Impact of celebrity endorsements on overall brand

Aim

Introduction

The society that we live in can not only be called secular or democratic, it
should be more appropriately termed as over-communicated these days.
A typical super-market in USA displays more than 12000 brands, an
American family has at least one television set and a consumer is exposed
to around 1000 ads per day1. Likewise, there are around 130 television
channels in India broadcasting over 3 million television commercials each
year in India. The media-explosion can thus be easily demonstrated. More
over, people forget 80% of the information in just 24 hours! Just imagine
the plight of the marketer to make his brand shout over the deafening
clutter of all the brands! Some where in the 80’s, Indian marketer found
the solution, 'Celebrity Endorsement' for the brand!

The motif behind total branding may be decocted as an attempt to

amalgamate diverse activities to win customer preference. Apropos to this
context, the topic “Impact of celebrity endorsement on overall
brand”, is a significant one. The crescendo of celebrities endorsing
brands has been steadily increasing over the past years.

Marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrities in influencing

consumer-purchasing decisions. It is a ubiquitously accepted fact that
celebrity endorsement can bestow special attributes upon a product that it
may have lacked otherwise. But everything is not hunky-dory; celebrities
are after all mere mortals made of flesh and blood like us. If a celebrity
can aggrandize the merits of a brand, he or she can also exacerbate the
image of a brand.

Rephrasing Aristotle’s quote on anger, “Any brand can get a celebrity.

That is easy. But getting a celebrity consistent with the right brand, to the
right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right
way... that is not easy.”
 What is a Brand?

Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational and cultural image that
you can associate with a company or the product. Few examples will bring
home the meaning i.e. Amul - utterly butterly delicious;Coke – thanda
matlab coca-cola; Pepsi – Yeh dil mange more; Kurkure- Masti bole to
kurkure andDaewoo ka India.

These examples convey one message that when people watch

advertisement a connect is being created and result is that people go for
experience of buying. People feel by using the brand they will portray
certain traits or characteristics that otherwise they do not have. This
generates a certain level of emotional affiliation and a sense of fulfillment.
It is this emotional relationship with brands that make them so powerful.

Advertisements enforces what exactly the brand stands for and what to
expect by its consumption and above all what factors, features and
attributes makes it better from competition. Advertisements along with
other marketing efforts generate expectations and feelings in a customer
and force them to think when they see or hear the brand name. This
Thinking process and emotional bonding gets more mature and relevant
when a celebrity endorses the brand. The subjective intangible feelings of
a customer become objective and tangible in the form of celebrity and the
level of expectations will rise.  The customer will start to perceive himself
in the reference frame of the celebrity after the brand or the advertised
product has been purchased or consumed by him.

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, once said, "Our most valuable
assets are our intangible assets." The intangible asset he was referring to is a brand.

The Dictionary of Business & Management defines a brand as: a name, term, sign,
symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify goods or services of
one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitor.
2.2. Definition of Celebrity

Celebrities are people who enjoy specific public recognition by a

large number of certain groups of people

Celebrities are people who enjoy public recognition and mostly they are
the experts of their respective fields having wider influence in public life
and societal domain. Attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary life style
or special skills, larger than life image and demigod status can be
associated with them.

It is safe to deduce that within a corresponding social group celebrities

generally differ from the social norm and enjoy high degree of public
awareness.

Celebrities appear in public in different ways. To start, they appear in

public when fulfilling their professional commitments example: Mahendra
Singh Dhoni, who played cricket in front of an audience in Twenty-Twenty
World Cup. Furthermore, celebrities appear in public by attending special
celebrity events, example: the movie award nights; special screening;
world premiers of movies or for social causes. These celebrities have
universal presence and appeal, they are present everywhere, in news,
fashion shows and magazines, tabloids and above all advertisements.

A celebrity is a person who is widely recognized in a society. Whereas attributes like

attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills are just examples and specific
common characteristics cannot be observed. 

It can be said that within a corresponding social group, celebrities generally differ
from the social norm and enjoy a high degree of public awareness. Today's
celebrities are larger figures from movies (Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan),
television (Larry King, Smriti Irani) and sports (Sachin Tendulkar, Michael
Schumacher).
2.3. Definition of Celebrity Endorsement

According to Friedman & Friedman, a "celebrity endorser is an individual who is

known by the public for his or her achievements in areas other than that of the
product class endorsed."

So, in the Coco-Cola advertisement; actor Amir Khan is the celebrity endorser for the
product or brand called Coke, and this process is referred to as Celebrity
Endorsement.

Celebrities may endorse a brand or be the face of a brand.

Difference Between Brand Ambassador & Brand Face

A Brand Ambassador would be one who is not only a spokesperson for the brand or is just appearing
as a testimonial for the brand's benefits. He/she is an integral part of the brand persona and helps to
build an emotionale, which goes beyond just appearing on TV commercials.

He takes up the cause of a Brand Champion and is associated with every aspect related with the
brand. What is more, there is a significant difference between making just an endorsement for say, a
shampoo or an automobile, and being that brand's alter ego. Both parties take the latter far more
seriously to the deal. So a brand ambassador would be involved in press releases, he/she would be
actively participating in any sales promotion, sporting the Brand all the while. For example, Fardeen
Khan is the brand ambassador for Provogue while he remains a brand face for Lux Body Wash.

On the other hand, a Brand Face would be the current celebrity who is just used as a tool to increase
brand recall and is only appearing in the advertisement. It is usually seen that a brand face is a
temporary contract and is very short term at times. An example would be Sona Chandi Chawanpryash
using Sourav Ganguly for a while in its commercials. Brand faces are easily forgotten and fades away
with the campaign's end.
Celebrity Endorsement: