celebrity endorsement
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pratik_mehta7
Pratik Mehta
hey Sparkle......hi, i guess the following matter might help you....googled it....:
What is celebrity endorsement? The use of celebrities in order to increase the sales and/ or the recall value of a brand is called celebrity endorsements.
(Art Buchwald; 1999)
The late '80s saw the beginning of celebrity endorsements in advertising in India. Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons began encroaching on a territory that was, until then, the exclusive domain of models. There was a spurt of advertising, featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige pressure cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings). Of course, probably the first ad to cash in on star power in a strategic, long-term, mission statement kind of way was for Lux soap, a brand which has, perhaps as a result of this, been among the top three in the country for much of its lifetime. Detergents on the other hand ran the whole gamut from Lalitaji - the antithesis of celebrity - to Shekhar Suman stepping into the lives of ordinary housewives.(Blonnet, April 2003)
Endorsements by celebrities have started since a long time. The very fact that their use has continued for so long is proof enough of its immense advantages, but they have several disadvantages too. When it comes to celebrity endorsement, the first brand that comes to the Indian mind is that of Lux, the Beauty Bar of the Stars. Since its inception, Lux the brand has grown positioning itself thus. However, recently Lux has tried to change its positioning from being a woman’s soap to being soap for men as well. Sticking to its strategy of using celebrities to appeal to its target audience, this time around it has used Shah Rukh Khan to endorse Lux. But this time the response has been confusing. This paper attempts to find out if this strategy of Lux has been successful or not.
Six uses of Celebrity Endorsements
Establishes 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
Attracts Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable
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.
Psychographic Connect: Stars are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalize 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.
When it doesn’t work
In the last decade or so, there has been a spurt in the use of celebrity endorsements. And with it, there has been an increase in the number of instances of brands failing to take off in spite of the biggest and brightest stars endorsing it and consequently leading to speculation about the soundness of celebrity endorsements as a communication strategy. Many celebrity endorsements fail because they identify a celebrity they like in an emotive and un-researched manner, and then try to create advertising to force-fit the celebrity into the creative concept. Often, the finished advertising is at best contrived, and often, simply laughable. In the end, the brand suffers from a mismatched concept and celebrity, and millions of dollars are flushed away There are several reasons why celebrity endorsements fail to produce the desired effect, and each of them has to more to do with the core communication strategy and less with the celebrity’s pull. Celebrities cannot really be blamed if their endorsements fail to push up the brand sales. Indeed, for it is important to recognize that celebrities can create interest - whether that interest converts into sales depends on various factors such as brand-celebrity disconnect, improper positioning, clutter of celebrities, or even product life-cycle.
As advertisers pour crores of rupees every year into celebrity advertising, the question arises… is it worth all the money and the headaches of coordinating stars and managing their tantrums. Think of Sachin Tendulkar. He means Pepsi in soft drinks, Boost in malted beverages, MRF in tyres, 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. (Business Standard, 2003.)
So what exactly is the right personality?
It’s one that can personalize your brand, is in sync with the product/service and is the perfect match for it. Celebrity endorsement is a serious business, and if used effectively could have a lasting impression on the brand, its activities and its image. Right from Kapil Dev’s ‘Palmolive ka jawaab nahin’ to the most recent sensational association of Hrithik Roshan with Tamariind, celebrities have done wonders for brand recall. (E-Strategic marketing, 2005)
Five causes of letdown
It’s worth going over some of the reasons why celebrity endorsements may not work:
Improper positioning: Associating with a star, however big he or she may be, in itself does not guarantee sales. The most it can do is generate interest in the product or create a buzz around it. Take the case of Maruti Versa, which was launched amidst a lot of fanfare about three years ago. In spite of Maruti signing up superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan as brand ambassadors for Versa, the brand’s sales remained sluggish. To be fair, the Big B magic did work and the ads created significant interest, drawing people into the showroom. But perhaps the positioning itself was faulty as people were expecting a larger than life car, just like the brand’s ambassador. Last year, we saw Versa being re-positioned as a family car, with the core proposition being, “the joy of traveling together.” Maruti, Versa has started doing well and has witnessed an upswing since the new positioning. Last year, the average sales were 80-100 vehicles a month. Now they are selling 450 vehicles a month.
Brand-celebrity disconnect: If the celebrity used represents values that conflict with the brand values and positioning, the advertising will create a conflict in the minds of the target audience who may reject the proposition. Take for instance Toyota, one of world’s leading auto companies. Toyota chose teeny-pop singer Britney Spears for its brand Soluna Vios, a family sedan, which is preferred by married men and women with children.
Clutter Flutter: In recent times, there has been such a deluge of celebrity endorsements that it has led to the very clutter that it aimed to break. For instance, Amitabh Bachchan endorses or has endorsed Pepsi, ICICI, BPL, Parker pens, Nerolac, Dabur, Reid & Taylor, Maruti Versa, Cadbury and a few social messages too. Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan endorses Omega, Tag Heuer, Pepsi, Hyundai, Clinic All Clear and Airtel among other brands has to his credit more television commercials than feature films since 1992. This over-exposure can be bad for the brand. Each celebrity is called upon to push maybe a dozen brands or so. Which is great for the celebrity but it is pretty daft for the brand because the impact of the celebrity reduces as the number of brands him endorses increases. Unfortunately in India, we have too many brands chasing too few celebrities. And the recall value drops by a huge margin when you move from an A Class celebrity to a B Class.
Dissatisfaction with product performance: You cannot sell an ordinary product just by making a celebrity endorse it. In fact, if anything, the product will fail faster because the presence of the celebrity will create a buzz and more people will know about the “ordinariness” of the product. Unfortunately using a celebrity seems to be the easy way out of a parity product situation. Sachin Tendulkar’s endorsement of Fiat Palio was quite a success initially. But as word about the poor fuel efficiency of Palio spread, its sales took a beating. In this case, Sachin’s presence could’ve worked wonders but for the poor performance of the car in a market that is highly performance conscious.
Confusion/ Skepticism: The use of celebrities can be confusing. Some viewers forget brand that a celebrity is approving. Others are so spellbound by the personality of the celebrity that they completely fail to notice the product/brand being advertised. The brand is overshadowed in the overwhelming presence of the star. In some cases, a celebrity can give rise to skepticism because it might be a bit too much for the masses to believe that the celebrities who are rich and can afford the best in the world are actually using a mass product being advertised on television. On the contrary, people might speculate about such things as “how much did the brand pay to rope him/ her in as the brand ambassador?” (Journal of advertising - Vol 18, 1989)
Risks associated with Celebrity Endorsements
Fame is a fickle and fleeting companion and can ditch the famous at the slightest provocation. Celebrities, being human, make mistakes. But their mistakes get as much attention as their celebrity status and this can adversely affect the brands that they are endorsing. There are a number of examples, both Indian and International, where scandals and scams involving celebrity endorsers have caused embarrassment to the brands they endorse. Companies have to make quick decisions when one of their endorsers comes under fire or their own image could be tarnished. Guilty by association in a consumer’s eyes describes it best.
If a brand continues with the celebrity, it may adversely affect the image of the brand and consequently, brand sales. If the brand chooses to distance itself with the tainted celebrity, the huge costs spent on roping in the celebrity and making of the ads may go down the drain and even then the association of the brand with the celebrity might by then be so ingrained that the damage is already done.
What is celebrity endorsement? The use of celebrities in order to increase the sales and/ or the recall value of a brand is called celebrity endorsements.
(Art Buchwald; 1999)
The late '80s saw the beginning of celebrity endorsements in advertising in India. Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons began encroaching on a territory that was, until then, the exclusive domain of models. There was a spurt of advertising, featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige pressure cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings). Of course, probably the first ad to cash in on star power in a strategic, long-term, mission statement kind of way was for Lux soap, a brand which has, perhaps as a result of this, been among the top three in the country for much of its lifetime. Detergents on the other hand ran the whole gamut from Lalitaji - the antithesis of celebrity - to Shekhar Suman stepping into the lives of ordinary housewives.(Blonnet, April 2003)
Endorsements by celebrities have started since a long time. The very fact that their use has continued for so long is proof enough of its immense advantages, but they have several disadvantages too. When it comes to celebrity endorsement, the first brand that comes to the Indian mind is that of Lux, the Beauty Bar of the Stars. Since its inception, Lux the brand has grown positioning itself thus. However, recently Lux has tried to change its positioning from being a woman’s soap to being soap for men as well. Sticking to its strategy of using celebrities to appeal to its target audience, this time around it has used Shah Rukh Khan to endorse Lux. But this time the response has been confusing. This paper attempts to find out if this strategy of Lux has been successful or not.
Six uses of Celebrity Endorsements
Establishes 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
Attracts Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable
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.
Psychographic Connect: Stars are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalize 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.
When it doesn’t work
In the last decade or so, there has been a spurt in the use of celebrity endorsements. And with it, there has been an increase in the number of instances of brands failing to take off in spite of the biggest and brightest stars endorsing it and consequently leading to speculation about the soundness of celebrity endorsements as a communication strategy. Many celebrity endorsements fail because they identify a celebrity they like in an emotive and un-researched manner, and then try to create advertising to force-fit the celebrity into the creative concept. Often, the finished advertising is at best contrived, and often, simply laughable. In the end, the brand suffers from a mismatched concept and celebrity, and millions of dollars are flushed away There are several reasons why celebrity endorsements fail to produce the desired effect, and each of them has to more to do with the core communication strategy and less with the celebrity’s pull. Celebrities cannot really be blamed if their endorsements fail to push up the brand sales. Indeed, for it is important to recognize that celebrities can create interest - whether that interest converts into sales depends on various factors such as brand-celebrity disconnect, improper positioning, clutter of celebrities, or even product life-cycle.
As advertisers pour crores of rupees every year into celebrity advertising, the question arises… is it worth all the money and the headaches of coordinating stars and managing their tantrums. Think of Sachin Tendulkar. He means Pepsi in soft drinks, Boost in malted beverages, MRF in tyres, 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. (Business Standard, 2003.)
So what exactly is the right personality?
It’s one that can personalize your brand, is in sync with the product/service and is the perfect match for it. Celebrity endorsement is a serious business, and if used effectively could have a lasting impression on the brand, its activities and its image. Right from Kapil Dev’s ‘Palmolive ka jawaab nahin’ to the most recent sensational association of Hrithik Roshan with Tamariind, celebrities have done wonders for brand recall. (E-Strategic marketing, 2005)
Five causes of letdown
It’s worth going over some of the reasons why celebrity endorsements may not work:
Improper positioning: Associating with a star, however big he or she may be, in itself does not guarantee sales. The most it can do is generate interest in the product or create a buzz around it. Take the case of Maruti Versa, which was launched amidst a lot of fanfare about three years ago. In spite of Maruti signing up superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan as brand ambassadors for Versa, the brand’s sales remained sluggish. To be fair, the Big B magic did work and the ads created significant interest, drawing people into the showroom. But perhaps the positioning itself was faulty as people were expecting a larger than life car, just like the brand’s ambassador. Last year, we saw Versa being re-positioned as a family car, with the core proposition being, “the joy of traveling together.” Maruti, Versa has started doing well and has witnessed an upswing since the new positioning. Last year, the average sales were 80-100 vehicles a month. Now they are selling 450 vehicles a month.
Brand-celebrity disconnect: If the celebrity used represents values that conflict with the brand values and positioning, the advertising will create a conflict in the minds of the target audience who may reject the proposition. Take for instance Toyota, one of world’s leading auto companies. Toyota chose teeny-pop singer Britney Spears for its brand Soluna Vios, a family sedan, which is preferred by married men and women with children.
Clutter Flutter: In recent times, there has been such a deluge of celebrity endorsements that it has led to the very clutter that it aimed to break. For instance, Amitabh Bachchan endorses or has endorsed Pepsi, ICICI, BPL, Parker pens, Nerolac, Dabur, Reid & Taylor, Maruti Versa, Cadbury and a few social messages too. Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan endorses Omega, Tag Heuer, Pepsi, Hyundai, Clinic All Clear and Airtel among other brands has to his credit more television commercials than feature films since 1992. This over-exposure can be bad for the brand. Each celebrity is called upon to push maybe a dozen brands or so. Which is great for the celebrity but it is pretty daft for the brand because the impact of the celebrity reduces as the number of brands him endorses increases. Unfortunately in India, we have too many brands chasing too few celebrities. And the recall value drops by a huge margin when you move from an A Class celebrity to a B Class.
Dissatisfaction with product performance: You cannot sell an ordinary product just by making a celebrity endorse it. In fact, if anything, the product will fail faster because the presence of the celebrity will create a buzz and more people will know about the “ordinariness” of the product. Unfortunately using a celebrity seems to be the easy way out of a parity product situation. Sachin Tendulkar’s endorsement of Fiat Palio was quite a success initially. But as word about the poor fuel efficiency of Palio spread, its sales took a beating. In this case, Sachin’s presence could’ve worked wonders but for the poor performance of the car in a market that is highly performance conscious.
Confusion/ Skepticism: The use of celebrities can be confusing. Some viewers forget brand that a celebrity is approving. Others are so spellbound by the personality of the celebrity that they completely fail to notice the product/brand being advertised. The brand is overshadowed in the overwhelming presence of the star. In some cases, a celebrity can give rise to skepticism because it might be a bit too much for the masses to believe that the celebrities who are rich and can afford the best in the world are actually using a mass product being advertised on television. On the contrary, people might speculate about such things as “how much did the brand pay to rope him/ her in as the brand ambassador?” (Journal of advertising - Vol 18, 1989)
Risks associated with Celebrity Endorsements
Fame is a fickle and fleeting companion and can ditch the famous at the slightest provocation. Celebrities, being human, make mistakes. But their mistakes get as much attention as their celebrity status and this can adversely affect the brands that they are endorsing. There are a number of examples, both Indian and International, where scandals and scams involving celebrity endorsers have caused embarrassment to the brands they endorse. Companies have to make quick decisions when one of their endorsers comes under fire or their own image could be tarnished. Guilty by association in a consumer’s eyes describes it best.
If a brand continues with the celebrity, it may adversely affect the image of the brand and consequently, brand sales. If the brand chooses to distance itself with the tainted celebrity, the huge costs spent on roping in the celebrity and making of the ads may go down the drain and even then the association of the brand with the celebrity might by then be so ingrained that the damage is already done.
nilswet222
New member
report is good n i got enough help 4m it thx much
ravishnarkar11
New member
Good job my frnd.....it was very useful...