Synopsis

(Research Project)

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

ON PURCHASE INTENTION AND BRAND LOYALTY AMONG
THE PEOPLE OF CHANDIGARH

Researcher:
Sara Bharat Budhiraja (Roll No. 28, Section B, MBA 2nd year) 
University Business School
Panjab University, Chandigarh

Supervisor:
Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma
 Professor 
University Business School
Panjab University, Chandigarh

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INTRODUCTION:
 
In today’s world the celebrities are being treated as role models. People are changing
their lifestyle related to their favorite celebrity. This creates a great impact on the
buying behavior of the person. This attracts the customers and ultimately increases
the company productivity.
Celebrities are not always creating any kind of effect on a person's mind in terms of
buying. But mostly it gives a great impact on perception of choosing any product. We
are always thinking that our favorite celebrities are using them. Then we should use
that to be like them (Khatri 2006).
From the last 150 years advertising is changing in different phases from the classical
to modern. Nowadays it’s the best strategy used by marketers to influence customers
by showing celebrities with their products, it includes different  appeals like,
exciting,  absurdity, sexual  etc. (Belch,  G. and Belch,  M. 2008) acknowledging
that the main aim of formulating such strategies is to get high brand revelation,
longing,  concentration  and  curiosity.  To  do  so,  marketers  attach  famous 
personalities’ with their products. (McCracken 1989) stated  that these  famous
personalities’ had great  influence on  the consumer’s buying behavior that’s why it
has become the most attractive tool of advertising nowadays. The major aim to do
advertising and adopt this strategy is to influence customers towards the products
(Ohanian 1990)
Celebrity Endorsement (CE) is a marketing communication strategy regarding the use
of celebrities to recommend or market it for an emblem with an eye. Manufacturers
believe every time that celebrities make an influence on consumers about their
products in which product revenue as well as product brand loyalty will increase from
time to time. These are the foremost reasons for the businesses to hire the celebrities
to promote their products. The corporate sectors / multinational companies invest
billions of rupees on cine stars and cricketers for the advertising of their products.
The multinational companies believe that the cine star / cricketers change the
purchase goal of the customers in India. These celebrities are public figures and they
have a certain image on society and they make some influence on customers about
their branding products. They lend their personality to the product or logo and hence
the impact consumers have on products can be increased. Celebrity endorsement has
become a not unfamiliar exercise, so that it will differentiate the product from
dissimilar competing manufacturers in a particularly competitive aggressive
environment. The ultimate goal of every advertising strategy is to instigate the actual
behaviour of the targeted market, whether or not having purchase intention or real
intake. If any advertising and marketing methods fail to attain the same, the millions
of greenbacks spent aren't well worth it. The Indian buyer market is thriving at an
exceptional tempo, as per the report with the aid of McKinsey international Institute
(MGI), the India's customer’s marketplace can be the 5th biggest within the world
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through 2025 which is currently worth US$511 billion. Furthermore, customers in
India are exposed to numerous new products each different day observed via
marketers’ differentiation, positioning strategies. Therefore, it will be exhilarating to
analyse the impact of celebrity’s endorsements on purchase intention and brand
loyalty behaviour in India. From a commercial enterprise attitude, this research study
could be beneficial in know-how the attitude and perceptions of Indian customers
toward celebrity’s endorsements. They consider that celebrities can affect the buying
decision in their prospect consumers as they have special locations within the
coronary heart of purchasers. Therefore, after reading the degree of involvement to
observe the celebrities, the groups started hiring numerous cine stars and sports stars
for the economic commercials, the promotional finances for advertising have taken
many monetary folds compared to beyond investments. The agencies invest billions
of rupees over hiring a celebrity for his or her product promoting. Such endorsers are
noticeable as energetic with each appealing, pleasant qualities and groups plan that
those characteristics are transferred to products or services. Based on the above, this
study motivated to propose to estimate the consumer behaviour employing
celebrities’ endorsement is computed by using Smart Partial Least Squares (Smart
PLS) tool. It is observed that study improves in terms of brand loyalty and purchase
intentions of consumers in given city. This research is planned to be conducted on
“impact of celebrity endorsement on purchase intention and brand loyalty”; this
behavior will judge the purchase intention of consumers and loyalty towards the
brand, this research will focus on the buying intention of the people in Chandigarh
from the age groups of 18 to 60. To identify whether there is any association between
the three groups of consumers (supporters/neutral/opposers of celebrity
endorsement); applying multi-logit analysis to identify the probability of a consumer
in becoming a supporter/neutral/opposer of the celebrity endorsement based on
demographic profiles of consumers; to examine the celebrity attributes likely to
influence consumer purchase intentions.
Celebrity endorsement is made up of four main pillars that are credibility,
attractiveness, product matchup and lastly meaning transfer. All these four elements
combine to make up celebrity endorsement. The findings of this research report
shows that the element of credibility (which is composed of expertise and
trustworthiness) of the celebrity positively affects consumers' intention to purchase
products. Celebrities also transfer meanings to the product that positively influences
consumers' intention This meaning transferred indicates that consumers start
accepting that celebrity endorsed products makes them feel classy and glamorous and
also perceive such products as a symbol of status. This research also shows that
people get more attracted towards celebrity endorsed advertisements than the ones
that don't have celebrities into them which ultimately lead them to recall the products
much easier because celebrities appeared in those advertisements. 

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Celebrity endorsement or celebrity branding is a form of advertisement strategy/

marketing tool used by companies/Non-profit organizations. Most academic
investigations of celebrity endorsement have been contextualized in the realm of
source credibility and attractiveness models, and suggest that celebrities exert their
influence on consumers through perceived attributes such as expertise,
trustworthiness, attractiveness, familiarity and likeability (Ohanian, 1991). In order
to find out the impact of celebrity endorsements on consumers’ and perception
Gupta, Kishore and Verma (2015) have made similar research that used
Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural
Equation Modeling (SEM) to retest the previously validated scale and to assess
reliability and validity. The results of the study have revealed that celebrity
endorsements have a significant impact on consumers’ and perception. Ranjbarian,
Shekarchizad & Momeni (2010) have conducted research with an objective to
analyze the celebrity endorser influence on attitude toward advertisements and
brands. Biswas et al. (2006) have conducted research to examine the differential
effects of celebrity and expert endorsements on consumer risk perception via three
studies lying within the context of the product’s technology orientation, consumer
knowledge and congruence between the endorser and the product. To observe the
change in attitude and purchase intention of customers influenced by the celebrity
source endorser Kahle and Homer (1985) have conducted a research on physical
attractiveness of celebrity endorsers. Supporting social adaptation theory is used to
interpret the result of the research. This study draws a conclusion that participants
who see an attractive endorser like the product more than participants who see an
unattractive source. Maddux and Rogers (1980) have done similar research on the
effect of source expertness, physical attractiveness and supporting arguments on
persuasion. Findings show that the physically attractive source is rated more effective
than the unattractive source and demonstrated a positive relationship between
expertise and persuasion when expertise is measured in relation to the topic of the
communication. Kamins (1990) have made study with the major objective to test the
attractiveness aspect of the “match-up’’ hypothesis of celebrity selection. The
findings of this research suggest that characteristics of a spokesperson interact with
the nature of products advertised. To investigate the effect of celebrity’s
attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise on purchase intention with reference to
the respondents living in Singapore, Pornpitakpan (2004) has conducted similar
research and found that the more consumers are familiar with the athlete the more
likely they will believe the athlete is a credible source. To the best of researcher’s
knowledge, very limited study has been conducted to measure the impact of celebrity
endorsements on purchase intention and brand loyalty in the context of Chandigarh.
Chandigarh is a city with high level of consumption of consumer goods and is a tier
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two city with a lot of scope of growth and development in the future it can be good to
research on the people of a city. I believe that the outcome of the research helps to
minimize the existing gap of the literature.  It covers with the help of using their
identity as well as their status/fame for promoting the products or services.
Furthermore it will help research to explain how advertising works with engrossment
of celebrities and how it impacts the various age groups.

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MODEL OF STUDY:

Attractiveness

Credibility

Likeability

Purchase Intention Buying

Meaning Transfer And Behaviour
Brand Loyalty

Trustworthiness

Expertise

Age Gender

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NEED OF THE STUDY

The practice of celebrity endorsements has proliferated over time. Now days it has
become a pervasive element of advertising industry especially in India. Celebrity
endorsement business has become a multi-million industry in India. Marketers use
celebrity endorsers to influence the purchase decision of consumers in order to
increase their sales and extend their market shares. With the influence of social
media it has become necessary to explore this area of research.

Even though researches have already been conducted during the past few years
over the concept of celebrity endorsement. Researchers have touched many new
issues that are often found in celebrity endorsement like negative publicity of
celebrities etc. United States, United Kingdom and Indian market is majorly
focused while conducting research on this topic of celebrity endorsement. The
main reason for choosing this topic is because so far no research has been
conducted on the impact of celebrity endorsement on the purchase intention and
brand loyalty with respect to Chandigarh and other Tier two cities. Celebrity
endorsement has turned into a very effective strategy to market a product and also
it provides a competitive aged over competing brands in a highly competitive
surrounding. From a very long time, celebrities are often used as role models
especially in the areas of personal appearance and in the domain of cosmetics.
Loreal spends over $ 1.7 billion a year on its advertisement just to maintain their
image. Same is the case with its cosmetics. We will not be able to differentiate a
L,Oreal face cream and an Olay one, if they were not spending handsome amount
of money on their celebrity endorsed advertisement plus this research will help in a
target market establishment for various products. It will be a great learning
experience for both myself and shall let me and marketers know the high impact of
celebrity impact on people of small cities like Chandigarh.

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OBJECTIVES

The main aim of studying the Impact of celebrity endorsements on Purchase

Intention and Brand Loyalty on consumers buying behavior is to find the answers
to the following:

 The impact celebrities have on the consumers buying intention in regards of

credibility

 The impact that celebrity endorsement creates on its consumers in terms of

product fit match between the product/brand and the celebrity.

 In regards of the attractiveness of celebrities, how much are consumers

convinced.

 To see how celebrities transfer meaning to the products endorsed by them

and to what extent does it shape their buying intention.

 To judge the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in different age groups

and genders.

 Impact of association of celebrity likeability on brand/product.

 Brand trustworthiness and expertise and dependence on Celebrity

endorsement.

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HYPOTHESES

The following null hypotheses have been formulated:

1. The celebrity endorsement attributes positively affect the purchase intention

to buy a product.

2. Celebrity endorsement purchase intention is positively affecting on the brand

loyalty of the consumer.

3. There is relationship among the celebrity attributes and Purchase Intention

and Brand loyalty.

4. Celebrity endorsements positively affect people of all ages and gender with
respect to purchase intention.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Participants:

For the present study, different members of the population of Chandigarh including
both male and female citizens from the age group of 18-60 will be invited to answer
the questionnaire. Invitees will include students studying, home makers, working
professionals etc. The general public and professionals will also be contacted
through facebook and WhatsApp and will be asked to participate.

Instrument:

The research technique applied in this study is a questionnaire using a 5-point Likert
scale, from 1 (indicating strongly disagree) to 5 (indicating strongly agree). A total
of 13 questions are contained in the questionnaire.

Procedure:

When conducting the study, in the questionnaire people will be asked to provide
their basic demographic information first; then answer questions in each factor
accordingly. Because the study is set up such that all questions must be answered
before being able to proceed to the following section and to make the final
submission at the end of the questionnaire, all the questionnaires collected by this
research will be complete.

For the analysis of the data, an excel sheet will be prepared on which, for each
statement, mean, standard deviation, and co-efficient of variation will be calculated.
Ranks will be given according to the calculated mean.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONAIRRE

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TENTATIVE CHAPTER SCHEME

1. Introduction

2. Review of Literature

3. Methodology

4. Impact of Analysis

5. Hypotheses

6. Results and Data Analysis

7. Conclusion / Suggestions

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 REFERENCES

Atkin, C. and Block M. (1983), Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers, Journal of

Advertising Research,
23, 57-61
Belch, G.E., and Belch, M.A. (2008), Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated
Marketing Communication Perspective. (6th ed.) New York 
Biswas, S. and Hussain, M.D. (2009), Celebrity endorsment in advertisements
and consumer perception, Journal of global marketing, 2, 121-137
Brewster, C.,  Sparrow, P. and Vemon (2007), International human resource
management. In 3rd edition. london: charted institue of personnel and
devlopment.
Erdogan, B.Z. (1999), Celebrity endorsement: a literature review, Journal of
Marketing Management, 15 (4), 291-31
Schimmelpfennig, C. (2015). Endorsements beyond mainstream: An
investigation of the prevalence of typical celebrity endorsements and the
potential of unconventional endorsement strategies (Doctoral dissertation).
Gupta, R., Kishore, N., & Verma, D. (2015). Impact of celebrity endorsement on
consumers’ ad perception: A study of Indian consumers. British Journal of
Marketing, 3(8), 34-49.
Mitchell, A.A. and Jerry, C.O. (1981), Are Product Attribute Beliefs
the Only Mediator of Advertising
Effects on Brand Attitude? Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (3),
318-332
Ohanian, R. (1990), Construction and validation of a scale to measure
celebrity endorsers' perceived
expertise, Journal of Advertising, 19 (3), 39-52
Mitchell, A.A. and Jerry, C.O. (1981), Are Product Attribute Beliefs the Only
Mediator of Advertising
Effects on Brand Attitude? Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (3), 318-332
Ohanian, R. (1990), Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity
endorsers' perceived
expertise, Journal of Advertising, 19 (3), 39-52
Michael A. Kamins, M. J. (1989). Two-Sided versus One Sided Celebrity
Endorsements: The Impact on Advertising Effectiveness and Credibility.
Journal of Advertising,18(2), 4-10. 30.
Mukherjee, D. (2012). Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on Brand Image.
Indian Journal Marketing, 42(2),10-18
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Mitchell, A.A. and Jerry, C.O. (1981), Are Product Attribute Beliefs
the Only Mediator of Advertising
Effects on Brand Attitude? Journal of Marketing Research, 18 (3),
318-332
Ohanian, R. (1990), Construction and validation of a scale to measure
celebrity endorsers' perceived
expertise, Journal of Advertising, 19 (3), 39-52

10
!
Atkin, C. and Block M. (1983), Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers,
Journal of Advertising Research,
23, 57-61
Belch, G.E., and Belch, M.A. (2008), Advertising and Promotion: An
Integrated Marketing
Communication Perspective. (6th ed.) New York
Biswas, S. and Hussain, M.D. (2009), Celebrity endorsment in
advertisements and consumer
perception, Journal of global marketing, 2, 121-137

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