+

Public Brand Perceptions:A Study of the Effects of Athlete Endorsements

Brent Evans, Shonice Pettaway, & Erika Rasile

+Introduction and Background

Elberse and Verleun (2012) claim, “endorsements are a key source of income for sports people”

Elberse and Verleun (2012)“the most popular endorsers are sportspeople”

Endorsements Tiger Woods LeBron James Phil Mickleson

Combined made $147 million from endorsements which was seven times as much from winnings and salaries.

All of endorsement money came from the brand Nike

+Background (continued)

According to Miller and Laczniak (2011), spending for sports sponsorship was $11.2 billion in 2009; Nike, which is known as the top sports branding company in the world spent $4 billion for the greatest athletes to represent its products in that same year. BIG RISK!!!! Owning Responsibility

+Purpose

We are studying the affects of athlete endorsements on…. Brand perceptions People’s likelihood to buy a certain brand or product People’s likelihood to use a certain brand or product How the ad is received by the public

We are also studying which mediums of advertising are most effective: print or television

Through this study, we hope to better understand what motivates college athletes to buy or use certain sports gear brands based upon the athletes who endorse them

+Theories Uses and Gratification (Blumler & Katz)

different people have various reasons for using different mediums of media and the pleasure that is produced from it.

With different advertisements, people are able to decide which source is more effective for them.

Due to these consumptions, people are able to get some form of gratification from media (advertisements) that influences their decision on purchasing a specific item.

+Theories Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner)

a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership

With the consumer identifying themselves with a group of being an athletes through the advertisements of athletes, they are more likely to purchase items.

Most athletes that are visible in these advertisements are said to portray common characteristics with the consumer.

+Literature Review:Sport Heroes as Sport Product Endorsers: The Role of Gender in the Transfer of Meaning Process for Selected Undergraduate Students

Conducted study of 150 college students that designed to study effects of gender on effectiveness of athletic endorsers

Evaluated athletes on degree of fame and level of identification with athlete

Findings: men were more likely to purchase products endorsed by male athletes and vice versa for women

“Gender played a role in every step of the transfer of meaning from hero to athletic endorser, to product expertise, to purchase intentions” (Parks, Peetz, et. al, 2004, p. 147).

+Literature Review:Effects of Television Advertising on African American Teenagers Conducted study that focused on how the increase of black

population resulted in more black athlete endorsers for brands like Nike, which had profound effect on black youth

Black youth became more likely to buy products endorsed by athletes like Michael Jordan

“African Americans consumers tend to more supportive of products that are used by endorsers of the same race” (Lee & Browne, 1995, p.523).

See also Sparks & Wilson article & Cheong & Kim

+Literature Review: Differential Effects of Television Commercials, Athlete 

Endorsements, & Venue Signage During a Televised Action Sports Event.

Conducted a study of 253 college students designed to test brand awareness based off of whether or not the brand was endorsed by a star athlete

Television advertising and athletic endorsements were proven to produce highest level of brand awareness

This resulted in a link to brand sales that produced a greater likelihood to purchase the product advertised

“The emotional tie that fans have with the athlete carries over to the brands they endorse, whether or not the product usage is related to the sport….The immediate brand recognition and identification that fans have with these athletes is a great benefit to the corporations that provide endorsement deals” (Ciafone & Zhang, 2006, p. 325-326).

+Other Notable Studies to Consider:

Boyd. T & Shank, S. (2004). Athletes as Product Endorsers: The Effect of Gender and Product Relatedness.

Elberse & Verleun. (2012). The Economic Value of Celebrity Endorsements.

Sparks, R. & Wilson, B. (1996). "It's Gotta Be the Shoes": Youth, Race, and Sneaker Commercials

+Research Question

Is there a difference between print and broadcast ads and the effects of celebrity endorsements on the public’s desire to purchase a product?

IV: type of celebrity endorsed ad viewed by the public

Conceptual: how the ad creates and conveys a message

Operational: how the participants interpret the message

DV: The public’s desire to purchase a product

Conceptual: if the consumer expresses their desire to purchase the product

Operational: if the consumer actually chooses to buy the product

+Hypothesis 1 The popularity of a specific celebrity endorser has a direct

effect on the sales for the brands they endorse. Independent Variable

Popularity of the celebrity endorserConceptual Definition: How well known an athlete and if the athlete one that people follow on a regular basisOperational Definition: the actual amount of people who follow the athlete on a regular basis

Dependent Variable Sales of the BrandsConceptual Definition: how successful a brand is based upon

how much profit the brand makesOperational Definition: how many of our participants actually

purchase the brands, which can be measured using our questionnaire and asking about buying behavior

+Hypothesis 2

There is a correlation between products in ads featuring star athletes and the likelihood that people will use these products. Independent Variable

The ads featuring the star athleteConceptual Definition: the type of ad the athlete is featured in Operational Definition: measuring how many ad of different types

the athletes are featured in

Dependent Variable People’s likelihood to use the products

Conceptual Definition: if people express the desire to use the productsOperational Definition: if our participants actually use the products which can be evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale

+Hypothesis 3

Students have a tendency to purchase products advertised by athletes of their same gender as the participants.

IV: Gender of the athlete

Conceptual: whether or not an endorser expresses being male or female

Operational: how many athletic endorsers are biologically male or female

DV: Tendency to purchase products advertised

Conceptual: the likelihood that people will have the desire to purchase the products

Operational: how many of our participants actually purchase the brands, which can be measured using our questionnaire and asking about buying behavior

+Hypothesis 4

Students have a tendency to purchase products advertised by athletes of their same ethnicity

IV: Ethnicity of the athlete

Conceptual: whether or not a person identifies as a specific ethnicity

Operational: how many athletic endorsers are biologically of a specific ethnicity

DV: Tendency to purchase products advertised

Conceptual: the likelihood that people will have the desire to purchase the products

Operational: how many of our participants actually purchase the brands, which can be measured using our questionnaire and asking about buying behavior

+Methods

Cross-sectional survey Questionnaire 5-point Likert scale Advantages:

Focus on the population of interest, fair amount of diversity Collect large amount of data quickly & effectively Easy to analyze Correlation Test

Disadvantages: Limited diversity due to convenience sampling Lack of in depth, descriptive answers Possibility of bias

+Data Collection

Surveyed 100 athletes at Queens University of Charlotte

Athletes participated in a variety of sports: basketball, soccer, swimming, cross country and track, lacrosse, and so on

Athletes surveyed were chosen using the convenience sampling method

Data was collected and analyzed using SPSS and we used a Basic Pearson T-Test correlation to analyze our data

+Pilot Study 6 surveys

4 girls and 2 boys. 4 ethnic groups represented. Not all of them were athletes.

Results It would be more effective if this was just directed towards

the student athletes. There needed to be a question that separated the different

brands themselves A question is also added to separate whether the ad is

televised or print form.

+Findings

Numbers Of the 100 student-

athletes surveyed there were 61 men and 39 women represented in the survey

Gender Graph

+Findings

Of the 100 participants: 56% White 27% Black 8% Hispanic 1% Asian 8% Mixed

Ethnicity Graph

+Findings

Hypothesis 1: The popularity of the specific athlete endorser has a direct effect on the brand they endorse Was supported Correlation: .339 P-Value: .001

Less than .01

The popularity of a specific celebrity endorser has a direct effect on the likelihood of a consumer to purchase the brand or product they endorse.

+Findings

Statistical Significance of the correlation: buying endorsed produced and buying products endorsed by the most popular athlete

We also found correlation to support that when companies choose the most popular athletes to endorse their brand that it makes consumers more likely to recognize that brand.

+Findings Hypothesis 2: There is a correlation that between

products in ads featuring star athletes and the likelihood that people will use these products Was not supported No correlation between a person’s desire to use and feeling

better using an endorsed product/feeling better using an product endorse by a premiere athlete/ buying a product advertised by the best athletes.

Desire to use product endorsed by favorite or most popular athlete and feeling better using an endorsed product: no significant correlation

+Findings

Desire to use product endorsed by favorite or most popular athlete and feeling better using a premiere athlete endorsed product

No significant correlation Desire to use product

endorsed by favorite or most popular athlete and buying a product advertised by the best brand

No significant correlation

+Findings

Statistical Significance was found when it comes to the participants’ expression of feeling better using an endorsed product and feeling better using a product endorsed by a premiere athlete

Correlation: .261 P-Value: .009

Less than .01

+Findings

Hypothesis 3: Students have a tendency to purchase products advertised by athletes of their same gender Was not supported No significant correlation can be concluded

+Findings

Hypothesis 4: Students have a tendency to purchase products advertised by athletes of their ethnicity. Was not supported No significant correlation can be concluded

+Findings There was a statistical significance found that there is a

greater likelihood that people buy products from athletes who are most like them who they follow on a regular basis

Due to these findings, it would be interesting to research:

Identify with athletes based on other characteristics then gender or race

participant plays a similar sport, if the athlete is from their home state, or if they are a fan of the athlete’s team

+Findings

Research Question: Is there a difference between print and broadcast ads and the effects of celebrity endorsements on the public’s desire of the product? Our study found that there no difference, as far as which

one is more likely to cause consumers to buy the brand advertised

Both print and television ads seem to have the same effectiveness when it comes to the public’s desire to buy the product

Frequency of viewing ads How impactful a consumer finds the ad

+There was a significant correlation between the impact of a print or television ad and the likelihood that a consumer will buy the product

From the participantsThe brands NIKE and UNDER ARMOR only showed a significant correlation between print and TV ads.

+

+Findings

There was sufficient evidence to conclude that the more often the participant was exposed to print or television ads for a specific product, the more likely they were to buy that product

Correlation: .201 P-Value: .045

+Discussion

Social Identity Theory (Tajfael & Turner) A person’s sense of who they are based on their group

membership (hockey players, monks, preachers)Conclusion: greater tendency to buy products from athletes that are like them who they follow on a regular basisConclusion: popular athletes are the ones people identify with and therefore, are more likely to buy products endorsed by these athletes

Main variables: Gender and Race Others: participant plays the same sport and position as the

athlete, participant and athlete is from the same home town, or a fan of the athlete’s team.

+Discussion

Uses and Gratification Theory (Blumer & Katz) Different people have various reasons for using different

mediums of media and the pleasure that is produced from itConclusion: There is no difference between whether participants view a print or television ad and the likelihood that a consumer will buy the productConclusion: Participants did not report a greater likelihood of using products endorsed by star athletes, but they do feel better from using these products

Participants were impacted by NIKE and UNDER ARMOR, significantly in both televised and print ads. IMPACT=$$$$$$$$$$$$$

+Discussion and Conclusions

no evidence concluding that people were more likely to use endorsed products over non-endorsed products, nor that people buy products based on whether they are advertised by athletes of their same race or gender

Popularity of the athlete Other common shared characteristics Frequency of the ads Impact of nature

+Limitations

Lack of diversity Each ethic group wasn’t represented equally.

Only directed towards student athletes Due to student athletes being the ones that focus mainly on

these aspects of products, it limited our research.

Size of our University More men responders

61 males and 39 females

+Recommendations

Make sure that both men and women are represented equally.

Try to have a more equal diversity between the respondents.

Expanded this to more students athletes, all sports Focus our questions more on the purchasing than using

the item Eliminate the athlete chart and come up with an

alternate way to measure how participants identify with athletes

Future researchers should look into how the ads themselves impact purchasing behavior

+ReferencesBailey, A. (2007).

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Boyd. T & Shank, S. (2004). Athletes as Product Endorsers: The Effect of Gender and Product Relatedness. Sports Marketing Quarterly. Vol. 13. Issue 2. p. 82-94.

Carlson, B. & Donavan, T. (2013). Human Brands in Sport: Athlete Brand Personality and Identification. Journal of Sport Management, Vol. 27 (3), p. 193-206.

Cheong, Y. & Kim, K. (2011). The Effects of the Athlete-Endorsed Advertising: Moderating Role of the Athlete-Audience Ethnicity Match. Journal of Sports Management. Vol. 25. p. 143-155.

Ciafone, B. & Zhang, J. (2006). Differential Effects of Television Commercials, Athlete Endorsements, And Venue Signage During a Televised Action Sports Event. Journal of Sports Management. Vol. 20, Issue 3. p. 322-345.

Elberse, A. & Verleun, J. (2012). The Economic Value of Celebrity Endorsements. Journal Of Advertising Research. Vol. 52(2). p.149-165.

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Lee, E. & Browne, L. (1995). Effects of Television Advertising on African American Teenagers. Journal of Black Studies, 25(5), 523-536.

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Miller, F. M., & Laczniak, G. R. (2011). The Ethics of Celebrity-Athlete Endorsement. Journal Of Advertising Research, Vol. 51(3). p. 499-510.

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Sparks, R. & Wilson, B. (1996). "It's Gotta Be the Shoes": Youth, Race, and Sneaker Commercials. Sociology of Sport Journal. Vol. 13. p. 398-428.

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