed by celebrity vampire effect.

CONCLUSION

~ 65 ~


The given principles were linked to specific managerial suggestions regarding more

effective use of celebrities to enhance brand equity:

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when used consistently over

time to increase the strength of the link between the celebrity and the

endorsed brand.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when the ad execution is

simple, clean, and free of irrelevant design elements. Focus on the celebrity

and the brand together.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when using a celebrity who is

not already strongly associated with another product or service.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when using a celebrity with a

high “fit”, “congruence”, or “belongingness” with the endorsed brand.

Celebrity endorsers can be used to effectively reinforce and/or create an

image for a product or service.

Test potential brand/celebrity combinations to ensure that the impression and

image of the celebrity is positive for the target audience.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective for less familiar brands.

Celebrity endorsers will be more effective for brands for which consumers

have limited knowledge/facts.

Celebrity endorsers will be more effective when integrated across the

elements of the marketing mix.

Caution in choice of celebrity endorser is warranted given the potential risk of

tarnishing the brand’s image.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear Respondents,

I, Syed Isabat, student of BBA 3rd Semester,Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi,I am conducting a survey on “Impact of celebrity endorsement on buying behaviour of customers”. For this purpose I need your cooperation in fulfilling this questionnaire. It will take few minutes of your precious time. It is make sure that information obtained is for general purpose only.

1) Name of the respondent……………………................

~ 66 ~


2) What is your occupation?

Business Class

Service Class

Student

Others

3) What is your age?

18-25

26-32

32-39

More than 40

4) What is your gender?

Male

Female

5) Do you own a branded product?

Yes

No

6) If you wish to change your product then what will be the motivating factor for that?

Fewer prices

Various discounts and offers

Latest trends

Celebrity endorsing the product.

7) Do you think companies investing huge money, for using celebrities help them in increasing their total revenue?

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Yes

No

Can’t say

8) Does the celebrity helps in increasing the market share of the company’s brand?

Usually true

Usually not

Can’t say

9) Do you think, a presence of celebrity like Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan in an advertisement encourages you to buy a product?

Yes

No

Can’t say

10)What do you think, do the celebrity themselves uses the product they themselves endorse?

Yes

No

Can’t say

11)On a personal note what kind of celebrity does you like the most?

Cricketer

Politician

Film star

Famous personalities

12)What is the most important for you?

Price of the product.

Quality of the product.

Value for money

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Celebrity endorsement

13)Do you think celebrity endorsement is an important thing in brand promotion?

Yes

No

Can’t say

14)Do you think celebrity endorsement is really effective in reaching its goal?

Yes

No

Can’t say

“Thanks for your valuable Contribution”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS/MAGAZINES REFFERED: MARKETING RESEARCH By- Sunanda Easwaran,Sharma ,J.Singh

Marketing management By- Phillip Kotler

Advertising Management by Aaker, Batra and Myers

REFERENCES:

McCracken, Grant (1989), "Who is the Celebrity Endorser?" Journal of

Consumer Research, 16 (December), 310-321

Erdogan (1999), "Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature Review", Journal of

Marketing Research, 15, 291-314

Daneshvary, Rennae and R. Keith Schwer (2000), "The Association

Endorsement and

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Consumers' Intention to Purchase," Journal of Consumer Marketing, 17 (3),

203-213

Friedman, Hershey H. and Linda Friedman (1979), "Endorser Effectiveness by

Product Type," Journal of Advertising Research, 19 (5), 63-71

Meenal Dhotre(2009),”Celebrity endorsements on Indian Television”,Marketing Mastermind,Vol 9,17-20

Supriya Patra and Saroj.K.Datta(2010) ,”Celebrity Endorsement in India-Emerging Trends and Challenges”,Journal of Marketing and Communication,Vol 5,16-23

www.honda2wheelersindia.com

www.autos.maxabout.com

www.motosindia.com

www.extrememachines.com

www.indiauto.in

www.agencyfaqs.com

www.deccanheald.com

http://www.blonnet.com

http://www.etstrategicmarketing.com

http://www.hinduonnet.com

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http://www.indiauto.in/

pros and cons of celebrity marketing

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