INTRODUCTION

Conceptual Framework
Theoretical Consideration on the celebrity endorsement and event
sponsorship within existing business entities and institutions are widely
discussed. The Impact of celebrity endorsement and event sponsorship
seems to have an effect on consumer pre-purchase evaluation with respect
to product quality, product image, and purchase-intent. This research
studies that how many consumers are willing to purchase the products
which are endorsed by famous celebrities along with this how event
sponsorships add value to the brand.

Celebrity endorsement

Celebrity endorsers are widely used in advertising since they are powerful
mechanisms in transferring meanings to the brands. Companies invest
billions of dollars to celebrities for endorsement. Celebrity endorsers have
a symbolic aspirational reference group association (Assael, 1984) and they
act as cues in peripheral route to persuasion (Petty and Cacioppo, 1985).
Famous endorsers are used mainly because of two reasons. First, they are
viewed as dynamic, attractive and likable, And Second; their fame attracts
attention to the product (Atkin and Block, 1983)

Celebrity endorsements now a days is perceived as a popular tool or best

way to market the product, for marketers it has been a winning formula. It
is easy to select the best celebrity in the advertisement but it is quite difficult
to create an association between the product and the celebrity. The
capability of two advertising tools celebrity endorsement and event
sponsorship have an impact on consumer pre-purchase behavior including
perceptions with regard to product quality and uniqueness. Marketing
experts acknowledge that celebrity endorsement and event sponsorships are
very effective tools to examine consumer behavior and also very useful to
examine their attitudes. Both tools have an impact on consumer’s pre-
purchase behavior. Marketers are interested to make more customers who
are potential and are influenced by celebrities.

In this modern era, the world of advertisement undergoes a change, from

classical ways; it has converted to take a modern route. This modern route
requires marketers to develop strategies incorporating the elements of
emotions, humor, etc. the main purpose that lay behind these strategies is
to get brand exposure, attention, interest, desire, and action. And in order
to make these strategies into success, marketers employ famous celebrities
because celebrities have the power to create a greater impact on the
consumer's buying behavior. Since some of the celebrities have charismatic
personalities and they enjoy public recognition because they possess
distinctive qualities like trustworthiness and attractiveness. Many big
brands make use of the concept of celebrity endorsement as a marketing
communication tool.
Event Sponsorship

Many Financial institutions, big private and public companies are

sponsoring the events and do the advertising of their product and services.
If we see the Global status of advertising, South African will always be
passionate about sport and there is no better association for a company’s
brand then an association with sport (Etzman and Penstone, 2001:14)
Performances in the 2007 twenty-twenty Cricket World Cup, and 2007
Rugby World Cup in France, capture the imagination and even below-par
results will not reduce this passion. Marketers can capitalize on this passion
for sport for instance, by utilizing sport event sponsorship.

Event Sponsorship, is an integral element of the marketing mix as stated by

Meenaghan (1991) Sponsorship is defined as “an investment, in cash or in-
kind, in any activity, in return for access to the exploitable commercial
potential associated with this activity” Companies desired to achieve
marketing’s purpose through event sponsorship. Thus, event sponsorship
can be defined as a critical source of funding for all kinds of events where
companies, nonprofits, and small businesses give a certain amount of cash
or incentives, in exchange for both visibility and brand awareness at an
event. The key to succeeding at event sponsorships is more than having
knowledge surrounding it. It is carefully taking into consideration the needs
of your sponsors and the strategies you have in place to obtain the best
results for your event.
Pre-Purchase Evaluation

The consumer primary seeks and gets his information from opinion leaders
and influencers, rather than the media. However, this information search is
fuelled by exhibitions and road shows, because of the opportunity of
personal interaction and leisurely pace of absorbing and understanding the
information and its relevance.

In the case of high involvement products, this information search needs to

be supplemented by an out of village visit to a company outlet with an
opportunity for personal interaction. The need to demonstrate individual
accessories of the product and their performance also becomes critical. The
ultimate clincher is always the touch that leads to a purchase.

K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research also

concluded that Pre-purchase information search is an integral part of the
consumer decision-making process and buying behavior. Understanding
consumer information search behavior is vital for organizations in order to
plan their communication strategy and reach consumers effectively.
Though consumer information search behavior is extensively studied in
traditional brick and mortar purchase situations, there is a dearth of research
in understanding consumer information search behavior in online shopping
occasions. Given the rapid growth in electronic retail over the last few
years, it is imperative to understand consumer information search behavior
in online buying situations.
In other words, celebrity endorsement and event sponsorships are very
useful advertising cues to attract or to make more customers and also
helpful to attain potential customers' attention towards the product or
service.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Event Sponsorship: Papadimitriou Dimitra (2008) conducted research on

Event sponsorship as a value creating strategy for brands and implied that
the need for adequate planning and strategic integration of sponsorship
within other corporate marketing and branding efforts cannot be overstated.
The need to be strategic in all decisions related to the sponsorship, to create
new and leverage existing unique brand associations, and to implement
specific measures of success in every step of the process is imperative for
sponsors if unique benefits are to be realized.

Fakhri Elham (2016) in the research on the Impact of Events Sponsorship

on Attendee’s Purchase Intention concluded that the attendee’s perception
of sponsoring the brand image was affected by the attitude towards the
event and brand awareness.

Post-Purchase Evaluation: Dr. Murthy.Krishna.K (2016) conducted a

study on pre and post purchase behavior of consumer durable goods and
indicates that the level of importance attached to the various quality
characteristics of the product is because of the different segments of
consumers, who differ in economic, educational, emotional and other
characteristics.

Akalamkam Krishna and Mitra Kumar Joy (2017) in the research

Consumer Pre-purchase Search in Online Shopping concluded that Pre-
purchase information search is an integral part of consumer buying
behavior. Though consumer information search is extensively studied in
traditional brick and mortar purchase situations, limited efforts have been
made to understand consumer’s information search behavior in online
shopping situations. Particularly, the usage of both traditional offline
sources and online information sources in consumer online shopping
situations is scarcely researched.

Celebrity Endorsement: Wadhera Radhika and Chawla Nishu (2017)

conducted a study to assess the impact of celebrity endorsement on attitude
of consumer they concluded that if celebrity entered into marketing it has
influence purchasing decision of buyers, improve social status of
companies, increase profit of companies, increase sales of companies,
increase market addition of companies and it can change human behavior.

Kamat Kaustubh (2017) in his research the Impact of Celebrity

Endorsement on Consumer Buying Behavior concluded that consumers are
fully aware that the celebrities do not have expertise on the product they
endorse and they do not believe in what the celebrities say about the product
when it comes to purchasing a product.
Rationale of study
 It is one of the important topics. Past researchers have done important
analysis on this topic .The aim of this study is help in find the impact of
celebrity endorsement and event sponsorship on pre-purchase behavior.

Objectives of study

 Find out whether event sponsorship and celebrity endorsement affect

consumer pre-purchase decision or not

 Find out whether celebrity endorsement and event sponsorship increases

the purchase-intent of the buyer or not.

 Find out the impact of event sponsorship and celebrity endorsement on Pre-
Purchase attitude of consumers.