Celebrity endorsement is when a celebrity use their fame and following to help sell a product or service. Celebrity endorsement is recognised as an effective marketing tool by marketers worldwide, although, it is not a new phenomenon, and is now considered common practice for major firms in supporting band imagery (Erdogan, 2010). Firms invest a lot of time and money into juxtaposing a brand with endorser qualities such as: attractiveness, likability and trustworthiness. It has been suggested by Friedman and Friedman (1979) that using celebrities is more effective than using other types of endorsement. This is because consumers look up to celebrities as role models and therefore brands utilise this influence power to increase sale (Dwivedi, McDonald and Johnson, 2014).
Why you need endorsers
Fashion is important everywhere, it allows a person to express themselves through their style, and can say a lot about a person. Therefore ,choosing the right celebrity to represent a brand is important. Furthermore, a celebrity understands how to promote a brand, as they themselves are a representation of their own brand.
The public admires celebrities; as a result, they have a large fan base and following. In today’s culture, social media is an influential platform for brands to advertise, as most people follow their favorite celebrities on social media. Therefore, combining celebrities and advertisements go hand in hand, increasing the promotion and brand successfully.
Recent research conducted by Till et al, has found that celebrity endorsement leads to a favourable attitude towards the brand being endorsed. No wonder one in four advertisements use celebrity endorsement to engage with their consumers; since using celebrity endorsement influences advertising effectiveness, brand recognition, and purchasing behaviour. (Spry, Pappu, Cornwell, 2011).
See link to more information on the power of celebrity endorsements
Advantages of using a celebrity endorsement:
Influence consumer purchases:
Many people have the attitude, ”if the product is good enough for her, it’s good enough for me”, for example, purchasing the same hair curlers Therefore, the consumer purchases the brand the celebrity endorses because they want to have the same effect that the product gives and in some way ‘connect ‘ with the celebrity.
Build awareness:
Celebrity’s build brand awareness through advertisement, this can be achieved much faster than other forms of advertisement. Celebrities have a strong following, in particular on social media, therefore, their campaigns can reach a wider audience faster.
Help people remember ads:
It has been found by McCraken (1989) that celebrity endorsers can build brand equity by acting as secondary associates, therefore, creating better recall for both the endorsed brand and the advertisement. Consequently, influencing the consumer when purchasing a product (Atkins & Block, 1983).
Risks
Images change
Celebrity images can change over time, for better or for worse this public image can affect the brands which they endorse. For example Tiger Woods .
Tiger Woods had sponsorship agreements with several brands at the prime of his career. However, in 2009, some infidelities came to light, crumbling his public image instantly. His actions resulted in a number of his sponsors including: Tag Heuer, Gillette and Gatorade, dropped Tiger Woods from their campaigns instantly. Others, such as Nike, kept him on for longer, however, they also dropped him after sales fell for the products he endorsed.
Celebrities can over shadow brands
Celebrities can over shadow their brands when consumers focus on the celebrity rather than the product itself. This may occur when celebrities endorse multiple products at once. For example: David Beckham endorses many products where he features heavily in print. However, he can devalue a product when consumer’s member David Beckham over the brand.
Example of an effective brand ambassador
Kendall Jenner has become the brand ambassador for Este Lauder She appears in print, TV and digital advertising as well as “playing an active role in creating social media context that will reply on Estee Lauder’s channels as well as her own”. Therefore, create further brand awareness for their products through Kendall’s social media following; she currently has 79.4 million Instagram followers to advertise to.
Estee Lauder has struggled to appeal to a younger audience in recent years. Therefore, Kendall has been chosen to appeal to a younger target audience, which is the predominant age range of her followers.
Link to more information about Kendall Jenner as a brand ambassador for Estee Lauder.
How to measure effectiveness:
Here are 5 different ways which a brand can measure the effectives of their brand ambassador campaign:
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Brand reach
How many people has the brand ambassador reached with relevant content?
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Traffic to brand site
How many people have been attracted to the brands site through codes to monitor effectiveness of campaign?
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Revenue generated
How much has revenue increased since the ambassador campaign?
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Campaign related activity
How many posts on social media contain the campaign hashtag?
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Engagement through campaign related content
How many likes, posts, shares and comments has the campaign received, and how many users have engaged with content.
Strengths
- Increase brand awareness
- larger reach
- Builds trust and credibility
Weaknesses
- Images change
- Celebrities become overexposed
- Celebrities can overshadow brands
References:
Atkin, C. and Block, M. (1983), “Effectiveness of celebrity endorsers”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 57-61.
Dwivedi, A., McDonald, R. and Johnson, L. (2014). The impact of a celebrity endorser’s credibility on consumer self-brand connection and brand evaluation. J Brand Manag, 21(7-8), pp.559-578.
Erdogan, Z. (2010). Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature Review: Journal of Marketing Management: Vol 15, No 4. [online] Tandfonline.com. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1362/026725799784870379 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].
Friedman, H.H. and Friedman, L. (1979), “Endorser effectiveness by product type”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 19, October, pp. 63-71.
McCracken, G. (1989), “Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural foundations of the endorsement process”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 310-21.
Petriccione, A. (2017). The Power of Celebrity Endorsements. [online] Adobe Slate. Available at: https://spark.adobe.com/page/TWwgi/ [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].
Spry, A., Pappu, R. and Cornwell, B. (2011). Celebrity endorsement, brand credibility and brand equity: European Journal of Marketing: Vol 45, No 6. [online] Emeraldinsight.com. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/03090561111119958 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].