the impact of celebrity endorsements on tv-brm

8/7/2019 The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on tv-brm

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The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements onConsumer Brand Preferences

By

Vivek JoshiSupreet Ahluwalia

Senior LecturersDepartment of Business

Manipal University Dubai CampusBlock #7 International Academic City Dubai

United Arab Emirates

The crescendo of celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years o

Marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrity in influencing buyer's purchase decision. Theyfirm believe that likeability or a favorable attitude towards a brand is created by the use of a celebrcrore of rupees spent per year on celebrity endorsement contracts show that celebrities like Amitab

Bachchan, Sharukh khan and Sachin Tendulkar play an important role for the advertising industry. established fact that celebrity endorsement can bestow unique features or special attributes upon a

product that it may have lacked otherwise.

In India from late 1970's and early 80's the new trend in advertising started. Brands started being

endorsed by celebrities. Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons were roped in to endorseprominent brands. Advertisements featuring stars like Late Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Tabassum (Pres

cookers), Sunil Gavaskar for Dinesh Suiting, Ravi Shastri and Vivian Richards (Vimal), Persis Khamb

and Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving cream) became common.

Though marketers should remember that celebrities are mere living beings like us and if they can h

the benefits or advantages of a brand they can also have some uncanny negative impact. Theory anpractice suggests that the use of stars and their unleashing power in advertising generate a lot of p

and attention from the public but the underline questions are, do these stars really help a brand byincreasing its sales? On the other hand, can they really have an Impact on the person's consumptio

pattern, thereby changing his brand preference? How an advertisement featuring a celebrity can infconsumers 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 endorsementbrands, 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 preference

be influenced, how buyer's behavior can be influenced, how buyer's behavior can be molded. We withe principles of credibility of source and attractiveness, the match-up hypothesis, the consumer de

making model and the communication model to understand this phenomenon.

Brand- A layman perspective

Brand 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 deCoke – thanda matlab coca-cola; Pepsi – Yeh dil mange more; Kurkure- Masti bole to kurkure an

Daewoo ka India.

These examples convey one message that when people watch advertisement a connect is being cre



and result is that people go for experience of buying. People feel by using the brand they will portracertain 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 makthem so powerful.

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

above all what factors, features and attributes makes it better from competition. Advertisements alwith other marketing efforts generate expectations and feelings in a customer and force them to thwhen they see or hear the brand name. This Thinking process and emotional bonding gets more ma

and relevant when a celebrity endorses the brand. The subjective intangible feelings of a customerbecome 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 theadvertised product has been purchased or consumed by him.

Celebrity

Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition and mostly they are the experts of their respect

fields having wider influence in public life and societal domain. Attributes like attractiveness, extraolife 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 socnorm and enjoy high degree of public awareness.

Celebrities appear in public in different ways. To start, they appear in public when fulfilling theirprofessional commitments example: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who played cricket in front of an audie

Twenty-Twenty World Cup. Furthermore, celebrities appear in public by attending special celebrity eexample: the movie award nights; special screening; world premiers of movies or for social causes.

celebrities have universal presence and appeal, they are present everywhere, in news, fashion showmagazines, tabloids and above all advertisements.

Celebrity and a Brand

Star power in India can be gauged by the successful endorsements done by Sharukh Khan (Pepsi, H

Santro, Sunfeast, and Navratan etc.), Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Hrithik Rand 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 consequenincrease their sales revenues.

This fact can be brought out by using certain examples i.e. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan promoting Cadbuchocolates after the fiasco of infestation when the image of Cadbury India went very low in the eye

people. Soon the company found a perfect fit and a reliable celebrity to transmit the correct messaghelp regenerating the lost trust. The fit between the product and celebrity is evident as Mr. Bachcha

Cadbury chocolates both have tested troubled times and still they stand tall and the love and trust tboth 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 electronthe other.

According to Advertising research companies both the actors are doing well and the ad spent on bothe companies is increasing at a phenomenal rate, so does their basket of endorsements. These act

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 i

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

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

Understanding Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why the

It blends elements from psychology, sociology, sociopsychology, anthropology and economics. It atto understand the buyer decision-making process, both individually and in groups. It studiescharacteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral varia

an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from gsuch as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.

The study and knowledge of consumer behavior helps firms and organizations to improve their marstrategies and product offerings. Following are the important issues that have significant influence o

consumer's psyche and their ability to take decisions:

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

(e.g., brands, products);

• The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture,

signs, media);• The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions;

• Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions anmarketing outcome;

• How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in theirof importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and

• How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies

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

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 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 hcan maximize the satisfaction is the next stage. In this stage, we will cover ability to purchase, leve

involvement, people whose opinion will count and other relevant details that will help us in optimizisatisfaction.

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 brandproducts how better or economical it is.

Evaluation stage will look like cost benefit analysis and based upon maximum value or utility per ru

spend, we will decide or shortlist the product or brand. This is the decision and confirmation stage wthe consumers prepares himself for the purchase of a particular brand and give preference to one a

one over and above the others.

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

product, physically verifies it and purchases it.

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

decision. He tries to find out whether his purchase decision was right or not. Companies make lot oto 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 goexpected 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 froconsumption 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 making

There are several factors that affect consumer's decision to purchase a brand and a product. These

though at time are not very much visible but they make an impact and affects sales of a product orup to a great extent. The table below shows some of these factors.

Impact of a Brand on consumer purchase decision



Research 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 th

market in comparison to completely unknown or unexposed brand. Recognition of brand and itssignificance along with the traditional factors plays a very significant role in consumer decision-mak

process.

More or less every consumer has a brand preference and given the affordability and societal normsbuyer would like to buy and consume one of the highly acceptable, recognizable, and reputed brand

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 favbrand than he keeps his favourite as one of the alternatives and he evaluate his selected brand aga

available options and on finding it suitable or best among all options based upon a qualitative andquantitative evaluation he will ultimately purchase the selected or favourite brand.

The diagram above explains how various traditional factors along with brand preference interact du

purchase decision process and finally results into a consumer's final product choice or ultimate purcCelebrity and a brand

Surveys suggest that compared to any other types of endorsers, famous people achieve a higher deof attention and recall. They increase awareness of a company's advertising as well as help in reten

message in the psyche of the audience. They can also help the company in reducing their expendituMedia and other forms of publicity. An example will bring more clarity, When S Kumars, a known te

brand entered into readymade garments business they used Hrithik Roshan, then the hottest advericon 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 stHrithik. The Ad recall was as high as 70 percent and the campaign can be termed as a great succes

Celebrities also create positive feelings towards brands, connect user to brand and are perceived byconsumers as more entertaining.

Using a celebrity in advertising or for any, other type of communication for brand building is likely t

positively affect consumers' brand preference, brand attitude, brand association and purchase intenTo 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 endorsem

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

Source Credibility

Central goal of advertising is the convincing of consumers and persuasion to purchase, the ultimateobjective, though not openly spoken, is to some how attract consumers to the market offering of th

company, generating positive attitude, reinforce positive association and ultimately to generate salebe a trial purchase. At later stages, the sponsor may work towards creating a brand loyalty but gen

initial sales or increasing the existing sales is the primary objective. In this respect, the credibility oendorser 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 strateenables advertisers to project a credible image in terms of expertise, persuasiveness, trustworthine

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, Likeand Similarity to the receiver, thus to the perceived social value of the source. This behavior mainly

back to halo effect, whereby persons who perform well on one dimension example: physical attractor top professional performance, social status are assumed to excel on other levels as well i.e. happ

and coolness. This is evident from the use of Fardeen Khan, modern, dynamic, outgoing and smartpersonality for Provogue; he translates the modernism of the brand well. Titan uses Aamir Khan in

different avatars for communicating to the public that their watches are as reliable and passionate aAamir is for films. Both Fardeen and Aamir carry the message well and enhance the credibility of th

brand they endorse.

Establishing a Perfect Match

Research proves that a spokesperson especially for a service product or organization (ICICI- First ABachchan, 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 problems of an ordinary customer.

According to Friedman and Friedman (1979), a famous relative to a 'normal' spokesperson is moreeffective for products high in psychological or social risk, involving such elements as good taste, sel

image, and opinion of others. Several research studies have examined the congruency between celeendorsers 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 theiradvertising campaign featuring James Bond fame of the time Mr. Pierce Brosnan along with the tag

'BOND WITH THE BEST' but the James Bond idea did not worked and the company was not happy wresults.

After the debacle of the first campaign, company introduced a family ad where children are celebratthere parents silver wedding anniversary and they are out with their father to purchase a suit for hi

Even this commercial did not work and it was taken off the air. As a last resort, company introduceAmitabh Bachchan as Reid & Taylor man, a man propagating the brand for special occasion and for

special people in life. The commercial from the initial days got good response and did extremely wepeople 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 qualitybit 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 asmart 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 w

one of the greats of the game is asking people to join NIIT it was suppose to have a positive influenthe people and actually it had. There was complete congruency and compatibility between the celebendorser, the product and the message.

Contrary to only favorable outcomes, there are several examples where the product, even the entircampaign 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 pand the celebrity were a perfect match, following are few examples:

Celebrity Endorser Company / Product

Amitabh Bachchan

* Dabur* Cadbury* Reid and Taylor

* Parker

Shahrukh Khan

* Santro* Videocon* Sunfeast

* 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 num

failures as well. Assuming that a person just have to be famous to represent a successful brand, howould be incorrect and may turn out to be a very dangerous preposition resulting into a big calamit

the entire advertising campaign or the brand.Very well accepted and attractive super stars like Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan failed

turning their endorsements into success i.e. Maruti Versa similarly Virendra Sehwag also failed to dReliance Telecommunication with the master stroke of his cricketing genius.

Among the possible reasons identified by several authors, including overexposure and identification'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 physica



attractiveness of the endorser. Results show that an attractive spokespersons are more effective in of attitude change when prompting brands that enhance one's attractiveness i.e. cosmetics; health

or fashion wear.

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 prod

Transferring the Meaning

After watching an advertisement the consumers try to find the meaning of the advertisement andassociate the same with the endorser and eventually transfer to the brand. To understand this

phenomenon Mc Cracken (1989) suggested a comprehensive model known as Meaning Transfer MoThis three-stage model suggests how the meaning associated with the famous person moves from t

endorser to the product or the brand. Thus, meanings attributed to the celebrity become associatedthe brand in the consumer's mind. Finally, in the consumption process, the customer acquires the b

meaning. The third stage of the model explicitly shows the importance of the consumer's role in theprocess of endorsing brands with famous persons.

In contrast to anonymous endorsers, celebrities add value to the image transfer process by offeringmeanings of extra depth and power, what is complemented by their life style and personalities. The

to transfer the correct meaning to the consumer the company should select a celebrity that will prothe most favorable response for consumers and for the purpose the celebrity should have, the appr

set of characteristics and the public should be able to visualize and comprehend the same. The comshould consider the consumer's needs while developing their communication strategy and selecting

appropriate celebrity to transmit the same, i.e. Kurkure used actress Juhi Chawala with the punch l'Masti Bole To Kurkure' and the actress on screen and off-screen personifies the masti and helps the

in communicating the same easily.

Compatibility of the celebrity's persona with the overall brand image is very important, as a celebrit

imparts credibility and inspirational value to a brand and his or her image should perfectly match thbrand's image. A good brand campaign idea and an intrinsic link between the celebrity and the mes

are must for a successful campaign.

Certain elements that generate a perfect match or compatibility between the celebrity and brand im

are:

* Celebrity's fit with the brand image along with celebrity-target audience match.* Celebrity associated values and celebrity-product match.

* Costs of acquiring the celebrity and his or her popularity along with controversy risks associated wcelebrity.

* Credibility, availability and physical attractiveness of celebrity.

The above points can be put to perspective by using two examples, first Kapil Dev's 'Palmolive da ja

nahin' and second Nakshatra's brand recall due to its endorser, the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai BachchBoth brands have edged out and carved out their niche in consumer's mind due to image and credi

their endorsers. These were the cases of perfect match between the brand image and the image or

persona of the celebrity endorser.



Conclusion

A brief assessment of the current market situation indicates, that celebrity endorsement advertising

strategy can under the right circumstances indeed justify the high costs associated with this form oadvertising. The use of celebrity for endorsements create a very favorable impact on the consumer

creates a connect which forces a consumer to purchase a product. However, as several failures shoessential for advertisers to be aware of the complex processes underlying celebrity endorsement.

It has been proved from the discussion that celebrity endorsements are a powerful and useful tool tmagnifies the effect of a campaign but the word of caution to be followed seriously; celebrities alon

not guarantee success nor does a great advertising campaign or the best possible product. It is thecombination of several factors and elements that work together for the success of a brand and its

acceptance in the minds of consumers as well as for its market offering.

Modern day consumers are well educated and smart, they know celebrities are being paid for these

endorsements and this knowledge makes consumers rather more cynical about the product and celendorsements. Majority of the consuming population also knows what is advertising and how it actu

works and this knowledge of consumer makes the task of celebrity endorsement all the more difficuchallenging for the advertising companies and the sponsors. Indian companies both advertising and

product offering companies have top make an effort to overcome this ever-mounting challenge.

References

* Aaker, David A. (1996), Building Strong Brands. New York, NY: The Free Press.

* Daneshvary, Rennae and R. Keith Schwer (2000), "The Association Endorsement and* Consumers' Intention to Purchase," Journal of Consumer Marketing, 17 (3), 203-213.

* Friedman, Hershey H. and Linda Friedman (1979), "Endorser Effectiveness by Product Type," Jour

Advertising Research, 19 (5), 63-71.* McCracken, Grant (1989), "Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorseme

Process," Journal of Consumer Research, 16 (3), 310-321.

Vivek JoshiSupreet AhluwaliaSenior Lecturers

Department of Business

Manipal University Dubai CampusBlock #7 International Academic City Dubai

United Arab Emirates

Source: E-mail January 3, 2008

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the impact of celebrity endorsements on tv-brm

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