Impact of Celebrity Endorsement On Consumer Behaviour: A Dissertation Project Report ON

A DISSERTATION PROJECT REPORT ON
Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Behaviour
By
Rajesh Kumar Singh

Roll No.29084 (Batch 2009-11)
Under the Guidance of Ms. Debjani Bhattacharya (Faculty of IT) Month & Year of Submission - February 2011
NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
February 21, 2011.
This is to certify that Dissertation report on Impact of Celebrity Endorsement On Consumer Behaviour prepared by Rajesh Kumar Singh, Roll No.29084 Of PGDM 20092011 Batch is his original work under my guidance and supervision.
Signature of the Faculty (Ms. Debjani Bhattacharya)
Signature of the Student (Rajesh Kumar Singh)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It takes immense pleasure for me to express my sincere gratitude to all the helping hands who have guided me in the completion of this project. It was a great learning experience for me to work on my project. I am deeply indebted to my faculty guide Ms. Debjani Bhattacharya who has supported me immensely throughout the project through discussions and by always showing me the right course to pursue. The information and suggestions provided by him proved to be most valuable. Last but not the least; my effort will remain incomplete if I do not express my indebtedness to my teachers & friends whose assistance and support are instrumental in the successful completion of this project.
Rajesh Kumar Singh Roll No- 29084
CONTENTS
Research Methodology....05 Introduction.07 Defining the Meaning & Scope of the Topic..08 Impact of Celebrity Endorsement...11 Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers..16 Decision Making Process & Purchase Decision.17 Relation of BRAND, CELEBRITIES & CONSUMERS...18 Positive Impacts of Celebrity Endorsement on the Brand .19 Negative Impacts of Celebrity Endorsement on the Brand.20 Nine Uses of Celebrity Endorsement .22 Brand Image Formation & Brand Preference ....24 The Process of Celebrity Endorsement...25 Importance of Celebrity Management26 Risks Associated With Celebrity Endorsement..27 Selection of Celebrity.28 Celebrity Endorsement: The Issues Involved.30 Framework to Make Effective Celebrity Endorsement Program32 Why Celebrity Endorsement Fails? 37 Advantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand39 Disadvantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand...40 Research, Analysis & Findings...42 Conclusion..54 BIBLIOGRAPHY...55
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Problems: Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Behaviour Research Methodology: Exploratory method
SAMPLING PLAN Sample Methods - Random Simple Sampling Sample size 100 Primary data -Questionnaire SAMPLE While deciding about the sample of research, it is required from the researchers point to pay attention to these under mentioned points: a) Sample Units: A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before selecting a sample, sampling unit may be a geographical one such as state, district, village Etc. so in this research sampling Unit is Delhi-NCR area. b) Source of data: Data required for the study was collected through primary sources i.e. Market Survey. And the market area is: Delhi-NCR. c) Sampling size: This refers to the no. of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a sample. This is a major problem before the researcher. The size of sample should neither be excessively large not too small, it should be optimum. This size of population must be kept in view for this also limits the sample size. Sample size in this research is 100. INSTRUMENTS USED Primary data collected through sample survey from college students aged between 20-25. So for this purpose I have used the most popular tool of primary data collection through direct communication with respondents. The tools I used are questionnaires.
METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

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Actually data is of two kinds which are as following: A) Primary Data: Primary data are those, which are collected afresh and for the first time and this happen to be original in character. B) Secondary Data: Secondary data are those data which have already been collected by someone else and which have already been used as per required.
There are basically two sources to collect secondary data a) Internally: Provided by the company/organization b) Externally: Various publication of central, state and local Government. Books, magazines, newspapers Internet After only keeping in mind one can think about what type of data has to be collected during research as our research is concerned I have to gather primary data for Customer preference. RESEARCH INSRUMENTS QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN: As the Questionnaire is self administrated one, the survey is kept simple and user friendly. Words used in questionnaire are readily understandable to all respondent I have made the questionnaire in which questions are according to the research and these are convenience for the respondent.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

A survey should involve a larger sample size otherwise the findings of the survey cannot be generalized. But a larger sample size may increase the time and cost of collecting the primary data with the help of Questionnaire. Many of the respondents were not willing to fill the questionnaire. Some people were not willing to respond and few of them who responded were in hurry hence the active participation was lacking. Due to which I faced difficulties in collecting informations regarding the questionnaire. Another problem which I face was that people were hesitating to give information about their views freely.
INTRODUCTION
There is large no. of brands available in the market. Some are very familiar and rest are somewhat. What are the things that distinguish those from rest? It may be brand name, advertisement, royal heritage and may be celebrity endorser who endorses them. E.g. Raid and Taylor has the rich heritage of roping in various cascades of James Bond 007 as their brand endorser and it has helped them strongly to build their brand. Businesses have long sought to distract and attract the attention of potential customers that live in a world of ever-increasing commercial bombardment. 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 an unsuspecting person's time to inform him or her of the amazing and different attributes of the product at hand. Because of the constant media saturation that most people experience daily, they eventually become numb to the standard marketing techniques. The challenge of the marketer is to find a hook that will hold the subject's attention. Also from a marketing communications (marcoms) perspective, it is vital that firms design strategies that help to underpin competitive differential advantage for the firm's product or services. Accordingly, marcom activities back-up other elements in the marketing mix such as designing, branding, packaging, pricing, and place. The term Celebrity refers to an individual who is known to the public (actor, sports figure, entertainer, etc.) for his or her achievements in areas other than that of the product class endorsed (Friedman and Friedman, 1979). This is true for classic forms of celebrities, like actors (e.g., Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee Aamir Khan and Pierce Brosnan), models (e.g., Mallaika Arora, Lisa Ray, Aishawarya Rai, Naomi Campbell, Gisele Buendchen, etc), sports figures (e.g., Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Anna Kournikova, Michael Schumacher, Steve Waugh, etc), entertainers (e.g., Cyrus Broacha, Oprah Winfrey, Conan O'Brien), and pop-stars (e.g., Madonna, David Bowie) - but also for less obvious groups like businessmen (e.g., Donald Trump, Bill Gates) or politicians. Celebrities appear in public in different ways. First, they appear in public when fulfilling their profession, e.g., Vishwanathan Anand, who plays chess in front of an audience. 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., Smriti Irani being regularly featured in various publications). Last but not least, celebrities act as spokes-people in advertising to promote products and services, which is referred to celebrity endorsement.
Defining the Meaning & Scope of the Topic

Defining a 'Celebrity' Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition by a large share of a certain group of people. Whereas attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills are just examples and specific common characteristics cannot be observed, it can be said that within a corresponding social group, celebrities generally differ from the social norm and enjoy a high degree of public awareness. The term Celebrity refers to an individual who is known to the public (actor, sports figure, entertainer, etc.) for his or her achievements in areas other than that of the product class endorsed (Friedman and Friedman, 1979). This is true for classic forms of celebrities, like actors (e.g., Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Aamir Khan and Pierce Brosnan), models (e.g., Mallaika Arora, Lisa Ray, Aishwarya Rai, Naomi Campbell, Gisele Buendchen, etc), sports figures (e.g., Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Anna Kournikova, Michael Schumacher, Steve Waugh, etc), entertainers (e.g., Cyrus Broacha, Oprah Winfrey, Conan O'Brien), and pop-stars (e.g., Madonna, David Bowie) - but also for less obvious groups like businessmen (e.g., Donald Trump, Bill Gates) or politicians. Celebrities appear in public in different ways. First, they appear in public when fulfilling their profession, e.g., Vishwanathan Anand, who plays chess in front of an audience. 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., Smriti Irani being regularly featured in various publications). Last but not least, celebrities act as spokes-people in advertising to promote products and services, which is referred to celebrity endorsement.
'Celebrity Endorsement'
McCracken's (1989) definition of a celebrity endorser is, "any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement (marcoms), is useful, because when celebrities are depicted in marcoms, they bring their own culturally related meanings, thereto, irrespective of the required promotional role." Friedman and Friedman (1979) found empirical evidence that, in the promotion of products high in psychological and/or social risk, use of celebrity endorser would lead to greater believability, a more favorable evaluation of the product and advertisement, and a significantly more positive purchase intention. Thus, companies use celebrities to endorse their products; however, there are deeper attributes that are involved in celebrity endorsement. Celebrities might endorse as a brand ambassador or a brand face.
Difference between Brand Ambassador & Brand Face
A Brand Ambassador would be one who is not only a spokesperson for the brand or is just appearing as a testimonial for the brand's benefits. He/she is an integral part of the brand persona and helps to build an emotional, which goes beyond just appearing on TV commercials. He takes up the cause of a Brand Champion and is associated with every aspect related with the brand. What is more, there is a significant difference between making just an endorsement for say, a shampoo or an automobile, and being that brand's alter ego. Both parties take the latter far more seriously to the deal. So a brand ambassador would be involved in press releases, he/she would be actively participating in any sales promotion, sporting the Brand all the while. For example, Fardeen Khan is the brand ambassador for Provogue while he remains a brand face for Lux Body Wash. On the other hand, a Brand Face would be the current celebrity who is just used as a tool to increase brand recall and is only appearing in the advertisement. It is usually seen that a brand face is a temporary contract and is very short term at times. An example would be Sona Chandi Chawanpryash using Saurav Ganguly for a while in its commercials. Brand faces are easily forgotten and fade away with the campaign's end. Spread of Celebrity Endorsement Markets in which advertising coordinates consumer purchases, celebrity endorsements are more likely chosen for products that have either of the following: High price-cost margins Large potential customer pools The need to coordinate across diverse sets of customers
Scope of Celebrity Endorsement

The use of testimonials by advertisers dates back to the 19th century when medicines were patented. Firms have been juxtaposing their brands and themselves with celebrity endorsers (e.g., athletes, actors) in the hope that celebrities may boost effectiveness of their marketing and/or corporate communication NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 9
attempts for at least a century. One of the early example is Queen Victoria's endorsement of Cadbury's Cocoa (Sherman, 1985). 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" (Fox, 1984, p.90). About a decade ago, one in three television commercials used celebrities' endorsements (Business Week, 1978), and today this advertising approach appeared to be on the increase across all media types (Sherman, 1985 and Levin, 1988). Friedman et al. (1977) 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 (Advertising Age, 1987; Sherman, 1985). Thus, celebrity endorsement has become a prevalent form of advertising in United States (Agrawal and Kamakura, 1995) 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 (Media, July-August 1997). 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 (Media, Nov. 14, 1997).
Impact of Celebrity Endorsement

The concept of celebrity endorsement has become a rage in India as well, with every company trying to rope in a brand ambassador of sorts for their brands. The increasing number of endorsements throws a valid question to the consumers. Is there a science behind the choice of these endorsers or is it just by the popularity measurement? What are the reasons which lead to impact of celebrity endorsement on brands?
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Through research and analysis, this paper develops a 14 point model, which can be used as blueprint criteria which 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. The success of a brand through celebrity endorsement is a cumulative of the following 14 attributes. Greater the score of the below parameters, greater are the chances of getting close to the desired impact.
Celebrity Credibility The most important aspect and reason for celebrity endorsement is credibility. In a research carried out among 43 ad agencies and companies, most experts believed that the most important dimensions of credibility are trustworthiness and prowess or expertise with regard to the recommended product or service (Miciak and Shanklin, 2002). One of the most obvious reasons of Amitabh Bachchan endorsing plethora of brands is the credibility of the celebrity and his recognition across consumers.
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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.
Celebrity Physical Attractiveness Bipasha Basu' physical attractiveness and her connect with the brand makes Levis Strauss's campaign through celebrity in India, John Abraham endorsing Wrangler and Timex Sunglasses are some examples which portray the celebrities' physical attractiveness that helps create an impact. Celebrity Values Celebrity branding is all about the transfer of the value from the person to the product he endorses or stands for. There are two concerns here. The first is how long this could last. Can the person maintain his popularity (i.e., his performance or status ranking)? The lifecycle of celebrity popularity varies a lot. The second concern is his private life - personal integrity. If he is implicated in any kind of scandal, that would ruin the brand. "Who would want to use Michael Jackson to brand their product?" (brandchannel.com) Tabu endorsing Tetra Packed Milk, Shabana Azmi campaigning for AIDS Awareness, Amitabh Bachchan & Shahrukh Khan campaigning for Pulse Polio or Aishawarya Rai appearing in the Donate Eyes campaign are few examples, which reflect the transfer of celebrity values to the brand, creating an impact that generates recall. 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 NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 12
certain celebrities, brands refuse to adopt celebrity endorsement since they fear dilution of the brand image. 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 price is believed to be between Rs. 2.0-2.5 crore per endorsement, and musician A. R. Rehman, who had signed up with AirTel, is believed to have picked up Rs. 1.75 crore. Film-star Hrithik Roshan was rumored to have picked up Rs. 2 crore for the Fly with Hrithik campaign to push Close-Up, and Shahrukh Khan's rate seems to be between Rs. 2.5-3.0 crore. Aishawarya Rai apparently picks up Rs. 1.25 crore for an endorsement and the Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly is believed to get between Rs. 90 lakh to Rs. 1.5 crore, while film-star Aamir Khan apparently makes Rs. 1.5 crore per endorsement. Celebrity Regional Appeal Factors R. Madhavan endorsing Pepsi in southern India or Sachin Tendulkar endorsing in India are few examples of how celebrities are chosen to reach out to target audiences for brands in regional markets. Another interesting example would be of Steve Waugh campaigning for Tourism Australia in India since he was one of the popular celebrities from Australia and could carry the message of Australia as a tourist destination. Other celebrities like Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman from Australia can be prospective endorsers for Brand Australia but not in the region of India. Fit with the Advertising Idea Marketers now seek to adopt 360 degree brand stewardship in which the brand sees no limits on the number of contact points possible with a target consumer. Advertising ideas, thus, revolve around this approach, and the celebrity endorsement decisions are made through these strategic motives. One of the most successful celebrity endorsement campaigns which reflect the fit between the brand and the 360 degree advertising fit is Fardeen Khan and Provogue. Provogue's positioning in the apparel market is of a young, active, party-going, attention-grabbing brand and so is Fardeen Khan. The conjunction between the two has been immensely 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. Similarly, Richard Gere's recent endorsement for VISA in India has gained acclaim due to its innovativeness and consumer connects. Brand marketers say that research reveals that Richard Gere was the most popular face across the Asia Pacific region, and would also fit into the persona of the brand meeting their communication objective to enhance VISA's brand leadership and consumer preference, and the motive to continue the "All it Takes" empowerment platform featuring international celebrities. Whether Celebrity is a Brand User NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 13
One of the strongest platforms to discuss this is through NGOs. Various celebrities endorse NGOs and social causes since they believe in the social message that they need to convey to the audience. One of the most successful campaigns has been executed by PETA in which celebrities like Shilpa Shetty, Amisha Patel, Yana Gupta, Sheetal Malhar, and Mahima Choudhary claimed to believe in PETA's philosophy, and thereby endorse the brand. On the other hand, while some would understand that Amitabh Bachchan would have never used Navratan Tel, the target audience that the brands wants to reach out to will be ready to believe that he used the oil and his endorsement thereby creates an impact. 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 ICICI, Pepsi, Parker Pens, Pulse Polio and BPL. They might get confused in the endorsement of Nerolac or Asian Paints. Thus, for multiple endorsements where the same celebrity endorses several brands, it boils down to the strength of the brand and the advertising content. Celebrity Controversy Risk The perfect example here is of Salman Khan and the controversy in which he crushed a man to death with his Pajero when he was driving under the influence of alcohol. Also, any act on the part of the endorser that gives him a negative image among the audience and goes on to affect the brands endorsed. The brand, in most instances, takes a bashing. Celebrity-Product Match Cyrus Broacha is the brand ambassador for MTV since both the celebrity and the brand are considered as friendly, young, mood-boosting, humorous and outspoken. MTV's brand personality overlaps Cyrus Broacha's image as a brand. Some more examples of compatible celebrity product match in which celebrity brand attributes get transferred to the brand and increases the brand equity is of Mallaika Arora & Freshizza from Pizza Hut, Govinda & Navratan Tel, Sanjay Dutt & Elf Oil, Sunny Deol & Lux Undergarments, Aishwarya Rai & Nakshatra, etc. Celebrity-Target Audience Match Smriti Irani endorsing the WHO recommended ORS Campaign in India. Indian mothers can associate with Smriti Irani through the facets she projects on screen or in regular life which helps develop a connect with the target audience since mothers medicate their children with ORS. The in serial placement of the campaign in "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" has won it an award from PR Week. Similarly, Irfan Pathan endorsing Hero Cycles has gained the brand immense recall and embarked through the positive association between the consumer and the brand. NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 14
Celebrity Popularity Celebrity Brand association like Garnier endorsed Tara Sharma & Simone Singh, Agni Diamonds & Riama Sen don't get much brand recall, and even if they do, its difficult to attribute it to the celebrities' endorsing the brand. On the other hand, HPCL has had increased popularity and share of voice due to the endorsement of the brand through Sania Mirza.
Impact Regions of Celebrity Endorsement

While brand marketers with positive experiences would tend to believe that celebrity endorsements work and some would disagree, but one would be sure that the magnitude of its impact is difficult to measure even if sales figures are at our disposal. However, we can understand why it works and the impact regions of celebrity endorsement. The illustrations below explain the same: How Celebrity Endorsements Influence the Consumer The basis for the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed advertising can be linked to Kelman's processes of social influence as discussed by Friedman and Friedman. According to Kelman, there are three processes of social influence, which result in an individual adopting the attitude advocated by the communicator: Compliance, Identification & Internalization These latter two processes are particularly applicable to celebrity-endorsed advertising. Compliance infers that another individual or group of individuals influences an individual cause he or she hopes to achieve a favorable reaction from this other group. This process of social influence is not directly applicable to celebrity advertising because there is little, if any, interaction between the celebrity and the consumer. Identification applies to the situation wherein the individuals emulate the attitudes or behavior of another person or group, simply because they aspire to be like that person or group. This process is the basis for referent power. It was found that celebrities are more commonly liked than a typical consumer spokesperson. Internalization as a process of social influence is said to occur when individuals adopt the attitude or behavior of another person because that behavior is viewed as honest and sincere and is congruent with their value system. The effectiveness of celebrity advertising traditionally has not been strongly linked to this process, as a celebrity's reason for promoting a product can just as easily be attributed by the consumer to an external motive (i.e., payment of fee) as to an internal motive (i.e., the celebrity's true belief in the value and benefit of the product). An important issue of concern relates to the development of a strategy for use in Celebrity Advertising, which benefits from the dramatic impact of dual support of both the identification and internalization processes of social influence. Celebrities are well-liked, but the NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 15
techniques that can be used to enhance their credibility as spokespeople, and therefore, tie-in more closely with the internalization process needs to be looked into.
Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers

A study conducted by Charles Atkin and Martin Block focused on alcohol advertising and young audience to examine the impact of celebrity advertising in terms of social effects of advertising. The sponsoring Company is the underlying source of any advertising message, but the individual models depicted in the advertising serve as the more visible communicator in many cases. The most thoroughly studied source quality is credibility. Research conducted by social psychologists over the past 30 years demonstrates that a source perceived as highly credible is more persuasive than a low credibility sender (Hovland and Weiss, 1951; McGuire, 1969; Hass, 1981). 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. Friedman, Termini and Washington cite a 1975 study showing that celebrities are featured in 155 of prime-time TV commercials. A later survey reported that this proportion was up to 20% (Advertising Age, 1978). 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 (Kamen et al, 1975). Despite the use of famous endorsers, there is little published evidence regarding effectiveness. In one experiment, an advertisement for a fictitious brand of Sangria wine featured an endorsement attributed to either a celebrity (actor - Al Pacino), a professional expert, the Company President, a typical consumer and no source (Friedman, Termini and Washington, 1977). College students read the ad and gave the ad 0-10 scales of believability, probable taste, and intent to purchase. Across these three measures, the celebrity condition produced the highest scores. While the 'no-source' control group had a purchase intention rating of 2.7, the subjects exposed to the actor scored 3.9. Believability was rated 2.8 by control subjects versus 4.1 by those seeing the celebrity endorsement. For taste, the baselines of 4.0 compares to the celebrity group score of 5.6. None of the other three endorsers were as influential as the celebrated person.
Decision Making Process & Purchase Decision

Decades ago, John Dewey (1910) conceptualized decision-process behavior as problem solving thoughtful, reasoned action focused on need satisfaction. As Ajzen and Fishbein (1980, p.5) put it, NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 16
"Human beings are usually quite rational and make systematic use of the information available to them... People consider the implications of their actions before they decide to engage or not to engage in a given behavior." A lot of marketing research has shown that consumer decision follows the sequence of need recognition, search for information, alternative evaluation, purchase, and then outcome. The sequence can have major variations, however, from one situation to the next in terms of the extent to which each of these steps is followed. There are two types of decision-making processes defined. They include Extended Problem Solving and Limited Problem Solving (Engel, Warshaw, Kinnear, 1991). In extended problem solving, thinking leads to feeling, which leads to action. The very nature of the decision often necessitates collection of information that is processed and stored. Various product attributes are weighed and evaluated. In limited problem solving, consumers will simplify the process by sharply reducing the number and variety of information sources and alternatives considered. The two problem solving processes above suggest that brand images have a relatively insignificant impact on the consumer's purchase decision if the product/service involves extended problem solving. On the contrary, the brand images of product/service that involves limited problem solving will have a more significant impact on the consumer's purchase decision. The Power of Visibility Most of us are invisible. Each of us has a small network of people who know us, in our workplace, our neighborhood, and our place of worship. It might be 50 people, 100, or 500 - a far cry from those whose high visibility earns them the privilege to vacation on private islands, slip through side doors at theatres, glide about in stretch limousines behind smoked glass, and book entire restaurants for an undisturbed meal. For most of us, life rarely holds such pleasures. But as our power to distribute images expands, the ranks of the highly visible in society are growing rapidly, and those who understand the transformation process utilize it to enhance their opportunities.
Relation of BRAND, CELEBRITIES & CONSUMERS
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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 The Advertisement 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 advertisement is important as a good product could see an early exit if the advertisement is handled badly, and otherwise, a mediocre product which is tastefully handled goes a long way. Lastly, the celebrity in the advertisement, recall, trust, familiarity is some of the reasons that they are used. Now consider the interactions of these individual factors. The best of superstars can be doing the advertisement but if the product is far from the image the star has, the whole advertisement is a waste. Imagine an Amitabh doing an advertisement 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 advertisement shows us the bike being compared to the bat of Sachin and the strokes he plays. classically executed advertisement with the bike and Sachin coming out as winners. The relationship between a product and its advertisement again can be either dependant or none. In that case, a shock value makes people remember the brand better and, hence, a possible long term loyalty.
Relationship between a Celebrity & a Brand
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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. 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 joint 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 that 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 passes 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.
Positive Impacts of Celebrity Endorsement on the Brand

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 product11. 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 opportunity. Dwane Hal Dean studied the effects of three extrinsic advertisement cues viz. third party endorsement, event sponsorship and brand popularity on brand / manufacturer evaluation. It was observed that endorsement significantly affected only product variables (quality and uniqueness) and one image variable (esteem). The third party endorsement hence may be perceived as a signal of product quality.
Goldsmith ET assessed the impact of endorser and corporate credibility on attitude-toward-the-ad, attitude-toward-the-brand, and purchase intentions. 152 adult consumers were surveyed who viewed a NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 19
fictitious advertisement for Mobil Oil Company. They rated the credibility of the ad's endorser, the credibility of the company, and attitude-toward-the-ad (Aad), attitude-toward-the-brand (AB), and purchase intentions. It was observed that endorser credibility had its strongest impact on Aad while corporate credibility had its strongest impact on AB. The findings suggest that corporate credibility plays an important role in consumers' reactions to advertisements and brands, independent of the equally important role of endorser credibility. Looking at the effect of celebrity endorsement on the wealth of a company a classic example of Michael Jordan can be used. At the time of rumors of Michael Jordan returning to NBA in 1995, he was endorsing products of General Mills (Wheaties), Mc'Donalds (Quarter Pounders, Value Meals), Nike (Air Jordan), Quaker Oats (Gatorade) and Sara Lee (Hans Underwear). Study conducted by Mathur ET. associated with Jordan's endorsements shows that the anticipation of Jordan's return to NBA, and the related increased visibility for him resulted in increase in the market adjusted values of his client firms of almost 2 percent, or more than $1 bn in stock market value. From this study one can observe that the major celebrity endorser with rumors or otherwise has a tremendous potential to influence the profitability of endorsed products. Semi-partial endorsement indicates that when a company uses famous characters from any TV soaps for brand endorsements, consumers tend to relate to the character that he or she plays in the soap and hence can attract more credibility. For example, Smriti Irani who plays 'Tulsi' in a famous soap has garnered a lot of support from the middle-class housewife today. If she would endorse a brand, there would be more relativity and credibility. Same can be said about Priya Tendulkar who used to play the character of Rajani.
Negative Impacts of Celebrity Endorsement on the Brand

More often talked about is the extreme usage of a celebrity called 'lazy advertising', that is inadequate content masked by usage of a celebrity. A good example is the use of Boris Becker by Siyaram and Steve Waugh by ANP Sanmar. Also as said earlier, associating with a star, in itself does not guarantee sales. There is also the fear of Brand-celebrity disconnect which points out that if the celebrity used represents values that conflict with the brand values, the advertising would create conflict in the minds of the target audience.
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 NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 20
be affected. For example, Air Jordan's generated revenue sales of $130 million in the first year. The sales dropped miserably in the second year when Jordan missed 62 games due to a broken foot18. Another main worry of the advertisers is that their celebrity endorser would get caught in a scandal or an embarrassing situation. Multiple product endorsement also has a negative impact on customers' purchasing intentions. Tripp et al.19 investigated the effects of multiple product endorsement by celebrities on customers' attitudes and intentions. They found that the number of products a celebrity endorses negatively influences consumer perception of the endorser and the advertising itself. It was suggested that when as many as four products are endorsed, celebrity credibility and likeability, as well as attitude towards the ad, may attenuate. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan endorses multiple brands like Pepsi, Mirinda, ICICI, BPL, Parker pens, Nerolac, Dabur, Reid & Taylor, Maruti Versa, Hajmola, Tide, Cadbury and a few social messages. It has worked in some cases, while in some cases it has not. D. K. Jain, Chairman and President, Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt. Ltd, the marketer of the Parker brand said, "Using Amitabh Bachchan as our brand ambassador has helped in strengthening our brand image and recall within the target audience". Tarun Joshi, Communications Custodian, Reid & Taylor said, "Amitabh Bachchan is an icon with universal appeal and has helped us to reach out to the real 'Bharat.' In fact, agents and retailers have told us that already customers have started asking about the 'Amitabh wali suiting.'" In case of Nerolac Paints, which was endorsed by Amitabh Bachchan, around 80% of the respondents when asked to associate Bachchan with any paint did so with Asian Paints, which is the biggest competitor of Nerolac20. The budget or cost is an important factor for celebrity endorsement. Depending on the status of the celebrity, remuneration could run into millions of rupees for several years or may also include a profit sharing plan. For example when S. Kumar's used Hrithik Roshan for their launch advertising for Tamarind, they reckoned they spent 40 - 50 per cent less on media due to the sheer impact of using Hrithik. Sachin's endorsements got him $18 million over five years. When Aamir first endorsed Pepsi in 1995, he received Rs 17 lakh for it; his Coke commercials in 1999 got him Rs 2 crore. Hrithik Roshan in his highflying days reportedly made over Rs. 20 crore in endorsements and events by 2001-02.
Nine Uses of Celebrity Endorsement

1) Establishes Credibility:
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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. The role of a celebrity endorser in an advertising campaign is, without doubt, linked to the reputation of the celebrity. If the reputation is damaged, more often than not for reasons other than professional ,then the quality of his reputation dos suffer: particularly if it is to do with his (or her) public behavior. Example: Dyna ad by Katrina Kaif. 2) Attracts Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable. Example: Shahrukh khan in Pepsi, Hrithik Roshan in Sony Erricson. 3) Associative Benefit: A celebritys preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit. Example: Amitabh Bachchan in Dabur Chwyanprash. 4) Psychographic Connect: Stars are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand. Example: Dhoni in 7up 5) Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.). Example: Amitabh Bachchan with child in Dadur Honey, Sunny Deol in Lux cozi ad. 6) Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses. Example: Shahrukh khan And Amitabh Bachchan in Polio Promotion. 7) Mitigating a tarnished image: Cadbury India wanted to restore the consumers confidence in its chocolate brands following the pitch following the high-pitch worms controversy; so the company appointed Amitabh Bachchan for the job. Last year, when the even more controversial pesticide issues shook up Coca-cola and PepsiCo and resulted in much negative press, both soft drinks majors put out high profile damage control ad films featuring their best and most expensive celebrities. While Aamir Khan led the coke fight back as an ingenious and fastidious Bengali who finally gets convinced of the products purity. Similarly 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. 8) Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the stagnant Chwyanprash category and staving off the competition from various brand , Dabur India roped in Bachchan for an estimated project of 8 crore. NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 22
9) The FRED Principle: 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 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, and 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.
Brand Image Formation & Brand Preference

Having a congruent image between the brand and celebrity does not guarantee any positive effect on consumers' brand preferences. The fundamental question is - what a brand image really does to consumers? Baran and Blasko explained, "Since most products aren't special, most advertising does that entire so-called image stuff... There's no information about the product, there's only information about the NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 23
kind of people who might be inclined to use the product." (p.13). This view is echoed by Feldwick (1991) who has suggested that the subjective experience of using a brand can be different from the subjective experience of using an identical product without the brand reassurance. In the case of using celebrity advertising to build brand image, the effects are examined with a social psychological framework. Before we can scrutinize the effects of celebrity endorsement on the overall brand, we have to ferret the implicit nuances 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, Kelloggs, Bajaj, & Tata) transfers positive associations. The celebritys role is the most explicit and profound in incarnating user associations among the above mentioned points. To comprehend this, let us analyze the multiplier effect formula for a successful brand: S=P* D*AV -- the multiplier effect Where S is a Successful Brand P is an Effective Product D is Distinctive Identity AV is Added Values The realm of the celebritys impact is confined to bestow a distinctive identity and provide AV to the brand; the celebrity does not have the power to improve or debilitate the efficiency and features of the core product. Thus, we are gradually approaching an evident proposition claiming, "The health of a brand can definitely be improved up to some extent by celebrity endorsement. But one has to remember that endorsing a celebrity is a means to an end and not an end in itself." 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 cynicism about celebrity endorsements.
The Process of Celebrity Endorsement

The process of celebrity endorsement is more of meaning translation & meaning application. A deeper insight into this complex process is provided by the following theory. The Meaning Transfer Model NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 24
McCracken, the author to this model, has suggested that, "The effectiveness of the endorser depends, in part, upon the meaning he or she brings to the endorsement process." The celebrities' effectiveness as endorsers stems from the cultural meanings with which they are endowed. It is a three-stage process of meaning transfer that involves the formation of celebrity image, transfer of meaning from celebrity to the brand, and finally, from the brand to the consumer.
Figure 1: The Meaning Transfer Model
To explain it with the help of an example, we can take the case of Rahul Dravid and Castrol. The cricket icon is seen as "Mr. Dependable". And when he endorses Castrol, an image of "dependability" is tagged on to the brand under promotion.
The Importance of Celebrity Management

In a world full of faces, the ones' which bolt from the blue are perhaps of the celebrities. The advertisers are always on the lookout for such faces for the purpose of endorsement. But, the major challenge before them is to find the right faces for their brands or in other words celebrity management. McCracken quotes, "In the best of all possible worlds, the marketing or advertising firm first would determine the NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 25
symbolic properties sought for the product... It would then consult a roster of celebrities and the meanings they made available and taking into account budget and availability constraints would choose the celebrity who best represents the appropriate symbolic properties." This suggests that the image of the celebrity must fit or be congruent with the product which can be explained from the theoretical perspective using a social cognition framework. Schema-Based Expectancy Theory
A schema is an abstract, cognitive structure that represents some stimulus domain, e.g., a person, place, event, or thing. It is organized through experience and consists of a knowledge structure. They can determine what information will be encoded or retrieved from memory. Schemas are involved in encoding, interpretation, retention, and retrieval of information. They can influence perceptual cognitive activities through the generation of expectancies. In the case of well-known celebrities, individual would typically have personal relevant schemas (person schemas), acquired over time. When a celebrity endorses a brand, the characteristics of that celebrity may be compared with the advertised attributes of the brand by the audience for congruence or fit with their available person-schema. The degree of congruence between the new information (the brand attributes) and the existing information (the celebrity's characteristics) may then influence the level of recall of the new information. The Associative Network Model suggests that information inconsistent with an individual's schema may be quite salient and information will, therefore, be attended to more closely and be processed more deeply. Therefore, this information would be conceptually linked to a larger number of items in the memory, compared to a piece of information that is consistent with the schema. While the Schema-Pointer + Tag Model proposes that consistent or typical items are encoded in terms of a "pointer" to a generic schema that contains the typical components and relationships for that particular knowledge domain. The atypical or incongruent items are, on the other hand, encoded with a rather distinctive "tag" and stored as a unique, separate unit. This leads to higher recalling for incongruent items than for typical items. And empirical researches confirm significantly higher recalling when the image of the celebrity is congruent with the brand image. Therefore, celebrity management is very important for the success of any brand. "If commerce is the engine of our economy, then advertising is the spark. Responsible advertisers are the drivers who keep us on the right track, leading to a richer, more benevolent society." - Brian Philcox
Risks Associated With Celebrity Endorsement

The various risks associated with celebrity endorsements are as follows: o Negative publicity - If the celebrity is strongly associated with the brand then the occurrence of the negative publicity can spill over the brand. This can harm the trustworthiness and credibility NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 26
in the mind of the consumers. E.g., Salman Khan lost his endorsement deal with Thumbs-Up after his infamous incidents like buck-killing and rash-driving. o Overshadowing - When celebrity endorser is used, the risk of consumers focusing on the celebrity and not on the brand exists. Overexposure - This risk arises when the celebrity chooses to endorse several different products simultaneously which might leave the consumers confused. E.g., Sachin Tendulkar endorses several brands such as MRF, TVS Victor, Pepsi, Fiat, Boost, etc. Overuse - Sometimes the company can use many different celebrities to appeal to different market segment. But multiplicity of endorser might blur the image of the brand and reduce the effectiveness of the means of persuasion. Extinction - The favorable response obtained by a particular brand may weaken over time if the brand gets significant exposure without the association of the celebrity. If the celebrity contract is for a considerable period of time, then it can lead to draining out capital without proper return. Financial Risk - The decision for hiring an expensive endorser may not be always feasible if there is a poor brand fit.
Therefore, for celebrity endorsements to work effectively there are some fundamental ground rules: o o o o The brand promise and the brand personality should be clearly articulated. The communication objectives for the campaign should be frozen. Focus must be on the synergy between the brand and the celebrity image. Establish explicitly what the celebrity is going to communicate
Once these criteria are met, endorsements can work as a force multiplier. A deeper insight in the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumers' minds can be explained by the meaning transfer model, explained in the next section.
Selection of Celebrity
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Celebrity endorsements are not new. One of the earliest examples is Coca Cola who used Lillian Nordica, a Metropolitan Opera Star as their first model or endorser. She became a household name all
Across USA known as the Coca Cola Girl. Soon people forgot her as an actress but remembered her as the Coca Cola girl. She did wonders for the brand and this led the company to release a series of these advertisements for over 30 years. There are various scientific ways in which the right celebrity is selected for the product endorsement, which are discussed here after. Stereotyping
Tellis defines stereotypes as perceptions and depictions of individuals based on simplistic, biased image of the group to which they belong, rather than on their own individual characteristics. For example: its better to select celebrities who say are teens for chocolate advertisements and females for detergent ads, etc.
The TEARS Model NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 28
The attributes highlighted by the acronym "TEARS" are gauged for celebrity selection. These are: Trustworthiness: For example - Legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan who is an icon of trust; promoting ICICI Bank. Expertise: For example - Golfer Tiger Woods for a sports brand. Attractiveness: For example - Tennis player Anna Kournikova who earns 10 Million dollars per year in just endorsement. Respect: For example - Former Miss World Aishawarya Rai and the Eye donation campaign. Similarity: For example - a child artist promoting a chocolate brand. A celebrity scoring high on all the above attributes can turn out to be a good endorser for the brand under question. The No TEARS Model
The "No TEARS" approach is a tool for managers and their advertisers how to go about selecting celebrities so as to avoid the pitfalls from making an unwise decision. It gauges the following information: Celebrity & audience match up, Celebrity & brand match up, Celebrity credibility, Celebrity attractiveness, Cost consideration, A working ease and difficulty factor, An endorsement saturation factor, A likelihood-of-getting-into-trouble factor Selecting the right celebrity does more than increasing sales; it can create linkages with the celebrities' appeal, thereby adding new dimension to the brand image. Research conducted by Katherine Eckel has revealed that celebrities can get people to make a better choice but cannot influence 'people to make a foolish choice'.
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The success of celebrity endorsement in India can be sought from a market research conducted earlier which found that 8 out of 10 TV commercials scored the highest recall were those with celebrity appearances. A few examples: Sachin Tendulkar - Adidas, Saurav Ganguly - Britannia, Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupati - J. Hampstead, Shah Rukh Khan - Pepsi, Sushmita Sen - Epson, and Aishawarya Rai Coke.
Celebrity Endorsement: The Issues Involved

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 vs. 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, in 2002 endorsed 12 brands (including Pepsi, Boost, Colgate Total, Gillette, Britannia Tiger, Fiat Palio, TVS Victor, Fiat Sienna, MRF, Adidas, Visa Cards and Home Trade). Tripp et al, says that the endorsement of as many as four products negatively influences the celebrity spokesperson's credibility and likeability.
Figure: Multiple Brand Endorsement (Shah Rukh Khan)
Also, the use of multiple celebrities to endorse a brand may hinder the meaning transfer process, and thus, lead to confusion among the consumers. NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 30
Figure: Multiple Celebrity Endorsement (Adidas & Hyundai Santro)
Similarity between the target audience and the celebrity is the third important attribute. A person wellknown in a society can have greater impact than a celebrity of a different world. If the endorser and receiver have similar needs, goals, interests and lifestyles, the position advocated by the brand communication is better understood and received. Similarity is also used to create a situation where the consumer feels empathy for the person shown in the commercial. The bond of similarity between the endorser and the receiver increases the level of persuasiveness. The companies have to first clarify their business objectives, brand values and then decide who the celebrities are who can carry them forward. Otherwise, there can be unnecessary investments without proper return. So the celebrity endorsement cost has to be weighed up against the return on marketing investment. Besides, while designing an ad campaign, one should also keep in mind that the overuse of some extremely popular celebrities often tends to confuse consumers and reduce the utility of celebrity endorsement. Another argument against celebrity endorsement involves the behavior of the celebrity. The values that display themselves in regrettable behavior could transfer themselves to the brand. The marketing function of a company should also understand that brands should assume a much greater space than the celebrities, because their association may be temporary but the brands are permanent.
Framework to Make Effective Celebrity Endorsement Program
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With the cut-throat competition and continuously changing market dynamics, one has to assess the market conditions and re-evaluate its current marketing strategies such as its portfolio of celebrity endorsement. The action plan should be able to answer the following key questions: Are the celebrity endorsements programs result driven? How to quantify the value generated by the celebrity endorsements? Are customers able to connect the brand with the celebrity?
Figure: Evolution of Celebrity Endorsements
One can gauge the performance of celebrity endorsement marketing program across the various stages of development (Refer to Figure). We have attempted to prepare a framework to build a more effective celebrity endorsement program: NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 32
1) Align Celebrity Endorsement With Business Objectives. The attributes of the celebrity should be intrinsically valuable and aligned with the product, brand and company. Figure 3 suggests strategies to be adopted by a company depending on its brand positioning and the brand fit with the celebrity.
Figure: Brand-Celebrity Attribute Fit Matrix
If the brand-celebrity attribute fit is slow, then the company should adopt "Eliminate or avoid" strategy. The consumers are unlikely to connect between the brand and the celebrity, and the recall value is likely to be very low; defeating the entire purpose of signing the celebrity. This is what happened when Good lass Nerolac Paints roped in Amitabh Bachchan as their brand ambassador. When the positioning of the brand is high but the fit with the celebrity is low, the company should adopt a "Monitor and evaluate" strategy. The company should continuously track the effectiveness of the celebrity endorsement through surveys, monitoring the sales, etc. Though Parker pens had a positioning of premier pens, the early advertisements (Refer Annexure 1) with Amitabh Bachchan showed low brand-celebrity fit. When the positioning has not been effective, but the fit with the celebrity is high, the company should adopt the strategy of "Keep and enhance". The company has to spot the opportunities to leverage the celebrity investment and to find more better and effective ways to communicate with the target audience. The celebrity attributes align with the company's brand, strategic business objectives NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 33
and primary customer segment. The Narain Karthikeyan - J K Tyres relationship works well in this category. In the ideal quadrant when the positioning effectiveness is high and celebrity fit with the brand is also high, the company should follow the strategy of "Grow and partner". In case of Coke, the brand has firmly established the "Thanda" position in the minds of the consumer, with Aamir Khan playing the perfect role.
By situating potential celebrity on the matrix, companies can manage the celebrities as portfolios - redistributing the resources and marketing efforts to those celebrities with the greatest potential to increase value, while eliminating those that prove too costly. 2) Measure And Quantify Performance A part of the marketing budget should be allocated to primary and secondary research to determine the overall return on investment - measuring the real performance of a celebrity endorsement against the company's business objectives. The company should have proper metrics in place such as increase in sales, brand awareness and customer preference, to measure the effectiveness and the impact of celebrity endorsement in the short and long term. The endorsement costs are primarily driven by the endorsement fees and promotion outlays.
The benefits that accrue from such a relationship can be categorized into two components: Value of Hard Assets:
The benefits derived from the hard assets are those that have a clear market value such as increased sales and increase in brand equity. These are the tangible benefits that a company derives from its endorsement strategy. Value of Association: Association value is derived from the target customers who associate the company / brand with the celebrity. These are the intangible benefits that the company will accrue in the long-term. There are ways to quantify the potential value of hard assets and association value against their impact on company's celebrity endorsement by looking at the following categories: -
Incremental Sales Companies can quantify the effect of the celebrity programs on sales by performing year-to-year or quarter-to-quarter sales comparisons for targeted consumers, geographic regions, or specific product lines. NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 34
Primary research can also be done to reveal the impact of the celebrity on target customer's propensity to purchase. Brand Recognition
One of the objectives of celebrity endorsement is to increase brand awareness. However, the companies use popular, though incorrect, survey approach by asking the respondent which celebrity endorsed their brand. Instead, they should ask the respondent the brands associated with the celebrity. By gauging the top-of-mind recall can enable the company to find out if a connection is made between the brand and celebrity.
Figure: Endorsement Cost-Value Relationship
Customer Loyalty: Customer churn can be measured in fixed intervals before and after the celebrity campaign period to determine the impact of celebrity on customer retention. Additionally, primary research can be conducted to evaluate changes in the customer loyalty, customer preferences, etc.
3) Selection And Renewal of Contract With Celebrities The ability to align goals and measure the value of brand-celebrity fit is the first step in obtaining optimal value from a celebrity endorsement. Value is also derived by revisiting the celebrity portfolio to NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 35
determine ways to reduce costs and increase benefits. Additionally, a company can increase its benefits by re-examining (and altering, if needed) its promotion strategy to create deeper brand association, identify new celebrities that are capable of achieving company goals and negotiate for additional rights from the existing contracts. A large extent of this can be successful if the company can develop and execute coordinated, preplanned negotiation strategy which will enable it to improve the contractual fees and media commitments stipulated in the contract, as well as the amount and benefits conferred on the company. A few guidelines for formulating a well-defined negotiation strategy would include: Understand the Competition of Celebrity
Except for few venerable celebrities, most of the celebrities quote their price in expectation of negotiation. The company should benchmark the contractual fees and benefits against that of comparable celebrities to ensure the package is equivalent. Understand 'Celebrity' Clutter
There could be a degree of clutter with the celebrity endorsing many more brands and companies. This clutter can impede the ability of the company to capture the image and awareness required to generate value from the endorsement. The company needs to understand the risk associated with the signing of such celebrity and need to devise strategic opportunities to stay clear of the clutter. Include Value-in-Kind Payments
Companies can reduce their risk and endorsement costs by substituting out-of-pocket cash payments with value-in-kind, which can be traded at market price. Protection Against Ambush Marketing
Ambush marketing (or adjacent marketing) is the reality of the day and the marketing managers need to be creative to stay one step ahead of the competition. For instance, Amitabh Bachchan was shown drinking Thumbs-Up in the Hindi movie Kaante, when he is actually brand ambassador for Pepsi.
Why Celebrity Endorsement Fails?
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There may be cases where brands are not able to take-off even after the backing of celebrities. And this leads to speculations in the Ad World on the soundness of celebrity endorsement as an effective communication strategy. The Reasons According to leading management thinker, Dr. Seamus Phan, "Many celebrity endorsements fail because they identify a celebrity they like in an emotive and un-researched manner and then try to create advertising to force-fit the celebrity into the creative concept." Therefore, the advertisers must associate the celebrity to the advertisement and not vice versa. Thinking on the similar lines, the advertisers shouldn't identify the brand to associate with the celebrity but do vice versa. The success of celebrity endorsement also depends upon the capacity, knowledge, experience, and qualification to talk about the product. Failure may be attributed to improper positioning (Example: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan & Maruti Versa), negative perception after use of product / service (inferior products), misapprehension of the meaning of the endorsement, etc. "The philosophy behind much advertising is based on the old observation that every man is really two men - the man he is and the man he wants to be."-William Feather Another reason for the celebrity endorsement to turn against the brand is due to "Overshadowing". This happens when the celebrity is larger than the brand being endorsed. And unfortunately, though the celebrity generates higher levels of attention among viewers, the impression is not always strongly linked to the advertised brand. Finally, brand may also fail to get noticed given a recent negative publicity of the celebrity endorser. Example: Michael Jordan 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. The Solutions As discussed, celebrity management is very crucial to avoid the brand-celebrity disconnect, and subsequently, brand failures. Proper market research should be carried out and right positioning strategies should be in place. If the consumers have questions in their minds regarding the quality or performance of the product then even God cannot save the brand. There shouldn't be any ambiguity or confusions when showing the celebrity in the advertisement. The obvious solution to the problem of overshadowing is to make sure that both the advertisement and the celebrity are focused on the brand or product. To avoid any bad publicity arising out of celebrity defames, companies may resort to multiple celebrity endorsement. For Example: Pepsi while capitalizing on the popularity of cricket and films in India used several cricketers and film stars in their ads. So when Azharuddin and Jadeja got embroiled in the match-fixing controversy, Pepsi severed its association only with these stars, but its relationship with cricket continued.
The Symbiotic Model
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Based on our understanding of the celebrity endorsement process, we can propose our own model taking cue from the biological kingdom. There are various symbiotic relationships that can exist between two organisms. Similarly, we can visualize two entities "brand" and "celebrity". To achieve a perfect success, there should be absolute symbiosis between the two entities. There may be one of the six effects to the celebrity endorsement process: -
Figure: The Symbiotic Model Mutualism (M): Both help each other (Example: Tata and Narayan Karitiken) Commensalism (C1): Only one among them is benefited (Example: A failed endorsement) Parasitism (P): One is benefited; other is harmed (Example: Azharuddin and Pepsi. Also, Home Trade & Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Hrithik Roshan) Neutralism (N): None of them benefited or harmed (Example: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Maruti Versa) Amensalism (A): Only one of them is harmed; other unaffected Competition (C2): Both are harmed
Celebrity endorsement is a complex process of balancing your risk with your gains. "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde
Advantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand

Brands have been leveraging celebrity appeal for a long time. Across categories, whether in Products or services, more and more brands are banking on the mass appeal of celebrities. As soon as a new face ascends the popularity charts, advertisers queue up to have it splashed all over. Witness the spectacular rise of Sania Mirza and Irfan Pathan in endorsements in a matter of a few months. The accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand: 1. 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. 2. Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable. 3. PR coverage: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage. A good example of integrated celebrity campaigns is one of the Worlds leading pop groups, the Spice Girls, who have not only appeared in advertisements for Pepsi, but also in product launching and PR events. Indeed, celebrity-company marriages are covered by most media from television to newspapers (e.g. The Spice Girls and Pepsi) 4. 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 Zeta-Jones is used by T-Mobile and Elizabeth Arden. 007 Pierce Brosnan promotes Omega, BMW, and Noreico. 5. Associative Benefit: A celebritys preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit. 6. 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 fight back 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. 7. Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand. 8. Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.). NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 39
9. Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.
10. 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. 11. Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.
Disadvantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand:

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 behavior of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse. 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 remember the celebrity and not the brand. Examples are the campaigns of Dawn FrenchCable 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 advertisements. This may be termed as commoditization 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): Sainsburys encountered a problem with Catherina Zeta Jones, whom the company used for its recipe advertisements, when she was
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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 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.
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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & FINDINGS
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
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Questionnaire
A market survey on Do Celebrity Endorsement Sell? 1- Are you influenced by the presence of a celebrity in an advertisement? o Yes o No 2- Do you think celebrities make a difference to the image of the brand? o Yes o No 3- Do you agree with the concept of brand ambassadors? o Yes o No 4- Will you compromise on your current preference if the competitor brings in ads featuring your favorite celebrity? o Yes o No 5- What are the chances that you would buy a new product just because of the presence of a celebrity? o Definitely Yes o Will Not o Might Be 6- What would be the contribution of a celebrity in building up a brand image? o Totally builds up the image o Doesnt make any difference to the brand o Celebrity + Quality product builds up the right image
7- What if your favorite celebrity endorses a product which has the same quality but at higher price, which the other competitors provide you at cheaper rate? o You will go with the same brand o You will go with the brand at cheaper rate
8- Do you believe products specifically advertise by the celebrities are of good aspect? o Yes o No o Not sure NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 43
9- What do you pro the most when purchasing a product? o Price of the product o Celebrity endorsement o Quality of the product o Value for money 10- What do you think is the purpose for the companies to choose celebrity endorsement for promoting their products? o Easy naming of product o Cant generate new ideas o To know how to increase sales and profit o To compete strongly
1-Are you influenced by the presence of a celebrity in an advertisement? Interpretation-
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It is evident from the chart that almost 56 percent do not blindly believe or get totally influenced by the presence of a celebrity. However 44 percent are of the view that the presence of a celebrity will get them to go and ask for the product. This is an aspect due to which celebrities are used by advertisers.
2-Do you think Celebrities make a Difference to the Image of the Brand? InterpretationThough it is observed in the last graph that at least 56 percent people are not influenced by the presence of the celebrities in the advertisements, this graph clearly contradicts the same. It is been observed that at least 70 percent people think that celebrities make a difference to the image of the brand.
No 30%
Yes 70%
3- Do you agree with the Concept of Brand Ambassadors? Interpretation NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 45
Again it can be observed from the pie chart clearly that almost three-fourth (74%) of the people believe that brand ambassador as a concept is very important. Hence it can be understood that people do get much influenced by celebrities endorsing a product and giving it their personality.
No 26%
Yes 74%
4-Will you compromise on your current preference if the competitor brings in ads featuring your favorite celebrity?
Interpretation The majority of the people i.e. 82 percent feel that they will not go for the competitors products also if their favorite celebrity starts endorsing it. This shows brand loyalty among the young Indian consumers as the survey done has been focused mainly on the age group of 18-24 years. However there still are 18 percent, who say that they will go for it.
Yes 18%
No 82%
5- What are the chances that you would buy a new product just because of the presence of a celebrity? NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 46
Interpretation More than 50 percent people here are not willing to purchase a product only because of the presence of the celebrity. The second highest percentage goes to those people who are confused, whether they will or not purchase the product only because of celebrity. The minimal 4 percent people are willing to purchase the product only because of the presence of the celebrity.
Definitely Yes 4% I Might 41% Will Not 55%
6- What would be the contribution of a celebrity in building up a brand image? NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 47
Interpretation It can be easily concluded from the graph that majority feel that celebrity in addition to quality product builds the brand image and not only the celebrities. Also chunk of people think that celebrities doesnt Make any difference to the brand image of the product.
Totally builds up the image 4%
Doesnt make any difference to the brand 15%
Celebrity + Quality product builds up the right image 81%
7-What if your favorite celebrity endorses a product which has the same quality but at higher price, which the other competitors provide you at cheaper rate? Interpretation NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 48
Majority of the lot thinks that if they are provided with the same quality, they will go with the cheaper brand even though their favorite celebrity endorses the other product which is costlier. It shows that todays generation is smarter and their decisions are not driven by emotions.
You will go with the brand at cheaper rate 70%
You will go with the same brand 30%
8- Do you believe products specifically advertised by the celebrities are of good aspect? Interpretation
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45 percent think that products advertised by the celebrities are not of good quality. It can be safely assumed that most of them do it for money. There are also almost the same percentages of people who are confused about the status of the products advertised by celebrities, whether they are good or bad.
Yes 11% Not Sure 44% No 45%
9-What do you pro the most when purchasing a product? Interpretation NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 50
Most of the people are of the opinion that while purchasing a product they consider value for money the most. Second comes the quality of the product. While price of the product and celebrity endorsements have got 0 percent priority among buyers.
Price of the Product 0%
Celebrity Endorsement 0%
Value of Money 52%
Quality Of the Product 48%
10-What do you think is the purpose for the companies to choose celebrity endorsement for promoting their products? Interpretation NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 51
Majority of the people think that companies choose celebrities to endorse their products so that they can create a better recall value of the product in comparison to their competitors.
To compete strongly 37%
Easy naming of product 26% Cant generate New Ideas 7%
To know how to increase sales and profit 30%
FINDINGS
It has been found that most of the people are not influenced by the presence of the celebrities in the advertisements.
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It has also been founded that celebrities have an impact on the brand image of the product and People think Celebrities are as important as Quality, affordability and consistency for a Product. People also agree to the concepts of Brand Ambassadors. It shows that they are much influenced by Celebrity Endorsement. People will not compromise on their products even though their favorite celebrities endorse some other product. It also show brand loyalty among the young Indian consumers. However there still are 18% People who say that they will go for it seen their favorite celebrity in the ad. This is important for a company if it is launching up say a new brand in a sector which it wasnt operating. This would thus help in pulling the competitors market share. Most of the people are not willing to purchase a product only because of the mere presence of the celebrity. Majority of people think that a quality product backed by strong celebrity endorsements builds the brand image of the product. Nobody is willing to waste their money for products at costlier rates only because of celebrities. Majority of the lot thinks that celebrities advertise for the sake of money. Most of the people consider value for money while purchasing a product. After that Quality of a product is most important thing for them. Most of the people are of the opinion that companies go for celebrity endorsements to create better recall value. 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 favorable impact.
CONCLUSION
Celebrity endorsement can be a goldmine or a minefield for a company's brand building process. There have been extensive studies relating to the process of celebrity endorsement and brand-building. These studies indicate that celebrity endorsement has worked well in some consumer segments while failing in others. Few celebrities have been more successful than those with almost parallel fame. So the role of NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 53
celebrity endorsement in the advertising space is equivocal and cannot be seen as an assured strategic tool to win profits, market share, revenues, etc. Consumers can identify the clear difference between a good script and a good brand idea. For example, while Pepsi's Sachin and Bachchan (kite flying) ad was seen as one with a good script, Coca-Cola's Thanda Matlab... was seen as an insightful and strong brand idea. For all the flak it drew in its vainglorious attempts to run down competition, Thumbs-Up was seen as the only example of seamless linkage between brand positioning and brand celebrity. "Brand" is the most valuable asset of any company; building its image is, thus, of paramount importance. Any thoughtless adventure can be like the Sword of Damocles upon your head. Celebrities do not make brands but ideas do. If the former were true then brands would have vanished when the hype and hoopla around the celebrities faded. Celebrity endorsement is also one of the ideas. But, its easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out-of-date. Therefore, it is imperative to invest in good ideas; which will bring good returns. Thus, the need of the hour is to focus less on your Return-on-Investment, and think more in terms of your Return-on-Ideas. There is an increasing challenge to the marketing manager to develop and implement an integrated marketing communication (IMC) plan to realize the true value of the celebrity endorsements. There is a gradual shift from the traditional approach of showing celebrities in advertisement to making them the "spokes-person" of the brand. Companies have taken celebrity endorsement to next level by projecting brands as a way of life. Smart companies are using their brand ambassadors in other mediums such as movies to promote their brands. E.g., Amitabh Bachchan, who endorses the financial instruments of ICICI Bank, is shown as a branch-manager of ICICI Bank in the movie Baghban. Wooing the key existing and potential target customers is the trait of a successful promotion strategy. However, the marketing manager should be able to offer significant value propositions in the services / products offered to the customers. Thus, one needs to integrate celebrity endorsement with other marketing programs and ensure that the celebrity attributes align with the overall brand or company. Companies that succeed in developing such an integrated IMC plans is the one to succeed in the longterm.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCE:
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Philip A. Stroke(2009), "Impact of Celebrity Endorsement", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14 March, Pg.471-82. Shimp (2007), "Celebrities as spokesperson", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 76 No. 2, Pg.175-91. Friedmen et al. (1976), The power of brand, Journal of Business, Vol. 23, Pg.71-80.
WEBSITE:
www.marketingmania.in/india.html http://en.wiki.wikipedia.com/indian_industry www.marketingmanagement.in/india.html www.hindustantimes.com http://www.businessweek.com./html www.Google.com www.monkeysurvey.com www.indiatimes.com
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Impact of Celebrity Endorsement On Consumer Behaviour: A Dissertation Project Report ON

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A DISSERTATION PROJECT REPORT ON

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Behaviour

Rajesh Kumar Singh

NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084

February 21, 2011.

Signature of the Faculty (Ms. Debjani Bhattacharya)

Signature of the Student (Rajesh Kumar Singh)

NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084

Rajesh Kumar Singh Roll No- 29084

NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084

NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Defining the Meaning & Scope of the Topic

Difference between Brand Ambassador & Brand Face

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Scope of Celebrity Endorsement

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement

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Impact Regions of Celebrity Endorsement

Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers

Decision Making Process & Purchase Decision

Relation of BRAND, CELEBRITIES & CONSUMERS

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Relationship between a Celebrity & a Brand

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Positive Impacts of Celebrity Endorsement on the Brand

Negative Impacts of Celebrity Endorsement on the Brand

Nine Uses of Celebrity Endorsement

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Brand Image Formation & Brand Preference

The Process of Celebrity Endorsement

Figure 1: The Meaning Transfer Model

The Importance of Celebrity Management

Risks Associated With Celebrity Endorsement

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The TEARS Model NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084 28

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Celebrity Endorsement: The Issues Involved

Figure: Multiple Brand Endorsement (Shah Rukh Khan)

Figure: Multiple Celebrity Endorsement (Adidas & Hyundai Santro)

Framework to Make Effective Celebrity Endorsement Program

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Figure: Evolution of Celebrity Endorsements

Figure: Brand-Celebrity Attribute Fit Matrix

Figure: Endorsement Cost-Value Relationship

Why Celebrity Endorsement Fails?

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The Symbiotic Model

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Advantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand

Disadvantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand:

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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & FINDINGS

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

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1-Are you influenced by the presence of a celebrity in an advertisement? Interpretation-

NIILM-CMS | Rajesh Singh, Roll No-29084

Definitely Yes 4% I Might 41% Will Not 55%

Totally builds up the image 4%