The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement Advertising On

Brand Positioning and Consumer Purchasing Decisions

in Pakistan – Exploring the Case of Q-Mobile

MBA DISSERTATION

University of Sunderland London Campus

Academic Year (2014-2015)

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 The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement Advertising On
Brand Positioning and Consumer Purchasing Decisions
in Pakistan – Exploring the Case of Q-Mobile

Course: Master of Business Administration

Word Count: 15,363 (Excl. Appendices, Tables, Graphs)

Academic Year (2014-2015)

University of Sunderland London Campus

Copyright University of London Campus, No part of this publication may be reproduced without the
prior written permission of the copy right owner

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Abstract:
Background:
The focus of this dissertation is to study the impact of Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsement on its
brand positioning and on purchasing intentions of their consumer. The research focuses mainly
on the youth and will be solely target respondents in Pakistan’s consumer market.

Aim:
The study focuses on investigating the impact of celebrity endorsement of Q-Mobile on brand
positioning and effect of its advertisement on consumers purchasing intentions to retain them
in the company for the long run.

Methodology:
The study uses mixed method research style to gather the data, using questionnaire as the form
of primary data collection method. Additionally, other journal articles, various books also used
as a form of secondary data collection method. The total number of respondents who took part
in the survey were 159.

Findings:
The research found that the use of celebrity endorsement in Q-Mobile’s advertisement helps
Q-Mobile to grasp attention of consumers but the use of celebrity doesn’t help Q-Mobile’s to
retain them for the long period of time. A reasonable price, quality and good service are those
factors which were considered mainly to retain consumers for long period of time rather than
use of celebrity. The main models of celebrity endorsement with consumer buying behaviour
also highlighted in the research which helps in purchasing intention. The research also found
some other interesting results that mixed responses were shown towards celebrity credibility;
celebrity attractiveness and celebrity match up with product from the respondents. However,
use of celebrity in advertisement increased consumers purchasing decisions and their
controversies or if their favourite celebrity endorses other brand or product does not affect
respondents to change their preferences towards Q-Mobile.

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 APPENDIX – DISSERTATION (PGBM73) DECLARATION

Statement of Originality and Authenticity

I confirm that the dissertation I am submitting is an original and authentic piece of work
written by myself that satisfies the University rules and regulations with respect to Plagiarism
and Collusion. I further confirm that I have fully referenced and acknowledged all material
incorporated as secondary resources in accordance with the Harvard system.

I also certify that I have taken a copy of the dissertation, which I will retain until after
the Board of Examiners has published the results, and which I will make available on request
in pursuance of any appropriate aspect of the marking and moderation of the work within the
University Regulations.

Please note that Dissertations will not be assessed without the inclusion of this
declaration by the student

Please note that Dissertations may not be assessed without the inclusion of electronic copies
which may be submitted through the ‘turnitin’ software to check for authenticity.

Supervisor Signature ..........................................

Date ..............................................

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Mr. Thorben Haenel. Without his
support and timely guidance, completing this dissertation on time would not have been
possible. Under this guidance and mentorship, I was able to come out of various difficulties
which I had to face during the course of writing this research paper. The support of Mr. Thorben
has been extraordinary.

Secondly, I would like to thank my family who provided me with the opportunity to study in
such a prestigious university which is an honour for me. Their support during my MBA
program has been uncompromised. Most importantly, I would like to my brother in Pakistan
who my behalf was able to distribute the survey questionnaire to the targeted respondents as
due to limitation of time and budget, I was unable to personally fly myself to Pakistan. Hence,
I am very much grateful to him for his support.

Moreover, I was like to thank the University of Sunderland for providing me with such an
opportunity to work on this research paper. This experience has thoroughly been a great course
of learning for me. By studying the impact of various marketing functions, I would now be in
a stronger position before stepping out into the corporate world.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank all my other module tutors who supported and
guided me during my time at University of Sunderland.

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 Table of Contents
Pg.
Abstract............................................................................................................................... 04

Statement of Originality and Authenticity.......................................................................... 05

Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. 06

Table of Contents................................................................................................................. 07

List of Figures and Tables.................................................................................................... 11

1.0. Introduction.................................................................................................................. 13

1.1 Background and Context.......................................................................................... 13

1.2 Aims and Objectives................................................................................................. 14

1.3 Scope and Importance............................................................................................... 14

1.4 Rationale.................................................................................................................... 14

1.5 Overview / Structure of Dissertation........................................................................ 14

2.0. Literature Review......................................................................................................... 17

2.1 Overview of Marketing.............................................................................................. 17

2.2 Marketing Mix........................................................................................................... 17

2.3 Promotion Mix........................................................................................................... 17

2.4 Advertising................................................................................................................ 18

2.4.1 Role and Use of Advertising...................................................................................... 18

2.5 Theories and Models of advertisement...................................................................... 19

2.5.1 AIDA Model.............................................................................................................. 19

2.5.2 DAGMAR Model...................................................................................................... 20

2.5.3 ELM Model................................................................................................................ 21

2.6 Celebrity Endorsement...............................................................................................22

2.6.1. Use of Celebrity Endorsement................................................................................... 23

2.6.2 Influence of Celebrity Endorsement.......................................................................... 23

2.6.3 Effect of Celebrity vs. Non- celebrity........................................................................ 24

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2.7 Models and Theories of Celebrity Endorsement....................................................... 24

2.7.1 Source Credibility...................................................................................................... 24

2.7.2 Source Attractiveness................................................................................................25

2.7.3 Match up with product or brand............................................................................... 26

2.8 Brand Awareness and Celebrity endorsement........................................................... 26

2.9 Consumer Behaviour towards Celebrity Endorsement.............................................. 27

2.9.1 Consumer Attitude..................................................................................................... 27

2.9.2 Consumer Attention................................................................................................... 28

2.9.2.1 Personal Selection Factors......................................................................................... 28

2.9.2.2 Stimulus Selection factors......................................................................................... 28

2.9.3 Customer Retention.................................................................................................. 28

2.10. Overview of Pakistan’s Market........................................................................... 29

2.11. Q-Mobile & Pakistan............................................................................................ 30

3.0. Methodology.................................................................................................................. 32

3.1. Introduction.................................................................................................................... 32

3.2. Research.......................................................................................................................... 32
3.3. Research Methodology................................................................................................... 32

3.4. Research Philosophies.................................................................................................... 33

3.4.1. Positivism..................................................................................................................... 33

3.4.2. Realism........................................................................................................................ 33

3.4.3. Interpretivism.............................................................................................................. 34

3.4.4. Appropriateness of Approach..................................................................................... 34

3.5. Research Approach......................................................................................................... 34

3.5.1. Deductive approach..................................................................................................... 34

3.5.2. Inductive approach....................................................................................................... 35

3.5.3. Appropriateness of Approach...................................................................................... 35

3.6. Research Strategies......................................................................................................... 35

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3.6.1. Choice of Research strategy.........................................................................................35

3.7. Research Design..............................................................................................................35

3.8. Qualitative research and Quantitative research...............................................................36

3.8.1. Quantitative Research.................................................................................................. 36

3.8.2. Qualitative research..................................................................................................... 37

3.8.3 Appropriateness of Approach...................................................................................... 37

3.9. Data Collection Methods................................................................................................ 37

3.9.1. Secondary Data Collection.......................................................................................... 37

3.9.2. Primary Data Collection.............................................................................................. 38

3.9.2.1. Questionnaire............................................................................................................ 38

3.9.2.2. Choice of Questionnaire Distribution....................................................................... 39

3.9.2.3. Choice of Questions.................................................................................................. 39

3.10. Population and Sampling.............................................................................................. 40

3.10.1. Possible sampling method......................................................................................... 40

3.10.2. Choice of Sampling Method...................................................................................... 41

3.10.3. Pilot study.................................................................................................................. 41

3.11. Validity and reliability.................................................................................................. 42

3.11.1. Validity...................................................................................................................... 42

3.11.2. Reliability.................................................................................................................. 42

3.12. Data Analysis................................................................................................................ 42

3.13. Limitations of the study................................................................................................ 42

3.14. Ethical Issues................................................................................................................ 43

4.0. Data Presentation and Analysis.................................................................................. 44

4.1. Analysis of primary data................................................................................................ 44

5.0. Results and Discussions................................................................................................ 65

5.1. Advertising and Q-Mobile.............................................................................................. 65

5.2. Awareness of Q-Mobile................................................................................................. 66

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5.3. Attention Grabbing Factors............................................................................................ 67

5.4. Brand Positioning and Purchase Intentions.................................................................... 67

6.0. Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................ 69

6.1. Introduction.................................................................................................................... 69

6.2. Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 69

6.2.1. Influence of Celebrity Endorsement on respondents................................................... 69

6.2.2. Consumers Attitude towards Q-Mobile celebrity endorsement advertisement........... 70

6.2.3. Positioning of Q-Mobile brand................................................................................... 70

6.3. Recommendation........................................................................................................... 70

6.3.1. Increasing the purchasing intention of customer....................................................... 70

6.3.2. Increase of Attractiveness, trustworthiness and credibility of celebrity..................... 71

6.3.3. Increase brand awareness............................................................................................ 71

7.0. Personal Development.................................................................................................. 72

References............................................................................................................................. 74

Appendix 1 – Proposal.......................................................................................................... 81

Appendix 2 – Questionnaire.................................................................................................. 93

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 List of Figures

Pg.
Fig 1: Elements of promotion mix....................................................................................... 18

Fig 2: AIDA model.............................................................................................................. 19

Fig 3: DAGMAR model...................................................................................................... 20

Fig 4: Central route processing & Peripheral route processing........................................... 22

Fig 5: Meaning Transfer Model........................................................................................... 22

Fig 6: Research process onion.............................................................................................. 33

Fig 7: Flowchart of Research Stages.................................................................................... 36

Fig 8: Types of Questionnaire.............................................................................................. 39

Fig 9: Distribution of age group........................................................................................... 44

Fig 10: Distribution of gender.............................................................................................. 45

Fig 11: Budget while purchasing a smart phone.................................................................. 46

Fig 12: Celebrity endorsed advertisements........................................................................... 47

Fig 13: Effective medium of advertising............................................................................... 48

Fig 14: Brand positioning of Q-Mobile................................................................................. 50

Fig 15: Brand Recall.............................................................................................................. 51

Fig 16: Brand Recall.............................................................................................................. 52

Fig 17: Attention grabbing factors for Q-Mobile.................................................................. 53

Fig 18: Celebrity Promotion and Purchasing Intentions of Respondents..............................55

Fig 19: Preference towards Q-Mobile....................................................................................56

Fig 20: Industry of celebrity...................................................................................................57

Fig 21: Influence of celebrity's characteristics or qualities towards advertisement...............59

Fig 22: Recall of Q-Mobile’s Products.................................................................................. 61

Fig 23: Important factors for retaining Q-Mobile customers.................................................62

Fig 24: Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsements in Pakistan............................................... 63

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 List of Tables

Pg.

Table 1: Endorser Credibility Scale...................................................................................... 25

Table 2: Summary of Questionnaire..................................................................................... 38

Table 3: Distribution of Age................................................................................................. 45

Table 4: Distribution of Gender............................................................................................ 46

Table 5: Budget while purchasing a smart phone................................................................. 47

Table 6: Celebrity endorsed advertisements.......................................................................... 48

Table 7: Effective Medium of Advertising............................................................................ 49

Table 8: Brand Positioning of Q-Mobile............................................................................... 50

Table 9: Brand Recall of Q-Mobile....................................................................................... 52

Table 10: Media & Q-Mobile’s Advertisements.................................................................. 53

Table 11: Attention grabbing factors.................................................................................... 54

Table 12: Celebrity promotion and purchasing intentions of respondents........................... 55

Table 13: Preference towards Q-Mobile............................................................................... 56

Table 14: Industry of Celebrity............................................................................................. 58

Table 15: Influence of celebrity’s characteristics or qualities towards advertisement......... 60

Table 16: Recall of Q-Mobile’s Products............................................................................. 61

Table 17: Important factors for retaining Q-Mobile customer.............................................. 62

Table 18: Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsements in Pakistan........................................... 64

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The chapter below presents a summary of the entire research paper and the sections which
follow. The chapter begins with a background of celebrity endorsements advertisements with
regard to the smart phone giant company ‘Q-Mobile’ in Pakistan. It would then go onto present
the objectives and aims of this research study along with the importance, scope and rationale.
In conclusion, the chapter would present a summary of the entire structure of the research
paper.

1.1. Background and Context

In today’s competitive market environment, companies try to stand out in the industry through
the use of effective advertisements. The major problem for companies is the high cost of
advertisements which serves as a barrier against setting a certain brand position in the industry.
Similarly, most businesses use creative advertisements as one of the modern day marketing
strategy to promote their brands and products to their target market (Adams & Brace, 2007).
According to Alsmadi (2006), this strategy enforces the need to introduce the concept of
celebrity endorsements and has over the past few decades become one of the most efficient
ways to create a certain brand position and image in view of their customers. The modern
expansion in media technology has forced the concept of using celebrity endorsements in
business advertisements and this trend has been adopted by largest organizations across the
globe. In addition, celebrities are recognized clearly for their extra efforts to appear in
advertisements and this strategy helps the company to connect with its potential and current
customers (Alsmadi, 2006).

According to Mehta (1994), use of celebrity endorsement in advertisements also creates the
brand awareness and positioning and it also has positive impact on consumers’ mind while
purchasing the product. Similarly, one of the reasons of using celebrity in advertisement
generates its potentiality to create awareness, positive attitudes towards their advertising and
brand. In addition, celebrities are known as a dominated tool in communication and are a more
effective model and campaign in relation to company (Mehta, 1994).

Q-Mobile the largest smart phone manufacturer & distributor in Pakistan, since its inception
has solely focused on mass marketing and has incorporated the use of heavy celebrity
endorsements as a part of its marketing campaign (Q-Mobile, 2014). Q-Mobile creates

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attractive and interesting advertisements that helps in seeking consumer’s attention and assists
in establishing its brand in the market and to lay down a firm stance in the mobile
manufacturing industry of Pakistan. The centre focus of the dissertation shall solely remain on
exploring the impact of Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsement on its brand positioning and on the
purchasing decision of their consumers. The entire research would be carried out in the
Pakistani market which is the sole territory of existence for Q-Mobile as it yet to launch itself
globally. Thus, the sole customers during the research will be Pakistani customers.

1.2. Aims and Objectives

Below listed are the aims and objectives of this study:

 To determine the impact of celebrity endorsement advertisements on consumers’

purchasing decisions and brand positioning of Q-Mobile

 To assess the brand positioning and brand awareness of Q-Mobile in Pakistan

 To critically analyze the effectiveness of the advertisement campaigns of Q-Mobile in

Pakistan

 To recommend on how Q-Mobile could alter its advertising related marketing

activities

1.3. Scope and Importance

As a student of Masters of Business Administration with specialization in Marketing, this

research paper will help in developing new skills for the researcher and strengthening previous
skills learnt during academic and professional career. The sole purpose of the study and its
importance was to gauge the current understanding levels of the researcher within the corporate
world and how the marketing functions operates within real corporate organizations.

1.4. Rationale

The core reason to undertake this research is to understand and explore how marketing and
advertisement related activities mainly including celebrity endorsements are panning out for
Q-Mobile, the largest mobile phone manufacturer & distributor in Pakistan.

1.5. Overview/Structure of Dissertation

The research to be follow has been split into seven sections which as explained as below:

 Chapter 1: Introduction

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The chapter presents a summary of the entire research paper and the sections which follow.
The chapter begins with a background of celebrity endorsements advertisements with regard
to the ‘Q-Mobile’ in Pakistan. It presents the objectives, aims, importance, scope and rationale.
In conclusion, the chapter presents a summary of the entire research paper.

 Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter highlights the theoretical background for the concept of celebrity endorsement
and brand positioning. The study will show the types of promotion mix with the analysis of
different models of advertisement. Furthermore, to talk about the impact of celebrity
endorsement in advertisements different models on effectiveness of celebrity endorsement are
discussed along with consumer’s behaviour towards the celebrity endorsement and brand
awareness.

 Chapter 3: Research Methodology

This chapter provides a discussion over the choice of research method used to undertake the
research study. It draws the comparison between the qualitative and quantitative methods and
discusses the validity and reliability of the study. Moreover, this chapter will draw attention
towards identifying research approaches, sample size, data collection.

 Chapter 4: Data Presentation and Analysis

This chapter at the beginning presents surroundings of respondents by studying their

demographic information. Analysis and findings of data, and the summary will follow this
information. In addition, analysis of all primary data will be illustrated following with tables
and charts and in the next part of this chapter all the detail findings will be discussed.

 Chapter 5: Results and Discussions

After having presented the data, this chapter will have an in-depth discussion in regard to the
findings with reference to the secondary data within the literature review and the primary data
generated by the researcher.

 Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations

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This chapter presents the summary of the entire research study. Prior to drawing the conclusion,
recommendations will be provided which shall incorporate the findings made by the researcher.

 Chapter 7: Personal Development

This chapter provides an overview of how this research paper has assisted the researcher in
enhancing his skills before stepping into the corporate world. Moreover, by the completing this
research, researcher will be able to fulfil the minimum requirements of completing his master’s
degree.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter highlights the theoretical background for the concept of celebrity endorsement
and brand positioning. Firstly, the study will show the types of promotion mix with the analysis
of different models of advertisement. Furthermore, to talk about the impact of celebrity
endorsement in advertisement different models on effectiveness of celebrity endorsement is
also discussed. Lastly, it represents the consumer behaviour towards the celebrity endorsement
and brand awareness.

2.1. Overview of Marketing:

American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as the ‘process of creating,

communicating and delivering offerings which have value for society, partners, clients and
customers’ (AMA, 2013). Marketing in general is a very broad term to use which has various
branches and sub branches. In regard to the research, the focus shall remain on marketing mix
and its sub branches; promotion mix and advertising.

2.2. Marketing Mix:

According to Kotler (2010) marketing mix refers to the controllable elements within an
organizations marketing plan which comprises of the 4P’s. These four P’s include elements
such as Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Each of the 4P’s stands for separate elements
within the marketing mix and are adjusted accordingly to find the best combination of
marketing a product or a service.

2.3. Promotion Mix:

A promotion mix is essential for every product and service as it serves as the backbone of the
marketing process (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011). Within the promotion mix, there is
coordination of various marketing activities such as sales promotions, publicity, direct
marketing, advertising and personal selling. In other words, promotion mix is a coordination
of activities which will assist an organization to engage and interact with its customers. The
figure below illustrates the elements of a promotion mix:

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 Fig 1: Elements of promotion mix
(Source: Kotler, 2010)

2.4. Advertising:
From the various elements of promotion mix, the focus shall be on advertising in regard to this
research. Advertising is a phenomenon which is well renowned globally. In order to product a
brand, a product, a service, an event or any other commodity, advertising is the most commonly
used tool (Mackay, 2005). Through the use of advertising, marketers are able to reach out to a
large number of audiences for a certain given price depending on the medium of advertising.
The basic purpose of advertising is to increase awareness amongst the target audience and to
increase awareness about the product. According to Mustafa (2005), advertising plays a great
role in influencing the customers and leaving a certain perception in their minds. According to
the Advertising Association of United Kingdom, advertising is a form of
communication/message which caters to large number of people to influence or inform people
who receive them (Solomon et al., 2014).

2.4.1. Role and Use of Advertising:

Marketers rely heavily on the use of advertising as it plays an essential role in creating
awareness and informing the target audience about the presence of the product or the service

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in the market (Till & Shimp, 2002). In order to make to make these advertisements appealing
to the audience, marketers incorporate the use of celebrities in the advertisements which is also
otherwise also known as celebrity endorsed advertisements. This has become a famous trend
to incorporate the use of celebrities from the fields of sports and entertainment in order to create
a certain position in the market place. According to the marketer’s beliefs, to become successful
in the eyes of the target audience, being able to bring a celebrity onboard along with
promotional activities, increases the chances of the product or the service doing well (Agrawal
& Wagner, 2007). As a modern day marketing strategy, rather than using non-celebrities in
advertisements, marketers now majorly rely on signing celebrities given the fact that they have
a certain marketing budget to afford bringing a celebrity onboard (Solomon et al., 2014).
Moreover, using advertising as a communication activity is more successful than using other
elements of the promotion mix.

It is essential that in order to reach out to a wide spread audience, marketers must ensure that
the celebrity matches with the perception of the product or the service in the minds of the
customers (Kathleen, 2002). If the match of the product/service does not go well along with
the celebrity, this could backfire immediately and result in various consequences for the
organization. Also, to spread knowledge and awareness, advertising must be done in a manner
which hits the nail on the head rather than putting on an advertisement just to fulfil the purpose
of advertising with no aim and objective (Mooji, 2004). In order to understand the role and use
of advertising in a better manner, various advertisement models and theories have been put
forward which shall be explored below.

2.5. Theories and Models of advertisement:

In order to increase the effectiveness of advertising, it is essential to study the various models
and theories which exist in the modern day era. These models and theories are as follows:

2.5.1. AIDA Model:

Attention

Interest

Desire
Action

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 Fig 2: AIDA model
(Source: Mackay, 2005)

The AIDA model as depicted in figure 2 above was presented by Strong in 1925. The sole
purpose of this model is to explain how the process of advertisement should function in order
to generate the maximum response (Mehta, 2004). The acronym AIDA stands for Attention,
Interest, Desire and Action. The model suggests that the advertisement in its first step should
raise attention or awareness to be able to attract the attention of the customers. In the second
step, it should be able to generate certain level of interest in the minds of the target audience.
Thirdly, the advertisement should make the target audience to desire the product which will
fulfil their needs and wants. Finally, the customer should engage in the process of purchasing
or taking action in response to viewing the advertisement (Pringle, 2004).

According to Schlecht (2003), AIDA has also received certain criticism from various
marketers. The most important criticism is that since this model was initially presented in 1925,
it lacks the ability to function effectively in today’s dynamic environment where the face of
marketing and advertising has completely transformed from the 1990s. Rather than
representing the current dynamics of advertising effectiveness, AIDA is a historical model
which could be used as an initial reference for the sole purpose of advertising (Temperley &
Tangen, 2006).

2.5.2. DAGMAR Model:

The acronym DAGMAR stands for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising
Results. This model of advertisement was presented by Russell Colley in 1961. The figure
below depicts the DAGMAR model:

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 Awareness

Comprehension

Conviction

Action

Fig 3: DAGMAR model

(Source: Mackay, 2005)

According to Till & Busler (2004) there are four basic purposes of DAGRMAR. The first
purpose is to take a customer from the state of unawareness to awareness where they become
aware about the existence of the brand, product or service. The second purpose is
comprehension whereby the customer understands what the product is and what are is offerings
and benefits. The third step is conviction which refers to convincing the customer to buy the
product or creating such an image in their minds which would want them to have the product.
The last purpose of DAGMAR is to take action which refers to making the final purchase (Till
& Busler, 2004)

Marketers need to understand that putting up an advertisement does not guarantee purchasing
(James & Ryan, 2006). In order to encourage the purchase behaviour, one must educate the
customers about the existence of the product. This would be done through the ad giving out the
message regarding what is the product being advertised. The first step of awareness is not
enough to stimulate purchasing activity as markets must then also provide information and
knowledge about their product offering. Without appropriate knowledge, a customer would not
be able comprehend what the product is offering as its features (Hackley, 2005). At this
junction, the major purpose is to provide knowledge about the uses of the products, its benefits
and its characteristics. Moreover, the most difficult process is the transition from the state of
awareness to the state of wanting to make the purchase which includes the element of
conviction. Once the conviction is successfully established through the advisement, the
customer would go and make the purchase hence fulfil the last step of action (Friedman &
Friedman, 2001).

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The criticism of DAGMAR model is that it lacks the creativity flair as it majorly focuses on
the number game of the final purchase. Moreover, the transitions of the model are difficult to
highlight as markets or advertisers do not have the time on their hand to analyze the levels of
comprehension and then to see them convert into conviction and action (Kapferer, 2004).

2.5.3. ELM Model:

The acronym ELM stands for Elaboration Likelihood Model. This model was presented by
Richard Petty and John Cacioppo in the mid 1970s (Misra, 2012). The major purpose of this
model is to explain the various ways through which information and messages are processed,
how they are being used and what are their outcomes based on the changes in attitude. In other
words, it means when someone is presented with certain level of information, some level of
elaboration occurs in their minds which makes them either accept or reject a message (Moeran,
2005). The ELM model proposes two major routes of persuasion which is the centre of this
model; the peripheral route and the central route. The figure below depicts the differences
between these two routes:

Fig 4: Central route processing & Peripheral route processing

(Source: Laferty & Ronald, 2009)

The central route processing signifies that the target audience will care more about the message
as they will pay a great deal of attention to the message being conveyed through an
advertisement (Moeran, 2005). On the contrary, the peripheral route processing signifies that
the audience pays less attention to the message being sent across but they are more influenced
by secondary factor such as the presentation, the appeal of the message, the visual, its

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credibility and enticements such as humour or food. In reference to the persuasion factor,
peripheral route processing requires continuous reinforcement of the message in comparison
to the central route processing (Moeran, 2005).

2.6. Celebrity Endorsement:

As discussed earlier, one of the most famous modern day marketing strategy is to include
celebrity in advertisements and this is done by making the celebrity endorse a certain product
which is to be advertised. Organizations across the globe are heavily involved in the process
of celebrity endorsed advertisements and the biggest examples of this could be Nike, Adidas,
Emirates, Qatar Airways etc (Till & Busler, 2011). The definition of celebrity endorsement
according to Silvera et al. (2004) is ‘any individual who has a vast public following and who
uses this following on behalf of a brand to appear for them in an advertisement’.

2.6.1. Use of Celebrity Endorsement:

Celebrities are globally renowned individuals who have put in extra ordinary efforts in their
respective fields to gain vast public following. Today, organizations are heavily involved in
the process of celebrity endorsement advertising just for the sole reason of attracting customers
who can relate to their favourite celebrity and if their favourite celebrity endorses a certain
brand, product or a service, then it is expected of the target audience of that particular to
celebrity to engage into the activity of making the purchase (Belch & Belch, 2009). Over the
years, billions of dollars have been invested for the purpose of celebrity endorsed advertisement
by multinational giant companies such as Coca Cola and Pepsi. Advertisers expect that by
signing a celebrity and making them appear with their product in an advertisement, they will
be able to catch the attention of the target audience more successfully than presenting a normal
ad with no celebrity involved in it as it would look more attractive and would appeal more
(Erdogan, 2009).

Moreover, using celebrities to endorse a product in an advertisement makes the product stand
out in the market and especially in the minds of the consumers who associate themselves a
great deal with celebrities in social context and how they carry their lifestyles (Alsmadi, 2006).
It further leads to sending out positive vibrations to the potential target audience which in return
increases the revenue from sales as awareness is created in the market along with a positive
attitude and a message within the advertisement.

2.6.2. Influence of Celebrity Endorsement:

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In terms of the influence created by celebrity endorsed advertisements, the target audience are
able to connect themselves by the lifestyle of the celebrity once they make the purchase by
falling under the influence of the advertisement (Wang et al., 2004). The most important aspect
of influence is that customers are able to recall the brand and its position in the marketplace for
a very long time in comparison to a non-celebrity advertisement. For instance, the very famous
football Cristiano Ronaldo would have a bigger and a longer impact on the target audience in
regard to endorsing a football shoe of Nike rather than Nike presenting an advertisement
without celebrity just presenting the shoe along with its special features and product offerings
(Kineta et al., 2011). The major risk in signing a celebrity with your brand is that if the celebrity
gets into a controversy, the brands associated with that particular celebrity could witness a
downfall in their sales and consumers would then want them less. Since celebrities are also
humans, they also have a life outside their careers, therefore, there are chances that they could
either maintain a very positive outlook or at some point or the other get into irrelevant
controversies which might decrease their fan following and likelihood (McGuire, 2006). Thus,
to influence the target audience, it’s essential that marketers study the celebrity before
connecting them with their brand.

2.6.3. Effect of Celebrity vs. Non- celebrity:

On the contrary, if a celebrity gets into a controversy as discussed above, it creates a negative
effective on the brand’s advertisements and other marketing activities. According to Shrimp
(2003), noted that there is no vast difference between advertisements which have celebrities
involved in comparison to non celebrity advertisements because celebrity advertisements do
not create push the purchasing intention a great deal hence resulting in nothing positive for the
organization involved. However, in contrast, Keller (2007) argued that a non-celebrity ad
cannot provide the same lifestyle, image and personality in the minds of the target audience in
comparison to that of a celebrity based advertisement. Therefore, in order to study the
differences between such advertisements, various studies have been done such as the source
attractiveness, source credibility, and match up hypothesis which shall be explored below.

2.7. Models and Theories of Celebrity Endorsement:

2.7.1. Source Credibility:

The source credibility model discusses various traits of the celebrity being contracted for
endorsement purposes. The three main features of this model include the level of attractiveness,

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the level of trustworthiness and the level of expertise (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2013). The table
below depicts source credibility model:

Attractiveness Trustworthiness Expertise

Attractive- Unattractive Trustworthy-Untrustworthy Expert-Not expert

Classy-Not classy Dependable- Undependable Experienced- Inexperienced

Beautiful-Ugly Honest-Dishonest Knowledgeable- Unknowledgeable

Elegant- Plain Reliable-Unreliable Qualified- Unqualified

Sexy-Not sexy Sincere-Insincere Skilled-Unskilled

Table 1: Endorser Credibility Scale

(Source: (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2013)

The model argues that the perfect celebrity to endorse a certain product must fulfil three basic
criteria’s; attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise levels. In terms of attractiveness, the
model talks about whether the celebrity is attractive or unattractive to their fan following, classy
or not classy, beautiful or ugly and elegant or plain. In terms of trustworthiness, the model talks
about whether the celebrity is trustworthy or not, dependable or undependable, honest or
dishonest and reliable or unreliable. This factor basically depends on the levels of ethics and
honesty. Lastly, expertise factors argue whether the celebrity is an expert or amateur,
experienced or inexperienced, knowledgeable or unknowledgeable and skilful or unskilful
(Soderlund, 2009). In regard to the target audience, the source credibility matters a great deal
to the youth and middle aged people who can connect with the mentioned three factors of the
celebrity rather than the elderly. Also, to gain the trust levels of the youth, it is difficult to find
a celebrity who can persuade and send out a positive message in the advertisement to convince
the target audience to make the purchase (Suegker, 2003).

2.7.2. Source Attractiveness:

With the ongoing global competition between celebrities regarding who gets to bag the most
brands in terms of endorsements, it is important to ensure the level of attractiveness of the
individual being endorsed (Ohanian, 2011). Patra & Datta (2012) argued that the source
attractiveness is a factor which relates to the psychological side of the target audience who are

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lured into purchasing the product if their favourite celebrity is attractive. Also, the source
attractiveness depends on three factors; likeability, familiarity and similarity. The level of
similarity refers to the similarity between the celebrity and the receiver of the message,
familiarity refers to how familiarly the receiver associates themselves with the celebrity and
likeability refers how to likeable the celebrity in perception of the receiver of the message. For
instance, David Beckham, the famous English footballer is a massive fan following not only
within the United Kingdom but also globally. Whichever product David Beckham endorses,
the likelihood of the product becoming successful are high because majority of the people find
David Beckham attractive based on the surveys done in regard to the most attractive celebrity
(Morin, 2002). Thus to create a positive impact on the customers, it is essential to make sure
that the attractiveness of the celebrity being endorsed is high.

2.7.3. Match up with product or brand:

The most essential factor of celebrity endorsed advertisements is to ensure to the level of
matchup between the product or the brand and the celebrity is high (Atkin & Block, 2007). A
brand cannot sign a celebrity for their product if the celebrity does not match with the product
offering. Marketers often want to sign the biggest and the most famous celebrities regardless
of focusing on the match up levels. Therefore, to avoid failure, marketers must strive to achieve
the perfect ‘fit’ between the product and the celebrity because it’s a must that the personality
of the celebrity must match with the image of the organization from where the brand originates
(Daneshvary & Schwer, 2000). Failing to create the perfect fit would result in desire
consequences as long term contracts with celebrities’ costs millions of dollars in advance.
Every brand or product is different in nature; similarly, every celebrity is different in nature
and personality.

2.8. Brand Awareness and Celebrity endorsement:

The sole purpose of branding is to be able to distinguish product of one company from the
product of another company. In the 21st century, branding is a necessity for marketers to focus
on because without appropriate branding, a product would get misplaced in the market place
and would soon disappear in terms of existence (Belch & Belch, 2008). Due to heavy
competition globally, each product needs to be branded accordingly so that it makes it own
standing in the market place in comparison to its competitors. For instance, in the war of smart
phones between Samsung and Apple, both manufacturers rely heavily on branding as Samsung
brands its smart phones under the name of Samsung Galaxy 4, Samsung Galaxy 5 similarly,

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Apple brands its phones with the names iPhone4, iPhone 4s, etc (McCracken, 2013). In order
to become successful in terms of branding, the name of the brand is the most important feature
along with the symbol/design of their logo.

By successfully creating a brand, its increases the level of brand awareness amongst the target
audience. Moreover, if the brand is famous in the market place and they bring a celebrity
onboard to endorse the brand, it would have a greater affect in terms of persuading the target
audience to purchase the product (Money et al., 2006). For this purpose, the marketers would
prepare an advertisement in which they would use the celebrity to promote their product and
tap onto the fan following of the celebrity who might get influenced after receiving the message
from the advertisement. Therefore, by incorporating the use of a celebrity to endorse a certain
product, the company would be able increase the chances of their product becoming a success
which will also increase the brand awareness and provide a solid ground for the brand to
compete with its competitors (Ohanian, 2009).

2.9. Consumer Behaviour towards Celebrity Endorsement:

The primary objective of this research is to identify the impact of celebrity endorsed
advertisements on brand positioning and purchase intentions. In order to do so, it is important
to study consumer behaviour. According to Sherman (2005), consumer behaviour refers to the
study of individuals, groups and organizations in regard to the process they use to select the
products which may satisfy their needs and wants and what impact this process has on the
consumers and the society at large. On the contrary, Suegker (2003) argued that it is a difficult
process to understand the purchasing process of a consumer as usually each consumer has a
dynamic behaviour in regard to their purchasing intentions.

Moreover, in order to study consumer behaviour, two factors need to kept into mind; internal
and external. The internal factors comprise of their life style, demographic factors and social
factors. On the contrary, the external factors comprise of the marketing environment,
promotions and advertising. In order to understand the process of consumer behaviour, it is
important to study consumer attitudes, consumer attention and consumer retention (Sherman,
2005).

2.9.1. Consumer Attitude:

Consumer attitude refers to how consumers behave once they have received the message from
the advertisement for a given product (Solomon et al., 2006). Usually, this entirely depends on

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the medium of advertisement from where they receive the message which will form the major
chunk of their attitude. In order to develop positive attitudes towards their brands, marketers
need to ensure that they survey the most effective mediums of advertisement of their target
audience and target them accordingly (Kambitsis et al., 2002). If a consumer hears an audio
advertisement of their favourite celebrity on radio, it might not result in a positive attitude.
However, if the same person, views the same video version of the advertisement on a television,
their attitude is more likely to be positive. Therefore, Kaikati (2005) argues that there is a
positive relation in regard to the medium of advertisement and consumer attitude. To study
consumer attitude, organizations must carry out in-depth surveys of their respective market
places to learn how they can serve their target audience in a better manner. Positive consumer
attitude is a healthy sign for an organization where as negative consumer attitude could be
dangerous for the company.

2.9.2. Consumer Attention:

In order to gain consumer attention, marketers must come up with advertisements which would
engage the attention of their target audience rather than the advertisement being ignored due to
their preferences, likeliness or busy life styles (Fill, 2002). There is a strong relation between
the psychology of consumers and celebrity endorsements. Byrne et al. (2003) argued that the
best way to gain attention of consumers is to engage more into celebrity endorsed
advertisements. The reason for is that using celebrities in an advertisements directly coincides
with the psychology of consumers. In order to measure consumer attention, there are two
factors including personal selection factors and stimulus selection factors which are explained
as follows:

2.9.2.1. Personal Selection Factors:

These factors include an individual’s basic characteristics such as interest and desire for a given
brand or a product which influences their attention. Moreover, adaption plays a major role as
one of the characteristics which leads in duration, intensity and relevance of celebrity
advertisement to attract consumer’s attention (Kahle, 2003).

2.9.2.2. Stimulus Selection factors:

These factors suggest that is mandatory for the marketer to deliver a message which is effective
in catching the attention of the target audience by having a unique colour in the message and
by displaying it on a better medium (Kahle, 2003).

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2.9.3. Customer Retention:

Consumer behaviour also includes the element of customer retention. Once the message from
the advertisement is passed onto the customer and they have made the purchase by either liking
the message from the ad or by being influenced by a certain celebrity, it is now essential for
the organization to ensure that they retain their customers for a longer period of time. Loyal
customers demand that organizations should treat them in a fair and a decent manner so that
they do not change their brand or opt for competitor’s product. There are various methods of
customer retention which marketers can incorporate in their marketing strategies to target
existing and potential customers (Homer, 2007).

2.10. Overview of Pakistan’s Market

Pakistan is a sovereign country in South Asia with a population exceeding 180 million citizens.
Decades of internal political disputes and low levels of foreign investment have led to slow
growth and underdevelopment in Pakistan. Agriculture accounts for more than one-fifth of
output and two-fifths of employment. Textiles account for most of Pakistan's export earnings,
and Pakistan's failure to expand a viable export base for other manufactures has left the country
vulnerable to shifts in world demand. During this slow growth in Pakistani’s economy, one
sector which has risen above all the challenges is Pakistan’s telecommunications sector
(Worldbank, 2014)

The Telecom sector all around the world, especially in Pakistan has experienced a tremendous
growth in the last few years. The telecom industry of Pakistan was awarded the status of
industry in 2005 and since then it has been one of the fastest growing sector in Pakistan. The
Growth of mobile market was 10% in 2012, with total 120 million subscribers registered till
June 2012. The industry registered a total mobile subscriber base of 122.127 million in March
2013, which was the strongest net addition since November 2012 (EconomyFi, 2013).

According to Business Monitor International (2014), Pakistan’s consumer electronics market

is expected to grow by an annualized average of about 13.3% to $3.3 billion by 2016. The
consumer electronics market, defined as including computing devices, mobile handsets and
audio/visual products such as television sets, is projected to be worth about $2 billion in 2013.
This is expected to increase to US$3.3bn by 2016, driven by a rising population and growing
affordability. The imports of mobile phones into the country during July-May (2012-13) were
recorded at $487 million. Moreover, mobile handset sales are expected to grow at a compound

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annualized growth rate of 13% to 32 million units in 2016, as mobile subscriber penetration
reaches 77% (EconomyFi, 2013)

2.11. Q-Mobile & Pakistan

In Pakistan’s telecommunication industry, Q-Mobile faces severe rivalry from industry giants
such as Apple & Samsung. Regardless of this ruthless competition, the organization has been
able to time and again surprise the citizens of Pakistan by signing the biggest, the most famous
and the most recognized celebrities in the South Asian Region of which majority of them
belong from India and Pakistan. This research shall be carried to study in-depth the impact
these celebrity endorsing advertisements have on the population of Pakistan especially the
youth who are the main focus of Q-Mobiles overall business strategy (Technology Times,
2014).

Pakistan, a country of 180+ million citizens, is a massive market for Q-Mobile to target by
using various marketing tools, techniques and strategies which shall yield positive and effective
results for the organization. One of these marketing efforts includes the heavy use of
advertisements on Televisions, social media, newspapers, magazines, radio, billboards, flyers
and other promotional avenues. This process of advertising is conducted by studying the
preferences and needs of their consumers and the current prevailing technology around the
globe so that it is incorporated into their handsets (Technology Times, 2014). However, it’s
necessary to analyze whether investing millions of dollars into these advertisements and
signing the biggest of celebrities who endorse their products are generating effective returns or
not in terms of appropriate brand positioning, tilting the preferences of consumers in favour of
Q-Mobile which shall affect their purchasing decisions and to the extent these advertisement
campaigns are being effective.

As mentioned earlier, Q-Mobile is the largest manufacturer and distributor of mobile handsets
in Pakistan, however, it does face competition from global competitors that have been doing
successful business in Pakistan over the years such as Apple, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG,
Google Nexus, Huawei, Oppo, G5 etc. Therefore, to catch the attention of the masses, different
advertisement campaigns are launched on a weekly basis by Q-Mobile. In addition, Q-Mobile
gives more focus on celebrity endorsement advertisement compared to its global competitors

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who do not majorly rely on celebrity endorsements as their brand positioning is already very
strong such as Apple & Samsung. This allows Q-Mobile the edge over Apple & Samsung in
Pakistan, as it has successfully managed to become the only handset brand name on every
persons tongue in Pakistan regardless of it generating positive or negative emotions and
sentiments among their potential target market.

Being the only brand name on every person’s tongue in Pakistan, it is highly imperative to
study whether Q-Mobile has been successful in introducing celebrities who endorse their
products/brands and if this has led to a positive domino effect on its brand positioning in the
industry and whether if it has successfully altered the consumer’s purchasing decisions in
favour of Q-Mobile.

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction:

This chapter describes a discussion over the choice of research method used to undertake the
research study. Subsequently, in the creation of this research the courses of action and the
procedures that have taken place have also discussed. Moreover, it also draws the comparison
between the qualitative and quantitative methods and will focused the appropriate method used
in the research study. Furthermore, it will also discuss the validity and reliability of the study.
However, the main purpose of this research is to identify the impact of celebrity endorsement
advertising on brand positioning and consumer purchasing decisions in Pakistan - Exploring
the case of Q-Mobile. To investigate and accept the best appropriate primary data collection
method to this research is the main purpose of the methodology. In the research methodology
part of this chapter will draw the attention towards identified research approaches, sample size,
data collection.

3.2. Research:

According to Burns (2004) a research is a systematic way of finding a solution to a given

problem. In addition, the Marketing Research Society defined research as the analysis and
collection of data from a given sample of individuals or organization based on their
possessions, opinions, attitudes, behaviour and characteristics.

3.3. Research Methodology:

In order to achieve the research objectives, it is very important to formulate the research
methodology (Saunders et al., 2009). The figure below labelled as the ‘Research Onion’ depicts
the elements which need to be taken into account to form an appropriate research methodology:

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 Fig 6: Research process onion
Source: Saunders et al (2009)

3.4. Research Philosophies:

According to Cooper & Schindler (2003), research philosophy refers to research paradigm
comprising of different practices and theories which assist in examining the research study.
There are three main kinds of research philosophies which are described below:

3.4.1. Positivism:

The philosophy of positivism states that the knowledge gained the observation process is only
trustworthy. Under this philosophy, the role of the researcher is limited in nature to just
interpretation and collection of data and states that the findings of the research are usually
quantifiable and observable (Sharp et al., 2002).

3.4.2. Realism

According to Wilson (2006), the philosophy of realism majorly concentrates on the beliefs and
reality which pre-exist in the environment around the researcher. Under this philosophy, there
are two sub categories; critical realism and direct realism. Critical realism is when the
researcher argues about his or her experiences from a given particular situation. On the
contrary, direct realism refers to what the researcher hears, sees and feels.

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3.4.3. Interpretivism:

According to Bell (2005), the research philosophy of interpretivism can also be referred to as
the ‘social constructionism’ in the field of management research. Under this philosophy, the
researcher takes the small sample of total population and evaluates them in great detail to
understand views and opinion of the larger population. Interpretevism works on the basis of
incorporating a specific business situation. Moreover, the philosophy is more related to the
qualitative nature of the data and follows and inductive approach (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2005).

3.4.4. Appropriateness of Approach:

In regard to this research, the research philosophy chosen would be interpretivism as its the
most appropriate philosophy based on the aims and objectives of this research which shall help
in understand the social actions and behaviour of the respondents. Also, by incorporating this
philosophy, researcher would be able to understand respondent’s behaviour towards Q-Mobile
brand positioning their purchasing intentions as a small sample of respondents would be chosen
which would allow the researcher to study the subject very closely and in great detail.

3.5. Research Approach:

According to Denzin & Lincoln (2011), in order to conduct a successful research, it is essential
to outline the research approach which shall be adopted in course of this research. There are
two kinds of research approaches which are explained below:

3.5.1. Deductive approach:

The deductive approach requires the researcher to establish a certain hypothesis which is
supposed to be tested based on the information and data collected to either confirm the
hypothesis or reject it (Tranfield, & Starkey, 2009). According to Huff & Huff (2001),
incorporating the use of deductive approach is more familiar with the quantitative nature of
data collection. Following the deductive approach, the research would initially begin with a
few valid arguments based on certain premise and would end in debate whether the given
arguments were true or false.

3.5.2. Inductive approach:

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On the contrary, inductive approach suggests that primarily, the entire data should be collected
and that data should then be used to form a certain conclusion (Gill & Johnson, 2013). In
comparison to deductive approach, inductive approach is more flexible as it does not require
any predetermined hypothesis. This approach requires that certain theories must be presented
initially to support the data findings at the later stage (Walliman, 2005). This process of
inductive approach is more suitable for researchers who are open to all kinds of conclusion
rather than having to conclude whether the material presented is true or false.

3.5.3. Appropriateness of Approach:

In regard to this search, inductive approach would be incorporated as it coincides with the
interpretivism philosophy. Moreover, the researcher would be able to provide subjective
reasoning based on the help from real life corporate organization chosen for this research
(EasterbySmith, 2003).

3.6. Research Strategies:

According to Saunders et al (2009) a research strategy refers to how the research will be
conducted or in other words, research strategy is a plan which shows how the research questions
will be answered in the following research. According to Gill & Johnson (2013), there are two
kinds of strategies; empirical and theoretical.

Empirical strategy refers to the use of experience or observation in regard to data collection
where as theoretical strategy refers to using secondary data of other writers and researcher
without getting directly involved in the process of data collection (Adams & Brace, 2007). In
regard to explore the case of Q-Mobile and understand the impact of celebrity endorsement
advertising on brand positioning and consumers purchasing decisions, the research will
incorporate the use of empirical research strategy. Empirical research strategy will enable the
researcher to demonstrate their ability to collect and analyse data.

3.7. Research Design:

The research design depicts the different stages of data collection structure. In order to collect
data, there are various methods available. The figure below depicts the research design being
incorporated by the researcher for this particular study:

Secondary Research
Stage-1

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 Primary Research
Stage-2
Stage-1

Stage-1

Face to Face Online

Questionnaires Questionnaires

Stage-3 Analysis of collected

primary data

Fig 7: Flowchart of Research Stages

(Source: Fukami, 2007)

3.8. Qualitative research and Quantitative research:

In order to present a research work, a research must decide on the nature of the research work
(Hedrick, 2004). There are two kinds of research natures which a researcher can incorporate in
their study which are explained as follows:

3.8.1. Quantitative Research:

According to Panneerselvam (2007) quantitative research method is a statistical method of

solving the research problem. This research method involves the process of data collection,
analysis and interpretation. In a research where there are multiple number of units to explore,
this method is the most appropriate option. However, if the research is subjective, quantitative
method would not be the right method to adopt to evaluate the data collection (Saunders &
Lewis, 2005).

3.8.2. Qualitative research:

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In contrast, a qualitative study incorporates the use of principles and theories which are
explored and examined in great detail to help solve the research problems (Van De Ven &
Johnson, 2006). A qualitative research is more suited in situations where statistical data is not
required to be presented to support the arguments and findings within the research. Qualitative
research would be best suited in a situation where the nature of the research is subjective.

3.8.3 Appropriateness of Approach:

In regard to this research, a mixed method approach would be used which is a blend of
quantitative and qualitative research. The qualitative data would be presented to study the
various models and theories of advertising and celebrity endorsements and quantitative data
would be used to analyse the data collected from primary research.

3.9. Data Collection Methods:

Data collection refers to the methods adopted to collect the data from the selected sample of
respondents (Shapiro, 2007). There are two types of data collections methods which are
explained below:

3.9.1. Secondary Data Collection:

According to Saunders et al. (2003), secondary data refers to the data which is readily available
to researchers as it is the data published by other researchers. In order to save time, cost and to
address the research problem immediately, the best source to go to for data collection would
be choosing the option of secondary data. However, the major limitation of secondary data is
that it may not be reliable, could be outdated, bear certain level of biasness and it may not be
authentic in terms of validation and reliability (Huff et al., 2006). Moreover, a researcher will
have no control over the process of data collection as they will have to go with the data readily
available.

For this particular study, the researcher will resort to the use of second data which shall be
sourced from different textbooks written and published by leading scholars and writers, web
based articules, e-books, journals of marketing, business communication and advertising.
Moreover, the electronic database of University of Sunderland (EBSCO) will be utilized in
search of secondary data.

3.9.2. Primary Data Collection:

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According to Gibbsons et al. (2006), primary data collection refers to collecting first hand data
by the researcher themselves. This sort of data is more reliable in nature as it is collected by
the researcher themselves based on their selected sample of respondents. There are multiple
methods of collecting primary data, however, for this particular research, the survey method
has been chosen as the best possible option by the researcher. A survey is a more organized
form of data collection which is accurate and relevant to the aims and objectives of the research.
According to Easterby-Smith et al. (2002), many research studies incorporate the use of surveys
as it has a higher rate of success in regard to collecting accurate primary data. To conduct this
survey, the researcher will draw up a questionnaire which would be distributed to the selected
sample of respondents in person. Moreover, to save time and cost, the researcher will try to get
the questionnaires filled online.

In order to collect the primary data, on behalf of the researcher, a representative in Pakistan
would directly interact with sample population. Moreover, in this research, focus will be given
especially to the youth and the young customers for whom such advertisements are aired and
celebrities are brought on board to endorse these handsets to create a certain sense of brand
positioning in minds of the target audience (In Q-mobiles case, the masses are their target
market). The questionnaires would also be posted online along with them being filled in person.
The sample size estimated is of 175 respondents.

3.9.2.1. Questionnaire:

According to Saunders et al. (2009) in marketing researches, the most commonly used tool of
primary research is a questionnaire. A questionnaire refers to a set of well formulated questions
which seek to collect response from the persons filling them out. By adopting this method, the
researcher will find it easier to collect the primary data by simply asking questions which are
easy in nature to find answers to. In regard to the questionnaire, there are multiple methods
available of carrying out a survey which are depicted in the figure below:

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 Fig 8: Types of Questionnaires
(Source: Sanders et al, 2009)

3.9.2.2. Choice of Questionnaire Distribution:

For this particular research, the researcher will make use of self administered questionnaire.
According to Tranfield & Denver (2007), self administered questionnaires do not require much
effort from the researcher as the entire questionnaire is to be filled out by the respondents in
form of questions and answers. Moreover, since the researcher will be available in person, it
would allow the researcher to collect unbiased responses. The questions to be drafted for the
questionnaire shall be linked to motivation, trust and attitude of the respondents which are all
psychological factors of celebrity endorsements in Q-Mobile’s advertisements.

3.9.2.3. Choice of Questions

For this particular research, the research will make incorporate a total of 16 questions within
the survey. Often it is noticed that respondents feel annoyed if they have to fill out long and
complicated surveys. Therefore, according to the aims and objectives of this study, the
researcher has decided to go ahead with 16 questions which are simple in nature, straight
forward and would not require much time of the respondents. The questionnaire shall begin
with asking questions regarding demographic factors and the latter part of the questionnaire
incorporates factors such as trust, motivation and attention regarding celebrity endorsed
advertisements. The concluding section of the questionnaire is designed to understand factors
regarding brand retention of Q-Mobile’s advertisements. Most importantly, all questions have
been discussed with the supervisor thoroughly.

3.10. Population and Sampling:

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 According to Starkey & Madan (2001) it is a complex task to conduct a survey of a large
population during the research process. A research must narrow down their targeted
respondents to ensure that the data generated from them is enough to express the opinions and
views of the masses. Rousseau (2006) defined sample as a certain segment which represents
the total population which is selected for the purpose of data collection.

3.10.1. Possible sampling method:

In order to decide upon the possible sampling method, a researcher has various options to
choose from. Under sampling method, there are two sub categories; probability sampling
methods and non-probability sampling methods (Saunders et al., 2009). Under probability
sampling, each unit of the total population sample gets an equal opportunity for selection with
any sampling error. On the contrary, under non-probability sampling, more chance is given to
the population rather than the random sampling. The figure below depicts the various sampling
methods:

Sampling

Probability Non-probability

Statified Multi- Self-

Systematic
random
Cluster
stage
Purposive Snowball
selction Convenience

Extreme Critical Typical

Heterogeneous Homogenous
cases Cases Cases

Fig 9: Possible sampling method

Source: Sanders et al (2009)

3.10.2. Choice of Sampling Method:

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For this particular research, the researcher has chosen convenience sampling method due to the
lack of time and budget which made probability sampling a difficult option to use. In a business
research, Hodgkinson (2001) argued that a sample size of 150-200 respondents is adequate.
Therefore, in order to maintain the appropriate standard for sampling, the researcher has chosen
a sample size of 175 respondents. However, due to certain last minute hurdles, the searcher
was only able to distribute 170 questionnaires amongst the chosen sample. This questionnaire
was also posted on the online portal www.rationalsurvey.com from where the researcher
received 10 responses. During the tabulation process, the researcher found that 7 questionnaires
were incompletely filled which were collected in person and 4 questionnaires were quit in half
when they were filled online, thus the research altogether correctly collected 159 responses.

3.10.3. Pilot study:

According to Panneerselvam (2007) a researcher must conduct a pilot study to analyze how the
respondents are responding to the survey before going ahead with the complete survey in one
go. In addition, for a pilot study, a sample number of respondents should be chosen for instance
between 10 to 30 respondents who would answer the survey.

Therefore, in this research to get the suitable results 20 questionnaires considered for the pilot
study. For the purpose of pilot testing, National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, Pakistan was
selected as the target venue, which would have helped the researcher to recognize whether
respondents are understanding the questions or not. However, the management of NCA refused
to grant permission for this questionnaire to be conducted in their institution which proved to
serve as a major hurdle as this was supposed to be the main location where the survey would
be conducted. After the refusal, the surveyor approached Lahore University of Management
Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore, Pakistan and received a green signal to conduct the survey on
their premises from the students and the teachers of the university.

Since the questionnaire was design in a straight forward manner, the pilot study faced no
trouble and all 20 questionnaires were filled out and returned accurately.

3.11. Validity and reliability:

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During the process of data collection, it is an important factor for the researcher to consider
that whether the data being collected is valid or not and whether it is reliable or not. According
to Burns (2004) ensuring data validity and reliability minimizes the chances of data analysis to
be faulty.

3.11.1. Validity:

According to Easterby-Smith et al. (2008) validity refers to the entire experimental concept
and establishes whether the results generated satisfy all of the requirements of the research
method. Validity is further divided into two parts; internal validity and external validity.
Internal validity dictates how an experimental design is constructed where as external validity
refers to the process of examining the results and questioning whether there are any other
possible causal relationships. Since the researcher was present at the venue, this avoided
collecting fraudulent data from the targeted respondents.

3.11.2. Reliability:

According to Wilson (2006) reliability refers to ensuring that the data collected is to stay
consistent over a period of time and is a true representation of the total population. Moreover,
reliability refers to consistency in gathering the same results using the similar data collection
methods.

3.12. Data Analysis:

Once the data has been collected, the next most important step is to analyze the data. In order
to get a better understanding of the data which has been generated, the results would be entered
into Microsoft Excel which would then present the data in the form of tables, graphs, pie chats
etc.

3.13. Limitations of the study:

This study had a few limitations which have been listed below:

 The major limitation of this study is that the researcher was based in London, United
Kingdom and the primary data was collected from Lahore, Pakistan. On behalf of the
researcher, researcher’s brother distributed the questionnaire to the respondents at
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

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  The major purpose of this survey was to target the youth of Pakistan and to understand
the impact of celebrity endorsed advertisements on the youth. However, the limitation
remained that the respondents were restricted to university students and primarily
middle aged teachers.

 Another limitation is online survey response was found to be slow and time consuming.

3.14. Ethical Issues:

In regard to the ethical code, no ethical codes or boundaries were trespassed and the
respondents were provided assurance that the data being collected will stay anonymous and it
is primarily being conducted by a student to fulfil the requirements of the dissertation.

Chapter Summary:

In this chapter, to conduct the primary data effectively and conveniently methodology for
research has been explained by researcher including design of research, sample size and
population, data collection method and sampling method. To understand the perception and
attitude towards celebrity endorsement and brand awareness of Q-Mobile, the primary data will
be gathered through a self-administered questionnaire. To achieve the research objectives of
this research, researcher will use Microsoft Excel to allocate and analyse the data.

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CHAPTER 4: DATA PRESENTATION & ANALYSIS
This chapter at the beginning presents surroundings of respondents by studying their
demographic information. Analysis and findings of data, and the summary will follow this
information. In addition, analysis of all primary data will be illustrated following with tables
and charts and in the next part of this chapter all the detail findings will be discussed.

4.1. Analysis of primary data:

Q.1. In which age group do you fall into?

Distribution of Age Group

80

70
Respondents

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
15 - 18 19 - 22 23 and above
Distribution of Age Group 41 73 45

Fig 9: Distribution of age group

Findings:

According to figure 9, the highest respondents belong from the age group of 19-22 having a
total of 73 respondents since majority of the focus was based on young customers. Following
this age group was the age group of 23 and above, which accounted for a total of 45
respondents. Finally, the age group of 15 to 18 accounted for 41 respondents.

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 Table 3: Distribution of Age
Age Group Respondents Percentage
15-18 41 26%
19-22 73 46%
23 and above 45 28%
Total 159 100.00

The table above summarizes the total number of respondents along with the age group they
belong to respectively. Age group of 15 to 18 accounted for 26% of the respondents; age group
of 19 to 22 accounted for 46% of the respondents and the age group of 23 and above accounted
for 28% of the total respondents.

Q.2. What is your gender?

Distribution of Gender
90
Respondents

85

80

75

70

65
Male Female
Distribution of Gender 86 73

Fig 10: Distribution of gender

Findings:

According to figure 10, from the successful 159 responses, 86 of the respondents were male
and 73 of the respondents were females.

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 Table 4: Distribution of Gender
Gender Respondents Percentage
Male 86 54%
Female 73 46%
Total 159 100.00

The table 4 above summarizes the gender distribution of the respondents. 86 of the male
respondents accounted for 54% of the total successful responses and 73 of the female
respondents accounted for 46% of the total successful responses.

Q.3. On an average, what is your budget while purchasing a smart phone?

Budget while purchasing a smart phone

80

70
Respondents

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
15000 - 25000 25000 - 45000 45000 and above
Budget while purchasing a smart
52 69 38
phone

Fig 11: Budget while purchasing a smart phone

Findings:

According to figure 11, majority of the respondents had a budget of Rs. 25000 – 45000 while
purchasing a smart phone. Followed by this budget, was the bracket of Rs. 15000 – 25000. The
budget bracket of Rs. 45000 and above had the least number of responses.

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 Table 5: Budget while purchasing a smart phone
Gender Respondents Percentage
15000 - 25000 52 33%
25000 – 45000 69 43%
45000 and above 38 24%
Total 159 100.00

The table 5 above provides a summary of the budget that the respondents consider while
purchasing a smart phone. 43% of the respondents have a budget Rs. 25000 – Rs. 45000 while
purchasing a smart phone. 33% of the respondents set aside a budget of Rs. 15000 – 25000
while purchasing a smart phone. 24% of the respondents have a budget of Rs. 45000 and above
which accounted for the least number of respondents.

Q.4. How frequently do you come across advertisements that feature celebrities?

Celebrity endorsed advertisements

140

120
Respondents

100

80

60

40

20

0
Mostly Often Rarely Never
Celebrity endorsed
123 25 11 0
advertisements

Fig 12: Celebrity endorsed advertisements

Findings:

According to figure 12, from a total of 159 respondents, 123 respondents agreed to ‘mostly’
coming across advertisements which feature celebrities. Following this, 25 respondents agreed
to ‘often’ coming across advertisements which feature celebrities. 11 respondents agreed to

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‘rarely’ coming across advertisements which feature celebrities. Finally, zero respondents
agreed to ‘never’ coming across advertisements which feature celebrities.

Table 6: Celebrity endorsed advertisements

Gender Respondents Percentage
Mostly 123 77%
Often 25 16%
Rarely 11 7%
Never 0 0%
Total 159 100.00

The table 6 above provides a summary of the respondents who expressed how often they come
across celebrity endorsed advertisements. 77% respondents agreed to mostly coming across
celebrity endorsed ads, 16% respondents agreed to often coming across celebrity endorsed ads,
7% agreed to rarely coming across celebrity endorsed ads and 0% agreed to never coming
across celebrity endorsed advertisement. This implies that the respondents at some time or the
other have come across celebrity endorsed advertisements in Pakistan.

Q.5. Which medium do you think is the most effective place for advertising?

Effective Medium of Advertising

100
90
Respondents

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Internet /
Television Magazines Social Radio
Media
Effective Medium of Advertising 93 33 26 7

Fig 13:Effective medium of advertising

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Findings:

According to figure 13, the most effective and the most popular medium of advertising amongst
the respondents is television as agreed by 93 respondents. Following television, magazine
accounted for the second most effective medium of advertising with 33 respondents agreeing
to it. Finally, internet / social media ranked in 3rd position with 26 respondents agreeing to it
and radio ranked in 4th position with 7 respondents agreeing to it as the most effective medium
of advertising.

Table 7: Effective Medium of Advertising

Gender Respondents Percentage
Television 93 59%
Magazines 33 21%
Internet / Social Media 26 16%
Radio 7 4%
Total 159 100.00

The table 7 above provides a summary of the most effective mediums for advertising.
Television (electronic media) was ranked as the most effective medium for advertising as it
accounted for 59% of the respondents agreeing to it. However, print media like magazines
accounted for 21% of the total respondents. In contrast, Wang (2002) argues that use of print
media saves cost and is mostly used by organizations that have limited or lower advertising
budgets. In addition, social media has limited impact on respondents as it only accounted for
16% of the respondents. Finally, radio only accounted for 4% of the respondents who agreed
that radio is the most effective medium of advertising.

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Q.6. What comes in your mind when you hear the name ‘Q-Mobile’?

Brand Positioning of Q-Mobile

100
Respondents 90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Brand Image / Celebrity
Quality Price
Logo Endorsements
Brand Positioning of Q-Mobile 56 89 9 5

Fig 14: Brand positioning of Q-Mobile

Findings:

According to figure 14, 89 of the total respondents agreed that when they hear the name Q-
Mobile, the first thing that comes to their mind is celebrity endorsed ads of Q-Mobile. Followed
by this, second most popular option was the brand image and the logo of the company. Since
Q-Mobile relies heavily on its marketing, the Logo of the company is present heavily across
the country on various mediums of advertisements such as electronic media, print media, social
media etc. The third ranked option was Quality followed by price as the least favourite option
which comes into the mind of the respondents when they hear the name Q-Mobile. Since Q-
Mobile handsets are manufactured in China, the quality of the handsets is not well renowned
amongst consumers.

Table 8: Brand Positioning of Q-Mobile

Gender Respondents Percentage
Brand Image / Logo 56 35%
Celebrity Endorsements 89 56%
Quality 9 6%
Price 5 3%
Total 159 100.00

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Table 8 above provides a summary of the responses provided by the respondents. 56% of the
respondents agreed to the option of celebrity endorsements, 35% agreed to having the brand
logo in their mind when they hear the name Q-Mobile, Quality was ranked third with a total of
6% respondents agreeing to it and finally, 3% of the respondents said that they think about
price when they hear the name Q-Mobile. Since majority of the advertisements of Q-Mobile
are based on the concept of celebrity endorsements, the responses received prove valid
hypothesis that hearing the name Q-Mobile, brings about their celebrity endorsed ads in the
minds of the consumers.

Q.7. Can you remember any celebrities who have been part of Q-Mobile’s advertisements?

Brand Recall
180
160
Respondents

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Yes No
Brand Recall 154 5

Fig 15: Brand Recall

Findings:

According to figure 15, the brand recall of Q-Mobile is immensely high. From the total of 159
respondents, a total of 154 respondents agreed upon remembering at least one celebrity
endorsed advertisement of Q-Mobile. The response suggests that majority of the respondents
can recall a Q-Mobile advertisement which featured a celebrity. On the contrary, 5 respondents
could not recall an advertisement of Q-Mobile which featured a celebrity.

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 Table 9: Brand Recall of Q-Mobile
Gender Respondents Percentage
Yes 154 97%
No 5 3%
Total 159 100.00

With reference to the above table, 97% of the respondents agreed to recalling Q-Mobile’s
advertisements which featured a celebrity regardless of their career or industry. This implies
that celebrity endorsed advertisements leave an impact on the minds of its customers as they
can recall at any given time, an advertisement of Q-Mobile which may have featured a
celebrity. However, 3% of the respondents could not remember any celebrity which may have
been a part of Q-Mobile’s advertisements.

Q.8. Through which media did you come to know about Q-Mobile’s advertisement? (Choose
any one please)

Media & Q-Mobile's Advertisements

1% 2%

Newspapers
24% Magazines
Posters or Hoardings
40%
Internet
9% Television
Cinema
17% Radio
7%

Fig 16: Brand Recall

Findings:

The above figure 16 presents the information regarding the media through which the 159
respondents came to know about the Q-Mobile’s advertisements. It is notable that television
has had the greatest impact in terms of Q-Mobile’s advertisements being viewed by their target

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audience with a total of 40% respondents coming across advertisements through television. In
terms of print media, newspapers have the greatest impact on the target audience with a total
of 24% respondents coming across advertisements through newspapers. Table 10 below
provides a summary of the responses provided by 159 respondents. In summary, the least
effective mediums of advertising of Q-Mobile for reaching out to its target audience were
Cinema and Radio with a combined total of 3% of the respondents.

Table 10: Media & Q-Mobile’s Advertisements

Medium Respondents Percentage
Newspapers 39 24%
Magazines 14 9%
Posters or Hoardings 27 17%
Internet 11 7%
Television 63 40%
Cinema 1 1%
Radio 4 2%

Q.9. How does Q-Mobile’s advertisement grab your attention?

Attention grabbing factors for Q-Mobile

120
Respondents

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Strong
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree
When I hear the name Q-
81 57 21 0
Mobile mentioned
If a famous celebrity is used in
113 42 4 0
advertisement

Fig 17: Attention grabbing factors for Q-Mobile

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 Table 11: Attention grabbing factors
Strongly Strongly
Factors Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Total
When I hear/see to name
Q-Mobile mentioned 81 (51%) 57 (36%) 21 (13%) 0 (0 %) 159
If a famous celebrity used 113
in advertisement (71%) 42 (27%) 4 (2%) 0 (0 %) 159

Findings:

The above figure 17 and table 11 show the respondents response regarding factors which grab
the attention of the respondents when they come across Q-Mobile’s advertisements. Researcher
used the scale of strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree to measure the factors
which strongly grab the attention of Q-Mobile’s targeted audience.

Researcher found that a total of 113 respondents ‘strongly agreed’ that their attention is grabbed
if a celebrity is used in the advertisement, 42 respondents ‘agreed’ that celebrities grab their
attention, 4 respondents ‘disagreed’ that celebrities grab their attention and 0 respondents
‘strongly disagreed’ that celebrities grab their attention.

On the contrary, researcher found that, 81 respondents ‘strongly agreed’ that the brand name
‘Q-Mobile’ grabs their attention, 57 respondents ‘agreed’ that the brand name ‘Q-Mobile’
grabs their attention, 21 respondents ‘disagreed’ that the brand name ‘Q-Mobile’ grabs their
attention and 0 respondents ‘strongly disagreed’ that the brand name ‘Q-Mobile’ grabs their
attention.

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Q.10. Are you more likely to buy a Q-Mobile product if a celebrity promoted it in an
advertisement compared to a non-celebrity advertisement?

Celebrity promotion and purchasing

intentions of respondents
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Yes No
Celebrity promotion and
purchasing intentions of 123 36
respondents

Fig 18: Celebrity Promotion and Purchasing Intentions of Respondents

Findings:

The figure 18 above shows respondents’ likability towards celebrity related advertisements
compared to non-celebrity related advertisements. Surprisingly, it is clear in the figure that 123
of respondents agreed that they are most likely to purchase a Q-Mobile handset if a celebrity
promoted it in an advertisement compared to a non-celebrity advertisement. This draws the
conclusion, that celebrity endorsed advertisements are highly effective for Q-Mobile in their
marketing promotions. On the contrary, 36 respondents disagreed to the fact that they will not
purchase a smart phone based on the fact whether the advertisements of Q-Mobile are celebrity
based or non-celebrity based.

Table 12: Celebrity promotion and purchasing intentions of respondents

Responses Respondents Percentage
Yes 123 77%
No 36 23%
Total 159 100

The table 12 above provides a summary of the responses gathered by the researcher. With the
ongoing advertisements of Q-Mobile some of which feature celebrities and some don’t, the
respondents have provided a response that 77% of them would go ahead to purchase a Q-

54 | P a g e
Mobile product if a celebrity was used in an advertisement to market the product. On the
contrary, 23% of the respondents said that they will not go ahead and purchase a Q-Mobile
product only because a celebrity was used in their advertisements. The responses gathered
proves that using a celebrity in the advertisements is an effective strategy for Q-Mobile which
alters the purchasing intentions of its targeted audience.

Q.11. If you saw your favourite celebrity endorsing another brand other than Q-Mobile you
would:

Preference towards Q-Mobile

80

70
Respondents

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Switch to the Stay with Q-
Not Sure
other brand Mobile
Preference towards Q-Mobile 49 69 41

Fig 19: Preference towards Q-Mobile

Table 13: Preference towards Q-Mobile

Preference Respondents Percentage
Switch to another brand 49 31%
Stick with Q-Mobile 69 43%
Not sure 41 26%
Total 159 100

Findings:

The figure 19 and the table 13 above represent the preference of respondents towards Q-Mobile
when they saw their favourite celebrity promote another brand, product or service. It is clear
from the responses gathered that more than 43% of the respondents will stick to Q-Mobile even
if they saw their favourite celebrity promoting another product. However, 31% of the
respondents agreed to the fact that they would switch to another brand if they saw their favour

55 | P a g e
celebrity endorsing another brand other than Q-Mobile. 26% of the respondents opted for the
option of ‘Not Sure’ as they were uncertain about the factor whether they would stick with Q-
Mobile or switch to another brand if their favourite celebrity endorsed another brand.

Q.12. I am more likely to buy a product or service if the celebrity is from the following
industry:

Industry of Celebrity
0%

26%
33% Sports
Film / Cinema
Entertainment or Music
Fashion
Others
27% 14%

Fig 20: Industry of Celebrity

Findings:

Figure 20 above indicates the percentage of respondents who are more likely to buy a product
or services if their favourite celebrity is from a particular industry. Here, researcher chooses
widely popular industry options such as sports, film and cinema, entertainment, fashion etc. It
is clear in the figure that sport industry is differentiated from other industries which has covered
the highest amount of respondents totalling to 33%.

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 Table 14: Industry of Celebrity
Industry Respondents
Sports 52
Film or Cinema 23
Entertainment 43
Fashion 41
Others 0
Total 159

In support of this finding, Kahle et al (2008) also suggested that most of the people especially
young reflect on sports persons as their role model today. In addition, fashion industry has
covered second highest respondents totalling to 26% who have shown more interest in fashion.
However, film and cinema, entertainment and other industries are considered as least preferred
industries with 14%, 27% and 0% of the respondents respectively.

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Q.13. Which of the following celebrities’ characteristics or qualities are more likely to
influence your purchasing decision based on the advertisement?

Influence of celebrity's characteristics or

qualities towards advertisement
Disagree Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

1
18
I would buy a product if I attract towards celebrity
47
93

13
20
Celebrity must match with the product or brand
53
73

57
I would not buy the product if the Celebrity was in 37
controversy 39
26

30
51
I must trust the celebrity who endorse the product
38
40

0
Celebrity must know about the products they 4
endorse 41
114

Fig 21: Influence of celebrity's characteristics or qualities towards advertisement

Findings:

Figure 20 above represents the celebrity’s characteristics or qualities which influence the
respondents to purchase Q-Mobile’s products or services or not. For this question researcher
also use Likert scale to measure how much celebrity’s characteristics or qualities influence on
respondents purchasing decisions. In addition, in this celebrity’s characteristics or qualities
researcher include four main models of celebrity endorsement like attractiveness of celebrity,
match up with product or brand, trustworthiness of celebrity and credibility of celebrity. It is
clear that 114 respondents are highly influenced by celebrity’s awareness of product in
advertisement compared to the trustworthiness of celebrity and match up with product or brand.

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Secondly, attractiveness of celebrity in advertisement and celebrity’s match up with product
and brand is considered other highly influenced qualities with 93 and 73 of the respondents
respectively.

Table 15: Influence of celebrity’s characteristics or qualities towards advertisement

Strongly Strongly
Celebrity’s Characteristics Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Total
Celebrity must know about 114
the products they endorse (72%) 41 (26%) 4 (2%) 0 (0%) 159
I must trust the celebrity who
endorse the product 40 (25%) 38 (24%) 51 (32%) 30 (19%) 159
I would not buy a product if
the celebrity was in
controversy 26 (16%) 39 (25%) 37 (23%) 57 (36%) 159
Celebrity must match with
the product or brand 73 (46%) 53 (33%) 20 (13%) 13 (8%) 159
I would buy a product if I
attract towards celebrity 93 (58%) 47 (30%) 18 (11%) 1 (1%) 159

However, 57 of the respondents are strongly disagreeing with the influence of celebrity’s
controversy. Interestingly, it is also clear that celebrity’s controversy is neutral in the mind of
the respondents meaning it is not highly influenced or less influenced to purchase of the
product. In addition, there are 51 respondents who are disagreed with the trustworthiness of
celebrity and agreed that it does not influence them more to purchase a product. On the whole,
attractiveness of celebrity, celebrity’s match up with product or brand and product awareness
of celebrity which are the main qualities strongly agreed by the respondents and play a highly
influencing part in the purchasing decision for Q-Mobile’s products.

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Q.14. If you see a celebrity, will you be able to recall the product in your mind?

Recall of Q-Mobile’s Products

Never

Rarely

Often

Mostly

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Mostly Often Rarely Never
Recall of Q-Mobile’s Products 69 41 39 10

Fig 22: Recall of Q-Mobile’s Products

Findings:

The above figure 21 indicates regarding Q-Mobile’s products being recalled in the minds of
the respondents when they see their favourite celebrity in an advertisement or during a different
junction of everyday life. It is clearly seen that 69 of respondents are saying that they have
mostly recalled Q-Mobile’s product in their mind when they saw their favourite celebrity in an
advertisement.

Table 16: Recall of Q-Mobile’s Products

Time for
recalled Respondents Percentage
Mostly 69 43
Often 41 26
Rarely 39 25
Never 10 6
Total 159 100

However, table 16 above indicates that 10 of the respondents were never able to recall the Q-
Mobile product while 39 and 41 of the respondents have rarely and often recalled the product
in their minds respectively after seeing the celebrity in an advertisement.

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Q.15. Which factors are important for Q-Mobile to retain their customers?

140

120

100

Highly Important
80
Important
60 Neutral
Less Important
40
Not Important

20

0
Reasonable Price Good Taste Celebrity Good Service
Endorsements

Fig 23: Important factors for retaining Q-Mobile customers

Findings:

Figure 22 above shows the importance of the factors which help Q-Mobile to create long term
relationships with their customers and retain them. Researcher considered main four factors
which are a reasonable price of the product, a good taste, use of celebrity in advertisements and
last but not the least, a good service to the customers. It is clearly seen that there are 119
respondents who considered a good service as a highly important factor than other three factors
because Efraim and Turban (2010) noted that to retain customers for the longer period of time,
good customer service is the most important factor. Other 95 and 97 respondents considered
price and taste as secondly and third highly important factors.

Table 17: Important factors for retaining Q-Mobile customers

Highly Less Not
Retention Factors Important Important Neutral Important Important Total
A reasonable price 95 (60%) 59 (37%) 5 (3%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 159
A good taste 97 (61%) 43 (27%) 19 (12%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 159
Celebrity endorser in 39
advertisement 79 (50%) (25.00%) 16 (10%) 12 (8%) 13 (8%) 159
Good service 119 (75%) 27 (17%) 13 (8%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 159

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However, it is also seen that use of celebrity in the advertisement also considered as less or not
important by 12 and 13 respondents respectively. Some of the respondents also considered
these all four factors as neutral. On the whole, most of the respondents considered three factors
like reasonable price, a good taste and good service as highly important to retain Q-Mobile’s
customers for a longer period of time.

Q.16. Do you think celebrity endorsements work as an effective tool of persuasion in

Pakistan?

Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsements in

Pakistan
120

100
Respondents

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Strong
Agree Disagree
Agree Disagree
Effectiveness of Celebrity
112 36 8 3
Endorsements in Pakistan

Fig 24: Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsements in Pakistan

Findings:

According to the research gathered by the researcher, the figure 23 depicts the responses
received from the 159 respondents. In order to determine the effectiveness of celebrity
endorsements in Pakistan, the researcher provided four options of strongly agree, agree,
disagree and strongly disagree. 112 respondents ‘strongly agreed’ that having a celebrity
endorse your brand is an effective measure of marketing. Similarly, 36 other respondents
agreed to this fact. On the contrary, 8 respondents have different opinions as they disagreed
with this fact and 3 strongly disagreed.

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 Table 18: Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsements in Pakistan
Preference Respondents Percentage
Strong Agree 112 70%
Agree 36 23%
Disagree 8 5%
Strongly Disagree 3 2%
Total 159 100

The table 18 above provides the summary of the responses received. A total of 93% respondents
strongly agreed and agreed to the fact that celebrity endorsement is an effective measure of
marketing in Pakistan. On the contrary, 7% respondents had different opinion as they disagreed
to this fact.

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CHAPTER 5: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
After having presented the data, this chapter provide an in-depth discussion in regard to the
findings with reference to the secondary data within the literature review and the primary data
generated by the researcher.

5.1. Advertising and Q-Mobile

As discussed earlier within the literature review, advertising plays an important role as a part
of decision making process because it helps consumers to learn about the products and their
availability in the market (Green, 2006). Celebrity endorsement advertising is becoming a
significant way to create a certain brand position in the minds of the customers. Q-Mobile,
Pakistan’s largest smart phone manufacturer relies heavily on celebrity endorsement
advertisements. After every week or two, Q-Mobile releases a new advertisement featuring a
new celebrity from Pakistan or one who is internationally renowned. In order to assess the use
of celebrity endorsement advertisements in Pakistan, from the surveyed respondents, 77%
agreed to mostly coming across celebrity endorsed advertisements while the option ‘never’
fetched 0% responses which goes onto proves the heavy usage of celebrity endorsed
advertisements in Pakistan as a whole and Q-Mobile in particular.

In terms of the findings, the AIDA model of advertising is very much applicable to the case of
Q-Mobile. AIDA model suggests that advertising first draws attention, creates an interest,
appeals as desirable and finally requires action to be taken. Similarly in the case of Q-Mobile,
when questioned, 77% of the respondents agreed that they are most likely to purchase a Q-
Mobile product if a celebrity promoted it rather than a non-celebrity. For Q-Mobile, in order to
draw ‘attention’ of the customer, they use celebrities endorsing the product rather than an ad
with a non-celebrity. Since majority of the respondents have at some time or the other viewed
ads of Q-Mobile, this will induce the process of building ‘interest’ in the minds of the target
customers. Following attention and interest, the process would automatically build the ‘desire’
within the customer to purchase the product which would initiate the last step of the AIDA
model ‘action’ which refers to the customer making the purchase. This entire chain of AIDA
can also be classified as a ‘Domino Effect’ where one step leads to another and finally to
purchase of the product. In this regard, the effectiveness of the advertisement campaigns of Q-
Mobile in Pakistan could be classified as ‘high’.

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Moreover, another model of advertising is DAGMAR which was previously discussed in the
literature review. DARMAR model suggests that an organization must create awareness,
provide comprehension about the product/service, initiate conviction to purchase and finally
lead to action of purchase. In order to assess the effectiveness of this model in regard to Q-
Mobile’s case, the respondents were first asked regarding which is the most effective medium
of advertising to assess which is the best medium to create ‘awareness’. 59% of the respondents
agreed to television as their choice followed by 21% agreeing to magazines as their second
favourite choice.

Upon asking this, the respondents were then asked regarding the medium through which they
came across Q-Mobile’s advertisements. In response to this, 40% of the respondents agreed to
the option of television, followed by 33% agreeing to newspapers and magazines combined.
With combined total of 77%, this proves that Q-Mobile is hitting the nail on the head in regard
to opting for the best medium to reach out to its potential customers to create ‘awareness’ for
its latest products. After creating awareness through the correct channels, the celebrity and the
non-celebrity advertisements then narrate the features of the smart phones which fulfil the
purpose of ‘comprehension’ by educating their potential customers in regard to the features
which their smart phones offer. For the purpose of ‘conviction’ and ‘action’, Q-Mobile
incorporates the heavy use of celebrities which is supported by primary data findings that 77%
of the respondents would purchase a Q-Mobile product if a celebrity promoted it.

5.2. Awareness of Q-Mobile

In this research the researcher has studied impact of celebrity endorsement advertisement on
brand positioning and its effect on customer purchasing intentions for the smart phone brand
‘Q-Mobile’ in Pakistan. In the research the main focus was given to the young customers aged
between 15–23 and above because celebrity’s lifestyle and behaviour mostly influence the
youth in their everyday life. During the research, researcher found significant results about
respondent’s behaviour and their purchasing intentions which are influenced by celebrity
endorsement advertisements. Firstly, researcher found that 97% of the respondents were able
to recall Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsement advertisements because most of the respondents
have seen the Q-Mobile’s advertisements through electronic media like TV and internet.

5.3. Attention Grabbing Factors

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When asked to the respondents regarding which factor highly influenced them in grabbing
their attention towards Q-Mobile’s advertisements, more than 71% and 27% of the respondents
strongly agreed and agreed that use of celebrity in the advertisements had had an influence in
grabbing their attention respectively. Similarly, in the study of Robert (2009) found that more
than 60% of the respondents are influenced by celebrity advertisement. In contrast, only 2% of
the respondents disagreed that celebrity endorsement does not highly influence them in
grabbing their attention towards Q-Mobile’s advertisements. Furthermore, 33% of the
respondents stated that they want to see the celebrities from the sports industry which would
attract and appeal to them more. It is also notable that most of the young people have highly
recognized sports person as their favourite celebrity in the world (Mintel, 2010). In the next
research question it was asked by researcher that which qualities or characteristics of the
celebrity influences the respondents purchasing intention towards
Q-Mobile, 72% of the respondents strongly agreed that the celebrity must know about the
products (product awareness). Similarly, Mintel (2009) also found in his study that more than
60% of the respondents also agreed that before endorsing any product celebrity must have
certain knowledge or know how about it.

5.4. Brand Positioning and Purchase Intentions

Moreover, it is also found in the research that most of the respondents memorize the Q-
Mobile’s celebrity advertisements as respondents were mostly able to recall Q-Mobile’s
products when they saw celebrity in the advertisement. On the other side, only 6% of the
respondents were never able to recall Q-Mobile’s products. In addition, to make the study more
interesting researcher also asked the respondents that if they saw their favourite celebrity
endorse another product or brand would they stick with same brand or not. Surprisingly, this
research found that almost 43% of the respondents would stick with Q-Mobile and won’t
change their purchasing intention while 31% of the respondents will not stick with Q-Mobile
when they see their favourite celebrity endorsing another brand or product. It is also found in
this research that most of the respondents considered good service, reasonable price and quality
of product as highly important factors to hold them for the long period of time with Q-Mobile.
However, use of celebrity in the advertisements is not considered as the only important factor
to retain respondents compared to those other three factors in case of Q-Mobile’s customer
retention policies.

Chapter Summary:

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In summary, this chapter enabled the researcher to achieve the research objectives through
primary research. This data in this chapter has been identified, analysed and all the findings of
that primary data have been discussed in thorough detail. Most of the respondents considered
Q-Mobile’s use of celebrities in advertisements as the most influencing factor compared to the
brand name itself and mostly important to grab their attention towards advertisement but this
does not play an important role in retaining them. Lastly, researcher found positive and
interesting results regarding celebrity endorsement of Q-Mobile on the whole.

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1. Introduction

A summary of whole study results will be provided in this chapter. In addition, a quick look at
the main findings of this study will be looked at which will provide some new, valuable and
interesting results that shall open a new path for further study in same field. In the next part of
this chapter, recommendations will be provided which shall highlight the research findings and
limitations of the entire study will be presented respectively.

6.2. Conclusion

Firstly, this research aims to identify Q-Mobile’s use of celebrity endorsements which effects
the brand positioning and purchasing behaviour of their customers. The main focus has been
given to the young people of age group between 15 - 23 and above who are the long-time
customers for Q-Mobile. Therefore, in the literature review section of this research, various
models and theories about advertisement, Celebrity endorsement and Consumer behaviour
have been discussed to recognize the research area. In addition, to gather primary data from
targeted people, similar research methodology had been drafted which allowed the researcher
to collect all the primary data which later was thoroughly analysed and various outcomes
regarding Q-Mobile’s use of celebrity endorsement in advertisements were highlighted in the
end. Moreover, researcher found that use of celebrity endorsement in the advertisements
creates a positive effect which in turn attracts the targeted audience.

6.2.1. Influence of Celebrity Endorsement on respondents

In addition, a key result found that the Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsement has a great influence
on the young people and use of celebrities in advertisements mostly grabs their attention
towards Q-Mobile. In contrast, study also found that use of celebrity advertisements are lesser
important or not an important factor for Q-Mobile to retain their customers for longer period
of time compared to reasonable price, good customer service and taste of the products.
Similarly, to keep long term relationships with any company, more than 50% of the people
look for better prices and more than 30% of the people look for the excellent customer service
(Mintel, 2012). With the help of various advertising mediums, Q-Mobile was successful in
reaching out to its targeted audience because most of the audience was aware about Q-Mobile’s
celebrity endorsed advertisements as found in the research. Furthermore, majority of the

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respondents wanted sports persons as their favourite celebrity in the advertisements because of
their lifestyles, passion and patriotism about Pakistan.

6.2.2. Consumers Attitude towards Q-Mobile celebrity endorsement advertisement

Moreover, most of the targeted audience is looking more for celebrity’s awareness about the
product and attractiveness of celebrity rather than celebrity match up with products or service
and trustworthiness of celebrity. Celebrity’s product awareness and their presence in the
advertisements make people to become more familiar with the products as found in this
research. Moreover, it is clear that use of Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsement advertisement
impacts positively on people’s attitudes towards product or service and brand name and
changes their purchase intentions. Significantly, most of the people memorized the Q-Mobile’s
celebrity advertisements and Q-Mobile the brand itself as they also mostly recalled in their
mind because of the presence of their favourite celebrity in the advertisement. One of the
surprising results also found that most of the customers will stick with the Q-Mobile brand
even if they see their favourite celebrity endorse another brand or product and keep long term
relationship with the company.

6.2.3. Positioning of Q-Mobile brand

Lastly, from the research finding, it is clear that celebrity endorsements have the capability to
be extremely successful to Q-Mobile by looking at its implementation. If celebrity is used
effectively in the advertisement, Q-Mobile can create a valuable brand position and name. Most
importantly, this research found that most of the customers will not change their purchasing
intentions because of celebrity’s controversies. However, these controversies might damage
the image of Q-Mobile. Also, Q-Mobile has a positive image and is accepted amongst its
targeted audience with great popularity today and continuing with this might remain as a
successful marketing strategy in the future.

6.3. Recommendation

In this part, some recommendations would be presented which might be feasible for Q-Mobile
to implement:

6.3.1. Increasing the purchasing intention of customer

As in this research, the focus is on young aged people, adults and old age group of people may
also have certain influence or an impact through the use of Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsement

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advertisements. Furthermore, brand awareness of people especially young through Q-Mobile’s
celebrity endorsement advertisement and impact on their purchasing intention has been covered
in this research, but it is recommended that study will be precise in terms of one particular
effective celebrity advertisement in future. Therefore, researcher could be effective in terms of
focusing on old age group people and differentiate celebrity advertisement and non-celebrity
advertisement of Q-Mobile because researcher found some excellent results from this age
group but needs more depth analysis which will get some interesting results.

6.3.2. Increase of Attractiveness, trustworthiness and credibility of celebrity

Thomson (2006) argued that celebrities must be managed professionally as they are considered
as human brand. Moreover, company should have to take a care at the time of existing and
future endorsement contract. As studied in this research consumer’s awareness of the
celebrity’s attractiveness, trustworthiness and credibility can be decreased because of the
poorly endorsed brand. Therefore, these are the measurement to develop the overall brand
image of celebrity and increase the trust among the customers and company.

6.3.3. Increase brand awareness

From the study it can be inferred that if Q-Mobile attempts proper execution and pay more
attention to the thought of celebrity endorsed advertising then the message can’t go in wrong
direction and would enhance the awareness and product sales. Therefore, by doing so, Q-
Mobile will be able to increase its brand awareness strongly across Pakistan.

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CHAPTER 7: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
As a student of Masters in Business Administration, undertaking this dissertation has been an
enriching experience for me. The word ‘dissertation’ may sound as a small task but the work
and time undergone in completing this dissertation successfully may do justice to the overall
mark. Having prepared various assignments and having appeared for various examinations
during my undergraduate and graduate program, the journey of completing this dissertation has
absolutely been inspiring.

Prior to explaining the journey of this dissertation, I would most sincerely like to thank my
supervisor Mr. Thorben Haenel. Without his input, suggestions, experience and knowledge,
completing this dissertation would’ve been a daunting and a horrifying task. I would like to
extend my wishes and gratitude to Mr. Thorben for his uncompromised support for the last four
to five months. I am also very much thankful to him for meeting with me after every two weeks
to monitor the progress of this dissertation and to advise on the way forward. As a student, I
most certainly hope that I have fulfilled all expectations which Mr. Thorben had of me. On the
whole, my experience with Mr. Thorben is one that I shall cherish in the years to come.

Prior to the submission of the proposal for the dissertation, I was stuck in a major dilemma to
finalize my topic for the dissertation. After finalizing the best two options, I asked for my
supervisor’s opinion after which we agreed to go ahead with studying the impact of celebrity
endorsement advertising on brand positioning and consumer purchasing decisions in Pakistan
using the smart phone giant ‘Q-Mobile’. This topic was perfectly suited for my career in the
future as I intend on working as a brand manager in a multinational organization in Pakistan in
the years to come.

During the preparation of the literature review, studying different types of concepts, models
and theories helped me a great deal to understand the world of advertising and how the process
of celebrity endorsed advertisements functions. By studying these in greater depth, I was able
to identify the research aims and objectives for my research which would help me later in my
corporate career. In addition to studying the literature review, the biggest task was to decide
upon the research methodology and to undertake primary researcher. Since this research was
supposed to take place majorly amongst the youth of Pakistan, I had no other option but to send
out a questionnaire to my brother in Pakistan to whom I had sincerely requested to visit a
university in our home city (Lahore) and get the questionnaire filled by the sample population.

71 | P a g e
Once I overcame this hurdle, it was an enriching experience to understand, evaluate and
analyze the first hand data which I had generated for my own survey. Also, I felt great in
understanding the responses and the attitudes of the respondents towards the brand Q-Mobile
and how well they had responded to the questionnaire. Once the data was received and was
being tabulated via Microsoft Excel, things automatically started taking shape in regard to
achieving the objectives of this dissertation which have been presented in the form of tables
and charts in the main body.

In conclusion, completing this dissertation had transformed my view about the corporate world
and how marketing function of organizations operates through the use of celebrity endorsed
advertisements. The major learning of this dissertation for me has been that once you decide
upon an objective, you need to identify your target market and solely focus on that particular
set of customers which would yield you the best results. Once again, I would like to thank Mr.
Thorben and everyone else who given me strength and the motivation to complete this
dissertation successfully on time.

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 APPENDIX # 1
PGBM73 MBA DISSERTATION MODULE – Assessment 1

PROJECT PROPOSAL- 20% of Final Dissertation Module Mark

Candidate Name: Syed Hassan Sajjad Bokhari

Study Centre: University of Sunderland (London Campus)

Enrolment Date: 28/04/14 Registration number: 119066386

Project Title: The impact of celebrity endorsement advertising on brand positioning

and consumer purchasing decisions in Pakistan - Exploring the case
of Q-Mobile.

Hand in Date: 14/10/14

Project Background:

Rationale for selection – importance and potential impact of the strategic project for an organisation or
business sector.

The core reason to undertake this research is to understand and explore how marketing and advertisement related
activities mainly including celebrity endorsements are panning out for Q-Mobile, the largest mobile phone
manufacturer & distributor in Pakistan. Q-Mobile since its inception has solely focused on mass marketing and
has incorporated the use of heavy celebrity endorsements as a part of their marketing campaign (Q-Mobile,
2014). Q-Mobile creates attractive and interesting advertisements that helps in seeking consumer’s attention
and assists in establishing its brand in the market and to lay down a firm stance in the mobile manufacturing
industry of Pakistan.

In Pakistan’s telecommunication industry, Q-Mobile faces severe rivalry from industry giants such as Apple &
Samsung. Regardless of this ruthless competition, the organization has been able to time and again surprise the
citizens of Pakistan by signing the biggest, the most famous and the most recognized celebrities in the South
Asian Region of which majority of them belong from India and Pakistan. This research shall be carried to study
in-depth the impact these celebrity endorsing advertisements have on the population of Pakistan especially the
youth who are the main focus of Q-Mobiles overall business strategy (Technology Times, 2014). Moreover, the
centre focus of the dissertation shall solely remain on exploring the impact of Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsement

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on its brand positioning and on the purchasing decision of their consumers. The entire research would be carried
out in the Pakistani market which is the sole territory of existence for Q-Mobile as it yet to launch itself globally.
Thus, the sole customers during the research will be Pakistani customers.

Pakistan, a country of 180+ million citizens, is a massive market for Q-Mobile to target by using various
marketing tools, techniques and strategies which shall yield positive and effective results for the organization.
One of these marketing efforts includes the heavy use of advertisements on Televisions, social media,
newspapers, magazines, radio, billboards, flyers and other promotional avenues. This process of advertising is
conducted by studying the preferences and needs of their consumers and the current prevailing technology
around the globe so that it is incorporated into their handsets (Technology Times, 2014). However, it’s necessary
to analyze whether investing millions of dollars into these advertisements and signing the biggest of celebrities
who endorse their products are generating effective returns or not in terms of appropriate brand positioning,
tilting the preferences of consumers in favour of Q-Mobile which shall affect their purchasing decisions and to
the extent these advertisement campaigns are being effective.

Celebrity endorsement in Q-Mobiles advertisements does not guarantee a successful result as it could either
have a positive or a negative impact on the minds of customers. Therefore, this study shall help us assess the
brand awareness of Q-Mobile in Pakistan regarding whether the citizens of Pakistan are aware of such
celebrities endorsing the products of Q-Mobile and the existence of Q-Mobile on the whole itself as the largest
manufacturer and distributor of mobile handsets in the Pakistani consumer product market.

As mentioned earlier, Q-Mobile is the largest manufacturer and distributor of mobile handsets in Pakistan,
however, it does face competition from global competitors that have been doing successful business in Pakistan
over the years such as Apple, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Google Nexus, Huawei, Oppo, G5 etc. Therefore,
to catch the attention of the masses, different advertisement campaigns are launched on a weekly basis by Q-
Mobile. In addition, Q-Mobile gives more focus on celebrity endorsement advertisement compared to its global
competitors who do not majorly rely on celebrity endorsements as their brand positioning is already very strong
such as Apple & Samsung. This allows Q-Mobile the edge over Apple & Samsung in Pakistan, as it has
successfully managed to become the only handset brand name on every persons tongue in Pakistan regardless
of it generating positive or negative emotions and sentiments among their potential target market.

Being the only brand name on every person’s tongue in Pakistan, it is highly imperative to study whether Q-
Mobile has been successful in introducing celebrities who endorse their products/brands and if this has led to a

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positive domino effect on its brand positioning in the industry and whether if it has successfully altered the
consumer’s purchasing decisions in favour of Q-Mobile.

The researcher’s career interest lies in the field of marketing and branding in the telecommunication
sector/industry of Pakistan and to sharpen the individual profile and be able to portray a greater understanding
of the industry, this study is being conducted as a dissertation project.

Literature Review:

Identification of the key aspects of the business literature (e.g service quality) to be underpin the study.
This review should briefly cover the main ideas and business practice that will be considered. It should
locate a sample of the some of the main sources and identify key critical issues that might arise.

Pakistan is a sovereign country in South Asia with a population exceeding 180 million citizens. Decades of
internal political disputes and low levels of foreign investment have led to slow growth and underdevelopment
in Pakistan. Agriculture accounts for more than one-fifth of output and two-fifths of employment. Textiles
account for most of Pakistan's export earnings, and Pakistan's failure to expand a viable export base for other
manufactures has left the country vulnerable to shifts in world demand. During this slow growth in Pakistani’s
economy, one sector which has risen above all the challenges is Pakistan’s telecommunications sector
(Worldbank, 2014)

The Telecom sector all around the world, especially in Pakistan has experienced a tremendous growth in the
last few years. The telecom industry of Pakistan was awarded the status of industry in 2005 and since then it
has been one of the fastest growing sector in Pakistan. The Growth of mobile market was 10% in 2012, with
total 120 million subscribers registered till June 2012. The industry registered a total mobile subscriber base of
122.127 million in March 2013, which was the strongest net addition since November 2012 (EconomyFi, 2013).

According to Business Monitor International (2014), Pakistan’s consumer electronics market is expected to
grow by an annualized average of about 13.3% to $3.3 billion by 2016. The consumer electronics market,
defined as including computing devices, mobile handsets and audio/visual products such as television sets, is
projected to be worth about $2 billion in 2013. This is expected to increase to US$3.3bn by 2016, driven by a
rising population and growing affordability. The imports of mobile phones into the country during July-May
(2012-13) were recorded at $487 million. Moreover, mobile handset sales are expected to grow at a compound

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annualized growth rate of 13% to 32 million units in 2016, as mobile subscriber penetration reaches 77%
(EconomyFi, 2013)

In today’s competitive market environment, companies try to stand out in the industry through the use of
effective advertisements. The major problem for companies is the high cost of advertisements which serves as
a barrier against setting a certain brand position in the industry. Similarly, most businesses use creative
advertisements as one of the modern day marketing strategy to promote their brands and products to their target
market (Adams & Brace, 2007). According to Alsmadi (2006), this strategy enforces the need to introduce the
concept of celebrity endorsements and has over the past few decades become one of the most efficient ways to
create a certain brand position and image in view of their customers. The modern expansion in media technology
has forced the concept of using celebrity endorsements in business advertisements and this trend has been
adopted by largest organizations across the globe. In addition, celebrities are recognized clearly for their extra
efforts to appear in advertisements and this strategy helps the company to connect with its potential and current
customers (Alsmadi, 2006).

According to Mehta (1994), use of celebrity endorsement in advertisements also creates the brand awareness
and positioning and it also has positive impact on consumers’ mind while purchasing the product. Similarly,
one of the reasons of using celebrity in advertisement generates its potentiality to create awareness, positive
attitudes towards their advertising and brand. In addition, celebrities are known as a dominated tool in
communication and are a more effective model and campaign in relation to company (Mehta, 1994).

Celebrity endorsement also has great impact on brand positioning and brand awareness of company. Therefore,
it is necessary for the business firm to send an effective message or quality advertisement to their customers
(Pringle, 2004). Celebrity endorsements enhance the brand image in the customers mind. To measure the brand
awareness, brand recall is the common way (Seubert et al., 2001). Use of celebrities directly creates visual
images in the mind of the consumers and they recall the brand. More advertisements are recalled by consumers
when their attitude is favourable towards celebrity endorsement.

Presently, the youth in Pakistan is considered as the future potential target market who have their own icons
from various fields such as movies, music and sports from whom they seek inspiration and try to adopt their
image and lifestyle. This creates a positive brand image in their minds once their favourite celebrity endorses a
certain product and the consumer in their mind is forced to purchase the brands products. Similarly, advertisers
try to create a relationship between their brands and the lifestyle of the celebrity who comes on board. Moreover,

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according to Solomon et al., (1994), brand positioning and brand awareness are correlated, therefore,
advertisements have a valuable impact on purchasing decisions of consumers and it also recalls the brand in
their minds by seeing their icon celebrity in advertisements.

Objectives:

Identify 3-4 objective outcomes from the project in terms of what the project seeks to achieve for the
organisation or business sector. These objectives should reflect outputs not tasks to be completed and
should emphasise the areas for improvement to business performance the project will concentrate on.

I. To determine the impact of celebrity endorsement advertisements on consumers’ purchasing

decisions and brand positioning of Q-Mobile
II. To assess the brand positioning and brand awareness of Q-Mobile in Pakistan
II. To critically analyze the effectiveness of the advertisement campaigns of Q-Mobile in Pakistan
IV. To recommend on how Q-Mobile could alter its advertising related marketing activities

Methodology:

Candidates should include a brief statement as to what they consider the main methods of primary and
secondary research are likely to be the most useful to achieving the project outcomes.

Following depicted is the ‘research onion model’ which illustrates the different phases which need to be
addressed in order to provide an appropriate research project.

Source: (Saunders et al., 2008)

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(I) Type of Research

According to Partington (2002), there are two main categories of research types; Quantitative and Qualitative.
Quantitative research involves data collection, analysis and interpretation. It is mainly a statistical analysis
method to solve the research problem. In contrary, qualitative research incorporates the use of theories,
principles to examine and analyse and review situations which involve human judgements in order to reach a
conclusion (Silverman, 2004).

In regard to this project, the research nature would be qualitative. In order to support the primary data being
generated, various theories and models of advertisement would be incorporated such as ELM Model, DAGMAR
Model and AIDA Model.

(II) Research Strategies

In general, research strategy means how research is done. Similarly, Panneerselvam (2007) defined a research
strategy as a common plan which aims at how research questions will be answered by researcher in research.

Choice of Research Strategy

According to Gill & Johnson (2002), in practice, two general research strategies are adopted; theoretical and
empirical. Theoretical research strategy is based on the use of writings of others usually without any direct
involvement in observation or behaviour and collection of actual evidence. On the contrary, empirical research
strategy includes the use of observation of, or experience with, a particular event to collect data. In order to
explore the case of Q-Mobile and understand the impact of celebrity endorsement advertising on brand
positioning and consumers purchasing decisions, the research will incorporate the use of empirical research
strategy. Empirical research strategy will enable the researcher to demonstrate their ability to collect and analyse
data.

For this research study, survey method has been chosen as the most viable option by the researcher. Survey
method involves organized marketing problems, accuracy, relevance and less cost and time that shall be spent
by the researcher (Jancowitz, 1991). According to Johns & LeeRoss (1998), in many research studies, more
focus has been given on the survey method and it is highly used with 20% response rate which is higher than

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any other research method. To collect accurate and reliable data researcher will use face to face questionnaires.
In addition, to save cost and time online questionnaire shall also be used.

(III) Research Philosophy

According to Tuckman (1978), research philosophy can be defined as the development of the research
background, research knowledge and its nature. A research philosophy contains important assumptions about
the way in which the researcher views the world. According to the research onion model, there are four major
philosophies which can be incorporated into a research project; Positivism, Realism, Interpretivism and
Pragmatism (Saunders et al., 2008).

Positivism as a philosophy adheres to the view that only “factual” knowledge gained through observation (the
senses), including measurement, is trustworthy. In positivism studies, the role of the researcher is limited to
data collection and interpretation through objective approach and the research findings are usually observable
and quantifiable (Sharp et al., 2002).

According to Rudestam et al., (2001), realism as a research philosophy mainly concentrates on the reality and
beliefs that already exist in the environment. In this philosophical approach, there are two main sub-categories;
direct and critical realism. Direct reality means, what an individual feels, sees, hears, etc. In contrary, critical
realism, an individual argues about their experiences for a particular situation.

Interpretivism can be referred as the Social Constructionism in the field of management research. With the help
of this philosophy, researchers focus on highlighting the real facts and figures according to the research problem.
This kind of philosophical approach understands a specific business situation. In this approach, researchers use
a small sample and evaluate them in detail to understand the views of larger population. This view is usually
referred to as the qualitative approach and is based on an inductive procedure (Remenyi et al., 1998).

Pragmatism is concerned with action and change and the interplay between knowledge and action. This makes
it appropriate as a basis for research approaches intervening into the world and not merely observing the world
(Remenyi et al., 1998).

However, for this research project, interpretivism approach shall be chosen as it a more appropriate philosophy
based on the objectives of this research and it shall assist in understanding behaviour and social actions of

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customers. At the same time, to estimate customer’s behaviour towards Q-Mobile’s celebrity endorsements, the
researcher will get a better chance to achieve the conclusion through interpretivism. Moreover, interpretivism
is more suited to this research as a small sample size would be chosen to carry out this study and it allows the
researcher to study the subject very closely and in great detail.

(IV) Research Approaches

According to Phillips (1984), in order to support the process of methodology description, it is essential to follow
the research paradigm with appropriate research approach. There are mainly two kinds of research approaches;
deductive and inductive.

Deductive research approach allows the researcher to establish a hypothesis by using theory. Variety of data
and information is collected by the researcher to confirm or reject the hypothesis. Inductive research is a more
flexible approach because there is no requirement of pre-determined theory to collect data and information. The
researcher uses the observed data and facts to reach at tentative hypothesis and defines a theory as per the
research problem (Bell, 2005).

In order to take this research project forward, inductive research approach shall be incorporated as it is highly
associated with the interpretivism philosophy and would provide an appropriate synchronization to the entire
research methodology of this project. Inductive approach would also allow the researcher to provide subjective
reasoning with the help of various real life examples (EasterbySmith, 2003).

(V) Data Collection Method

Primary Data

In order to collect the primary data, on behalf of the researcher, a representative in Pakistan would directly
interact with sample population. For this research project, the major tool of primary data would be a survey
questionnaire which shall be subjective in nature to support the qualitative aspect of the project. This
questionnaire will be of major assistance to provide valid reasons in regard to the research objectives. Moreover,
the research will incorporate other primary methods such as interviews with the retailers. This will assist in
identifying the extent of impact that celebrity endorsements have on brand positioning and consumers
purchasing decisions as retailers interact with customers on a day to day basis and would support in identifying

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whether customers walk-in wanting to purchase a certain brand or a product which a celebrity may have
endorsed in Q-Mobile’s advertisements.

Moreover, in this research, focus will be given especially to the youth and the young customers for whom such
advertisements are aired and celebrities are brought on board to endorse these handsets to create a certain sense
of brand positioning in minds of the target audience (In Q-mobiles case, the masses are their target market). The
questionnaires would also be posted online along with them being filled in person. The sample size estimated
is of 175 respondents.

Secondary Data

Secondary data will be sourced from different web based articles, Journal of Marketing and business
management, Journal of marketing and communication, different textbooks written by recognised authors on
brand positioning or consumer buying behaviour will also be sourced (Bryman & Bell, 2003). In addition,
electronic database like Google scholar & EBSCO will be also be sourced which are available in University of
Sunderland Learning Resource Centre.

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References
1. Adams, K. & Brace, I. (2007) An introduction to market and social research: planning
and using research tools and techniques. London: Kogan Page Ltd.

2. Alsmadi, S. (2006) The power of celebrity endorsement in brand choice Behaviour:

An empirical study of consumer attitudes in Jordan. Journal of Accounting –Business
& management, vol.13, pp 69-84.

3. Business Monitor International (2014) Analysis of Pakistan. Available at:

http://www.businessmonitor.com/pakistan [Accessed on 05/10/14]

4. Bell, J. (2005) Doing Your Research Project. 4th Ed. Maidenhead: Open University
Press.

5. Bryman, A. & Bell, E. (2003) Business Research Methods. Oxford:Oxford University

Press.

6. EasterbySmith, M., Thorpe, R. & Lowe, A. (2003) Management Research: An

Introduction. 2nd Ed. London: Sage.

7. EconomyFi (2013) Mobile Phone Industry of Pakistan. Available at:

http://www.economyfi.com/mobile-phone-industry-of-pakistan/ [Accessed on
09/10/14]

8. Gill, J. & Johnson, P. (2002) Research Methods for Managers. London: Paul
Chapman.

9. Jancowitz, A. D. (1991) Business Research Projects. London: Chapman and Hall

10. Johns, N. and LeeRoss, D. (1998) Research Methods in Service Industry

Management. London: Cassell.

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11. Mehta A., (1994) Advertising Response Modelling (ARM) Can Increase Ad
Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising Research, 34 (3), pp 62-74.

12. Panneerselvam, R. (2007) ‘Research Methodology’, Prentice Hall of India, New

Delhi.

13. Partington, D. (2002). Essential Skills for Management Research. London: Sage.

14. Phillips, E. M. (1984) Learning to do Research. Graduate Management Research, 2

(1), pp. 6–18.

15. Pringle, H. (2004) Celebrity sells. Wiley, Chichester

.
16. Remenyi, D.. Williams, B., Money, A. & Swartz, E. (1998) Doing Research in
Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method. London: Sage.

17. Rudestam, K. E. & Newton, R. R. (2001) Surviving Your Dissertation: A

Comprehensive Guide to Content and Progress. London: Sage.

18. Saunders, M, Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2008) Research Methods for Business
Students. 5th Edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall. (SLT)

19. Seubert, E., Balaji, Y. & Makhija, M. (2001) The Knowledge Imperative’. CIO
Advertising Supplement.

20. Sharp, J. A., Peters, J. & Howard, K. (2002) The Management of a Student Research
Project. 3rd Edition. Adershot: Gower.

21. Silverman, D. (2004) Qualitative Research: Theory, Method and Practice. 2nd Ed.
London: Sage.

22. Soloman, M., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, S., Hogg, M. (2006) ‘Consumer behaviour’,
3rd Ed. Prentice Hall: New Jersey: Upar Saddle River.

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23. Technology Times (2014) QMobile Eyeing To Dominate Pakistani Market. Available
at: www.technologytimes.pk/post.php?title=QMobile [Accessed on 05/10/14]

24. Tuckman, B. W. (1978) Conducting Educational Research. New York: Harcourt

Brace Jovanovich.

25. Q-Mobile (2014) Corporate Profile. Available at: www.qmobile.com.pk [Accessed on

05/10/14]

26. World Bank (2014) Overview of Pakistan. Available at:

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/pakistan/overview [Accessed on 05/10/14]

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 MBA Dissertation
Key Activities
(Milestones)
Prepare appropriate research topic
Finalize Objectives
Draft Literature review / Research
Methodology
Revise Research Methodology
Incorporate appropriate research
strategy
Develop questionnaire& Carry out
research
Enter data in computer, study &
Analyze
Prepare a Draft of Findings
Prepare and alter
recommendations
Submit a Draft version of
Dissertationand Await Feedback
from Supervisor
Revise draft with necessary
changes
Submit the Final copy of
Dissertation
Time-scale Resources required
(Plan of (Equipment, software, personnel
action) etc)
Saunders, M, Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A.
1st Week
(2008) Research Methods for Business
Students. 5th Edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall
2nd Week
Saunders, M, Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A.
rd
3 Week (2008) Research Methods for Business
Students. 5th Edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall
Saunders, M, Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A.
4th Week (2008) Research Methods for Business
Students. 5th Edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall
Saunders, M, Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A.
5th Week (2008) Research Methods for Business
Students. 5th Edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall
Representation in Pakistan on
behalf of the researcher through a
6th Week
family member or friend to get the
questionnaires filled
Received feedback/filled out
7th Week questionnaires via email (scanned
copies) or post
8th Week
9th Week
10th Week
11th Week
12th Week
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First Line Supervisors confirmation that the project has been discussed at a supervisory meeting and
inclusion of any comment:

Name …………………………….....................……..date of meeting…………........................……………

Comments

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 FEEDBACK SHEET

Feedback on Project Proposal:

Quality of the Strategic Project overview and objectives (50%)

This is an excellent, very well presented dissertation proposal, good format, referencing and spelling, with
minor lapses in grammar, all in all it is in a good readable style, and the quality of the project is absolutely
satisfying for this level. There is a good, well-supported introduction to the organisation Q-Mobile, the current
market environment and economic climate in Pakistan, and its implications for the company. High topicality
reflected by the research objectives which are carefully selected, realistic and logically building up the aim of
the overall study.

The potential findings and results could generate very useful recommendation for Q-Mobile. The coherent
analysis of the market environment, current situation and future challenges/issues is key to draw good quality
recommendations at a later stage, the student shows a good understanding of the key issues for Q-Mobile,
and therefore key concepts and theories such ascelebrity endorsement advertising are introduced.

Literature review synopsis and methodological synopsis (50%)

All in all, the student has a very good substantial knowledge of relevant material, showing a clear grasp of
themes, questions and issues therein. Use of up-to-date literature covering most of the themes which are
subject to further development within the project: celebrity endorsement, brand awareness, brand image,
(media) technology, the relation has been identified, also the increasing relevance of this topic and why it is
of relevance for Q-Mobile now. Adequate selection of context material underpinning the project, with potential
for further expansion. There is a common thread running through the whole project background and literature
review, key literature as well as up-to-date journals or articles are featured already in this early stage of the
project.

Research methodology is introduced in-depth, well-understood, even though the presented research design
seems to be provisional at times but the provisional choice is nonetheless carefully discussed and selected.
The collection of primary data, triangulation with secondary makes sense, it comes along with a realistic
assessment of feasibility and accessibility. However, there is no indication on how e.g. a pilot study could
increase validity and reliability, also ethical issues are not discussed.

Nonetheless avery good dissertation proposal with some excellent parts, but also with some minor issues in
terms of grammar and methodological coherence, all in all the excellent parts outweigh those minor issues.
Well done!

FINAL MARK: 70 / 100 marks

Any actions to be discussed with Local Tutor:

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 APPENDIX # 2
A survey on Q-Mobile’s Celebrity Endorsement

I am a student of University of Sunderland (United Kingdom) and I am conducting a

research survey on the brand awareness and young customer behaviour towards Q-
Mobile’s celebrity Endorsement Advertising in Pakistan. The Following questionnaire
has been drafted to help me understand the celebrity endorsement impact on Q-
Mobile’s brand awareness and behaviour of young customers. I request you to kindly
spare some time and give me the following information, as it will help me complete my
research. It will not take more than five minutes. This will be great help for me and I
assure you that the results of the study will be kept confidential.

Q.1. In which age group do you fall into?

o 15 - 18
o 19 - 22
o 23 and above

Q.2. What is your gender?

o Male
o Female

Q.3. What is your monthly income?

o Rs. 15000 – Rs. 25000

o Rs. 25000 – Rs. 45000
o Rs. 45000 and above

Q.4. How frequently do you come across advertisements that feature celebrities?

o Mostly
o Often
o Rarely
o Never

Q.5. Which medium do you think is the most effective place for advertising?

o Television
o Magazines
o Internet / Social Media
o Radio

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Q.6. What comes in your mind when you hear the name ‘Q-Mobile’?

o Brand Image / Logo

o Celebrity Endorsements
o Quality
o Price

Q.7. Can you remember any celebrities who have been part of Q-Mobile’s
advertisements?

o Yes
o No (if No, then go to Question 6.)

Q.8. Through which media did you come to know about Q-Mobile’s advertisement?
(Choose any one please)

o Newspapers
o Magazines
o Posters or Hoardings
o Internet
o TV
o Cinema
o Radio

Q.9. How does Q-Mobile’s advertisement grab your attention?

Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

agree Disagree

 When I hear the name

Q-Mobile mentioned.
 If a famous celebrity is
Used in advertisement

Q.10. Are you more likely to buy a Q-Mobile product if a celebrity promoted it in an
advertisement compared to a non-celebrity advertisement?

o Yes
o No (If No go to Question 9)

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Q.11. If you saw your favourite celebrity endorsing another brand other than Q-
Mobile you would:

o Switch to the other brand or

o Stick with Q-Mobile

Q.12. I am more likely to buy a product or service if the celebrity is from the following
industry: (Please mark only one)

o Sports
o Film / Cinema
o Entertainment or Music
o Fashion
o Other (Specify please) _________________

Q.13. Which of the following celebrities’ characteristics or qualities are more likely to
influence your purchasing decision based on the advertisement?

Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly

agree Disagree

 Celebrity must know about the product

they endorse
 I must trust the celebrity who endorse
the product
 I would not buy the product if the
Celebrity was in controversy
 Celebrity must match with the product
Or brand
 I would buy a product if I feel attracted
towards the celebrity

Q.14. If you see a celebrity, will you be able to recall the product or a service or a
brand in your mind?

o Mostly
o Often
o Rarely
o Never

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Q.15. Which factors are important for Q-Mobile to retain their customers? (Imp =
Important)

High Imp. Imp Neutral Less Imp. Not Imp.

 A reasonable price
 A better model
 Celebrity endorsement ads
 Good after sales customer service

Q.16 Do you think celebrity endorsements work as an effective tool of persuasion in

Pakistan?

o Strongly Agree
o Agree
o Neutral
o Disagree
o Strongly Disagree

Thank you so much for your valuable time.

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