Celebrity Endorsement In India h3kn

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT IN INDIA

Table of contents 1

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

S. No. Page

Name

1

Introduction to the topic

6

2

Relationship between a Celebrity & a Brand

10

3

Is celebrity advertising effective?

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4

Literature review

23

5

The argument for Celebrity Endorsement

34

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The argument against Celebrity Endorsement

37

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Brand, Celebrities & Consumer

40

8

Measuring a Celebrity Endorsement

53

9

Research Objective and Methodology

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10

Survey results

61

11

Findings

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Summary and managerial implications

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Conclusion

73

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Appendix 1 & 2

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

The project is to study and analyze the impact of celebrity endorsement on a common consumer. It is a sincere effort to understand the consumer perception for celebrity endorsement, to learn and understand its effectiveness and to know the benefits and drawbacks associated with celebrity endorsement. This project report suggests how a celebrity can help a consumer in identification of a product. It also includes details about the consumer’s views about the use of celebrities in brand promotion by an organization. A survey was conducted to know the consumer’s perception and their thinking about the celebrity endorsements. A questionnaire has been drafted for the same, to understand the psyche of the cell phone customers to know their needs, expectations and their attitude toward a cell phone brand ambassador. On the basis of analysis of the result collected from the survey, we have drawn certain conclusions, which are clearly mentioned in detail in the later part of this project report. In a nutshell, this project report will act as a useful tool for any management in selecting a suitable celebrity to endorse their product, according to the consumer’s likings.

Introduction CELEBRITY BRANDING AND ITS EFFECT ON CONSUMERS

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT It is a known fact that the best endorsements achieve an eclectic balance between the product (brand) and the celebrity. Giving a brand a 'face' is more than just a marketing strategy to increase sales or gain market share, it is a decision that can change the future of the brand forever. Choice of the celebrity, hence, is of utmost importance and is usually done based on many different parameters - appeal, looks, popularity or even just a fantasy figure to endorse a brand. In today's highly competitive markets, big brands are at logger-heads when it comes to products, each having a similar product to that of a rival. Where does one brand gain that quintessential advantage - advertising, service, promise of trust, or even the all important price factors? Advertising seems to be the best platform where brands prefer to compete on - right from hiring the best advertising agencies to getting the biggest celebrities. What would be the formula to success then? Well, a good creative agency, a large enough promotional budget and a huge star to endorse your brand would definitely ensure in the minds of a brand management team a feeling of security, success and a triumph over the competitors brand. The general belief among rs is that brand communication messages delivered by celebrities and famous personalities generate a higher appeal, attention and recall than those executed by non-celebrities. The quick message-reach and impact are all too essential in today's highly competitive environment. The different models applied by brands to achieve the full potential of such endorsements, highlight the need for a convergence between the theoretical and pragmatic approaches of brand building and effective advertising. The importance of a celebrity-brand match and the various roles played by them as brand-associates show the momentum this strategy has gained in the last decade or so. We put forward certain ideas like 'positioning by association', 'diminishing celebrity utility' and the Multiplier Effect which show the triangular relationship between the brand, the consumer and the celebrity.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT India is a country where people are star-struck by film stars, cricketers, politicians, and even criminals. Why? Populations of 1 billion and ticking, everyday people need something or someone to look up to. A sense of security, iration, comfort, familiarity, and above all, someone they aspire to be at some hidden level in their lives. And clever marketers leverage this very celebrity appeal and are successfully carrying out their jobs by giving the bottom lines of all the brands what they want - profit, market share and even recall. But how much star power is too much? "Does Amitabh really use Tide," asked a 6 year old to her mother. Her mother laughs and says, "No way, just a gimmick." What does that do to the brand? Now, despite the potential benefits derived from celebrity endorsements, they increase a marketer's risk manifolds and should be treated with full attention and aptitude. A brand should be cautious when employing celebrities to ensure promise believability and delivery of the intended effect. The growing importance of mythical characters as celebrities and their sway over the target segments are ample proof of public demand for icons to look up to. As the celebrities traverse from a mere commercial presence to public welfare message endorsements, a whole new dimension is added to this process and helps us in achieving a holistic view of the impact which celebrities generate in every sphere and segment through their well-versed endorsements. At the end of the day, do any stakeholders in a company (employees, contractors, customers, shareholders, communities the company s with jobs) benefit from a celebrity endorsement? Does anyone buy a product because a Bollywood or TV actor/actress stands up and reads a script in somewhat convincing manner? Are their distinctions in how consumers perceive these types of endorsements and respond to them? What happens when a celebrity endorser gets involved in a public scandal, or worse, dies? Will the product lose consumer or perish? The most important thing to 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,

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT where they just become a prop. Ideally, there should be an idea that makes the celebrity relevant to the product and the consumer. A celebrity's presence in the ad should be contextual. Celebrity endorsement cannot guarantee fool-proof success. The celebrity endorsement strategy must be integrated with target market characteristics, and the other elements of the marketing mix such as product design, branding, packaging, and pricing. The message execution that will be mouthed by the celebrity must likewise be made clear and single-minded. You can do this cleverly by aligning the spirit of the brand to the product, or by using a celebrity because it ensures that people will notice you, and hopefully what the brand is saying. Smart associations are ones where the former happens. Before we go into analyzing success and failure stories of brands, we examine the title once again and try looking at it extremely minutely.

Relationship between a Celebrity & a Brand To understand how consumers associate celebrities to brands is well documented by a research study by Anderson (1976); Collins & Loftus (1975); Rumelhart, Hinton & McClelland (1986). In their study, associative learning principles were based on a conception of memory as a network consisting of various nodes connected by associative links. In the research context, celebrities and brands both represent nodes, which initially are unconnected but become linked over time through the endorsement process.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

When a consumer thinks about a brand, the link with the celebrity node is animated to a certain level through spreading activation (Anderson 1983a). The t activation of brand and celebrity provides a path over which one's evaluation of the celebrity has an opportunity to transfer to the brand. The key to the process is the simultaneous activation of the brand and celebrity nodes. Negative information about the celebrity activates the celebrity node, which then activates the brand node to some degree and allows reduced evaluation of the celebrity to transfer to the brand. Studies by Noffsinger et al. (1983) and Judd et al. (1991) provide empirical evidence demonstrating that attitudes can be affected in such a way. It is also important to view the consumer in their social and cultural setting to further see how celebrity endorsements increase sales and impact brands over time. Celebrities usually form a very good example of a reference group appeal. This is particularly beneficial to a marketer and a brand who can cash in on the success of the star and, hence, push his brand. People who idolize their celebrities, hence, have a biased affinity to the brand their favorites endorse. As time es on, they believe that they by adopting the brand that their celebrity endorses are becoming more like them. Celebrities can be used in four ways namely: testimonial, endorsement, actor and spokesperson. Right now the current hot favorite in India is roping in celebrities for social causes like pulse 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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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT A recent study by FCB-ULKA was done on celebrity endorsements in India. Here, they discussed two parameters: Compatibility Index and Trait Index when it came to finding the relationship between a celebrity and a brand. Compatibility Index meant that the consumers saw a suitable match between the brand and the celebrity. Trait Index was based on the match between brand and celebrity personality traits. The numbers showed that Compatibility Index was more favorable than Trait Index. E.g., Hrithik Roshan scored high on his Compatibility Index (100) as compared to his Trait Index with Coca Cola. But the end being the consumer preferred him. The other startling fact was the high points 93 and 100 by Salman Khan. But Thums-Up had to drop him after Salman's accident. But people still associate ThumsUp with the Khan. The other important factor is unaided association and Salman scored higher than other competition. But in the long run, to protect the brand image, Salman was dropped. So what is important is the way the customer perceives a brand and the celebrity, so if the celebrity is favored, it does have a positive influence over the brand. The other factor is the sheer image or popularity of the star, if the star's image is larger than life, for example, for Amitabh Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar, the Compatibility Index seems to be a natural collorary. Taking the millennium superstar Amitabh Bachchan, as an endorser, he fulfills all the FRED objectives, namely, Familiarity (target market is aware of him, finds him friendly, likeable, dependable and trustworthy); Relevance (which says that there should be a link between the endorser and the product as well as between the endorser and the audience); Esteem (the polio endorsement, for example, is successful as the masses see him as a credible name-face-voice); Differentiation (in all his projections, he is seen to be one among the masses, and yet he towers above them. He is different). His appeal is universal; lesser mortals merely cater to specific niches. While there may be different reasons, depending on the category, the lifecycle stage in which the brand is, and the particular marketing mantra being the flavor of the moment, the main reason is to make the brand stand out and to facilitate instant awareness.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT For example, in the much talked about Shah Rukh - Santro campaign, the organization wanted to overcome the shortcoming of an unknown brand, Korean at that. The objective of the company was to garner faster brand recognition, association and emotional unity with the target group. The Santro ad showed the highest recall amongst auto ads, despite average media spends for the category. Reason being simple - star power paid off. Another example was the launch of Tamarind by S. Kumar, they reckoned they spent 4050 per cent less on media due to the sheer impact of using Hrithik Roshan who was riding on the 'Kaho Na Pyar Hai' wave of Success. Ad recall was as high as 70 per cent, and even the normally conservative trade got interested (so while a new brand would normally take 8-10 months for entry into a Shopper's Stop, Tamarind was prominently displayed within 20 days of launch). But now looking at the long term effects of Hrithik, his movies began to flop and it may seem a sheer co-incidence that the Tamarind brand died out as well. Looking on the flip side, the biggest concerns from the r's point of view is that of 'vampiring' - the celebrity being bigger than the brand. Consider the 1980s when Dinesh Suitings chose Sunil Gavaskar as their brand endorser. Soon it was seen that Gavaskar completely overshadowed the brand. A similar case was that of Shah Rukh and Mayur Suitings, where post termination of the contract, the corporate had to vest crucial monies in a campaign where the sole objective was to wean the brand identity off Shah Rukh Khan. So having a celebrity who may outshine your product is not such a viable idea is the common consensus. The other problem is that of duration of endorsement, and a possible mismatch between the celebrity's life cycle and that of the brand. Owing to unavailability of dates, sometimes long-term contracts are signed, but the celebrity's life might be over soon. Multiple endorsements are the other problem. There is unfortunately a limited pool of celebrities who can resonate with consumers. So you have the same celebrity endorsing several categories, as in case of Shah Rukh and Sachin, who are completely over-exposed

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT - one would assume a fair degree of confusion and little room for credibility, and hence, a possible devaluing amongst customers. Studying TV and print ments, one will realize that either some celebrities are endorsing several brands or a specific brand is endorsed by different spokespersons. These concepts are called multiple brand endorsement and multiple celebrity endorsement respectively. The question is, does this special form of celebrity endorsement affects consumers' brand attitudes? Following Tripp et al. (1994), the endorsement of as many as four products negatively influences the celebrity spokesperson's credibility (i.e., expertise and trustworthiness) and likeability. They further add that these effects are independent of the celebrity, i.e., the perceptions of even well-liked stars can be influenced. Reasons may be found in the lack of distinctiveness, with one famous person endorsing several products instead of concentrating on and representing one specific brand. Though these findings may be valid, it does not automatically mean that the concept of multiple product endorsement is useless. Further, research is suggested on potential positive effects, like transfer of positive brand images, and on the shape of consumers' response when more than four products are endorsed.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Is celebrity advertising effective? 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 modelling in the advertising world (and a future perhaps in Bollywood). Not surprisingly it's a very attractive profession. As rs pour crores of rupees every year, into celebrity advertising. Think of Sachin Tendulkar. He means Pepsi in soft drinks, Boost in malted beverages, MRF in tires, Fiat Palio in cars, TVS Victor in two-wheelers, Colgate Total in toothpastes, Britannia in biscuits, Visa in credit cards, Airtel in mobile services and Band-aid. Clearly, an overload of brands and categories associated with one star. In the advertising world, celebrity advertising is seen as a substitute for 'absence of ideas' -- and actually frowned upon. Yet it appears again and again. The reasons are quite insightful. A client hits upon celebrity as a solution when his agency is unable to present to him a viable, exciting solution for his communication/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 either written accordingly or re-engineered around the cast!

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

There is no doubt that celebrity advertising has its benefits – The four Qs: Quick saliency: It gets cut through because of the star and his attention getting value. Goodlass Nerolac has ensured high saliency for its brand with the inclusion of Amitabh Bachchan in its advertising. Quick connect: There needs to be no insight but the communication connects because the star connects. Sachin, Shah Rukh and their ilk's ensure an easy connect for Pepsi with the youth. Quick shorthand for brand values: The right star can actually telegraph a brand message fast without elaborate story telling. Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar seem to have done that successfully for Boost in the early '90s. And helped to differentiate it in the malted beverages market.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 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. And Preity Zinta does all the above four for Perk -- connecting with the youth and reinforcing the brand's youthful, spontaneous, energetic values. In general celebrity endorsements are impelled by virtue of the following motives: •

Instant Brand Awareness and Recall.

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Celebrity values define, and refresh the brand image.

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Celebrities add new dimensions to the brand image.

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Instant credibility or aspiration PR coverage.

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Lack of ideas.

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Convincing clients.

An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool that magnifies the effects of a campaign. 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 cynical about celebrity endorsements.

Compatibility of the celebrity’s persona with the overall brand image A celebrity is used to impart credibility and aspirational values to a brand, but the celebrity needs to match the product. A good brand campaign idea and an intrinsic link between the celebrity and the message are musts for a successful campaign. Celebrities are no doubt good at generating attention, recall and positive attitudes towards advertising provided that they are ing a good idea and there is an explicit fit between them and the brand. On the other hand, they are rendered useless when it comes

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT to the actual efficiency of the core product, creating positive attitudes to brands, purchase intentions and actual sales. Certain parameters that postulate compatibility between the celebrity and brand image are •

Celebrity’s fit with the brand image.

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Celebrity—Target audience match

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Celebrity associated values.

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Costs of acquiring the celebrity.

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Celebrity—Product match.

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Celebrity controversy risk.

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Celebrity popularity.

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Celebrity availability.

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Celebrity physical attractiveness.

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Celebrity credibility.

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Celebrity prior endorsements.

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Whether celebrity is a brand .

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Celebrity profession.

Successful celebrity endorsements for a brand- An Indian perspective In the history of advertising — products or services, political parties or ideas — celebrities have played a seminal role in boosting the bottom line. Whether what's on offer is a soft drink, beauty aid, ideology or public health message, it's the celebrity endorsement that makes the difference between recognition and anonymity. The latter part of the '80s saw the burgeoning of a new trend in India– brands started being endorsed by celebrities. Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons were roped in to endorse prominent brands. ments, featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige pressure cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings) became common. Probably, the first ad to cash in on star power in a strategic, long-term, mission statement kind of way was Lux

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT soap. This brand has, perhaps as a result of this, been among the top three in the country for much of its lifetime. In recent times, we had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign with the objective of mitigating the impediment that an unknown Korean brand faced in the Indian market. The objective was to garner faster brand recognition, association and emotional unity with the target group. Star power in India can be gauged by the successful endorsement done by Sharukh for three products- Pepsi, Clinic All Clear and Santro. Unique selling propositions are best boosted when a popular credible figure vouches for it. A Govinda who claims to wear a particular brand of banian impels scores to switch brands. An Aishwerya Rai pledging her eyes motivates thousands to queue up to pledge theirs. In the Indian context, it would not be presumptuous to state that celebrity endorsements can aggrandize the overall brand. We have numerous examples exemplifying this claim. A standard example here is Coke, which, till recently, didn't use stars at all internationally. In fact, India was a first for them. The result was a ubiquitously appealing Aamir cheekily stating Thanda matlab Coca Cola. The recall value for Nakshatra advertising is only due to the sensuous Aishwarya. The Parker pen brand, which by itself commands equity, used Amitabh Bachchan to revitalize the brand in India. According to Pooja Jain, Director, Luxor Writing Instruments Ltd (LWIL), post Bachchan, Parker's sales have increased by about 30 per cent.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Review of literature:Attribution theory and endorsement effectiveness Although past research documents a general tendency for consumers to believe in the purity of the motives of celebrity endorsers, it is likely that this tendency varies substantially both across consumers and across endorsers. For example, Tripp showed that celebrities who endorse several products are viewed as less credible endorsers than those who endorse only a single product. also demonstrated that celebrities who are blamed for negative events (e.g. accidents) can have detrimental effects on the products they endorse. In short, the effectiveness of a celebrity endorser is dynamic, dependent on the celebrity, the product, and perhaps even societal conditions at the time and place where the ment is shown. As such, it could be fruitful to abandon the use of traditional measures of the celebrity endorser's trustworthiness or credibility in general in favor of directly measuring the degree to which individuals evaluate the celebrity as liking the endorsed product after viewing the ment. Such evaluations fit under a class of judgment that has been referred to as “correspondent inferences” Correspondent inferences more generally refer to any judgment in which observers use an individual's behavior (e.g. an endorser saying that she loves Cheerios cereal) to infer congruent dispositions in that individual (e.g. inferring that the endorser actually does love Cheerios cereal). We propose that correspondent inferences are a direct measure of a celebrity's credibility in the specific context of the ment, and thus should predict consumers' attitudes toward the d product.H1. =Correspondent inferences will be positively associated with attitudes toward the d product. Another interesting question in this context is whether consumers will tend to make correspondent inferences about celebrity endorsers. Early social psychological work in attribution theory suggests not – a large endorsement fee should be viewed as a strong incentive toward endorsement behavior, and thus observers should doubt that endorsements reflect true liking for the product on the part of the endorser. However, research indicating that celebrities are especially credible and trustworthy endorsers (e.g. Freiden, 1984) suggests that consumers might believe celebrities like the product regardless of endorsement fees. Furthermore, research examining a phenomenon called “correspondence bias” suggests

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT that observers are biased such that they tend to attribute behavior to personal characteristics of the individual performing that behavior (e.g. liking for the product) even when situational factors (e.g. endorsement fees) are sufficient to fully explain the behavior. Celebrity attributes that influence endorsement effectiveness Previous research examining the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements has focused primarily on personal attributes of the celebrity that enhance his or her persuasiveness For example, a number of researchers have used models in which “source credibility”, typically viewed as a function of trustworthiness and expertise, is the primary factor determining how influential the endorser will be Trustworthiness refers to the general believability of the endorser, and is thus broader but conceptually similar to correspondent inferences about the endorser. Expertise refers to the product knowledge of the endorser and thus to the validity of his or her claims regarding the product, and is believed to be a factor that increases persuasiveness above and beyond the effects of trustworthiness.H3.=Perceived product knowledge of the endorser will be positively associated with attitudes toward the d product.Other researchers have emphasized the importance of source attractiveness in determining liking for the endorser and thereby increasing endorsement effectiveness To the extent that attractiveness is an important determinant of endorsement effectiveness, research based on the matchup hypothesis for a discussion of the matchup hypothesis in relation to endorser expertise) suggests that its importance is limited by the degree to which attractiveness “fits” well with the d product Thus, for example, physical attractiveness might be useful when selling cosmetics but not when selling computers. Furthermore, although source attractiveness research has focused primarily on physical attractiveness, attractiveness can also be viewed more generally as a positive attitude toward the endorser. Such positive attitudes might result from iration or perceived similarity although effective advertising is more likely to rely on the iration component because the influential power of celebrities is closely connected to their status as role models.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

Figure 1Model predicting attitude toward the d product in Experiment 1

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

2Model predicting attitude toward the d product in Experiment The argument for Celebrity Endorsement Brands have been leveraging celebrity appeal for a long time. Across categories, whether in products or services, more and more brands are banking on the mass appeal of celebrities. As soon as a new face ascends the popularity charts, rs queue up to have it splashed all over. Witness the spectacular rise of Sania Mirza and Irfan Pathan in endorsements in a matter of a few months. The accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand: •

Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new products. We had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign. At launch, Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Santro and this ensured that brand awareness was created in a market, which did not even know the brand.

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Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of ments and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.

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PR coverage: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage. A good example of integrated celebrity campaigns is one of the World’s leading pop groups, the Spice Girls, who have not only appeared in ments for Pepsi, but also in product launching and PR events.

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Time saving: Celebrity is able to build brand credibility in a short period of time.

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Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity with the brand thereby increasing the recall value. Golf champion Tiger Woods has endorsed American Express, Rolex, and Nike. Actress Catherine ZetaJones is used by T-Mobile and Elizabeth Arden. 007 Pierce Brosnan promotes Omega, BMW, and Noreico.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT •

Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.

•

Mitigating a tarnished image: Cadbury India wanted to restore the consumer's confidence in its chocolate brands following the high-pitch worms controversy; so the company appointed Amitabh Bachchan for the job. Last year, when the even more controversial pesticide issue shook up Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and resulted in much negative press, both soft drink majors put out high-profile damage control ad films featuring their best and most expensive celebrities. While Aamir Khan led the Coke fightback as an ingenious and fastidious Bengali who finally gets convinced of the product's `purity,' PepsiCo brought Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar together once again in a television commercial which drew references to the `safety' of the product indirectly.

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Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and rs use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.

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Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).

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Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

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Providing testimony: Another benefit of using celebrity endorsers is that s/he can provide testimony for a product or service, particularly when the product has contributed to their celebrity. The more familiar an endorser, the more likely consumers are to buy the endorsed product.

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Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the stagnant chyawanprash category and staving off competition from various brands, Dabur India roped in Bachchan for an estimated Rs 8 crore.

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Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT The argument against Celebrity Endorsement The celebrity approach has a few serious risks: 1. The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product: Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 2. The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity overshadowing the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand, then the audience will the celebrity and not the brand. Examples are the campaigns of Dawn French—Cable Association and Leonard Rossiter— Cinzano. Both of these campaigns were aborted due to celebrities getting in the way of effective communication. Another example could be the Castrol commercial featuring Rahul Dravid. 3. Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may lose his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances. For example, when Tendulkar went through a prolonged lean patch recently, the inevitable question that cropped up in corporate circles - is he actually worth it? The 2003 Cricket World Cup also threw up the Shane Warne incident, which caught Pepsi off guard. With the Australian cricketer testing positive for consuming banned substances and his subsequent withdrawal from the event, bang in the middle of the event, PepsiCo - the presenting sponsor of the World Cup 2003 - found itself on an uneasy wicket 4. Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to overexposure: The novelty of a celebrity endorsement gets diluted if he does too many ments. This may be termed as commoditisation of celebrities, who are willing to endorse anything for big bucks. Example, MRF was among the early sponsors of Tendulkar with its logo emblazoned on his bat. But now Tendulkar endorses a myriad brands and the novelty of the Tendulkar-MRF campaign has scaled down. 5. Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsbury’s encountered a problem with Catherina Zeta Jones, whom the company used for its recipe ments, when she was caught shopping in Tesco. A similar case happened with Britney Spears who endorsed one cola brand and was repeatedly caught drinking another brand of cola on tape. 6. Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand: Celebrities manifest a certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an egalitarian congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT brand. Each celebrity portrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and lifestyle. Madonna, for example, is perceived as a tough, intense and modern women associated with the lower middle class. The personality of Pierce Brosnan is best characterized as the perfect gentlemen, whereas Jennifer Aniston has the image of the ‘good girl from next door’.

Brand, Celebrities & Consumer

Factors Impacting a Brand while being viewed by a Consumer in Media The model above shows the various factors that affect a celebrity endorsed brand while viewed by a consumer in the media (both TV and print). The central idea being the impact on brand. The three major parts to a brand being shown are:  The Product  ment

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT  The celebrity endorsing it It is important is to study the relationship between these factors and how they together act for or against the brand. The product is important, of course, it may fulfill a need, want or a desire. Quality is quintessential and, hence, nowadays it is understood the product is of highest quality. So what next? The ment is important as a good product could see an early exit if the ment is handled badly, and otherwise, a mediocre product which is tastefully handled goes a long way. Lastly, the celebrity in the ment, recall, trust, familiarity are some of the reasons that they are used. Now consider the interactions of these individual factors. The best of superstars can be doing the ment but if the product is far from the image the star has, the whole ment is a waste. Imagine an Amitabh doing an ment for ad for youth apparel. Well, exceptions can be there but then again it depends on the way it is done. Believability is of vital importance, the TVS Victor ment shows us the bike being compared to the bat of Sachin and the strokes he plays. (Classically executed ment with the bike and Sachin coming out as winners). The relationship between a product and its ment again can be either dependant or none. In that case, a shock value makes people the brand better and, hence, a possible long term loyalty. Selection of Celebrity Anyone who is famous may be the right celebrity. However, the appropriateness of the celebrity largely depends on the product or service. Most rs insist that their celebrity spokespeople have charisma and current popularity. That is why we see more movie and television stars, athletes, real-life heroes, and musicians acting as brand ambassadors in the market.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

The choice of celebrity is critical for the success of the ment. The celebrity should have high recognition, high positive affect, and the image of the celebrity must match with that of the product. For this reason, famous sportsmen are used to endorse sporting goods: Michael Jordan & Nike, Tiger Woods and Nike, David Beckham endorses Adidas, etc. While it is totally inappropriate for movie stars to endorse a sports products. Celebrity endorsements must be used judiciously. If the celebrity is too famous or too popular, then the celebrity will overpower the product - i.e., people will seeing only the celebrity and forget the product. This happened when Britney Spears came in a Pepsi Commercial in 2001. Britney Spears was at the height of her popularity - viewers saw the ment to see Britney Spears and forgot all about Pepsi. In India, Hollywood actress Dimple Kapadia in a sexy swim wear was used in a Cinthol soap ment - People seeing the actress - but the soap was forgotten. The cost benefit analysis of using celebrity in marketing communications is bit tricky. But the general belief is that using celebrity is a lot cheaper in building a brand. For example, S.Kumar’s built the brand "Reed & Taylor’s" as a premier suiting material by having Amitab Bachan in its ments. To achieve the same without a celebrity would have taken longer time & more money. In a span of less than two years after

26

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT launch, the brand Reed & Taylor’s" has become the second largest seller of cloth for men’s suits in India. Selection of the right celebrity is crucial. The needs of the brand—rather than the fame of the celebrity—should be the primary criteria when selecting a celebrity spokesperson. The celebrity's physical attractiveness, values, and credibility also matter tremendously. However, it would be suicidal to forget about the target audience. Types of Celebrity Endorsements Celebrity branding has many aspects. A slight change in the type of branding used can result in either a great success or a dismal failure. Celebrity branding falls into five general categories: •

Testimonial: The celebrity acts as a spokesperson for the brand.

•

Imported: The celebrity performs a role known to the audience.

•

Invented: The celebrity plays a new, original role.

•

Observer: The celebrity assumes the role of an observer commenting on the brand.

•

Harnessed: The celebrity's image is integrated with the ad's storyline.

27

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Facts over the Years •

Approximately 60-70% of all television commercials feature famous people.

•

Aishwarya Rai had once endorsed 'Fuji-Film' camera rolls. The company made an agreement with her to endorse their camera rolls. But, Aishwarya's magic did not work there and they had to terminate the contract.

•

Amitabh Bachchan (AB) was seen endorsing Maruti's Versa Car. The AB factor worked wonders as far as generating curiosity was concerned but the actual product couldn't meet the expectations of people, and hence, the endorsement strategy didn't work. He has been used very effectively by Parker Pens, ICICI Bank and Cadbury's to name a few.

•

Bata’s sales doubled soon after they adopted Rani Mukherjee as their brand ambassador.

•

Magic Johnson lost his endorsement deals when he announced in 1991 that he's HIV-positive. It wasn't until July 2003 that he landed his first endorsement deal since the announcement.

•

Ticket sales at Wimbledon are known to have shot up significantly for all matches featuring the latest 'sex-symbol' on the circuit - Anna Kournikova. An average player who is yet to win even a single tennis tournament, Anna is known to have earned far more from endorsements than her tennis career could ever have given her.

Celebrity Endorsements as a Strategy How Tiger Woods’s endorsement of Accenture is beneficial to the company in sending the message of high performance. This is just an example of having celebrity endorsement. Marketers of consumer products have long used celebrities to endorse their product - and this has become a common strategy. I therefore have chosen to write about the theory and the intentions behind the strategy of using celebrity endorsements.

28

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

Objectives of Marketing Communications Defining the objectives of the ments is the first step. In general, there are four major objectives for any ment. Note that not all ments need to have all the objectives.

1. Establish the product need stablishing 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 ment for Polio Immunization drive - the TV ment featured Amitab Bachan telling that immunization is a must for every child while people suffering from polio are shown in the background along with

29

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT healthy kids. This ment used a celebrity to create the need for polio immunization. Another good example is Toyota’s ment of Innova in India. The TV ment 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 a 8 seater car in India) 2. 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 Nike’s use of Michael Jordan advertising for Nike. This ment instantly created a strong association of Nike with basketball shoes. 3. 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.

30

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

4. Create a purchase intention These are marketing promotion ments - 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 ments 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. Brand Image & Celebrity Research has shown that there are three aspects that influence a customer's attitude and, hence, the long term impact on the brand - Attractiveness, Trustworthiness and Expertise. The matrix below shows us the images and the celebrities: Aspect of Brand Image Elegance Beauty Attractiveness Classy

Trustworthiness Expertise

Celebrity Aishwarya Rai Madhuri Dixit Saif and Soha Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan Stylish Amitabh Bachhan Honest Tarun Tejpal Reliable MS Dhoni Knowledge Sachin & Sehwag Qualified Naina Balsavar

Product Nakshatra Diamonds Emami Asian Paints-Royale Provogue Reid & Taylor Tehelka TVS Star City Reebok Shampoo

Hence, we see depending on the product and aspect of brand, the choice of the celebrity is important so that the celebrity can reflect that and not go against the brand. We talk about Brand Equity, Brand Identity and Position. It is worthwhile to see the effect of a celebrity on these critical elements. Brand equity essentially made up of

31

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT loyalty, awareness, perceived quality, associations, and other proprietary brand assets. The celebrity should be chosen in such a way as to reinforce and strengthen the brand in all these elements but the question is, can he? Take an example of another star Fardeen Khan, who endorses Provogue. Snazzy fashionable apparel from an Indian manufacturer with the backing of a star son was a great idea for the brand image. It was able to attract new customers who were fashion conscious but unable to afford high price international brands. Awareness of the brand was phenomenal as fashion shows, print and media advertising was booming and Fardeen and Provgue had become a national phenomenon. Quality was given utmost importance and, hence, from the manufacturer side, the commitment to the customer was complete. Competition was present but sales figures showed Provogue reaping handsomely. Then the image of the so-called Bad Boy Fardeen emerged with the drug and brawls in night clubs. This did lead to a certain discontent amongst fans of the star and the brand. But remarkably not much effect on sales. It seemed that the consumers had forgotten Fardeen's issues and remained loyal to the brand. Today Fardeen is still the mainframe picture of every ment and the brand has not lost any of its shine. Measuring a Celebrity Endorsement 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

32

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT There is a way to measure the credibility, believability, popularity, and like-ability 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 Q-Score) 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.

The FRED Principle

33

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT This concept is seen as the foundation of a successful endorser selection. 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 d 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 Bachhan & 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.

34

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

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 r tries his best to make the celebrity and brand as analogous as possible. The celebrity endorser is

35

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 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. As discussed by Kelman (1961), 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.

Research Objective

36

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

Main Objective: To study the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behavior.

Sub-Objectives: Three basic sub-objectives are: •

To understand consumer perception of the celebrities in ments.

•

To understand the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement.

•

To identify drawbacks associated with celebrity endorsement.

Research Methodology •

Data collection

For data collection, I developed a well defined questionnaire as a research instrument, consisting questions aimed to measure the consumers perception, their liking and disliking and their views and comments about Celebrity Endorsement. I conducted unstructured interviews (sample size) of 50 students of USMS, in time duration of three days, all the data generated was primary data that was generated from different cell phone consumers. •

Data analysis

The data collected was compressed to 3 point scale by adding the scale to make it more interpretable. The same is recorded on an excel sheet and qualitative data is refined to present it as suggestions and complaints. The same is being presented in form of graphs and tables and correlation is being shown between some of the important items.

37

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

3.

SURVEY RESULTS:The following are the findings regarding the consumer survey conducted by me.The following graphs show the consumer’s perception about different things, as shown below, below their questions:1. Percentage of cell phone ownership, among the surveyed people. percent

No

Yes No

Yes

 2. Cell phone buying behavior. percent

on your own with others

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 3.

Motivating factor for buying a new cell phone.

percent brand ambassodor, 6

discounts and offers, 15

fewre prices discounts and offers

fewer prices, 14

f

latest trends brand ambassodor

latest trends, 65

For a cell phone consumer brand ambassador matters least to them while latest trends matters the most. 4. Motivating factor for buying different products. 60 50

a) Motor vehicle percent

40 30 20 10 0

luxury

self esteem

brand name

celebrity

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Luxury matters the most in final decision making for a motor vehicle consumer, followed by self esteem. b)

Clothing percent 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

percent

status

fewer prices

latest trends

celebrity

Celebrity matters most to a shopper, but in this case as well people wants to follow the latest trends or fashion, that fashion could be initiated by a celebrity or a brand ambassador. c) Food Products percent 50 40 30

48

20 10 0

quality

12

15

brand name

clebrity

25

attractive package

percent

40

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Similarly quality of the product matters most to a food products consumer in the final decision making, a celebrity might help them considerably in raising awareness of the product but not in buying behavior. 5.

percent can't say, 24

yes no can't say yes, 52

no, 24

More then half the surveyed population believes that a celebrity helps an organization in increasing its total revenue. 6. percent

mostly true, 36

can't say , 46

mostly not, 18

mostly true

mostly not

can't say

Similarly around half of the surveyed people believe that a brand ambassador doesn’t always result in increase in the market share of the product, but 36% of them believe that a celebrity mostly results in raising the market share.

41

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

percent

7. can'tsay, 10

no, 30 yes, 60

yes

no

can'tsay

Around 60% of the surveyed people believe that a celebrity like Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan in an ment motivates them to buy that product. 8. 60 50 40 58

30

percent 20 10 0

30 12 yes

no

can'tsay

Around 60% of the surveyed people believes that a celebrity asks them to them buy the product but they themselves don’t uses their endorsed product.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

9.

percent 60 50 40 56

30 20

32

10 0

10

2 cricketer

filmstar

Film stars are the most popular celebrities among all, followed by the cricketers and a politician is least popular among the consumers as a celebrity brand ambassador. 10. Rating of different celebrities by the people.

can't say

0

6

poor

percent average

30

64

excellent 0

20

40

60

80

Approx 65% of the surveyed people believes that Shahrukh Khan is a perfect brand ambassador for Nokia Communication.

43

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT b). Hrithik Roshan for Sony Ericsson. percent

can't say 0

poor

4 percent 22

average

excellent

74 0

20

40

60

80

Popularity of Hrithik Roshan as a brand ambassador is more then that of Shahrukh Khan and very few people’s opinion is against him.

c). Priyanka Chopra for spice mobile. percent percent

8

can't say

18

poor

42

average 32

excellent 0

10

20

30

40

50

Priyanka Chopra is not that popular as a brand ambassador as Shahrukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan, 42% of people believes that she is just an average brand ambassador.

44

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 11.

percent price

qualityy

celebrity, 10

value for money

celebrity

price, 12 qualityy, 14

value for money, 64

For a consumer, value for money matters the most followed by quality and prices, brand ambassador matters least to a consumer in a the final buying behavior. 13.

percent 50 40 30 20

48 30

10 0

yes

percent

22

no

can't say

Around 30% of the people are agreeing with the fact that a celebrity endorsement helps an organization in reaching its goal, but around half of the surveyed people were not sure about that as well.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 14. percent

6

to follow competiors

18

to increase sales

percent

72

easy recognition no new ideas 4 0

20

40

60

80

Around three fourth of he surveyed population believes that the prime purpose of a celebrity endorsement is making the product popular, so that people may recognize it easily. 15. percent

54

high cost 6

trustworthness

percent

8

celebrity trap

32

celebrity vampires product 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

People think that the main drawback of celebrity endorsement is the very high cost associated with that, celebrity vampirism of the product.

46

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Profile of the surveyed people

profile of the respondents

female, 44

male male, 56

female

Besides this all the surveyed people were students, their age lying between 21 years to 30 years.

47

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Findings After analyzing the whole survey results, one can easily draw the following conclusions. 1. Cell phone penetration is very high among the youngsters, especially in the metros. 2. Celebrity endorsement plays a very minute role in final decision making for buying a new cell phone (6% only). A celebrity might help in easy recognization and popularity of a product but not in final decision making. 3. If a consumer wants to purchase a new cell phone then latest technology matters the most to him/her and brand ambassador matters least to them. 4. Effect of brand ambassador differs with different products, according to our survey results, it matters most in case of clothing and food products. Because people tends to be more choosy in case of high attachment and costly products like cars. 5. A common man feels that a celebrity helps an organization in increasing their total sales and hence the revenue. 6. A brand ambassador also helps in increasing the market share of the product. 7. Three fifth of the surveyed people feels that a celebrity like Shahrukh or Hrithik motivates them to buy a product. 8. But vast majority of the surveyed people (60% approx) feels that celebrity themselves don’t use their endorsed products. 9. Film stars are the most popular celebrities among all, followed by cricketers. 10. More then 60 % surveyed people feels that Shahrukh Khan is the fittest brand ambassador for Nokia Communications. 11. Popularity of Hrithik Roshan is slightly more then that of Shahrukh Khan as a brand ambassador of a cell phone. 12. Priyanka Chopra is not that popular as a brand ambassador of cell phones as Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan are. Just 32 % of surveyed people consider her as a good brand ambassador of Spice mobile. 13. In final decision making, a value for money is most important for a consumer and a brand ambassador matters the least.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 14. Around 75% of the surveyed people feel that celebrity endorsement helps an organization in easy recognization of their products. 15. According to the surveyed people, the high cost of a celebrity is the biggest drawback of celebrity brand endorsement followed by celebrity vampire effect.

Summary and managerial implications The given principles were linked to specific managerial suggestions regarding more effective use of celebrities to enhance brand equity: •

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.

•

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.

•

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when using a celebrity who is not already strongly associated with another product or service.

•

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when using a celebrity with a high “fit”, “congruence”, or “belongingness” with the endorsed brand.

•

Celebrity endorsers can be used to effectively reinforce and/or create an image for a 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 endorsements will be more effective for less familiar brands.

•

Celebrity endorsers will be more effective for brands for which consumers have limited knowledge/facts.

•

Celebrity endorsers will be more effective when integrated across the elements of the marketing mix.

•

Caution in choice of celebrity endorser is warranted given the potential risk of tarnishing the brand’s image.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Conclusion Celebrities have always been the easiest way for a new product launch (consumer goods) and will remain to do so in the near future on of their mass appeal and a world full of star stuck loyal fans. But the impact on the brand is much greater than just an ment showing a celebrity. We have seen that the correct choice of a celebrity can surely increase sales but when it comes to long term loyalty and impact on the brand. The effect is yet somewhat debatable. In the end, the product must deliver for the customer, no matter who endorses the product, if the customer does not see himself getting value from his purchase, he will not buy it. But yes, celebrities over time can influence the loyalty and make a person friendlier to a brand. Brand and celebrities are here to stay for a long time and in this age of slick advertising and mass media and unthinkable budgets, celebrities are having a field day charging huge amounts and making more money than their mainstream professions. But then do they really care about the brand? Or is it just the money? But the bottom line, celebrity endorsements are here to stay. Let us accept one thing - the world of advertising and brand building does not believe in the Laissez-Faire principle. Unless you reach out to the customer, make him think and nudge him that little bit, you will fall short of your targets and that is a cardinal sin, given the competition. The brand managers work on an extremely sleek, thought-controlling process which may be propounded as the Multiplier Effect. They are smart, pragmatic people and know very well that Mr. Singh, sitting in his cosy home in Delhi and watching his favourite action hero driving the brand new LX car model, would not walk up to the car showroom next day and book one for himself. They offer simple feelers like concept and lifestyle to him, which are inherent to the product ment, with or without the celebrity endorsement. With the use of the celebrity, this effect is shrewdly magnified so as to allow the consumer to equate the personality and the brand together. Hence, whenever the

50

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT consumer is watching the several images of her favorite actress alone, it conjures up multiple impressions of her sipping the XY brand of coffee, each time. The brand's ultimate goal is to be at the top of her choice bracket and it achieves this goal by being omnipresent in her memory through related celebrity imagery. Does it justify the obscene amounts of money paid to these celebrities? For firms with annual turnovers in excess of Rs. 1000 crores, an endorsement deal of Rs. 5-6 crores for such a response would indeed be a smart deal. In a Synovate/Blackstone Market Facts Survey in India in late 2003, almost 47% respondents affirmed celebrity influence on their purchase behaviour. That's a lot of people influenced by celebrity endorsement! Talking about successful switchovers by celebrities among competitive brands, Aamir Khan had a 78% top brand recall with Coke. But such transitions are rare and involve a lot of hard work behind the scenes to dab any leftover effects of the celebrity's previous liaison with the competitor. While speaking of celebrities, we should be very clear as to who this term connotes to and the powers they carry. Fido Dido for 7-UP, the Amul Girl or Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes are as much a celebrity as any breathing face. They reach their target consumer, they move the product, and they carry the brand. That's what counts. Of course, the gestation period is higher in the case of such creatives, but in the event of a hit, the comparative risks are minimized. After all, they cannot get drunk, attract a controversy or commit a crime, as long as the management wants. In short, they are 'safe floaters' vis-à-vis their unpredictable human counterparts.

Undoubtedly, there are many advocates for the clamp down upon the commercialization of consumer emotions and money-making attitude of endorsers. But the celebrities have circumvented these allegations by appearing in non-commercial ments. When Aishwarya Rai appeals to the nation to donate their eyes while she personally pledges them, she strikes a chord with millions of viewers. Shabana Azmi inspires a sense of tremendous awe and respect while being shown as visiting HIV patients.

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT This reverence is what is later harnessed by the brands in the commercial angle. You grow in stature with the person. No matter how much we raise a hue and cry over one celebrity being all over the place and marketing just about everything, it still works for most of us. Indeed, the premise that celebrity advertising has the power to propel a brand and drive the sales can be argued. The Pareto Principle is widely debated and the 80-20 rule does not have many takers in the advertising industry. That, "20% of advertising creates 80% of demand or sales", may or may not be true. In either case it does not help. The word remains that for a scintillating endorsement, you need much more than a glowing face and aesthetic advertising. You should back it up with your operational and communication skills. Using a celebrity in advertising is no panacea and the success of this process depends on several factors as discussed above. The careful selection of celebrity, matching the target segment and brand values, should be inherently stressed upon. The rs can use the Q Score, developed by a U.S. based marketing research agency, which considers two factors - awareness and likeability, while evaluating the celebrity. Another important factor is the flexibility with which the companies can go in for hedging the risks associated in hiring a celebrity. They choose personalities from various fields or even appealing to various consumer perceptions, so that they can minimize the damage in cases of negative publicity due to any celebrity mistake. The cola brands spread their endorsements across a wide 'variety' of celebrities such that even if one falls, the others are still holding the fort. In of the future, celebrity endorsements are here to stay. Their ability to cut across the classes, caste barriers and apprehensions are simply too important to be sidelined. They have been time-tested and delivered results repeatedly, given good hands. One could continue to wonder if these celebrity-hawkers are worth the money and the tantrums, but in a world of brand clutter and product muddle, celebrities seem to hit the nail on the head, more often than not. And to be honest, let's look around ourselves, why only Jane, we all in a little appreciation of those stars aren’t gazing back at us!

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Appendix -1 Studying Consumer perception for Celebrity Endorsements. Dear Sir/Madam, I am a student of SIVA SIVANI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT and I am conducting a survey on Consumer Perception for Celebrity Endorsement. The following questionnaire has been drafted to make me understand the needs and expectations of the customers. Therefore I request you to kindly spare some time and give me the following information. I assure you that the results of the study will be kept confidential. SECTION A Questionnaire 1. Do you own a cell phone? Yes No 2. How do you purchase a cell phone? On your own-

With others-

3. If you wish to change your cell phone then what will be the motivating factor for that?

4.

•

Fewer prices

•

Various discounts and offers

•

Latest trends

•

Celebrity endorsing the product.

What is the purpose behind buying the following product a) Motor vehicle?

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT •

Luxury

•

Self Esteem

•

Brand Name

•

Celebrity

b) Clothing •

Status

•

Cost

•

Brand Name

•

Celebrity

c) Food Products •

Quality

•

Brand Name

•

Celebrity

•

Attractive Package

5. Do you think companies investing huge money, for using celebrities help them in increasing their total revenue? •

Yes

•

No

•

Can’t say

6. Does the celebrity helps in increasing the market share of the company’s brand? •

Usually true

•

Usually not

•

Can’t say

54

PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT 7. Do you think, a presence of celebrity like Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan in an ment encourages you to buy a cell phone? •

Yes

•

No

•

Can’t say

8. What do you think, do the celebrity themselves uses the product they themselves endorse? •

Yes

•

No

•

Can’t say

9. On a personal note what kind of celebrity does you like the most? •

Cricketer

•

Politician

•

Film star

•

Famous personalities

10. How do you rate the following celebrities as a brand endorser:a). Shahrukh Khan for Nokia. •

Excellent

•

Average

•

Poor

•

Can’t rate

b). Hrithik Roshan for Sony Ericsson. •

Excellent

•

Average

•

Poor

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT •

Can’t rate

c). Priyanka Chopra for spice mobile. •

Excellent

•

Average

•

Poor

•

Can’t rate

11. What is the most important for you? •

Price of the cell phone.

•

Quality of the cell phone.

•

Value for money

•

Celebrity endorsement

12. Do you think celebrity endorsement is an important thing in brand promotion? •

Yes

•

No

•

Can’t say

13. Do you think celebrity endorsement is really effective in reaching its goal? •

Yes

•

No

•

Can’t say

14. According to you, what can be the reason for the companies to choose celebrities for promoting their products? •

No new ideas

•

Easy recognition of product

•

To increase sales and profit

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT •

To follow competition

SECTION B 1. Name: _________________(optional) 2.

Income_________________

3. Gender:

Male

Female

4. Age: 13-19

20-30

30-40

40-50

50and Above 5. Occupation: Service

Business

Housewife

Student

Others (Please Specify) _________

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT Appendix -2 Bibliography http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/dec/05guest.htm http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles/Celebrity-endorsement.asp http://www.coolavenues.com/know/mktg/surabhi3.php http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2008/04/09/stories/2008040950750500.htm http://www.coolavenues.com/know/mktg/surabhi6.php http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/04/08/stories/2008040851250500.htm http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1507842.cms http://in.movies.yahoo.com/news-detail/15671/Celebrity-endorsements-ensure-highersale-Shahrukh-Khan.html http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=183 http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/Articles/Celebrity%20Endorsement1.htm http://catalogue.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1998/cjsm/v2n1/dyson.htm http://issuesinimc.wikispaces.com/Advantages+and+Disadvantages+from+using+celebrit y+endorsement http://www.broadcastnewscorp.com/html/production.php http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx4187&Title=White_Paper._Celebrity _Endorsement_2008 http://www.asuku.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4649

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PROJECT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT http://www.nerve.in/subscribe.php?xml=brand_ambassador http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/Business/20070208/586975.html http___www.emeraldinsight.com_Insight_ViewContentServlet_Filename=_published_e meraldfulltextarticle_pdf_0070381109.pdf http___www.emeraldinsight.com_Insight_ViewContentServlet_Filename=_published_e meraldfulltextarticle_pdf_0701050407.pdf http___www.emeraldinsight.com_Insight_ViewContentServlet_Filename=_published_e meraldfulltextarticle_pdf_0770130603.pdf http___www.emeraldinsight.com_Insight_ViewContentServlet_Filename=_published_e meraldfulltextarticle_pdf_0960110102.pdf http___www.emeraldinsight.com_Insight_ViewContentServlet_Filename=_published_e meraldfulltextarticle_pdf_0770150604.pdf J:\bandg\Emerald FullText Article Factors predicting the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement ments.htm.

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