Marketing Communications Presentation

Celebrity as a tool for marketing

communications.
 Introduction
 In today’s highly competitive market, companies and brands try to distinguish themselves from the rest
and gain leverage. Celebrity endorsement has been the popular choice for them to connect with potential
customers and create awareness for them in the market.
Definitions
 According to McCracken (1989), celebrity may be any individual who enjoys public recognition and who
uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement. When
speaking about characteristics that ideal celebrity needs to have, Keller (2008) mentions credibility in
terms of expertise, trustworthiness, likability, attractiveness and specific associations that carry potential
product relevance.
 Byrne (2003) highlighted that celebrity endorsement has become one of the communication strategies
employed by marketers trying to build a congruent image between the brand and the consumer. A
celebrity (film star , sports man acts as a brand ambassador for the products and speaks on the product
benefits.
 Introduction Continued

 The first celebrity endorsement dates back to the 1760’s. Josiah Wedgewood, a
British entrepreneur, created a tea set for Queen Charlotte. In no time , everyone
had heard about the tea set and called it “Queensware”, pointing out its elegant
design and sophistication. It had set him apart from his competition Masuralani
Tsambali
 In Zimbabwe the Pinda mu smart Campaign (a campaign that encouraged man to
get circumcised) was very successful as it used a lot of celebrities to encourage
man to get circumcised. The advert was very popular and a lot of man got
circumcised just because celebrities had endorsed the process of circumcision.
 April 1, 2015 was the #BestDayEver, or that was at least the hashtag used by
Chevrolet. Five celebrities were involved in the social media campaign, including
Ian Somerholder, Alec Baldwin, Nikki Reed, Norman Reedus, and Olivia Wilde. The
goal was to launch Chevrolet’s #BestDayEver campaign and create buzz among
the public that something big was happening. The celebrities showed up at
college campuses across the country as substitute teachers. Within 24 hours, the
social media posts attracted 1.5 million organic likes and shares
 Celebrities as Opinion leaders
 When consumers go out to buy a product or service their decisions are
usually influenced by opinion leaders. Opinion leaders are defined as a
group of people where consumers look to get a stamp of approval
before making a purchase (Boundless, n.d.). On a national or
International level marketers often turn to celebrities to be opinion
leaders as they have a great following from their fans.
 These days because of social media young people not only want the
opinions of their favourite celebrities but they want to emulate them .
The comments or tweets of their favourite celebrities will influence the
decisions they make.
 PSI in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care were the
custodians of the Pinda musmart campaign The campaign
encouraged adolescents and adult men to get circumcised.
According to Ms K Chatyora PSI director of marketing the campaign
worked well in addressing the key barriers of social support and
discredit myths and misconceptions on male circumcision
 Advantages of using celebrities
Builds credibility
People are attached to their favourite celebrities and they trust them. By using a product
celebrities would be endorsing a product to show that it is of good quality since they also loose
their reputation if the product is bad.
Makes your brand stand out.
This makes customers to always remember your product and it enables the product to stand
out from competitor product.
Opens up new markets
Choosing the correct celebrity opens up new markets for the product. For example, when Nike
wanted to expand from primarily sponsoring tennis and track, they partnered with Michael
Jordan – and this partnership has been so successful it has expanded into its own subsidiary
company. (Kali Kraft, Baer Performance)
 Disadvantages……
Celebrities may overshadow your brand
If a celebrity is too big it may take away the focus from your brand. If the celebrity is being
used by many different brands he/she may be associated with many different products and
consumers will not remember your products.
Endorsements are expensive
Getting celebrity endorsements can be very expensive and not many firms can afford them .
For example pepsi had a 10 million endorsement with Beyoncé.
Celebrity images change
When you sign up with a celebrity you sign up with all of them. Imagine what it would do to
your brand if the celebrity is involved in a scandal.
 Celebrity endorsements
 pics