Celebrity Endorsement and Brand Image

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Celebrity Endorsement and Brand Image

Celebrity endorsement is one of the most popular and successful advertisement campaigns which involve a well-known person or a familiar face promotes a product or service of a particular brand or more than one brand in order to maximize the brand image in a fastest and easiest way. A celebrity is a well-known person to the public, such as actors, models, musicians, sports athletes, businessmen, ex-politicians, pop stars, fictional celebrities and cartoon characters. The successful achievers of different activities and who are familiar to the target customers introduces and promotes branded products and services for gaining benefits from the brand.

Most of the marketers are using celebrity endorsement to promote their brands in order to pass the celebrity image to the brands. When a celebrity or a widely loved person uses a product or promotes a product then it can create product awareness and positive impact in the minds of the target customers. The awareness created by the celebrity endorsement can familiarize the products and maximizes the product’s image overnight.

Celebrity branding strategies create memorable impact and occupy a district place in the minds of the target customers within a short duration, introducing new products to the wider audience is highly possible through the celebrity endorsement. While planning for celebrity endorsement care should be taken in order to make it successful, wrong placement of celebrity endorsement may ruin brand image overnight, so to get huge profits marketers must identify right celebrity, right advertisement, and the right product. The combination of these enhances the brand image and benefits to both parties i.e. celebrity and brand or organization.

Why celebrity endorsement is gaining importance

Celebrity endorsement is gaining importance in the modern days, during past days they used to deliver advertisements only through limited media and with traditional advertisement efforts. Globalization, advancement in technology, the existence of different types of media and increase in business operations create importance and feasibility give celebrity endorsement.

New fashions and trends presented by the brand ambassadors can bring the products and brands into the limelight. These influence the customer’s tastes and preferences by creating product awareness and it makes them buy the product. It helps in maximizing brand loyalty and repeated purchases with the unique and multiple advertisements given by the brand ambassadors. Celebrity advertisement can act as an assurance of the product’s quality; it influences the perceptions of the customers and creates a familiar feeling about the products.

How to select a celebrity

While selecting a celebrity to promote the brand marketers need to give extreme importance in order to boost the brand image and to reduce the costs. Once the brand ambassadors promote a particular brand then their own image and reputation pass to the brand, that is the reason customers give importance to buy that particular product. The assurance given by the celebrities about a brand enhances the customer’s positive perception and motivates them to do repeated purchases even at higher prices.

Whether the celebrities use the product or not, it doesn’t matter, but customers believe what they watch in the advertisements, and they come to a conclusion that the organizations with celebrity involvement can produce better products. For some extent customer’s perception is right. Usually, most of the celebrities become brand ambassadors for better quality products and reputed brands. So by the appearance of celebrities, familiar and lovable persons in the advertisement maximize the brand image and trust.

Current fame

Selecting celebrities having current fame and better future can endorse the brand successfully in the long run. But future is uncertain, once the celebrity image fades then it passes to the brand also. Then the customers do not pay attention towards these ads and interested in watching the advertisements of raising celebrities.

Controversy news

The news of controversy around a brand ambassador can show negative impact in the minds of the customers. It hurts the feelings of assurance due to the negative news regarding their lovable celebrities and it may become viral and destroys the celebrity image and brand image also. For example when a sports celebrity is caught red handed in a drug test then it highly hurts the feelings of customers those who believe them. This negative image not only shows influence on the fame of the celebrity but it shows the effect on the assurance given by them towards a particular brand.

Celebrity’s involvement in promoting harmful products

When celebrities are promoting more than one product, then the marketers should know the information about other brands also, For example if a celebrity supports and gives assurance towards a brand then it should be fulfilled to some extent, though these products may not give better results but should not harm the customers, celebrity involvement with such products creates negative impact towards other products and brands also.

Right celebrity for the right product

Selecting right celebrity for the right product is very important to create trustworthiness. Wrong selection of celebrities can make the marketers to pay unnecessary efforts, time, and money and it leads to decrease in brand image. For example, if products completely belong to women such as sanitary napkins, lipsticks, and lingerie etc., for such products male celebrities do not suitable as brand ambassadors if they do so, it may not be effective. Such related mistakes can highly decrease the brand image and celebrity image also.

Advantages of celebrity endorsement

  •    Celebrity endorsement acts as an assurance to maximize the brand image
  •   It can create a positive memorable impact in the minds of the customers
  •   It increases the positive perceptions towards brands and products
  •   It helps in maximizing the product demand and sales
  •   Familiarity of the celebrities can make the customers buy the products even at higher      prices
  • Celebrity endorsement can give additional image to the brands by passing their own image to the brands
  •  Celebrity endorsement can create instant brand awareness
  •  It can create a positive impact and occupies a district place in the minds of the target customers
  •  Celebrity image and attractiveness influences the customers and motivates them to use the products
  • It can change the customer’s attitude towards the brands
  •  It helps in transforming the low loyal customers into high loyal customers
  • Celebrity endorsement can strongly support the brands even during changes in customer tastes, preferences and trend.
  • Memorable impact due to the celebrity advertisement highly reduces the confusions and fluctuations in the customer’s buying decisions.

Challenges of celebrity endorsement

Brand switching

Shifting loyalties from one brand to another by celebrities is one of the biggest challenges to the marketers to find alternative solutions and developing various marketing strategies. Brand switching shows a negative impact on brands and celebrities also and these leaves a question mark in the minds of the potential customers.

Overexposure

Overexposure of celebrities in multiple brands advertisement creates unidentifiable impact in the minds of the customers; such conditions cannot occupy a district position in the minds of target customers. Celebrity may be well known and lovable person, and then also over exposure makes the customers think that the celebrity appearance is routine and simple.

Revolutionary thinking

Revolutionary thinking in the entire society makes the marketers think and change their attitude towards customer’s perceptions, for example, the promise of marketers about using fairness creams “can make skin fairer”, caused a revolutionary protest from the society against racism. The motto may be for raising the sales by satisfying the needs of the customers. But in some situations such efforts may fade away the image of celebrities and brands also

High investment

Celebrity endorsement is one of the expensive advertisement strategies, celebrities charge more and more for appearing in commercials. Depending on the commercials and celebrity, the pay may vary, but it is in millions of dollars. If something goes wrong such as controversy news about celebrities, wrong selection or mismatch of brand and celebrity, revolutionary protests etc then the entire investment may become waste and in addition, it leaves the negative brand image.

Negative image of celebrity

The negative image of celebrity can spoil the brand image and brand reputation; it diminishes the fame of the celebrity overnight. Such uncertain situations can cause high damage to the brands.

Others

  •  Poor tag lines lead to misunderstanding about brands, in some languages, these may give a different meaning.
  • Pictures of celebrities while they are using another brand’s similar products then it creates negative impact
  • Presenting advertisement during wrong timing leaves a negative impression. For example, Sachin Tendulkar’s advertisements being shown after his poor innings or wicket falls can create a negative impact.

  • Presenting advertisement during wrong timing leaves a negative impression. For example, Sachin Tendulkar’s advertisements being shown after his poor innings or wicket falls can create a negative impact.
  •  Mismatch of advertisements, celebrities and brands minimize brand image and celebrity image as well.