Effectiveness of Celebrity Marketing

Effectiveness of Celebrity Marketing
CHAPTER-I
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1.1 INTRODUCTION:
The use of advertising has changed over the past 150 years, from the classical to the modern school. In the modern day techniques of advertising various appeals of advertising are included such as emotions, fear and humor. The main purpose of these appeals is to deliver information that the company seeks to send to gain high brand awareness and brand recognition among a larger audience. This paper will examine the relationship between celebrity endorsements and brands, by applying a selection of widely accepted principles of how consumers brand attitudes and preferences can be positively influenced. Compared to other endorser types, famous people achieve a higher degree of attention and recall. They increase awareness of a companys advertising, create positive feelings towards brands and are perceived by consumers as more entertaining. Using a celebrity in advertising is therefore likely to positively affect consumers brand attitudes and purchase intentions. To ensure positive results, however, it is critical for advertisers to have a clear understanding of the black box of celebrity endorsement.
Everyday consumers are exposed to thousands of voices and images in magazines, newspapers, and on billboards, websites, radio and television. Every brand attempts to steal at least a fraction of a persons time to inform him or her of the amazing and different attributes of the product at hand. The challenge of the marketer is to find a hook that will hold the subjects attention. In helping to achieve this, use of celebrity endorsers is a widely used marketing strategy. In this modern age, people tend to ignore all commercials and advertisements while flipping through the magazines and newspapers or viewing TV. But even then, the glamour of a celebrity seldom goes unnoticed. Thus, celebrity endorsement in advertisement and its impact on the overall brand is of great significance. Although this sounds pretty simple, but the design of such campaigns and the subsequent success in achieving the desired result calls for an in-depth understanding of the product, the brand objective, choice of a celebrity, associating the celebrity with the brand, and a framework for measuring the effectiveness.
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Companies invest large sums of money to align their brands and themselves with endorsers. Similarly every product has an image. The consumer tries to consume a brand which has the maximum fit with his/her own personality/image. The celebrity endorser fits in between these two interactions, where he tries to bring the image of the product closer to the expectation of the consumer, by transferring some of the cultural meanings residing in his image to the product. Indian
advertising started with the hawkers who used to call out their wares right from the days when cities and markets first began. With this evolved a strategy that tried to benefit from the emotional attachment of the admirers or the fans of the celebrities; in the form of celebrity endorsement.
Marketers spend enormous amounts of money annually on celebrity endorsement contracts based on the belief that celebrities are effective spokespeople for their products or brands. Celebrity Endorsement is viewed as a billion dollar industry in todays era. Various companies are signing deals with celebrities in the hope that by using celebrities they can accomplish a unique and relevant position in the minds of the consumers. Celebrity endorsement is increasingly being employed across
various industries regardless of the product type. It is known to be playing the role of a signaling strategy. Also a celebrity endorsing a product can give that particular brand a touch of glamour.
Everything said and done, one have to weigh the potential risks vs. the potential rewards as celebrity endorsements are always a high-risk, high-reward situation and there is always a human element that you might not know about. To ensure positive results, however, it is critical for advertisers to have a clear understanding of the black box of celebrity endorsement.
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1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
To examine the perception of individuals on the role of advertising in building preference
To provide statistical information of the influence of celebrity advertising on existing and prospective customers
To determine the level of influence that celebrity advertising on consumer preference
To determine the level of awareness that advertisements featuring celebrities have on consumer preference
To obtain a view amongst Indian Consumers about celebrity endorsement
To gain an understanding into the subject of celebrity endorsement in order to identify the characteristics and issues concerning the subject
To undertake a critical review of destination marketing in order to identify the characteristics and issues concerning the subject
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1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY:
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 and/or corporate communication attempts for at least a century. One of the early examples is Queen Victoria's endorsement of Cadbury's Cocoa.
Three of humankind's greatest inventions (cinema, radio, and television) have extended the scope of endorsement as an advertising technique. Today, use of celebrities as part of marketing communications strategy is fairly common practice for major firms in supporting corporate or brand imagery. It was not until the 1920s, however, that advertisers used famous people for product endorsements. Actresses Joan Crawford, Clara Bow and Janet Gaynor were among the first celebrities to promote products (Fox, 1984). At that time, the rationale given by advertising agencies for using celebrities was "the spirit of emulation". About a decade ago, one in three television commercials used celebrities' endorsements, and today this advertising approach appeared to be on the increase across all media types. It was found that celebrities are featured in 15 percent of the prime-time television commercials. In the United States, it was reported that about 20% of all television commercials feature a famous person, and about 10% of the dollars spent on television advertising are used in celebrity endorsement advertisements. Thus, celebrity endorsement has become a prevalent form of advertising in United States and elsewhere.
Today, the use of celebrity advertising for companies has become a trend and a perceived winning formula of corporate image building and product marketing. This phenomenon is reflected by the recent market research findings that 8 out of 10 TV commercials scoring the highest recall are those with celebrities' appearances.
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1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:
Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when used consistently over time to increase the strength of the link between the celebrity and the endorsed brand
The research seems to be more promising when using a celebrity who is not already strongly associated with another product or service
Test potential brand/celebrity combinations to ensure that the impression and image of the celebrity is positive for the target audience
Celebrity marketing will be more effective for less familiar brands
The study will be more advantageous for brands for which consumers have limited knowledge/facts or when integrated across the elements of the marketing mix
Caution in choice of celebrity endorser is warranted given the potential risk of tarnishing the brands image
Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when the ad execution is simple, clean, and free of irrelevant design elements. Focus on the celebrity and the brand together
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1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The study of Research Methodology for developing the project gives us the necessary training in gathering materials and arranging them, participation in the field work when required, and also provides training in techniques for the collection of data appropriate to particular problems.
Main Objectives:
To understand consumer perception of the celebrities in advertisements To understand the effectiveness of celebrity endorsing a particular product To identify drawbacks associated with celebrity marketing
1.5.1 Formation of problem:
The main problem about celebrity endorsements is overexposure. This problem occurs when a celebrity endorses too many companies and products. Eg- Shah Rukh Khan. Overshadowing of the brand is another threat which companies pose which means that consumers may only give attention to the celebrity and fails to realize the brand and remembers the celebrity and not the message given by the advertisement.
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1.5.2 Hypothesis:
i. Ha= Technique of Celebrity Marketing is effective
ii. Hb= Technique of Celebrity Marketing is not effective
1.5.3 Collection of data:
Research methodology used for study includes both primary & secondary sources of data. However most of the study conducted is based on secondary sources.
i.
Primary Data: A questionnaire based on celebrity endorsements taken out of a sample size of 50 respondents was being made Secondary Data: Search engines like Google, 4Ps magazine and other journals on advertising and marketing was utilized to gather secondary data
ii.
1.5.4 Research Instrument: A systematically formulated questionnaire was made and this was used as a research instrument for finding out the valid data. A sample size of 50 respondents was used who answered the questions from the questionnaire.
1.5.5 Making Sampling Plan: i. Sampling technique: Random sampling method
ii. Area: Mumbai, Thane
iii. Sample Size: 50 respondents
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1.5.6 Research Limitations: i. The sample size was relatively small (50 respondents) due to limited resources. Thus, it in turn added to the problem of generalization.
ii.
Some of the responses may have been biased. The recently viewed advertisements may influence the opinion of the respondents and therefore biased.
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Chapter-II Review of Literature
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1. Global Journal of Management & Research, Volume 11; Issue 4; Version 1.0; March 2011, By Dr. Vipul Jain.
http://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume11/8-Celebrity-Endorsement-And-ItsImpact.pdf
Abstract: The practice of celebrities being used for rendering services other than performing their actual job as either an actor or an athlete, such as endorsements has proliferated over time. Despite the cost and the risks involved with this technique of advertising, it is been used quite extensively in the present era. The instrument of celebrity endorsement has nowadays become a pervasive element in advertising and communication management. India as a country is known for loving its stars. The Indians idolize their Bollywood actors and cricketers. The advertisers see this as an opportunity to grab and work on so as to expand their operations and promote their product. This dissertation focuses on examining the perception of these Indian Consumers about the celebrity endorsement process and the subsequent impact on their purchase decisions. 2. 2011 International conference on Economics & Finance Research, IPEDR vol.4 2011; IACSIT Press; Singapore, By Reshma Farhat & Dr. Bilal Mustafa Khan. http://www.ipedr.com/vol4/92-F10117.pdf Abstract: In an attempt to communicate the merits of their products or brand, advertisers have often chosen to use endorsement as a promotional strategy. In this paper, an attempt has been made to trace the effect of a celebrity on building a relationship in terms of congruity between the brand personality and consumer personality. Based on the affective and cognitive theories to explain endorsement efficiency, the congruence between the mean values of the brand being endorsed and that of the targeted celebrity against the mean value of the endorser was being tested. The results proved that successful brand promotion needs congruency between the brands and the endorsers personality, though it may be moderate.
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3. Journal of Product & Brand Management, Volume-7; Issue-5, By Dr. Brian Till. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=857674&show=html Abstract: The use of celebrity endorsers in advertising is wide-spread as much as 20 percent of all advertising use some type of celebrity endorser. Marketers invest significant dollars in securing the promotional support of well-known individuals. Associative learning principles are presented as a useful framework for understanding how celebrity endorsers can be used more effectively. Principles such as repetition, overshadowing, blocking, belongingness, CS pre-exposure, association set size, and extinction are introduced and linked to specific managerial suggestions for improving the use of celebrity endorsers. 4. Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on Overall Brand, By Neha Taleja, Dated-June 24, 2010. http://www.coolavenues.com/mba-journal/marketing/impact-celebrityendorsements-overall-brand-0 Abstract: This paper studies the impact of celebrity endorsements on brands. While the magnitude of the impact of celebrity endorsement remains under the purview of gray spectacles, the paper establishes reasoning to the impact of celebrity endorsements on brands. The study delves into the learning of impact regions of celebrity endorsement and how they occur. This paper rifles through the concept of celebrity endorsement and provides insights on what it is and how the increasing numbers of endorsements throw a valid question to the consumers. Through research and analysis, this paper emerges with a 14-point model which can be used as blue-print criteria and can be used by brand managers 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 the impact of celebrity endorsement is proportional to the 14 factors discussed in the model. Greater the score of the below parameters greater are the chances of getting close to the desired impact. The paper also discusses the scope of celebrity endorsement and ends with few insights on celebrity endorsement and its impact on brands.
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5. Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behaviour and Brand Building, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology - Department of Business Management, By Dinesh Kumar Gupta. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1203322 Abstract: The field of consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use and dispose of product, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. And understanding the consumer behavior is the prime and toughest task in front of every marketer. There are a lot of factors, which influence consumer buyer behavior. This study aimed at to understand the "influence of celebrity endorsee on consumer buying behavior and marketing." Marketers pay millions of dollars to celebrity endorsee hoping that the stars will bring their magic to brand they endorse and make them more appealing and successful. But all celebrity glitter is not gold. Celebrity sources may enhance attitude change for a variety of reasons. They may attract more attention to the advertisement than would noncelebrities or in many cases, they may be viewed as more credible than noncelebrities. Third, consumers may identify with or desire to emulate the celebrity. Finally, consumer may associate known characteristics of the celebrity with attributes of the product that coincide with their own needs or desire. The effectiveness of using a celebrity to endorse a firm's product can generally be improved by matching the image of the celebrity with the personality of the product and the actual or desired serf concept of the target market. What therefore seems relevant by the study is that, yes, definitely celebrity endorsee influence consumer buying behavior and brand building but while using celebrity endorsee, marketer has to take care of all the aspect that whether the brought personality and image of celebrity matches or not, whether celebrity endorsee has deep penetration among the masses or not, whether he is considered as credible source or not etc.
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6. Analysis of Celebrity Marketing as an effective destination marketing tool, Bournemouth University, By Robert van der Veen. http://www.du.se/PageFiles/5051/Veen%20thesis.pdf
Abstract:
Commercial companies use celebrities with target customer segments to increase the appeal of their offerings. The instrument of celebrity endorsement has nowadays become a pervasive element in advertising and communication management. Whilst many strategic as well as tactical aspects of celebrity endorsement effectiveness have come under scrutiny from a manufacturing product marketing perspective, the concept of celebrity endorsement for hedonic consumption, in particular destinations is an often overlooked and under-researched strategy. This study will therefore posit a discussion of celebrity destination endorsement by providing an exploratory review of the concept that is based on an analysis of existing academic and conceptual literature on destination marketing and on celebrity endorsement in marketing management. Furthermore, marketing experts are consulted in order to contribute to the literature with new and deeper information. Here the main focus is on the perception of the interviewees relating to aspects of celebrity destination endorsement within a framework of celebrity endorsement in general. Therefore, by using a theoretical inquiry, it is not the researchers intention to establish facts but rather identify the experts interpretations and perceptions in order to understand and determine the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement as a destination marketing instrument. As such, this study contributes to an understanding of the application of a marketing device for a hedonic product in general, and it also increases understanding of celebrity endorsement as a destination marketing tool.
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7. Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement in India, The University of Nottingham, By Rajni Surana. http://edissertations.nottingham.ac.uk/2069/1/08MAlixrs13.pdf
Abstract:
The practice of celebrities being used for rendering services other than performing their actual job as either an actor or an athlete, such as endorsements has proliferated over time. Despite the cost and the risks involved with this technique of advertising, it is been used quite extensively in the present era. The instrument of celebrity endorsement has nowadays become a pervasive element in advertising and communication management. India as a country is known for loving its stars. The Indians idolize their boll wood actors and cricketers. The advertisers see this as an opportunity to grab and work on so as to expand their operations and promote their product. This dissertation focuses on examining the perception of these Indian
Consumers about the celebrity endorsement process and the subsequent impact on their purchase decisions. This project begins with a literature review which provides an insight into the research done by the previous authors followed by the structure of the research method adopted to achieve the objective this study. In depth qualitative interview approach has been adopted to investigate the attitude of the consumer towards celebrity endorsement and how it affects their daily lives. The findings derived from analyzing the collected data unearthed some very interesting facts which have been summarized in the conclusion and also managerial implication relating to it has been discussed.
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8. Is Celebrity Endorsement a Midas Touch or a Landmine,

Gurukul Business Review (GBR), Vol. 7 (Spring 2011), By Dr. Bhavana Sindhu. Abstract:
Use of the current heartthrob celebrity is always considered a big shot in the armour of big brands to impress the masses. Huge gaps in between the incurred cost and the resultant revenues give impetus to the trend. But, many a times there are missed shots also. Instead of cooling the heels after a missed shot, at the initial stages the companies need to pay attention to the factors, which might have been responsible for the same. This empirical study extends another dimension to the celebrity endorsement strategy. An attempt has been made to find out, whether the celebrity endorsement is always capable to extend a Midas touch to the sale of the product endorsed. An interesting finding, i.e., male celebrities are more effective as an endorser than their female counterparts, is put forth through the chi square statistics.
9. International Journal of Marketing & Management Research, Volume-2; Issue-8; August 2008, By Dr. Kuldip Singh & Maninder Singh.
http://www.skirec.com/images/download/ijmmr/IJMMR%20AUG%202011% 20ABSSTRACT%20PDF/8.5,%20%20Dr.%20Kuldip%20Kaur.pdf
Abstract:
In Indian market scenario, film star and sports celebrity endorsement has become an integral part of advertisement. Celebrity endorsement is one of the most effective method to make the product successful in the market and it makes the advertisement more believable and develops positive attitude of consumer towards the product. Celebrity endorsement gives a touch of glamour to the brand and hope that a famous face will provide added appeal and name recognition in a crowded market. Consumers perceptions of similarities between the celebrity and endorsed brand enhance the effectiveness of endorsement. Against this background present study tries to empirically test the comparative effectiveness of film star and sports celebrity endorsement on purchase decision of consumer durables from a sample of 300 respondents.
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10. Excel International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management Studies, Vol.2 Issue 1, January 2012, ISSN 2249 8834, By Dr. Sarita Bahl.
http://www.zenithresearch.org.in/images/stories/pdf/2012/Jan/EIJMMS/14_EIJMMS _VOL2_ISSUE1.pdf
Abstract:
The brand adoption process of any product or brand by a consumer is a very complicated process. Before adopting any brand the consumer seeks a great deal of sources to know about the brand depending on the nature of the product. Through personal and non-personal sources the potential consumer becomes aware of the brand. But the conviction about the brand is developed on the authenticity and validity of the information collected about the brand. Amongst all the formal and informal sources of company information we rate the spontaneous opinion of the mass people most. Consumers psychology is immensely influenced by the views,
opinions of other people. A significant transformation is evident through the increase in celebrity endorsement of products which is shaping consumer attitudes regarding product evaluation and purchase. The present study aims to highlight the brand awareness and perception towards quality of the products being endorsed by the celebrities among urban and rural consumers in Punjab. Further, an attempt has been made to find out any association if exists between demographic variables and perception about celebrities endorsement.
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CHAPTER-III
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3.1 Definition of a celebrity:
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 cannot 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.
A celebrity is a person who is widely
recognized in a society. 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. Today's celebrities are larger figures from movies (Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan), television (Larry King, Ram Kapoor) and sports (Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher). But by all means these acts should be with good cause, positive results, morally good and acceptable results. Eg. A bandit queen of Chambal valley was very famous, but was terror before her surrender to police. But she never becomes celebrity. But an actress Ms Seema Biswas who acted in film on "Bandit Queen" on life of that bandit, became very famous and a Celebrity. A celebrity is perceived as god by masses. They touch their feet, create idols and worship, garland their photographs, 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 wrong side even commit suicide if celebrity fails to deliver results.
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Celebrities are people who enjoy specific public recognition by a large number of certain groups of people. They have some characteristic attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills that are not commonly observed. Thus, it can be said that within a society, celebrities generally differ from the common people and enjoy a high degree of public awareness. In this age of intense competition, where capturing a position in the consumers mind space is extremely tough, celebrity endorsements give an extra edge to the companies for holding the viewers attention. Celebrities can catalyze brand acceptance and provide the enormous momentum that brands require by endorsing the intrinsic value to the brand.
Some of the most popular celebrities in all fields of excellence around the world are followed by millions of fans which impacts their way of dressing, attitude etc. Furthermore, celebrities appear in public by attending special celebrity events, e.g., award ceremonies, inaugurations or world premieres of movies. In addition, they are present in news, fashion magazines, and tabloids, which provide second source information on events and the private life of celebrities through mass-media channels (E.g Shah Rukh Khans documentary on his life gave his millions of fans a sneak peek into the life of the superstar. Last but not the least celebrities act as spokespersons in advertising to promote products and services which are referred to as celebrity endorsement.
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3.2 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 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. Often, celebrities cannot escape the public eye & 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 fame fades. In India today, the use of celebrity advertising for companies has become a trend winning formula of corporate image building and 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 the ones 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. 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. 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. However, the actual job is not mere brokerage --- its about selecting a celebrity whose characteristics are congruent with the brand image. Using celebrities in advertising dates back to the late nineteenth century and this common advertising practice has drawn a considerable amount of academic and practical attention.
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Celebrities 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. Therefore, the practice for celebrity endorsement should be closely related to the cultural context in which the images of celebrities are formed and individual celebrities are selected to be linked with particular products. 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. The 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 celebritys presence in the ad should be contextual. When Sachin Tendulkar declares, Boost is the secret of my energy, it doesnt seem out of context. Celebrity endorsements work best when the celebrity is not introducing the brand. When the product already has a strong identity and a USP that is well established, then a celebrity can come in and give the brand an added fillip and generate some more interest value. However, what is of paramount importance is to find a complete fit between the values of the brand and the values of the celebrity. One needs to create a unique situation or story that links the celebrity to the product.
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3.3 What is Celebrity Marketing?

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.
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, some years back Lux had 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. One of the first sports endorsements in India was when Farokh Engineer became the first Indian Crickets to model for Bryllcreem The Indian cricket teams now earns roughly Rs. 100 crore through endorsements. 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).
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Even political parties are awestruck by the charisma of stars. Such is the magnetism of celebrities in this country that in the recent elections, major political parties fielded a record number of film stars and cricketers to contest from important constituencies around the country. The charisma of the celebrities almost always entices people and their words are worshipped by a lot of people. Their influence also goes on the political front, where they are invited for political endorsement. The business firms, thus, resort to celebrity endorsement to perk up brand recall and product sales. This has now become a trend and is being perceived as a strategic means of brand building exercise. Today celebrity endorsement is being seen more and more as an integral part in an integrated marketing communication strategy. There are three macro factors present in the market today that in principal justifies the validity of celebrity endorsement as a promotional strategy. The first factors the increasing opportunity for interactivity between brands and their consumers. Second is the era of consent situation present today where consumers have more control over the messages they receive. And lastly is the increasing media fragmentation and commercial communication clutter which in turn helps to find out the value of star power in an endorsement and pointed towards how a well-designed advertising helped celebrities convert their star power into brand equity.
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3.4 Celebrity Marketing and its effect on consumers:

It is a known fact that the best endorsements achieve an effective 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 competitive advantage - advertising, service, or promise of trust. 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 importance of a celebrity-brand match and the various roles played by them as endorsers show the momentum this strategy has gained in the last decade or so. India is a country where people are star-struck by film stars, cricketers, politicians, and even criminals. The main reason for this is the populations of our country which is currently 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. A clever marketer leverages this very celebrity appeal and successfully carries out his job by giving t h e brands what they want - profit, market share and even recall.
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Now, despite the potential benefits derived from celebrity endorsements, they increase a marketer's risk 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. As the celebrities traverse from a mere commercial presence to public welfare message endorsements, a whole new dimension is added to this process and helps us in achieving a holistic view of the impact which celebrities generate in every sphere and segment through their well-versed endorsements. 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. This can be done 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. Right now the current hot favorite in India is roping in celebrities for social causes like AIDS, polio etc. This has shown to be having a positive effect on the people. In India, Bollywood and sport personalities rule the mind-space and airwaves.
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3.5 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, Thumbs Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the earliest other brands that used star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. Marketers believe that star endorsements have several benefits, key among them being building credibility, fostering trust and drawing attention or 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. Advertising professionals
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. In order that a product is really successful, a brand needs to have a strong identity of its own. It should ideally not piggyback on the identity of a celebrity and hope to achieve success. 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.
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3.6 Pros & Cons of Celebrity Marketing:
Pros:
Academic researchers have conducted sufficient empirical research to express the benefits of product endorsement, in addition to the intuitive arguments that rationalize this practice. It is observed that the presence of a renowned persona helps in solving the problem of over communication that is becoming more and more prevalent these days. The increased consumer power over programmed
advertisement has made advertising has made advertising more challenging. To ease this threat and to help create and maintain consumer attention to advertisements celebrity endorsement strategy is seen to be advantageous. Celebrities have the potential of helping the advertisements stand out from the surrounding clutter, guiding towards an improved communicative ability by cutting through excess noise in a communication process. Also one probable solution in the face of tarnished company image is the hiring of a celebrity to restore it. Celebrity Endorsement assists in the image polishing of the companys image. A stream of studies identifies the attributes such trustworthiness, similarity, likableness, expertise that cause a celebrity to stand as a persuasive source which in turn creates a sense of certainty. It is shown by research and experience that consumers are highly ready to spend and more comfortable, when products that relate to their desired image is endorsed by celebrities as it helps them to take more notice of celebrity endorsements and improve their level of product recall. Another reason for the use of celebrity endorsement is because it has a strong impact on the learning style and memory which is critical to marketing communication success. This is because most consumers are not in a purchasing situation when they come into contact with the brand message. Marketers make use of celebrity endorsements as they lead to better information storage in the minds of the consumers which can be readily retrieved when the purchasing situation dose arise. All these lead to the conclusion that celebrity endorsements are likely to have a positive effect on product choice behavior.
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One of the most successful advertisements of the year 2011 was made by CocaCola India featuring Imran Khan.
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.
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The accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand:
Establishment of Credibility
Ensured Attention
PR coverage Time saving
Higher degree of recall
Associative Benefit
Mitigating a t a r n i s h e d i m a g e
Psychographic Connect Mass Appeal Providing testimony Rejuvenation a stagnant brand
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Cons:
The very first downside of celebrity endorsement is the term Lazy Advertising used to address the extreme usage of celebrities to endorse products, which poses a question on the validation of success of celebrity endorsement as a prevalent marketing communication activity. It is believed that using celebrities can turn out to be an unnecessary risk, unless there appears to be a very logical relation between the endorser and the product. Celebrity endorsers may now and then become a liability to the brand they endorse. Negative information and publicity regarding the celebrity is one risk associated with the use of celebrity endorsers. If the celebrity is strongly associated with the brand then the impact of the negative publicity will brim over to the product. Many companies have been badly affected by the negative publicity accruing from the celebritys misdeeds. Furthermore, those who choose to use celebrities have no control over the celebritys future behaviour. Clutter in brand endorsement is very high up these days. This is due to celebrity greed which leads to a celebrity endorsing many diverse products. Overexposure is a common occurrence between highly recognized and well-liked endorsers and highly competing brands and leads to making the consumer confused and unable to recall correctly which brand the celebrity stands for. This not only compromises the value of the celebrity in the eyes of the stars fans but also brings to the customers notice the true nature of endorsements which is more compensation inclined and not so brand or product inclined. This has been referred to as the hired gun problem, where the spokesperson is perceived as endorsing the product only for the motive of money. Two new shortcomings can be seen these days what marketers call Celebrity Trap and Celebrity Credibility. Celebrity trap is when the task to find substitutes becomes more and more difficult and thus celebrity becomes an addiction for the marketing team leading to surfeit of celebrities. Celebrity credibility refers to skepticism by the consumers regarding the celebrities, because of which brand is bound to be affected, especially when there is anything negative regarding the celebrity associated with the brand in the news.
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There are decreasing returns associated with celebrities in advertising. Also some consumers have termed celebrities to be a puppet used by companies implying that they perceive the celebrities to be lying, when endorsing certain products. There are decreasing returns associated with celebrities in advertising. Also some consumers have termed celebrities to be a puppet used by companies implying that they perceive the celebrities to be lying, when endorsing certain products.
The Kya aapke toothpaste mein namak hai advertisement campaign featuring Sonakshi Sinha which in turn failed miserably to attract customers to promote the product. The celebrity approach has a few serious risks: The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product
Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity
Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to overexposure
Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor)
Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand
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. 2.8
Scope of a Celebrity on the Incumbent Brand:
Simply stating, a brand is a differentiated product and helps in identifying your product and making it stand out due to its name, design, style, symbol, color combination, or usually a mix of all these:
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Before we can scrutinize the effects of celebrity endorsement on the overall brand, we have to study the implicit factors that act as sources of strong brand images or values: Experience of Use: This encapsulates familiarity and proven reliability User Associations: Brands acquire images from the type of people who are seen using them. Images of prestige or success are imbibed when brands are associated with glamorous personalities Belief in Efficiency: Ranking from consumer associations, newspaper editorials, etc Brand Appearance: Design of brand offers clues to quality and affects preferences Manufacturers Name & Reputation: A prominent brand name (Sony, Motorola, Bajaj, and Tata) transfers positive associations An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool that magnifies the effects of a campaign. But the aura of cautiousness should always be there. The fact to be emphasized is that celebrities alone do not guarantee success, as consumers nowadays understand advertising, know what advertising is, and how it works. People realize that celebrities are being paid a lot of money for endorsements and this knowledge leads them to think twice about celebrity endorsements.
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CHAPTER-III
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3.1 Celeb Ad-vantage

What are the benefits of representing India in the national cricket team? It is an opportunity to compete with the best in the world and pitch one's talent against the best. It is an opportunity to travel around the world. It is an opportunity to uphold national pride. And make good money from every match played. But there is more, a ticket to modeling in the advertising world (and a future perhaps in Bollywood). Not surprisingly it's a very attractive profession as advertisers pour crores of rupees every year into celebrity advertising. Think of Sachin Tendulkar. He means Pepsi in soft drinks, Boost in malted beverages, MRF in tires, Fiat Palio in cars, Aviva in life insurance services, Colgate Total in toothpastes, Britannia in biscuits, Visa in credit cards & Airtel in mobile services. 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/marketing problem. He then feels that the presence of a well-known face is an easy way out. It is rare that there is an idea on the table and client and agency mutually agree that the presence of a celebrity will actually lift the script. This is very similar to Bollywood blockbuster films where the cast is decided upon and the script is either written accordingly or re-engineered around the cast.
An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool that magnifies the effects of a campaign. But the aura of cautiousness should always be there. The fact to be emphasized is that celebrities alone do not guarantee success, as consumers nowadays understand advertising. They know what advertising is and how it works. People realize that celebrities are being paid a lot of money for endorsements and this knowledge makes them to think twice about celebrity endorsements.
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There is no doubt that celebrity advertising has its own benefits known as The Four Qs: Quick saliency: It gets cut through because of the star and his attention getting value. 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 Tendulkar & Shah Rukh Khan 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. Sachin Tendulkar seems to have done that successfully for Boost which helped to differentiate it in the malted beverages market. Quick means of brand differentiation: In a category where no brand is using a celebrity, the first that picks one up could use it to differentiate itself in the market. Boost did it in the malted beverage category.
Shah Rukh Khan changed the fortune of Dish TV after he started endorsing it. Above is the latest advertisement campaign for Dish TV.
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In general, celebrity marketing techniques 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
The sources that companies use to present their advertising message typically attempt 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. 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.
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3.2 Compatibility between Celebrity & 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. Certain parameters that ensure proper compatibility between the celebrity and brand image are as follows:

Celebritys fit with the brand image CelebrityTarget audience match Celebrity associated values Costs of acquiring the celebrity Celebrity-Product matches Celebrity controversy risk Celebrity popularity Celebrity availability Celebrity physical attractiveness Celebrity credibility Celebrity prior endorsements Whether celebrity is a brand user Celebrity profession
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1. Fit with the Advertising Idea: Marketers now seek to adopt 360 degree brand awareness 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 campaign which reflects the fit between the brand and the 360 degree advertising fit is Hrithik Roshan and Provogue. The conjunction between the two has been immensely impactful and brand managers have utilized this endorsement through 360 degree reinforcement. Provogue Lounge and extensive phased insertions in print in selective publications reaching out to their target audience has made it as one of the highest recalled celebrity endorsement.
2. Celebrity-Target Audience match:
Amitabh Bachchan and other cricketers and actors endorsing the WHO recommended ORS Campaign in India. Indians can associate with the different personalities through the facets they project on screen or in regular life which helps develop a connect with the target audience. Also the senior Bachchan seems to grab the eyeballs of a billion people when he talks about securing your and your familys life by getting them and yourself insured.
3. 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 and whether the person can maintain his popularity. 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. Tabu endorsing Tetra Packed Milk, Shabana Azmi campaigning for AIDS Awareness, Amitabh Bachchan & Shahrukh Khan campaigning for Pulse Polio reflect the transfer of celebrity values to the brand, creating an impact that generates recall.
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4. 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 advertising budgets to get the best celebrities. Small firms that use celebrities' 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. 45.5 crore per endorsement, and musician A. R. Rehman, who had signed up with Hero Motor Corp, is believed to have picked up Rs. 5 crore. Film-star Hrithik Roshan was rumored to have picked up Rs. 4.5 crore for endorsements, and Shahrukh Khan's rate seems to be between Rs. 5-6 crore.
5. Celebrity Regional Appeal Factors:
Sachin Tendulkar endorses products mainly in India just because of the fact that here there are a billion people who consider him god and the best cricketer in the country. When coming to film actors for the people of metropolitan cities and other parts of India Akshay Kumar endorses Thumbs Up a cola drink whereas the same drink is endorsed by Mahesh Babu a Telugu actor in Andhra Pradesh and other parts of south India solely because of the popularity of regional films in those areas.
6. Celebrity-Product match: Rannvijay an ex-roadie 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 Rannvijay'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 brand equity is of Sunny Deol & Lux Undergarments, Aishwarya Rai & Nakshatra, etc.
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7. 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.
8. Celebrity Popularity:
Celebrity Brand association like Garnier endorsed Tara Sharma & Simone Singh, Agni Diamonds with Riama Sen don't get much brand recall, and even if they do, its difficult to attribute it to the celebrities' endorsing the brand. The recent Sonakshi Sinha Campaign for colgate also went down the flush despite of the popularity of the actress.
9. 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.
10. Celebrity Physical attractiveness:
Bipasha Basu' physical attractiveness and her connect with the brand makes Mcvities' digestive biscuits campaign through celebrity in India, John Abraham endorsing Wrangler and Yamaha are some examples which portray the celebrities' physical attractiveness that helps creating an impact.
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11. 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. One of the most obvious reasons of Amitabh Bachchan endorsing huge number of brands is the credibility of his recognition among 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 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.
12. 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 Sachin Tendulkar people recall Pepsi, TVS Victor and MRF, but might not remember brands like Britannia and Fiat. Similarly, for Amitabh Bachchan, consumers remember Cadbury, 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.
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13. 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, 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 wants to reach out to will be ready to believe that he used the oil and his endorsement thereby creates an impact.
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3.3 Factors involved in Celebrity Marketing:
There are several factors to consider before resorting to celebrity endorsement. There is no single formula to win in the world of marketing. A company must analyze the prospect of endorsement from 360 degrees, prior to product promotion.
Price v/s Profit:
The most important issue is that of return on investment (ROI). Companies need to perform a cost-benefit analysis prior to endorsement. The process of gauging the effectiveness of endorsement on the overall brand is but difficult. The companies expect to bring, in the long run, future sales, revenues and profit from the present investments on celebrity endorsement. Celebrity endorsement is an
expensive means of brand promotion and the price burden almost always shifts on to the consumers; if not, then it narrows the companies profit.
Multiple Brand Endorsement v/s Multiple Celebrity Endorsement:
In the advertising landscape, we find either a celebrity endorsing multiple brands or multiple celebrities being used to endorse a single brand. Sachin
Tendulkar, for example, endorsed 15 brands including Pepsi, Boost, Colgate Total, Gillette, Britannia Tiger, Fiat Palio, Aviva life insurance, Fiat Sienna, MRF, Adidas, and Visa Cards etc.
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Also, the use of multiple celebrities to endorse a brand may hinder the meaning transfer process and thus lead to confusion among the consumers. Below are few endorsements done by Hrithik Roshan. Apparently his endorsement fees are supposed to be in loads of crores but no one knows the exact figure except his secretary, his PR agent and Hrithik himself!!
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3.4 Kinds of Celebrity-Impacts on Brands:

(1) Product Placements: Many movies directly endorse those products whose brand ambassadors star in that particular movie. For Eg: The movie Om Shanti Om had endorsements of products like Tagheur, Compaq all of whose brand endorser is Shah Rukh Khan. (2) Celebrities Co-Owning the Brand: Many celebrities who co-own a particular brand endorse their products in their respective movies. For Eg Shahnaz Hussain co-owns her own line of Emami products and in turn herself endorses them too. (3) Fictional Heroes: Shaktimaan has sold Parle-G, and Popeye single-handedly revived the consumption of spinach in the US. (4) No More but Still Celebrities: Campaigns created around Dhirubhai Ambani was the 'Kar lo duniya muthi mein' campaign for Reliance. (5) Celebrities for a Cause: The Pulse Polio campaign being coordinated by UNICEF for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. (6) Spoofing: The Great Cola Wars happened in India too between co brands Mountain Dew and Sprite. (7) Mascots: Ronald McDonald, the Amul Girl, Maharaja of Air India.
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(8) Products endorsed according to gender: John Abraham lends his rugged image to Yamaha bikes while Priety Zinta lends her cute dimples to peddle Scooty. (9) Celebrities Lending their Name brands: Binani Cement tentatively titled Big B is named after Amitabh Bachchan. (10) Company Owners Being Celebrities:
Vijay Malaya and Richard Branson who are walking talking celebrities and endorse their own brands through their extravagance, their flamboyant lifestyle. (11) Using a Social Proposition Built Within the Brand:
The Surf campaign done by Revathy and Shabana Azmi (in the south and north respectively) which stressed on the prudent usage of valuable water was a social proposition cleverly inter- woven in the brand. (12) Duration of Usage - Promotional or Long Term Strategy:
Shahrukh Khan has had a longer duration of endorsing Hyundai cars for over 10 years now. Similarly due to negative publicity Thumbs Up switched over its brand ambassador from Salman Khan to Akshay Kumar. (13) Foreign Celebrities:
Jackie Chan doing a Discover commercial or Orlando Bloom doing a Toyota Etios commercial. (14) Unintentional Celebrity Endorsements:
The year before the late Princess Diana bought an Audi, they sold just about five hundred pieces in the UK. The following year sales figures were close to ten thousand mark. John Abraham riding Hayabusa in the movie Dhoom boosted the sales of sports bikes in India.
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3.5 Objectives of Celebrity Marketing:
Defining the objectives of the advertisements is the first step. In general, there are four major objectives for any advertisement. Note that not all advertisements need to have all the objectives.
Establish the product need: Establishing a need for a product or a product category is the necessary first step. This is more important in new-to-world category of products. In Indian context, consider the advertisement for Polio Immunization drive the TV advertisement featured Amitabh Bachan telling that immunization is a must for every child - while people suffering from polio are shown in the background along with healthy kids. This advertisement used a celebrity to create the need for polio immunization. Another good example is Toyotas advertisement of Innova in India. The TV advertisement prominently shows Amir Khan playing different roles while traveling in an Innova. The different roles - establish the need for such a big car in India. (Note that Indian car market is dominated by small cars - which can seat only four adults, Toyota wanted to establish the need for an 8 seater car in India)
Create Brand Awareness Once the need for a product is established, customers must be able to associate the brand with the product category. For example iPod is strongly associated with portable MP3 players, Nike with sports shoes etc. A classic example of this is Adidass use of Sachin Tendulkar advertising for Adidas. This advertisement instantly created a strong association of Adidas with cricket shoes.
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Set customer expectations:
Brand value comes from the customers experience with the product. If the product meets or beats his expectations, then a positive brand image is created, else a negative brand image is created. Therefore it is essential to set the customer expectations accordingly. This is most common in established consumer products - Beauty products, household cleaning products, food products etc.
Create a purchase intention:
These are marketing promotion advertisements - Buy one, get one free, or get additional discounts if you buy within a particular date etc. The sole purpose of such communication messages is to encourage customers to buy immediately or within a short period after seeing. Use of celebrity
endorsements to create a purchase intention has been very limited. This is mainly because such advertisements adversely affect the personality brand value of the celebrity. Being associated with a discount deal is not favorable image for the celebrity and the customer.
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3.6 Measurement of Celebrity Marketing:

It becomes very important to measure the effectiveness of a celebrity (or determine the worth of one). Few of the methods of measurement that are in practice are:
The Q-SCORE Method The FRED Principle
The Q-SCORE Method: There is a way to measure the credibility, believability, popularity, and likeability of a celebrity. It's called a Q-Score, and you can purchase the Q-Scores of the candidates you're considering. Consider both sides of the deal - for a client who wanted to use a celebrity endorser, and for a celebrity who was looking for an endorsement opportunity. Once you've defined the kind of endorser you need (e.g., athlete, actor, male/female, young/old, etc.), its well worth going through the Q-Score exercise. Evaluating the contribution of the endorser after you've already made the decision is not nearly as straightforward. One time, many years ago, a company actually shot a commercial with a well-known (high QScore) endorser for national use, and it shot the same commercial with a good actor, not so well-known. The company ran a limited market test for 6 months with the unknown actor (cutting in the commercials locally, over national network schedule) so could quantify the sales impact of the celebrity. By the way, the celebrity was worth every penny of his outrageous fee. It ended up using him for years, and he helped the brand reach market leadership almost entirely on the strength of the commercials in which he appeared.
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The FRED Principle: F is for Familiarity:
The target market must be aware of the person, and perceive him or her as empathetic, credible, sincere and trustworthy. R is For Relevance:
There should be a meaningful link between the advertised brand and the celebrity endorser, and more important, between the celebrity endorser and the defined target market. The audience must be able to identify with the person. If consumers can immediately associate with an endorser, they will feel more predisposed to accepting, buying and preferring the brand to competition. E is for Esteem:
Consumers must have the utmost respect and confidence for the celebrity. Amitabh Bachchan & Tendulkar have these. So do Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Kapil Dev among others. The public respect them because of their distinguished careers and unassailable salesmanship. D is for Differentiation:
The target consumers must see the endorser as a cut above the rest. If there is no perceived disparity among celebrities, then the strategy will not work. Michael Jordan is an example of an international celebrity that rises above the clutter. This proves to be a huge contributory factor to his effectiveness as an endorser. The Fred concept is not a guarantee to success, but it can serve as a guideline when selecting a spokesperson. Each organization and its objectives are different, and should be evaluated on an individual basis.
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The Impact:
As defined earlier, impact would be both short term and long term, but here the focus would be more on the long term implications of the brand. Measurement of this would be challenging and data would be difficult to obtain. The parameters on which impact could be measured would be on a comparative basis of the brand before and after the celebrity began endorsing the brand. Sales / revenue, market share, brand recall, level of repurchase, brand loyalty, trust, image and perception of the brand per say. In this trend of creative advertising, we see usage of
celebrities of all walks in life - particularly actors, film stars, models, sports persons, and the whole gamut. But the usage can always backfire if the choice of the star is completely contradictory in nature to the brand. Believability and association of brand to celebrity is important. Selection of celebrities can be done while they are at their peak or when they are destined for greatness in the near future. Again a risk that may go either way. What is important at some level is the value that a celebrity adds to a particular brand. The advertiser tries his best to make the celebrity and brand as analogous as possible. The celebrity endorser is seen to score quite well on dimensions such as trustworthiness, believability, persuasiveness, and likeability when tested for reaction from people. This is important to a marketer as if he can get a celebrity to make the masses follow, believe or listen to him, he has been successful. The basis for the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed advertising can be linked to this process of identification and internalization of the desired behavior. Price of fame may be high for the celebrity endorsed brands but they have both what the markets and the everyday common man want - attention, power and star sizzle. Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition of a large group of people. Celebrities may convey a broad range of meanings, involving demographic categories (e.g., age, gender and status), personality and lifestyle types. For instance, people adore Sachin Tendulkar because he represents a middle-class Maharashtrian boy who made it big with sheer hard work. Likewise, Amitabh Bachchan for most is an icon of style, trust and dependability.
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3.7 Celebrity Marketing Cases: Make or Break
Shah RukhKhan-Lux (NegativeImpact)
Shah Rukh Khan is the most vibrant actor in the Hindi film industry and stands for:
S-Scintillating R-Romance K-Kinetic
It is generally said that when King Khan as he is known when advertises a product you are certainly sure that his charisma and fan following will in turn help boost the sales of that particular product. But there was an exception to this theory too. If you look at the advertisement of Lux a beauty soap generally aimed at the fairer sex and featuring divas from their respective generations in all of their previous campaigns, the ad featuring SRK showed a disastrous fit between what the product stands for, what the consumer expects and what the celebrity means to the consumer, hence explaining the weak impact in sales and leading to utter confusion.
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Sushil Kumar-Mountain Dew (PositiveImpact)
Mountain Dews latest advertisement featuring Sushil Kumar is one of the best advertisement campaigns in recent times. This strong man hailing from the Kushti state Haryana is directly proportional to the tag line of the product Darr ke aage jeet hai. Sushil Kumars image of being a brawny man, hailing from the rustic roots of India, gave Mountain Dew the perfect brand ambassador it was looking for. He not only gave to the product a sturdy and robust image, but also brought to the product trust and honesty which it was trying to build in its first time buyers.
Amitabh Bachchan (cluttered identity)
Our framework argues that exclusivity makes the product-celebrity association stronger thereby making the product resonates with the qualities of the celebrity. In cases where the celebrity endorses multiple products, he dilutes his equity. Theres no better example in the Indian industry than Amitabh Bachchan who endorses ICICI, Cadburys, Versa, Dabur, Binani Cement, Nerolac Paints and many more. In each of the cases the ads use some or the other attribute of Amitabh to endorse the product, but makes no strong link in the minds of the consumer.
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A R Rahman Hero Moto Corp (Positive Impact)
The musical maestro AR Rahman endorsing a motorcycle brand makes a case where the celebrity is used only for her popularity without looking for Brand-celebrity fit. The latest campaign of uniting a billion Indians through upload of videos with the campaign Hum mein hai Hero clearly states that Hero Moto Corp wanted to change their brand image with the change in the name of their company.
VodafoneZoozoo (Positive Impact)
Vodafone managed to grab the attention of the consumers, by not using a celebrity. The zoozoo campaign came across as a fresh initiative at endorsing a product. The zoozoo have had a very high brand recall as they represent Vodafone and have only
been created by the company according to the needs of the
product and the message. It communicates to the consumer about all the offers and packages the company offers. The protagonist says all of the above and creates a strong bond with the consumer.
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Katrina Kaif (Positive Impact)
Katrina Kaif is the top female brand ambassador in India, representing 12 brands which includes Nakshatra, Spice Telecom, Pantene, Godrej Renew, Slice Aamsutra, Veet etc. She is the fifth person with the maximum number of brands endorsed in the country. Katrina Kaif has has replaced Aishwarya Rai in Nakshatra Diamonds and also usurped Priyanka Chopra in the Spice Telecom ad. Katrina Kaif has also replaced Sushmita Sen as the brand ambassador of Pantene.
Ranbir Kapoor-Cluttered Image
The latest entrant from the Kapoor Khandaan Ranbir Kapoor is the new kid on the block in terms of advertisement campaigns. Ranbir endorses multiple products ranging from a hatchback Japanese car to a cola drink to a cellular phone service. Apparently his advertisement of Tata Docomo reminded viewers like me of Jerry Sienfeld which didnt suit him at all.
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Salman Khan-Sonic Batteries, Revital (Negative Impact)
Lovingly known as the Bhaijaan of the Hindi film industry many companies literally backstabbed Salman Khan when they felt his bad boy and tarnished image would hamper the image of their particular product. His two most idiotic ads include Sonic Batteries directed by his close director friend Nikhil Advani (Kal Ho Na Ho & Salaam-E-Ishq fame) failed to impress the audience. Another miserable advertisement done by Salman Khan was of Wheel detergent powder and Revital Capsules which was previously endorsed by Yuvraj Singh.
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CHAPTER-VI
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6 (a) DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION: Occupation:
Business class
Service class 4% 0% 32%
Student
Others
64%
Interpretation: From the above pie chart it is clear that out of the total sample size of 50 students majority of the respondents are students and the rest of the share is occupied by service and business class.
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Age of the respondents:
7.5
1.9 3.8 18-25 86.8 26-32 32-39 More than 40
Interpretation: This pie-chart depicts that most respondents ie 86.8% are between the age group of 18-25 years and while the rest are above 25 years of age.
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Gender:
52.8
47.2
Male Female
Interpretation:
This pie chart depicts that 47.2% of the respondents are male while 52.8 respondents are of the fairer sex.
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Factors affecting purchase:
Price 32.1 11.3% 0 56.6 Opinion Leader Celebrity Endorser Brand name
Interpretation:
The above pie chart depicts that most respondents ie 56.6% of the respondents are influenced by the price of a particular product rather than the celebrity who is actually endorsing the product.
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Response for celebrities endorsing a brand on TV:
22.6 30.2 47.2
Yes No Can't say
Interpretation:
The above pie chart depicts that most of the respondents would like to see their brand to be endorsed by a celebrity.
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Celebrity Effective tool of persuasion:
0 13.2 8.2 54.7 20.8
Strongly agree Agree Indifference Disagree
Interpretation:
The above pie chart depicts that 8.2% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that celebrities are an effective tool of persuasion.
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Comparison between Male & Female celebrity:
3.8
15.1 34
9.4 Agree
Strongly agree
37.7
Indifferent Disagree
Interpretation:
Looking at the above pie chart we can see that 37.7% of the respondents feel its indifferent whether the celebrity endorsing a product is male or female while 3.8% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that male celebrities are more effective than female celebrities.
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Celebrity using the endorsed product:
1.9 35.8 62.3 Yes No May be
Interpretation:
The above pie diagram clearly states that 62.3% of the total respondents feel that a celebrity does not use the product that he endorses.
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Most preferred Celebrity:
30.2 22.6 47.2
Movie Star Sports person Others
Interpretation:
In the above graph respondents have supported movie stars and other personalities and models more than sports personalities. This shows a changing trend in the perception of the consumers stating that the popularity of sports persons are slowly declining.
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Celebrity endorsement=More Price?
5.6 18.5 75.9 Yes No Can't say
Interpretation:
From the above pie diagram we can clearly say that the maximum number of respondents ie 75.9% feel that the price of a product increases when a celebrity endorses it.
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The Consumers Choice (Automobile sector):
0 Luxury Esteem Brand Celebrity
40.7 11.1
48.1
Interpretation:
From the above survey we can conclude that majority of the respondents ie 48.1% out of a sample size of 50 feel that they would buy a vehicle by giving the factor of luxury the highest priority followed by brand of that car or two wheeler and esteem. No one really wants to watch a celebrity endorsing an automobile product because that really doesnt affect their purchasing power decision.
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The Consumers Choice (Clothing):
1.9 9.3 64.8 24.1 Status Less price Trends Celebrity
Interpretation: From the above pie chart we can clearly see the respondents view that they buy clothes due to the changing trends and not because of some celebrity endorsing that product. We see that 64.8% of the total respondents are motivated to buy new set of clothes due to the changing trends while 24.1% buy it due to the fewer prices.
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6 (b) FINDINGS:
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 product. Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the advertisement and the brand more noticeable. A celebrity's preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message and hence, because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit. There is a demographic and psychographic connection between the stars and their fans. Demographic connection establishes that different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments i.e. age, gender, class, geography etc., while psychographic connection establishes that stars are loved and adored by their fans. Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses. Another invaluable benefit from celebrity endorsements is the public relation opportunities.
Clutter in brand endorsements is very prominent these days and such kind of over-exposure can be bad for the brand as the recall value drops by a huge margin. A popular drawback of celebrity endorsement is the 'Vampire Effect' or the celebrity overshadowing the brand16. Some viewers forget the brand that a celebrity is approving. Others are so spellbound by the personality of the celebrity that they completely fail to notice the brand being advertised. Two new drawbacks can be seen these days what marketers call Celebrity Trap and Celebrity Credibility17. Celebrity trap is when the celebrity becomes an addiction for the marketing team and the task to find substitutes becomes more and more difficult, leading to surfeit of celebrities. Celebrity credibility refers to skepticism by the consumers regarding the celebrities, especially when there is anything negative regarding the celebrity associated with the brand in the news, then brand is bound to be affected.
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CHAPTER-VII
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Conclusion:
Celebrity endorsements do work in the Indian scenario. The level and the magnitude of the effect vary with the celebrity and the product category but most endorsements have a favourable impact
The consumer looks for a variety of aspects from the endorsement like the credibility and likeability of the endorser. Credibility also means the fit between the brand and the celebrity
Multiple endorsements do clutter the minds of the consumer
When one endorser endorses many brands, then the recall of the endorsement depends entirely on the power of the brand.
It is not just the financial gains from the endorsements that matter to the celebrity. They also look for the fit with the brand and what the endorsement might do to their image
Professional performance of the endorser is important in deciding the success of the endorsement. However, the bad performance should be stretched so as to make sense to the audience
The celebrities' accessibility, regional appeal factors, popularity, attractiveness, belief system are some other important platforms, which are raised when we study the impact of celebrity endorsement on brands
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CHAPTER-VIII
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
The use of celebrity marketing should be done consistently over time to increase the strength of the link between the product and the celebrity
The execution of the ad should be simple, clear and to the point focusing more on celebrity and the brand together
Advertisement agencies and companies should opt for those celebrities who is not strongly associated with another product or service
Celebrity marketers should be used to effectively reinforce and or create an image for a product or service
Celebrities should endorse those products which are less known to the common man so that this would in turn popularize the product
More than the bad performance in the professional field, it is the association of the celebrity with a controversy or ill-behaviour that causes negative impact to the endorsements so celebrities should stay out of controversies
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CHAPTER-IX
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ANNEXURE-QUESTIONNAIRE:
Dear Respondents, I, Devashish R Nabhi, student of Masters of Management Studies (Marketing), am conducting a survey on Effectiveness of Celebrity Marketing. For this purpose I need your cooperation in filling this questionnaire. It will take few minutes of your precious time. It is to make sure that information obtained is for general purpose only. Name of the respondent What is your occupation?
i. Business Class ii. Service Class iii. Student iv. Others What is your age?
i. 18-25 ii. 26-32 iii. 32-39 iv. More than 40
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Effectiveness of Celebrity Marketing What is your gender?
i. Male ii. Female What factor affects your buying behaviour towards a purchase?
i. Price ii. Opinion-leader iii. Celebrity endorser iv. Brand name
Do you like to see any celebrity endorsing your brand on television?
i. Yes ii. No iii. Cant say Celebrity endorsement is an effective tool of persuasion of buying a product Rate this statement.
i. Strongly agree ii. Agree iii. Indifference iv. Disagree v. Strongly disagree
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Male endorser is more effective as compared to female endorser. Rate this statement.
i. Strongly agree ii. Agree iii. Indifferent iv. Disagree v. Strongly disagree Does a celebrity endorsing a product actually use it?
i. Yes ii. No iii. May be Out of the following celebrity person whom do you like most?
i. Bollywood Stars ii. Sports star iii. None of above Do you think using celebrities endorsing a particular product increases the price of that particular product?
i. Yes ii. No iii. Cant say

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Effectiveness of Celebrity Marketing Which segment of products would you like to see celebrities endorse products?
i. Automobile sector ii. FMCG goods iii. Retail sector Motivation factor for buying a :
a) Motor Vehicle i. Luxury ii. Esteem iii. Brand iv. Celebrity
b) Clothing i. Status ii. Less Prices iii. Trends iv. Celebrity
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