Integrated Marketing Communications – Module 2

Celebrity Endorsement
Have you ever purchased a product because you knew a celebrity was also a user of the item?
Maybe you bought a brand of lipstick because your favorite actress expressed in a commercial
that it made her lips plumper? Or did you buy a pair of sneakers because you thought it would
make you jump as high as the pro athlete pictured in the magazine ad? Why do companies use
celebrity endorsements in advertising? A celebrity endorsement is when a famous person uses
their notoriety to help sell a product or service.

Celebrity endorsement in advertising is grounded in a common marketing assumption:

Corporations have realized for some time that celebrity endorsers can enhance advertisement
credibility and liking as well as brand image, awareness, and purchase behavior. Celebrities have
built-in images and followers, both powerful influencers to potential consumers.

The right choice for an endorser can be an important decision for an advertiser. Celebrities will
have different levels of connection with those who follow them. This can affect the reaction of
consumers to the endorsement relationship, and that, in turn, may depend on the profession of the
celebrity.

Why Do Companies Use Celebrity Endorsement?

Endorsement is a marketing channel for communicating a brand through a celebrity

spokesperson. A communication channel is any means through which a company communicates
its offerings to consumers.

Celebrity endorsement is a promotional tool that boosts brand awareness. It is a way

of enhancing credibility and gaining visibility for brands. Celebrities are well-known people
and a celebrity endorsement can make a brand stand out. Many companies have successfully
leveraged celebrity endorsements to result in increased business.

Typically, celebrity endorsement is associated with large companies. Increasingly, smaller and
lesser known companies are reaching out to celebrity influencers to promote their brands.
Celebrity endorsement builds credibility and can expose a brand to new markets.

The celebrity effect is the ability of famous people to influence others. Companies can use that
star power and influence to boost their own products and services. Celebrities can add credibility
and glamour to a brand.

How Does Celebrity Endorsement Influence Consumers Purchasing?

Celebrity endorsement is the promotion of a product or service by a celebrity. For example, a

professional athlete might endorse a specific brand of athletic footwear. That athlete would then

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appear in commercials advertising that particular footwear. They would also wear that brand of
footwear during matches or games. This is a classic example of celebrity advertisement.

Nike is well known for celebrity endorsements of athletic footwear. They have had multiple
successful celebrity endorsement campaigns. Whether it is basketball or golf, Nike has seen
considerable gains from endorsements from athletes such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

Celebrity endorsements are powerful in part because of large celebrity networks. Celebrities are
able to reach a lot of people through different mediums. Celebrities can reach people through
television, traditional media and also social media. The other major reason they are so powerful
is because of the celebrity effect.

Why Do Advertisers Use Celebrities to Endorse Products?

Celebrity advertisement drives the sales of many products. These days, a celebrity advertisement
can tap into the social media following of celebrities. That is direct access to thousands of eyes
for a product in addition to the credibility of a celebrity endorsement. Social media is especially
useful in reaching younger generations.

Social media offers a glimpse into the lives of celebrities. The celebrity effect of seeing a star
using a product on social media can thrust a brand into the limelight overnight. That is why so
many brands are clamoring to promote their products through celebrity advertisement.

Celebrities are familiar faces that we associate with familiar characteristics. People are inclined
to trust a recommendation or endorsement from a known public figure. We feel like we
personally know celebrities and we trust them.

Influencer Marketing is one Great promotional tool

Last but not least, celebrity endorsements tend to add significant value to a company’s PR as it
quickly attracts the attention of paparazzi and the media in general. As a business, the greatest
tactic you can use to promote your product is by getting a celebrity to talk about it. When a
celebrity does this, your product will receive media hype and lots of attention from the general
public. Without all these, your company runs the risk of staying in the shadows and losing out on
hugely profitable sales.

Marketing implications of Celebrities Endorsement

A celebrity endorsement provides an alternative to creative ads. Where creative ads are more
prone towards logic or humour, celebrity endorsements mainly focus on the strengths of the
celebrity and more often, it mainly tends to make the celebrity speak directly to the public “I use
this brand, do you” and in essence the celebrity is speaking to his loyalists – “I am using this
brand and so should you”.

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However, the marketer also has to take care about the reputation of the celebrity endorsement
and should prefer to stay with a celebrity which has a stable image and not that the image of the
celebrity changes every few weeks. Michael Jordan, Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Schumacher
are celebrity endorsement whose images are stable and are hard to change. Thus for leading
organizations, they are one of the most preferable endorsers.

Besides offering many benefits for the endorsed brand, celebrity endorsements also can have a
negative impact. This was painfully apparent in the effects of personal scandals involving such
famous spokespersons as Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Martha Stewart, and O. J. Simpson.
Offsetting negativity with more positive attitude on the part of sponsors may offer a means to
improve brand image.

Advantages

 Celebrity endorsements can build brand equity. An example of this is Nike, prior
to Michael Jordan Nike mostly sponsored tennis and track athletes and decided to expand
their market, which increased sales to become a multibillion-dollar company.

 Celebrity endorsement is used as an advertising strategy, by using celebrity status and

image, to promote a brand's recognition, recall, and differentiation.

 It helps customers to remember advertisements when seeing a celebrity that has already
got a brand of their own, it will bring customers to try or purchase the product.

 It also helps the brand to stand out over a brand that does not use celebrity branding.

 Increased attention to the product and the brand

 Polishing the image of the brand

 Introduction of the brand to new and wider market

 Repositioning of the brand

 Guarantee of successful advertising of the brand

Disadvantages

 Due to the high-profile lives of celebrities that are constantly being reviewed and
scrutinized by the media, there are risks of using celebrities in advertising.
 The term eclipsing (also referred to as overshadowing) is used to describe the instance
where a celebrity in an advertisement overshadows the product being advertised by
occupying more time or space than the product being advertised, this is a negative for the
advertiser as the product is not the main focus for the consumers. It is crucial for the
effectiveness of the advertisement to ensure that the product is the focus of attention.

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 Overexposure refers to the negative effect that is a result of when a celebrity endorses
multiple products of a similar type at one time. Consumers can become more sceptical of
the celebrity's motives to endorse products and therefore may perceive the celebrity to be
less credible when endorsing multiple products.
 Celebrity endorsements do not guarantee long-term favorable effects, due to the risk to
advertisers that the celebrity endorser may get caught up in a scandal, creating negative
perceptions to consumers. Common celebrity scandals involve alcohol, drug, sex, or
crime related events. These scandals can have a negative effect on the image of the brand,
as consumers' negative perceptions of the celebrity endorser may be transferred to the
brand, therefore negatively influencing sales of the brand's products. One of the largest
profile celebrity endorsement scandals of recent history was the infidelity scandal of
Tiger Woods in 2009, at the time, Tiger Woods was a brand ambassador for Nike golf
apparel and footwear. It has been estimated that Nike lost approximately US$5–12billion
due to this scandal. Brand images can change if celebrities cause themselves a bad name
or reputation.
 Consumers' views of the celebrity endorser may change, due to changes in the celebrity's
image. Changes in image may be a result of injury, physical appearance, change in
marital status, or a decline in professional visibility and this can result in the celebrity
endorser no longer suiting the product or brand being endorsed.

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