final 100 mks project

8/8/2019 Final 100 Mks Project

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S. No. Name

Page

1 Introduction to the topic

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2 Celebrity & a Brand

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3 Celebrity endorsement

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4 Literature review 23

5 The argument for Celebrity Endorsement 34

6 The argument against Celebrity Endorsement 37

7 Brand, Celebrities & Consumer 40

8 Measuring a Celebrity Endorsement 53

9 Research Objective and Methodology 59

10 Survey results 61

11 Findings 71

12 Summary and managerial implications 76

13 Conclusion 73

14 Appendix 1 & 2 80


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Introduction

Celebrity endorsement is a special type of advertisement which includes a

famous person from film fraternity, athletes, and sports, modeling world etc.

it helps in promoting the product brand and also increasing the sales of the

product.

Celebrity endorsement not only has developed in recent years, it is being

used from the past for promoting the product. This type of marketing

strategy is used to promote the product and has proved in itself a boon in

advertising world.

It is mainly used to influence the consumer who comes across these

advertisements as it is accessed in the consumers mind for many days even

after the advertisement. Celebrity endorsement has not always helped in

promoting the product but it has been developed considerably over the

years.

It is very expensive to endorse a celebrity for a product but in the long run

it has helped in increasing the sales of the product. Celebrities are also

interested in endorsing themselves in the product as they get compensation

for it and their image is been developed considerably.

Businesses have long sought to distract the attention of the potentials

customers that live in a world of ever increasing commercial bombardment.

Everyday consumers are exposed to thousands of voices and images in

magazines, news paper, and on billboards, websites, radio and television .

The term celebrity refers to an individual who is known to the public (actor

figure, entertainer, etc.) for his or her achievements the areas other than

that of the product class endorsed (Friedman and Friedman, 1979),. This is


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true for the classic forms of celebrity, like actors (eg., Amitabh Bachchan,

Sharukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor)

Models (e.g., Malaika Arora, Lisa Ray , Sheetal Malhar,Naomi Gisele

Buendchen etc)., sports Figures (E.g., Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra SingDhoni ,Virander Sehwag, Saurav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan , Steve Waugh, etc).

Enertainers (e.g. Cyrus Broacha, Oprah Winfrey, Conan OBrien), and pop-

stars (e.g., Madonna, Dravid Bowie) but also for less obvious groups like

businessmen (e.g., Donald Trump, Bill Gates) or politicians.

Celebrities appear in public in different ways. First, they appear in public

when fulfilling their profession, e.g., Viswanathan Anand, who plays chess in

front of the audience. Further more, celebrities appears in public by

attending special celebrity events, e.g., award ceremonies, Inauguration or

world premieres of movies. In addition, they present in news, fashion,

magazines, and tabloids, which provide second information on events and

the private life of celebrities through mass-media channel Last but not the

least, celebrities act as spokes-people in advertising to promote products

and services, which is referred to celebrity endorsement.

The society that we live in can not only be called secular or democratic, it

should be more appropriately termed as over-communicated these days.

Likewise, there are around 130 television channels in India broadcasting over

3 million television commercials each year in India. The media-explosion can

thus be easily demonstrated. More over, people forget 80% of the

information in just 24 hours! Just imagine the plight of the marketer to make

his brand shout over the deafening clutter of all the brands! Some where in

the 80's, Indian marketers found the solution, 'Celebrity Endorsement' for the

brand!

Firms endorse celebrity for a variety of reasons. It might be the life

experience of the celebrity that fits the advertising message or the

endorser's high appeal with the firm's consumer target group. Studies


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associated with the market effect of celebrity endorsement suggest that

consumers positively value the use of celebrity endorsers in the

advertisements. Firms invest significant money in putting together brands

and organisations with endorser qualities such as attractiveness, likeability,

and trustworthiness. But today's dynamic market conditions make these

investments unviable. In this paper we are attempting to discuss the positive

and negative effects of celebrity endorsement with few examples.

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


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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.

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


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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?

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.

Celebrity


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Per say, a dictionary meaning of this word is a famous person". A

person who has excelled in his / her field of action or activity. In our day to

day activity, we perform many acts, may at home, at work place, on field in

sports, in social life. But these acts may be daily routine or just "acts" per say

giving no extra-ordinary results, not noticed by anybody surrounding, and

not taken into notice by Media.

But if a person acts or performs something which gives spectacular

results is noticed by masses. That person has "done something" special that

we and masses can not do. He is regarded as a special person with some

"extra" given by that "Almighty" above. We start feeling that he/she is great.We start celebrating his/her all acts which produce success. If the success

rate for that person is very high to "deliver" same results, he becomes a

"CELEBRITY". It may be in field of sports, cinema, theatre, social life, politics,

and science anything but something with some special results.

But by all means these acts should be with good cause, positive

results, morally good and acceptable results. A celebrity is perceived as god

by masses. They touch their feet, create idols and worship, garland theirphotographs, perform "Yagnyas" for their idols performance, wait for their

"Darshan" in hot sun or heavy rains for hours together, follow fashions of

them - wear similar clothes or have similar hair style as that of celebrity, and

on wrongside even commit suicide if celebrity FAILS to deliver results.

They have tremendous mass followings. They pull crowds with their

presence only. If it is understood that BIG B is coming for shooting a film, to

a particular location on a particular day , then there is big commotion in that

area. Police worry about law and order situation, even young generation

throng there in big nose to have glimpses of BIG B and even wait since early

morning leaving aside their.


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Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition by a large share of a

certain group of people. Whereas attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary

lifestyle or special skills are just examples and specific common

characteristics cannot be observed, it can be said that within a

corresponding social group, celebrities generally differ from the social norm

and enjoy a high degree of public awareness.

Celebrity and a Brand

Star power in India can be gauged by the successful endorsements done by

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

Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, 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.


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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.

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

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

usage.


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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.


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For example, in the much talked about Shah Rukh - Santro campaign, the

organization wanted to overcome the shortcoming of an unknown brand,

Korean at 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


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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 spokespersons. These concepts are called multiple brand

endorsement and multiple celebrity endorsement respectively.

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 endorsement

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)


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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 womans 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.

Background

Celebrities are involved in endorsing activities since late nineteenth century.

The advent of the celebrity endorsements in advertising in India began when

Hindi films and TV stars as well as sportsperson began encroaching on a

territory that was, until then, the exclusive domain of models.

One of the first sports endorsements in India was when Farokh Engineer

became the first Indian Crickets to model for bryl Cream The Indian cricket

teams now earns roughly Rs. 100 crore through endorsements. There was a

spurt of advertising, featuring stars like tabassum (pretisge Pressure

cookers). Jalal Agha (Pan Parag).Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving cream) and

Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Sutings)

Rise of celebrity culture

The modern mass media has increased the exposure and power of

celebrity. Often, celebrity carries with it immense social capitals that is

highly sought after by some individuals. High paying jobs and other social

perks unavailable to most people are readily available to celebrities, even for


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wok not connected to the talents or accomplishment that made them

famous.

For example

A retired athletes might receive high speaking fees or compensation for

public appearances, despite his talent having been sports, not oratory, while

some envy celebrities, and many aspire to celebrity , some who have

attained it are ambivalent about their status . Often, celebrities cannot

escape the public eye, and risk being followed by fans. As well, child

celebrities are notorious for having poor emotional health in adulthood, and

often turn to drug and alcohols abuse when their celebrity (as it usually

does) fades.

Some participants in reality television shows have admitted that they

appeared on these programs with the goal in mind of attain celebrity. Most

often they achieve only fleeting celebrity with no special figures, has

pervaded many sectors of society including business, publishing, and even

academy (the celebrities)

Only small portions of individuals in any profession can achieve celebrity.For those who do., the benefit can be substantial in the form of speaking

access. There are disadvantages as well; however, academics and business

leads that become well known often lose credibility with their colleagues.

In many fields, such as the arts and publishing, a moderate measure of

celebrity (being established) I necessary before individuals in these sectors

are poorly-compensated though they may be as talented or more so then

well compensated, famous people in he same field.

Concept of celebrity endorsement

In India today, the use of celebrity advertising for companies has become a

trend and a perceive winning formula of corporate image building and


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product marketing. Associating a brand with a top-notch celebrity can do

more than perk up brand recall. It can create linkages with the stars appeal,

thereby adding refreshing and new dimensions to the brand image.

In a world filled with faces, how many do you remember? Admittedly theones that evoke some kind of feel in you, whether its humors, acceptance,

appreciation or recognition. These are the faces youd turn to look at, the

ones that would stop you in your tracks. And thats when you have more

than just a face. You have personality.

Personality thats reflective of your brand and promises to take it

that extra mile.

The argument supports a position by citing the endorsement of someone

who is well known famous. The person need not necessarily be an authority

implies that the endorsers game alone is sufficient to establish the truth of

the position.

As existing media get increasingly cluttered, the need to stand out has

become paramount- and celebrities have proved to be the ideal way to

ensure brand prominence. Synergizing personality with product and message

can create an instant breakthrough. Result? Brand buzz. People begin to

notice, opportunities come about. People want to be part of the brand.

Touch it. Feel it. Experience it.

Celebrities as brands is a concept-selling challenge, as the current

notion of celebrity management is far from ideal its perceived as a

business that merely attaches celebrity to the brand to get that added

advantage. Celebrities exert their influence on consumer through perceived

attributes such as expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness, familiarty, and

likeability


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Celebrites embody a collection of culturally relevant images, symbols, and

values. As the images of the celebrity become associated with the products

through endorsement, the meanings they attach to the product are

transferred to consumer through and consumption.

For advertising practitioners, employing an appropriate celebrity endorser to

promote a product is important and difficult tasks. Familiarity, as well as the

fit between celebrity and the product, as important factors for choosing the

appropriate endorsers.

Other highly ranked decision factors include celebrity/ target- audience

congruence, costs of securing the celebrity, the celebritys risk of

controversy, and the celebritys prior endorsement.

Celebrity endorsements are very expensive. Therefore their use in an ad

should be justified. In other words, the message strategy for a brand should

strongly warrant the use a known face in an idea. Sadly, very often the

celebrity is hired first and an idea is then weaved around his or her presence.

A celebritys presence in the ad should be contextual. When Sachin

Tendulkar declares, Boost is the secret of my energy, it doesnt seem outof context. Internationally, Nikes association with Michael Jordan is

legendary and also logical.

Is celebrity advertising effective?

What are the benefits of representing India in the national cricket team? It is

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,


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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.

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/marketingproblem. 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!


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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.

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 itselfin 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.


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Convincing clients.

An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool

that magnifies the effects of a campaign.

Compatibility of the celebritys persona with the overall brand

image

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

Celebritys fit with the brand image.

CelebrityTarget audience match

Celebrity associated values.


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Costs of acquiring the celebrity.

CelebrityProduct 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.

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 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, i10 campaign with the

objective of mitigating the impediment that an unknown Korean brand faced


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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.

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 tothe 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.

Is it smart to use celebrity endorsements for branding?

Stars, who are known to shape destinies, cast an enormous influence. No,

were not talking about astrology here. Were referring to the powerful effect

of celebrities on destinies of brands. One approving nod from a famous face

can translate into millions in brand sales. Perhaps thats why the world over,

companies have been using stars to endorse everything, from food to food

chains, from soft and hard drinks to health drinks, from clothes and

accessories to cars (and the tyres on which they run). Even political parties

are awestruck by the charisma of stars. Such is the magnetism of celebrities

in this country that in the recent general elections, major political parties

fielded a record number of film stars and cricketers to contest from

important constituencies around the country.


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So what about celebrities drives companies to spend in millions on

obtaining their stamp of approval on their brands?

Celebrity Endorsements as a strategy

Signing up stars for endorsements is a time-tested strategy and has been

effectively used by some of the top brands in the world including Nike and

Pepsi. In India too, HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty soap

Lux since the fifties. Vimal, Thums Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the

other brands that used star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. And

who can forget Kapil Palmolive Dev?

Ask about the objective of using a celebrity in an ad and most admen will

talk about making an impact on the bottom line. They believe that star

endorsements have several benefits, key among them being building

credibility, fostering trust and drawing attention any or all of which can

translate into higher brand sales.

So how does one decide whether to put a celebrity in an ad? Ideally, this

should be dictated by the communication idea. MG Parmeswaran, ExecutiveDirector of FCB Ulka says, As advertising professionals, we recommend

celebrity endorsements when the case is justified. There are many cases

where you need to use the celebrity to break out of a category clutter. At

times celebrity endorsement is used to build credibility to the brand offer.

Most experts concur that, when used judiciously, celebrity endorsements

can be an effective strategy. According to Mohammed Khan, Chairman of

Enterprise Nexus, Using a celebrity by itself is not a bad idea provided it is

done intelligently. And there are many examples of good and bad use of

celebrities.

Take Amitabh Bachchan, who has been used by some companies like Parker

Pens and ICICI Home Loans remarkably well while some others have been


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unable to exploit his Big B status too well. Shah Rukh Khans endorsement of

Hyundai Santro too seems to have worked well. Parmeswaran adds, We

used cricketers like Rahul Dravid for Castrol in an attempt to break out of the

clutter, as well as have an image rub off of dependability on to the brand.

Mechanism and theories of celebrity endorsement

Celebrity endorsements give a brand a touch of glamour and the hope

that a famous face will provide added appeal and name recognition in a

crowded market. In the battle for the mind, you get the customer excited by

showing him a known face, and an effective demand is created. In short it

helps increase the recall value of the brand. A piece of research states that

the target audience age group of 15-30 gets influenced first by cricketers,

then Bollywood stars and only then music, festivals and food.

According to Source Credibility Theory5, acceptance of the message depends

on 'Expertness' and Trustworthiness' of the source. Expertness is defined as

the perceived ability of the source to make valid assertions. Trustworthiness

is defined as the perceived willingness of the source to make valid

assertions. Audience acceptance increases with the expertness of the source

and the ability of the audience to evaluate theproduct.

According to Source Attractiveness Theory, which is based on social

psychological research, the acceptance of the message depends on

familiarity, likeability and similarity. Familiarity is the audience's knowledge

of the source through exposure; likeability is the affection for the source's

physical appearance and behavior while similarity is the resemblancebetween source and receiver. This theory explains the message acceptance

in two ways: Identification and Conditioning. Identification is when the

receiver or the target audience of the communication begins to identify with

the source's attractiveness, and hence tends to accept his opinions, beliefs,

habits, attitudes etc. On identification, a quote from Bijou Kurien, COO, Titan,


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"We decided on Aamir because we wanted someone who is a bit iconic, who

is style-conscious himself, and somebody who cuts across both sex and age

group, between urban and rural India. A celebrity who is mouldable and who

is not over-exposed". Conditioning is when the attractiveness of the source is

supposed to pass on to the brand after regular association of the source with

the brand.

Grant McCracken6 has criticized the previous two theories and proposed the

Meaning Transfer Theory. The theory explains that a celebrity encodes a

unique set of meanings which if well used can be transferred to the endorsed

product. Such a transfer takes place in three stages encoding meanings,

meaning transfer, meaning capture (Figure 1).

I. Encoding Meanings: Each celebrity has a unique set of meanings, which

can be listed by age, gender, race, wealth, personality or lifestyle. In this

way, the celebrities encode a set of meanings in their image. For example

Preity Zinta can be seen as a lively, charming, bubbly, witty and enthusiastic.

II. Meaning Transfer: This stage transfers those meanings to the product.

When skillfully portrayed, celebrities can communicate this image more

powerfully than lay endorsers.

III. Meaning Capture: This assumes that consumers purchase products not

merely for their functional value but also for their cultural and symbolic

value. The theory says that consumers buy the endorsed product with the

intention of capturing some of the desirable meanings with which celebrities

have passed on to the product. This is more eminent in lifestyle products like

clothes, perfumes, cell phones etc.

Fit with the Advertising Idea


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Marketers now seek to adopt 360 degree brand stewardship in which the

brand sees no limits on the number of contact points possible with a target

consumer. Advertising ideas, thus, revolve around this approach, and the

celebrity endorsement decisions are made through these strategic motives.

One of the most successful celebrity endorsement campaigns which reflect

the fit between the brand and the 360 degree advertising fit is Fardeen Khan

and Provogue. Provogue's positioning in the apparel market is of a young,

active, party-going, attention-grabbing brand and so is Fardeen Khan. The

conjunction between the two has been immensely impact and brand

managers have utilized this endorsement through 360 degree reinforcement.

Provogue Lounge and extensive phased insertions in print in selectivepublications reaching out to their target audience has made it as one of the

highest recalled celebrity endorsement.

Similarly, Richard Gere's recent endorsement for VISA in India has gained

acclaim due to its innovativeness and consumer connects. Brand marketers

say that research reveals that Richard Gere was the most popular face

across the Asia Pacific region, and would also fit into the persona of the

brand meeting their communication objective to enhance VISA's brand

leadership and consumer preference, and the motive to continue the "All it

Takes" empowerment platform featuring international celebrities.

Celebrity-Target Audience Match

Smriti Irani endorsing the WHO recommended ORS Campaign in India. Indian

mothers can associate with Smriti Irani through the facets she projects on

screen or in regular life which helps develop a connect with the target

audience since mothers medicate their children with ORS. The inserial

placement of the campaign in "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" has won it

an award from PR Week.


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Celebrity Values

Celebrity branding is all about the transfer of the value from the person to

the product he endorses or stands for. There are two concerns here. The first

is how long this could last. Can the person maintain his popularity (i.e., his

performance or status ranking)?

The lifecycle of celebrity popularity varies a lot. The second concern is his

private life - personal integrity. If he is implicated in any kind of scandal, that

would ruin the brand. "Who would want to use Shiney Ahuja to brand their

product?" (brandchannel.com)

Tabu endorsing Tetra Packed Milk, Shabana Azmi campaigning for AIDS

Awareness, Amitabh Bachchan & Shahrukh Khan campaigning for Pulse Polio

or Aishwarya Rai appearing in the Donate Eyes campaign are few examples,

which reflect the transfer of celebrity values to the brand, creating an impact

that generates recall.

Costs of Acquiring the Celebrity

Consequently, companies must have deep pockets to be able to afford the

best available celebrities. Recently, a newspaper report showed how cola

firms had gone beyond their aamir khan for samsung

Celebrity-Product Match

Cyrus Broacha is the brand ambassador for MTV since both the celebrity and

the brand are considered as friendly, young, mood-boosting, humorous and

outspoken. MTV's brand personality overlaps Cyrus Broacha's image as a

brand.

Some more examples of compatible celebrity product match in which

celebrity brand attributes get transferred to the brand and increases the


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brand equity is of Govinda & Navratan Tel, Sanjay Dutt & Elf Oil, Sunny Deol

& Lux Undergarments, Aishwarya Rai & Lux etc.

Celebrity Controversy Risk

The perfect example here is of Salman Khan and the controversy in which he

crushed a man to death with his Pajero when he was driving under the

influence of alcohol. Also, any act on the part of the endorser that gives him

a negative image among the audience and goes on to affect the brands

endorsed. The brand, in most instances, takes a bashing.

Celebrity Popularity

Celebrity Brand association like Garnier endorsed Tara Sharma & Simone

Singh, Agni Diamonds & Riama Sen don't get much brand recall, and even if

they do, its difficult to attribute it to the celebrities' endorsing the brand.

On the other hand, HPCL has had increased popularity and share of voice

due to the endorsement of the brand through Sania Mirza

Advertising budgets to get the best celebrities. Small firms that usecelebrities' services run greater risks if they invest large amounts. Although

nobody is willing to say exactly how much celebrities get paid, industry

sources say Sachin Tendulkar's price is believed to be between Rs. 2.0-2.5

crore per endorsement, and musician A. R. Rehman, who had signed up with

AirTel, is believed to have picked up Rs. 1.75 crore. Film-star Hrithik Roshan

was rumored to have picked up Rs. 2 crore for the Fly with Hrithik campaign

to push Close-Up, and Shahrukh Khan's rate seems to be between Rs. 2.5-3.0

crore. Aishwarya Rai apparently picks up Rs. 1.25 crore for an endorsement

and the Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly is believed to get between Rs.

90 lakh to Rs. 1.5 crore, while film-star Aamir Khan apparently makes Rs. 1.5

crore per endorsement.


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Celebrity Regional Appeal Factors

R. Madhavan endorsing Pepsi in southern India or Sachin Tendulkar

endorsing in India are few examples of how celebrities are chosen to reach

out to target audiences for brands in regional markets.

Celebrity Availability

In case of various brands, there are situations in which they prefer to go

without a brand face, since there is no brand-fit between the celebrities

available and the brand. Also, due to multiple endorsements by certain

celebrities, brands refuse to adopt celebrity endorsement since they fear

dilution of the brand image.

Celebrity Physical Attractiveness

Bipasha Basu' physical attractiveness and her connect with the brand makes

Levis Strauss's campaign through celebrity in India, John Abraham endorsing

Wrangler and Timex Sunglasses are some examples which portray the

celebrities' physical attractiveness that helps create an impact.

Celebrity Credibility

The most important aspect and reason for celebrity endorsement is

credibility. In a research carried out among 43 ad agencies and companies,

most experts believed that the most important dimensions of credibility are

trustworthiness and prowess or expertise with regard to the recommended

product or service (Miciak and Shanklin, 2002). One of the most obvious

reasons of Amitabh Bachchan endorsing plethora of brands is the credibility

of the celebrity and his recognition across consumers.

To site one of the most successful campaigns in which the celebrity's

credibility has had an indelible impact on the brand and has saved the brand


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is of Cadbury's. After the worm controversy, Amitabh Bachchan's credibility

infused into the brand through the campaign, helping it to get back on track.

The campaign has won an award for the same.

Multiple Endorsements

The case of multiple endorsements, both in terms of a single brand hiring

multiple celebrities and that of a single celebrity endorsing multiple brands,

is often debated. At times, consumers do get confused about the brand

endorsed when a single celebrity endorses numerous brands. The recall then

gets reduced and reduces the popularity of the brand. Not many people can

remember all the brands that a celebrity endorses and the chances of losing

brand recall increases if the celebrity endorses multiple brands. For example,

in case of Amitabh Bachchan, consumers remember ICICI, Pepsi, Parker

Pens, Pulse Polio and BPL. They might get confused in the endorsement of

Nerolac or Asian Paints. Thus, for multiple endorsements where the same

celebrity endorses several brands, it boils down to the strength of the brand

and the advertising content.

Whether Celebrity is a Brand User

One of the strongest platforms to discuss this is through NGOs. Various

celebrities endorse NGOs and social causes since they believe in the

social message that they need to convey to the audience. One of the most

successful campaigns has been executed by PETA in which celebrities like

Shilpa Shetty, Amisha Patel, Yana Gupta, Sheetal Malhar, and Mahima

Choudhary Claimed to believe in PETA's philosophy, and thereby endorse the

brand.

On the other hand, while some would understand that Amitabh Bachchan

would have never used Navratan Tel, the target audience that the brands


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wants to reach out to will be ready to believe that he used the oil and his

endorsement thereby creates an impact

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 Worlds

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


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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 celebritys preference for a brand gives out a

persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the

brand, the consumer will also benefit.

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.


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FrenchCable Association and Leonard RossiterCinzano. 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 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, Superstar Amitabh Bachchan endorses multiplebrands like Pepsi, Mirinda, ICICI, BPL, Parker pens, Nerolac, Dabur, Reid

& Taylor, Maruti Versa, Hajmola, Tide, Cadbury and a few social

messages

5. Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another

(competitor): Sainsburys 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


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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.

Difference between Brand Ambassador & Brand Face

A Brand Ambassador would be one who is not only a spokesperson for the

brand or is just appearing as a testimonial for the brand's benefits. He/she is

an integral part of the brand persona and helps to build an emotional, which

goes beyond just appearing on TV commercials.

He takes up the cause of a Brand Champion and is associated with every

aspect related with the brand. What is more, there is a significant difference

between making just an endorsement for say, a shampoo or an automobile,

and being that brand's alter ego. Both parties take the latter far more

seriously to the deal. So a brand ambassador would be involved in press


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releases, he/she would be actively participating in any sales promotion,

sporting the Brand all the while. For example, Fardeen Khan is the brand

ambassador for Provogue while he remains a brand face for Lux Body Wash.

On the other hand, a Brand Face would be the current celebrity who is just

used as a tool to increase brand recall and is only appearing in the

advertisement. It is usually seen that a brand face is a temporary contract

and is very short term at times. An example would be Sona Chandi

Chawanpryash using Sourav Ganguly for a while in its commercials. Brand

faces are easily forgotten and fades away with the campaign's end.

How Celebrity Endorsements Influence the Consumer

The basis for the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed advertising can be

linked to Kelman's processes of social influence as discussed by Friedman

and Friedman. According to Kelman, there are three processes of social

influence, which result in an individual adopting the attitude advocated by

the communicator:

Compliance, Identification & Internalization

These latter two processes are particularly applicable to celebrity-endorsed

advertising.

Compliance infers that another individual or group of individuals influences

an individual cause he or she hopes to achieve a favourable reaction from

this other group. This process of social influence is not directly applicable to

celebrity advertising because there is little, if any, interaction between the

celebrity and the consumer.

Identification applies to the situation wherein the individuals emulate the

attitudes or behaviour of another person or group, simply because they

aspire to be like that person or group. This process is the basis for referent


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power. It was found that celebrities are more commonly liked than a typical

consumer spokesperson.

Internalization as a process of social influence is said to occur when

individuals adopt the attitude or behaviour of another person because that

behaviour is viewed as honest and sincere and is congruent with their value

system. The effectiveness of celebrity advertising traditionally has not been

strongly linked to this process, as a celebrity's reason for promoting a

product can just as easily be attributed by the consumer to an external

motive (i.e., payment of fee) as to an internal motive (i.e., the celebrity's

true belief in the value and benefit of the product). An important issue of

concern relates to the development of a strategy for use in CelebrityAdvertising, which benefits from the dramatic impact of dual support of both

the identification and internalization processes of social influence. Celebrities

are well-liked, but the techniques that can be used to enhance their

credibility as spokespeople, and therefore, tie-in more closely with the

internalization process needs to be looked into.

Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers

The source that companies use to present their advertising message

typically attempts to project a credible image in terms of competence,

trustworthiness or dynamism. Celebrity endorsers are considered to be

highly dynamic, with attractive and engaging personal qualities. Audience

may also trust the advice given by some famous person, and in certain

cases, celebrities may even be perceived as competent to discuss the

product. The most widely used celebrities are sports figures, actors or other

types of entertainers. There are several reasons why a famous endorser may

be influential: -

They attract attention to the advertisement in the cluttered stream of

messages


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They are perceived as being more entertaining

They are seen as trustworthy because of apparent lack of self-interest.

The final element is due to the wide-spread attribution that major stars do

not really work for the endorsement fee, but are motivated by genuine

affection for the product (Kamen et al, 1975).

Role of advertising in creating Brand Personality

Human beings have a personality, which is essentially a summation of traits.

Brand personality can be defined in several ways, with emphasis on emotion,

human and tangible aspects of the brand. It can also be defined as sum of

the tangible and intangible aspects of the brand. Even for industrial product

like steel, SAIL uses emotional connect with 'punch line' there is bit of SAIL in

everybody's life. Brand personality, is process of transforming the brand into

a person or humanizing the brand. Thus brands can also have

characteristics (Ex: Sex, Gender, skills & abilities etc). Marketers deliver the

personality using advertising, features, packaging etc.

Users and non users differ in perceptions with respect to Brand personality

users attach a distinct personality to the brand. Established brands have


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unique personality which is generally consistent and may be implicit. Brand

personality enables to establish relationship between brand & consumer with

emotional content. The degree of proximity between brand and consumer

personality, will influence the purchase intension and brand loyalty. Brands

need to update personality to stay contemporary and relevant, as target

audience personality may change over a period of time, due to changes in

cultural, economic, media exposure etc. Brand personality should not be

confused with target audience characteristics. Personality may be existing or

aspirational. Projective techniques can be used to describe brands.

Consumers can be asked to associate the brand, with adjectives (word

association, sentence completion etc.) and also can be asked about user

imagery.

For example:

Brands : Personality

Thumbs up : bravery / daring

Amul : humors

MTV : wacky

Woodlands : Ruggedness & outdoorsy

Mahindra Scorpio : Ruggedness

Marlboro : Ruggedness

Ruff & Tuff : Bravery

Sona chandi Chavanprash : Bravery

Britania little hearts : Love & Affection

Brand : Adjective

Liril : freshness & Lime

Lux : Beauty,softness

Dove : Softness

Bisleri : Safety


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Bajaj Pulsar : Power

Yamaha : Power

Titan : Style, elegance

Cinthol : Freshness

Mysore Sandal : Traditional

Medimix : Traditional

In all of the above brands, advertisement elements such as selection of the

endorsers and execution etc., delivered the Brand personality.

Using of Film stars for the Lux beauty soap is logical and the attractiveness

of celebrity is high. This is critical and leads to credibility. Endorserpersonality gets transferred to the brand . Thumb up soft drink has distinct

personality owing to chivalry based ads, which also communicates about

user imagery. The name 'Marlboro' evokes Wild West imagery, thanks to ads

and consistency of the marketers in maintaining the same brand

personality. Ads for multi utility vehicles like Mahendra scorpio , shows the

ruggedness personality.

Nokia Powerful technology brand.

'Nokia' one the world's most valuable brand has distinct personality. The

slogans.' We call this human technology', 'only Nokia human technology

enables you to get more out of life' and 'connecting people' emphasize

human side of technology, thereby resulting in brand personality of trusted

friend. It also stands for reliability and quality. The ads also played

prominent role in contributing to the distinct personality.

The ads of Sprite cool drink primarily positioned on thirst quenching

platform, depict the no nonsense type, down to earth personality of cool

drink laced with humors & spoof, complimented by distinct shape and colour

of the bottle.


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Endorser

The selection of an endorser is critical, as the personality of the endorser can

get transferred to the brand. Hathway shirts has acquired strong image

owing to presence of sophisticated and mysterious endorser. Marlboro

cowboy gave macho image to the brand. Endorser may be real or fictional.

Using celebrities as brand endorser has advantages & disadvantages.

Celebrity enjoys instant recognition & goodwill that can be transferred to the

brand. Local celebrities can be used in local / Regional markets Ex. Pavan

Kalyan for Pepsi in A.P. Celebrities can also be experts in some situations

such as Michael Jordan expert in basketball shoes. The using of Film stars

for Lux beauty soap and highly successful sports persons for Nike is logicaland shows brand fit.

Sachin, Shahrukh Khan and Big 'B' endorse number of brands. Choosing the

right celebrity & levering their qualities is important, otherwise celebrity

endorsement may end up as futile exercise also involving wastage of money.

Sachin stands for style, power play, technique and excellence or

performance. Sharukh Khan represents energy & entertainment and style.They cut across all demographic groups and have mass appeal.

For 'Boost' Health beverage brand fit with Sachin is excellent. Similarly, King

Khan is also played role in the success of 'Santro small car' Rahul Dravid

was brand endorser for Max New York life insurance, as he stands for trust,

reliability, Which can be transferred to the brand. The same is the case with

Steve Waugh endorsing ANP SANMAR Life insurance.

'Exide' has signed the new batting sensation MS Dhoni for his power play and

talent.


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John Abraham is the latest upcoming star, is endorser for brands like

Yamaha, Samsung etc., because of his rugged looks, good physique and

youthfulness.

Endorser stands for certain favorable values of the brand such as

performance, style and reliability etc.

Personality of the brand and celebrity should complement each other.

Reliable celebrity ensures instant awareness, acceptability and positive

attitude towards the brand, which is precursor to buying.

Use of Cheeranjevi, Big' B' King Khan in publication ads, to salvage the

brand image of brands (Thumbsup, Pepsi, CDM) after setbacks is excellent

way to leverage on the celebrity credibility

This will be providing much needed assurance to the consumers and also

protect brand image & values.

The element of creativity is critical while using celebrity endorsements.

Otherwise celebrity may overpower, and overshadow the brand (vampiring

effect). Boost advertisement featuring Sachin etc is a classic example of

effective celebrity endorsement.

The Visa TV involving Hollywood star RichardGere, depicts the essence of

Visa brand power (convenience, wide acceptance) through emotional appeal.

This is excellent way of adapting the communication to local markets.

Indian celebrity can connect foreign brand with the Indian consumer with

great effect.

S. Kumar's has Big ' B' is brand Ambassador for Reid & Taylor, as it will

enable them to Indianise the brand personality.,Shahrukh Khan the

Bollywood superstar is brand ambassador for Tag Heuer. The core values of


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the brand, pride, passion, precision and perfection closely matches with the

personality.

Singapore Girl for Singapore airlines also played key role in brand

personality of Singapore airlines.

Endorser - Attributes

Amitabh Bacchan - resilent, professional, charismatic unassuming

Sharukh Khan - Youth Icon. Stylish, successful

Sachin - (Excellence, determination faith hard work)

Rahul Dravid - Mr. Dependable ,( Reliable, composure Consistency)

Virender Sehawag - Swashbuckling

M.S. Dhoni - Sheer power play

Rani Mukherji - Youthful, enthusiastic,

User Imagery

It describes who or what type of person, might use that product / brand.

Somebody may identify himself as Mercedes owner or Volvo driver. The

recent TVC of Raymonds,( playing with puppies) focuses on soft side of man

(i.e. caring and loving) and also on subtle aspects of life styles of executives.

Here the focus is on emotional aspects rather than on functional attributes).

User imagery also communicates about the life style of the user. User

imagery results in user-driven image which is transferred to the Brand.

Brand personality needs to be updated with change in user imagery and

information so that the brand remains contemporary and relevant.

The Thumbsup, Marlboro, are classic examples for 'user imagery'

contributing to brand personality & success. In fact, some of the brands

have become cult brands in which brand personally played prominent role.


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Kingfisher attained distinct personality as fun, frolic and lively supported by

their ads and event sponsorships. Smirnoff attained youthful and innovative

personality and all their innovative promotions are in tune with the brand

personality. MTV has become coolest brand among the youth as channel,

with sensible promotions (MTV youth icon award)and believed in talking to

the audience/youth and localization of the content.

Executional elements:

The elements like layout, colour etc (in print ads) and visual appeal, music

etc in broad cast advt. Also contribute to the Brand personality. Intelligent

and creative ads deliver brand personality. IBM. Intel is excellent techno

brands, in which advertising also played prominent role in their success.

Mozart symphony played in Titan Ad. Complements the brand personality of

Titan as sophistication, elegance etc. success of absolute Vodka in U.S.A. is

also attributed to clever execution of the advt in which bottle image figures

always in intelligent way, with Withy Puns.

Tangible aspects of the Brand.

Brand's tangible aspects like package and other elements like price are also

key elements. Nirma's price & transparent package, Yellow colour of the

detergent powder, symbolize 'Down to Earth' personality of Nirma.

Smell package of Medimix and Mysore Sandal (including soap shape) gives

distinct personality to them. Absolute Vodka, transparent liquid and shape of

the bottle played key role in brand personality.

Symbols & Logos

Symbols can also be used effectively to communicate brand values and

characteristics. Mascots may also be part of the logo of a brand. Eicher uses

head of the horse in the past, representing power and sturdiness of the


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Tractor. Eicher now uses galloping horse after diversifying its operations.

Goodlands Nerolac uses Guddy tiger, signifying bright lasting colors.

Apple computers uses as it represent fun and friendliness.

These symbols / mascots have become endearing and shombitSengupta

designed wipro logo of rainbow colours.

LIC used hands of logo where represents safety, UTI has 'Kalash' as it is

considered sacred and signals good things. Royal stag brand uses 'Horse'

symbolizing naturalness and purity.

ITC welcome group has W-Namaste as its logo, which captures the Indiantradition of welcoming the guests.

Logos should be

* Unique but easy to recoginize

* Worth remembering and represent ideas etc.

* Look simple and yet capture wider meaning.

* relevant and in tune with the time.

Nike represents action, Swoosh symbol represents it.

Britania little hearts uses 'heart logo' symbolizing love and affection.

Slogans / Punchlines

They also reflect Brand personality.

Peter England - Honest Shirt (sincerity)

LIC - Try Thy name is LIC (Trust)

L & T switch gear - Safe & Sure (Trust)

Bajaj - Inspiring confidence (Competence)


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Videocon - The Indian Multinational (Competence)

Vantlensen - Power Evolved (Sophistication- upper

class)

Bank of Rajasthan - Dare to Dream (Excitement)

The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. - Assurance of the leader

(Competence)

Mahindra Scropio - Nothing else will do (Ruggedness)

Bank of India - Bank that cares (empathy)

Nike - Just do it (Motivation, excitement)

Slogans enhance brand recall and have strong linkage with brand's essence /

key values. Logos support brand names, provide ease in processing visualinformation lead to brand recall. Logo can be textual, abstract design and

may be real.

They convey a clear meaning or suggest something about product category /

brand / values / features / benefits of the brand.

Executional Elements:

Semantics of the ad and Big 'B' presence, played prominent role in delivering

the Brand essence of Dabur Chyanvanprash highlighting the traditional and

natural, effective way to strengthen mind & body.

Brand personality plays prominent role in product categories such as

alchohol, cigarettes, cool drinks, and perfumes. Brand personality may

dominate functional attributes though which are equally important, thereby

influencing consumer's preference.

It also acts as differentiator in case of Brand parity with respect to brand

features. The key differentiating factor between brands such as Coke ,

Pepsi, Thumpsup, Wiilsflake and India Kings is their distinct personality.


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Consumers have actual and ideal self concept, which has bearing on buying

behavior. Self concept is sort of individual perception on his/her

characteristics, abilities etc and also what others opinion on him/her is

there. The proximity between self image and brand's image, will determine

the attitude towards the brand. Consumers see brands and their associates,

as means to express.. Marketers through ads try to activate self image /

concept of consumer, which may be existing or aspirational through various

elements such as Execution, celebrity, logos / symbols etc.

Ads work on image congruence and try to influence consumer attitude and

preference thus evaluations.

The problem arises when brand self image is not in sync with that of

consumer and vice-versa. The need arises to determine the brand

personality (existing) and change it so as to match with that of consumer self

image. For example, Brand which is considered as old, cannot be targeted to

young target audience.

In case of incongruence, Advertising needs to highlight functional aspects,

and emphasize brand image in case of image congruence. Thus brand imagemay become dominant factor influencing buyer behaviour. It also helps to

nullify the weaknesses of the brand contributing to poor perception.

Endorsement by celebrites couple

After the marriage ofAbhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai lot of

speculation has been raised that they would emerge as a formidable

combination and as a value proposition they may become the costliest pair

in the market, as far as endorsement of a product is concerned. However, AB

senior seems to have upstaged all the

calculations by becoming the brand ambassador for DLF group of companies,

for which he would reportedly be paid Rs. 50 crores.
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Abhishek-Bachchan/summary-535.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Aishwarya-Rai/summary-680.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Abhishek-Bachchan/summary-535.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Aishwarya-Rai/summary-680.html


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Is a marriage between stars, which are celebrity in their own right, making

them a saleable proposition as a pair? Unlikely, if the past experience is to

go buy. Kajol and Ajay Devgan had appeared together as brand ambassadors

when the advertisements of Tata Indicom were released in the earlier avatar,

but in the recent ad campaigns of Tata Indicom one finds that it is Kajol, who

is doing the honors herself singly, and no Ajay Devgan is to be seen in the

horizon. A Malaika Khan and Arbaaz Khan had together appeared for a coffee

ad, but it was a short honeymoon and the ad had to be dropped out. When

Catherine Zeta Jones had married Michael Douglas speculation of the similar

kind had been made in the advertisement industry, that they would be a

lethal combination, but nothing of the sort happened, and Catherine Zeta

Jones continues to

be the advertisement celebrity in her own right. Same kind of speculation

was raised about Brad Pitt and Angelina Joile, but the pair as had been

speculated reaped no windfall.

The major dilemma that the companies face when they try to push through

the pairs, for endorsement of a product, more so, when each in his individualcapacity has been

endorsing different product is that lack of compatibility about a product that

can be jointly endorsed. The females are brand ambassadors for cosmetics,

diamonds majorly, while the male are into toiletries, or into motor vehicles,

watches and things like that. Then each one has an image based on which he

is given a product to endorse. So if an Ash were to dance like Abhishek to

endorse Motorola it could be shocker, than a qualitative value addition in

sale of the product. Or for that matter how would a Dharmendra and Hema

conjecturally appear together for an advertisement when whatever

Dharmendra endorses has got an element of machismo associated with it,

and it is very earthy, while the advertisements in which Hema Malini

features, are very sophisticated and urban.
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Kajol/summary-6418.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Ajay-Devgan/summary-695.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Arbaaz-Khan/summary-1541.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Dharmendra/summary-3730.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Hema-Malini/summary-5137.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Kajol/summary-6418.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Ajay-Devgan/summary-695.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Arbaaz-Khan/summary-1541.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Dharmendra/summary-3730.htmlhttp://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Hema-Malini/summary-5137.html


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Coupled with this, is also the fact that after the marriage, if it happens

between superstars, the aura and the charisma that the star has starts

loosing the sheen, as the romance of being able to relate with the actors,

even in the realm of cyber space is now consigned to dust. Also, to project

the image of a happy couple they can be utilized for endorsements which

have got something to do with habitat related matters, and not to do much

with consumable products. A field that could open up for Abhi-Ash is the

endorsement of cars. India is emerged as the one of the chosen areas by the

international automobile majors, and it is here that they can have a wide

acceptability as a happy pair.

Copy of an advertisement product has a very singular nomenclature and

existence, in the sense that the story revolves around a hero/ heroine and

marriage between them

Is a marriage between stars, which are celebrity in their own right, making

them a saleable proposition as a pair? Unlikely, if the past experience is to

go buy. Kajol and Ajay Devgan had appeared together as brand ambassadors

when the advertisements of Tata Indicom were released in the earlier avatar,

but in the recent ad campaigns of Tata Indicom one finds that it is Kajol, who

is doing the honors herself singly, and no Ajay Devgan is to be seen in the

horizon. A Malaika Khan and Arbaaz Khan had together appeared for a coffee

ad, but it was a short honeymoon and the ad had to be dropped out. When

Catherine Zeta Jones had married Michael Douglas speculation of the similar

kind had been made in the advertisement industry, that they would be a

lethal combination, but nothing of the sort happened, and Catherine Zeta

Jones continues to


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50

be the advertisement celebrity in her own right. Same kind of speculation

was raised about Brad Pitt and Angelina Joile, but the pair as had been

speculated reaped no windfall.

The major dilemma that the companies face when they try to push through

the pairs, for endorsement of a product, more so, when each in his individual

capacity has been

endorsing different product is that lack of compatibility about a product that

can be jointly endorsed. The females are brand ambassadors for cosmetics,

diamonds majorly, while the male are into toiletries, or into motor vehicles,

watches and things like that. Then each one has an image based on which he

is given a product to endorse. So if an Ash were to dance like Abhishek to

endorse Motorola it could be shocker, than a qualitative value addition in

sale of the product. Or for that matter how would a Dharmendra and Hema

conjecturally appear together for an advertisement when whatever

Dharmendra endorses has got an element of machismo associated with it,

and it is very earthy, while the advertisements in which Hema Malini

features, are very sophisticated and urban.

Coupled with this, is also the fact that after the marriage, if it happens

between superstars, the aura and the charisma that the star has starts

loosing the sheen, as the romance of being able to relate with the actors,

even in the realm of cyber space is now consigned to dust. Also, to project

the image of a happy couple they can be utilized for endorsements which

have got something to do with habitat related matters, and not to do much

with consumable products. A field that could open up for Abhi-Ash is the

endorsement of cars. India is emerged as the one of the chosen areas by the

international automobile majors, and it is here that they can have a wide

acceptability as a happy pair.


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Copy of an advertisement product has a very singular nomenclature and

existence, in the sense that the story revolves around a hero/ heroine and

marriage between them does not translate into marriage of opportunities for

multitude of product endorsements.

Scope of Celebriity Endorsement

The use of testimonials by advertisers dates back to the 19th century when

medicines were patented. Firms have been juxtaposing their brands and

themselves with celebrity endorsers (e.g., athletes, actors) in the hope that

celebrities may boost effectiveness of their marketing.

The increasing number of endorsement throws a valid question to the

consumer. Is there a science behind the choice of these endorses or is it just

by the popularity measurement? What are the reasons which lead to impact

of celebrity endorsement on brands?

Through research and analysis, this paper develops a 14 points model,

which can be used as a blue print criterion which can be used by brand

manager for selecting celebrities, and capitalizes the celebrity resource

through 360 degree brand communication, since our research proposes it as

the foundation brick of the impact of celebrity endorsement. Our study

reveals that impact of celebrity endorsement is proportional to the 14 factors

discussed in the model

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