BRAND BUILDING USING CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Advertising is imperative for any kind of products or services. To survive in

the market, advertisers adopt distinctive techniques for advertising. In this

globalised era “celebrity advertising” emerges as a better way of advertising. The

term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to

ordinary citizens, whereas "endorsement" usually applies to pitches by celebrities.

Advertisers have attempted to quantify and qualify the use of celebrities in their

marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to a

brand's image and the celebrity's influence on consumer buying behavior.

Endorsements by celebrities have started since a long time. Celebrities

include fame movie stars, sports personalities, talk show personalities, politicians

and others who have the „charisma‟. Now more than ever, celebrity images are

essential to hold the attention of the modern consumer. Celebrity Endorsement

Deals has established a service based on one simple fact that is undeniable and

widely recognized. Corporations can reap the financial benefits of celebrity

endorsements in the form of increased sales. Non-profit organizations can utilize

celebrity names to foster higher online and event-based fundraising revenues. For

decades, celebrity spokespeople have been a favourite marketing tool of companies

with products or services to sell. Instant recognition attracts the desired target

audience and makes the product they are promoting more visible. Audiences have a

higher recall of, and can be more persuaded by, advertisements containing

celebrities. Celebrity spokespeople are a staple in marketing. More than 20 percent

of all advertisements today feature a famous face, voice or likeness. Even small

businesses use celebrity spokespersons. The reason why Consumers pay attentions

to celebrities because people are inherently attracted to a familiar face and voice.

CELEBRITY:

Celebrities are people who enjoy specific public recognition by a large

number of certain groups of people. They have some characteristic attributes like

attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills that are not commonly

observed. According to Friedman and 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”. Compared to other endorser types, famous people always attach a

greater degree of attention, recall and loyalty.

The following are the examples of celebrities

a.)Actors (e.g., Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta,

Aamir Khan and R.Madhavan).

b.)Models (e.g., Mallaika Arora, Milind Soman, etc),

c.)Television Personalities (Husain, Smriti Irani),

d.)Sports figures (e.g., Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra s Singh Dhoni, Anna

Kournikova, Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods, etc),

e.)Entertainers (e.g., Cyrus Broacha, Oprah Winfrey,),

f.)Pop-stars (e.g., Madonna, Shakira).

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT:

The use of celebrities in order to increase the sales and/ or the recall value of

a brand is called celebrity endorsement. The late '80s saw the beginning of celebrity

endorsements in advertising in India. Hindi film and TV stars as well as

sportspersons began encroaching on a territory that was, until then, the exclusive

domain of models. One of the first sports endorsements in India was when Farokh

Engineer became the first Indian Crickets to model for Bryl cream The Indian cricket

teams now earns roughly Rs. 100 crore through endorsements

RISE OF CELEBRITY CULTURE: The modern mass media has increased the exposure and power of celebrity.

In India, today the use of celebrity advertising for companies has become a trend

and a perceive winning formula of corporate image building and product marketing.

As the images of the celebrity become associated with the products through

endorsement, the meanings they attach to the product are transferred to consumer

through and consumption. Therefore, the practice for celebrity endorsement should

be closely related to the cultural context in which the images of celebrities are

formed and individual celebrities are selected to be linked with particular products.

The important thing to remember is that putting a celebrity in an ad is not an

idea in itself. Unfortunately, this is how most celebrities are being used in Indian

advertising, where they just become a prop. Ideally, there should be an idea that

makes the celebrity relevant to the product and the consumer.

EFFECTIVENESS OF CELEBRITY ADVERTISING:

In the advertising world, celebrity advertising is seen as a substitute for

'absence of ideas' – and actually frowned upon. Yet it appears again and again. A

client hits upon celebrity as a solution when his agency is unable to present to him a

viable, exciting solution for his communication/marketing problem. He then feels

that the presence of a well-known face is an easy way out. It is rare that there is an

idea on the table and client and agency mutually agree that the presence of a

celebrity will actually lift the script. This is very similar to Bollywood blockbuster

films where the cast is decided upon and the script is either written accordingly or

re-engineered around the cast.

Benefits – The four Q’s:

Quick saliency: It gets cut through because of the star and his attention getting

value. Nerolac has ensured high saliency for its brand with the inclusion of Amitabh

Bachchan in its advertising.

Quick connect: There needs to be no insight but the communication connects

because the star connects. Sachin Tendulkar & Shah Rukh Khan ensure an easy

connect for Pepsi with the youth.

Quick shorthand for brand values: The right star can actually telegraph a brand

message fast without elaborate story telling. Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar seem

to have done that successfully for Boost in the early '90s and helped to differentiate

it in the malted beverages market.

Quick means of brand differentiation: In a category where no brand is using a

celebrity, the first that picks one up could use it to differentiate itself in the market.

Boost did it in the malted beverage category.

In general celebrity endorsements are impelled by virtue of the following motives:

Instant Brand Awareness and Recall.

Celebrity values define, and refresh the brand image.

Celebrities add new dimensions to the brand image.

Instant credibility or aspiration PR coverage.

Lack of ideas.

An appropriately used celebrity can prove to be a massively powerful tool

that magnifies the effects of a campaign. But the aura of cautiousness should always

be there. The fact to be emphasized is that celebrities alone do not guarantee

success, as consumers nowadays understand advertising. They know what

advertising is and how it works. People realize that celebrities are being paid a lot of

money for endorsements and this knowledge makes them to think twice about

celebrity endorsements.

The success of a brand through celebrity endorsement is a cumulative of the

following attributes.

1. Celebrity – Target audience match.

2. Celebrity values.

3. Cost of acquiring the celebrity.

4. Celebrity regional appeal factors.

5. Celebrity – product match.

6. Celebrity controversy risk.

7. Celebrity popularity.

8. Celebrity availability.

9. Celebrity physical attractiveness.

10. Celebrity credibility.

Successful branding programs are based on the concept of singularity. The

objective is to create in the mind of the prospect the perception that there is no

other product on the market quite like your product."

Al Ries & Laura Ries

Indian advertising started with the hawkers who used to call out their wares

right from the days when cities and markets first began. Since then, Indian

advertising has metamorphosed into a strategic tool that enhances sales, siphons

more profits and helps in the process of brand-building and product promotion.

With this evolved a strategy that tried to benefit from the emotional attachment of

the admirers or the fans of the celebrities; in the form of celebrity endorsement. It

does help in creating instant awareness and visibility; but for a cost.

The project aims to look beyond the obvious benefits that might be derived

out of celebrity endorsement. It tries to understand the process of consumer

psychology and impact of celebrity endorsement on the overall process of brand

building. The in-depth study of various models brings to light the complexities

pertaining to celebrity endorsement. Analyzing its success is as much a necessity as

is the understanding of its need. The importance of celebrity management has been

emphasized to realize success or failure in its true sense. A symbiotic model has

been proposed to define: how to make celebrity endorsement a win-win situation

for both the brand and the brand-endorser.

"Brand" is the most valuable asset of any firm. Any thoughtless adventure

can be like the Sword of Damocles. It's the "strong idea" of promotion which is a

more strategic means of brand-building; which can be an economical alternative

over celebrity endorsement.

"It doesn't matter how new an idea is; what matters is how new it becomes."

- Elias Canetti

If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it

seems to me you should use their language, the language in which they think." David

Ogilvy

If the world were full of all wise men and all wise women; we would have

never heard of a term called "advertisement". And then good products would have

found the right customers and grown to prosperity. Firms would have worked out a

mathematical formula to sell and succeed. But the buying process isn't rational; and

so is this world.

Today, the business firms are trying out different ways in advertisement to

increase their sales. Indians are die-hard movie and sport buffs; and this aspect of

the consumers has invited the concept of "Celebrity Endorsement" to the world of

advertisement. The purpose of the project is to analyze the role of Celebrity

Endorsement in the process of brand-building by taking appropriate examples from

the advertising landscape.

The modern world of marketing communication has become colorful and

inundated with advertisements, and it is hard to get noticed. It is an uphill task for

the designer of an advertising campaign to differentiate itself from others and

attract viewers' attention. In this jet age, people tend to ignore all commercials and

advertisements while flipping through the magazines and newspapers or viewing

TV. But even then, the glamour of a celebrity seldom goes unnoticed. Thus, celebrity

endorsement in advertisement and its impact on the overall brand is of great

significance. In this process, the companies hire celebrities from a particular field to

feature in its advertisement campaigns. The promotional features and images of the

product are matched with the celebrity image, which tends to persuade a consumer

to fix up his choice from a plethora of brands. Although this sounds pretty simple,

but the design of such campaigns and the subsequent success in achieving the

desired result calls for an in-depth understanding of the product, the brand

objective, choice of a celebrity, associating the celebrity with the brand, and a

framework for measuring the effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE:

1. To determine how the Brand building using celebrity endorsement works.

Definition of Celebrities

Celebrities are people who enjoy specific public recognition by a large

number of certain groups of people. They have some characteristic attributes like

attractiveness, extraordinary lifestyle or special skills that are not commonly

observed. Thus, it can be said that within a society, celebrities generally differ from

the common people and enjoy a high degree of public awareness. Among the classic

forms of celebrities, actors (e.g., Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachhan, etc.), models

(e.g., Malaika Arora, Bipasha Basu, etc.), sports-persons (e.g., Sachin Tendulkar,

Sania Mirza, etc.) are significant. According to Friedman and 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". Compared to other endorser

types, famous people always attach a greater degree of attention, recall and loyalty.

In this age of intense competition, where capturing a position in the

consumers' mind space is extremely tough, celebrity endorsements give an extra

edge to the companies for holding the viewers' attention. Celebrities can catalyze

brand acceptance and provide the enormous momentum that brands require by

endorsing the intrinsic value to the brand.

Important Celebrity Attributes

While selecting a celebrity as endorser, the company has to decide the

promotional objective of the brand and how far the celebrity image matches with it.

The selection is in fact a collaboration, from which both the company and the

celebrity gains.

The most important attribute for a celebrity endorser is the trustworthiness.

The target audience must trust that a celebrity carries a particular image and it must

match with the product.

The second attribute in order of importance is likeability. The celebrity also

must be accepted as a popular icon by a large cross section of the audience.

Companies use celebrity endorser because they are considered to have

stopping power, i.e., a celebrity can be a very useful tool to draw attention to

advertising messages in a cluttered media environment. The overall popular image

coupled with exact product- image match enhances the consumer attention

resulting in greater brand recall.

Similarity between the target audience and the celebrity is the third

important attribute. A person well-known in a society can have greater impact than

a celebrity of a different world. If the endorser and receiver have similar needs,

goals, interests and lifestyles, the position advocated by the brand communication is

better understood and received. Similarity is also used to create a situation where

the consumer feels empathy for the person shown in the commercial. The bond of

similarity between the endorser and the receiver increases the level of

persuasiveness.

Branding & Celebrity Endorsement

Indian firms have been juxtaposing their brands with celebrity endorsers in

the hope that celebrities may boost effectiveness of their marketing and/or

corporate communication attempts. Today, use of celebrities as part of marketing

communication strategy is fairly common practice for major firms in supporting

corporate or brand imagery.

What is a Brand?

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.

Definition of Celebrity

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).

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.

The Need for Celebrity Endorsement

The charisma of the celebrities almost always entices people and their words

are worshipped by a lot of people. Their influence also goes on the political front,

where they are invited for political endorsement. The business firms, thus, resort to

celebrity endorsement to perk up brand recall and product sales. This has now

become a trend and is being perceived as a strategic means of brand building

exercise.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (EML) suggests that consumers will

scrutinize claims more in important situations (say, life saving drugs) than in

unimportant ones. So, for almost similar products like Coke and Pepsi, it makes

sense to use endorsement. Also, Friedman & Friedman have shown that a celebrity

relative to a non-celebrity spokesperson would be more effective for products high

in psychological or social risk, involving such elements as good taste, self-image, and

opinion of others. For example, when actor Shah Rukh Khan endorses Santro-Zip

drive; the consumers are made to think that he is giving his opinion to go for this

car.

Two reasons why advertisers need celebrity endorsement are to increase the

credibility & attractiveness of their advertisement. This is solely to affect

consumers' attitude towards their brand. To justify this hypothesis, we can take the

example of former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen who helped the Epson brand of

printers achieve instant recognition; even with the established giants like Hewlett-

Packard and Wipro in the running. Similarly, actress Rani Mukherjee has turned the

tables for Bata's ladies footwear brand called Sundrop as sales increased by a

whooping 500%.

The Process of Celebrity Endorsement

The process of celebrity endorsement is more of meaning translation &

meaning application. A deeper insight into this complex process is provided by the

following theory.

• The Meaning Transfer Model

McCracken, the author to this model, has suggested that, "The effectiveness

of the endorser depends, in part, upon the meaning he or she brings to the

endorsement process." The celebrities' effectiveness as endorsers stems from the

cultural meanings with which they are endowed. It is a three-stage process of

meaning transfer that involves the formation of celebrity image, transfer of meaning

from celebrity to the brand, and finally, from the brand to the consumer.

To explain it with the help of an example, we can take the case of Rahul Dravid and

Castrol. The cricket icon is seen as "Mr. Dependable". And when he endorses Castrol,

an image of "dependability" is tagged on to the brand under promotion.

The Importance of Celebrity Management

In a world full of faces, the ones' which bolt from the blue are perhaps of the

celebrities. The advertisers are always on the look out for such faces for the purpose

of endorsement. But, the major challenge before them is to find the right faces for

their brands or in other words celebrity management. McCraken quotes, "In the best

of all possible worlds, the marketing or advertising firm first would determine the

symbolic properties sought for the product... It would then consult a roster of

celebrities and the meanings they made available, and taking into account budget

and availability constraints, would choose the celebrity who best represents the

appropriate symbolic properties." This suggests that the image of the celebrity must

fit or be congruent with the product which can be explained from the theoretical

perspective using a social cognition framework.

Schema-Based Expectancy Theory

A schema is an abstract, cognitive structure that represents some stimulus

domain, e.g., a person, place, event, or thing. It is organized through experience and

consists of a knowledge structure. They can determine what information will be

encoded or retrieved from memory. Schemas are involved in encoding,

interpretation, retention, and retrieval of information. They can influence

perceptual cognitive activities through the generation of expectancies. In the case of

well-known celebrities, individual would typically have personal relevant schemas

(person schemas), acquired over time. When a celebrity endorses a brand, the

characteristics of that celebrity may be compared with the advertised attributes of

the brand by the audience for congruence or fit with their available person-schema.

The degree of congruence between the new information (the brand attributes) and

the existing information (the celebrity's characteristics) may then influence the level

of recall of the new information.

The Associative Network Model suggests that information inconsistent with

an individual's schema may be quite salient and information will, therefore, be

attended to more closely and be processed more deeply. Therefore, this information

would be conceptually linked to a larger number of items in the memory, compared

to a piece of information that is consistent with the schema.

While the Schema-Pointer + Tag Model proposes that consistent or typical

items are encoded in terms of a "pointer" to a generic schema that contains the

typical components and relationships for that particular knowledge domain. The

atypical or incongruent items are, on the other hand, encoded with a rather

distinctive "tag" and stored as a unique, separate unit. This leads to higher recalling

for incongruent items than for typical items. And empirical researches confirm

significantly higher recalling when the image of the celebrity is congruent with the

brand image. Therefore, celebrity management is very important for the success of

any brand.

"If commerce is the engine of our economy, then advertising is the spark.

Responsible advertisers are the drivers who keep us on the right track, leading to a

richer, more benevolent society."

Celebrity Selection

There are various scientific ways in which the right celebrity is selected for the

product endorsement, which are discussed here after

• Stereotyping

Tellis defines stereotypes as perceptions and depictions of individuals based on

simplistic, biased image of the group to which they belong, rather than on their own

individual characteristics. For example: its better to select celebrities who say are

teens for chocolate advertisements and females for detergent ads, etc.

• The TEARS Model

The attributes highlighted by the acronym "TEARS" are gauged for celebrity

selection.

These are: -

Trustworthiness: For example - Legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan who is an icon

of trust; promoting ICICI Bank.

Expertise: For example - Golfer Tiger Woods for a sports brand.

Attractiveness: For example - Tennis player Anna Kournikova who earns 10 Million

dollars per year in just endorsement.

Respect: For example - Former Miss World Aishawarya Rai and the Eye donation

campaign.

Similarity: For example - a child artist promoting a chocolate brand.

A celebrity scoring high on all the above attributes can turn out to be a good

endorser for the brand under question.

• The No TEARS Model

The "No TEARS" approach is a tool for managers and their advertisers how to go

about selecting celebrities so as to avoid the pitfalls from making an unwise

decision.It gauges the following information: -

1. celebrity & audience match up,

2. celebrity & brand match up,

3. celebrity credibility,

4. celebrity attractiveness,

Selecting the right celebrity does more than increasing sales; it can create linkages

with the celebrities' appeal, thereby adding new dimension to the brand image.

Research conducted by Katherine Eckel has revealed that celebrities can get people

to make a better choice but cannot influence 'people to make a foolish choice'.

The success of celebrity endorsement in India can be sought from a market research

conducted earlier which found that 8 out of 10 TV commercials scored the highest

recall were those with celebrity appearances. A few examples: Sachin Tendulkar -

Adidas, Sourav Ganguly - Britannia, Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupati - J. Hampstead,

Shah Rukh Khan - Pepsi, Sushmita Sen - Epson, and Aishwarya Rai - Coke.

Framework to Make Effective Celebrity Endorsement Program

With the cut-throat competition and continuously changing market dynamics, one

has to assess the market conditions and re-evaluate its current marketing strategies

such as its portfolio of celebrity endorsement. The action plan should be able to

answer the following key questions: -

Are the celebrity endorsements programs result driven?

How to quantify the value generated by the celebrity endorsements?

Are customers able to connect the brand with the celebrity?

The benefits that accrue from such a relationship can be categorized into two

components: -

Value of Hard Assets:

The benefits derived from the hard assets are those that have a clear market value

such as increased sales and increase in brand equity. These are the tangible benefits

that a company derives from its endorsement strategy.

Value of Association:

Association value is derived from the target customers who associate the company

brand with the celebrity. These are the intangible benefits that the company will

accrue in the long-term.

Except for few venerable celebrities, most of the celebrities quote their price in

expectation of negotiation. The company should benchmark the contractual fees and

benefits against that of comparable celebrities to ensure the package is equivalent.

Understand 'Celebrity' Clutter

There could be a degree of clutter with the celebrity endorsing many more brands

and companies. This clutter can impede the ability of the company to capture the

image and awareness required to generate value from the endorsement. The

company needs to understand the risk associated with the signing of such celebrity

and need to devise strategic opportunities to stay clear of the clutter.

Include Value-in-Kind Payments

Companies can reduce their risk and endorsement costs by substituting out-of-

pocket cash payments with value-in-kind, which can be traded at market price.

•Protection Against Ambush Marketing

Ambush marketing (or adjacent marketing) is the reality of the day and the

marketing managers need to be creative to stay one step ahead of the competition.

For instance, Amitabh Bachchan was shown drinking Thumbs-Up in the hindi movie

Kaante, when he is actually brand ambassador for Pepsi.

Why Celebrity Endorsement Fails?

There maybe cases where brands are not able to take-off even after the backing of

celebrities. And this leads to speculations in the Ad World on the soundness of

celebrity endorsement as an effective communication strategy.

• The Reasons

According to leading management thinker, Dr. Seamus Phan, "Many celebrity

endorsements fail because they identify a celebrity they like in an emotive and un-

researched manner and then try to create advertising to force-fit the celebrity into

the creative concept." Therefore, the advertisers must associate the celebrity to the

advertisement and not vice versa. Thinking on the similar lines, the advertisers

shouldn't identify the brand to associate with the celebrity but do vice versa. The

success of celebrity endorsement also depends upon the capacity, knowledge,

experience, and qualification to talk about the product. Failure may be attributed to

improper positioning (Example: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan & Maruti

Versa), negative perception after use of product / service (inferior products),

misapprehension of the meaning of the endorsement, etc.

"The philosophy behind much advertising is based on the old observation that every

man

is really two men - the man he is and the man he wants to be."

- William Feather

Another reason for the celebrity endorsement to turn against the brand is due to

"Overshadowing". This happens when the celebrity is larger than the brand being

endorsed. And unfortunately, though the celebrity generates higher levels of

attention among viewers, the impression is not always strongly linked to the

advertised brand.

Finally, brand may also fail to get noticed given a recent negative publicity of the

celebrity endorser. Example: Michael Jordan lost his endorsement deals when he

announced in 1991 that he's HIV-positive. It wasn't until July 2003 that he landed

his first endorsement deal since the announcement.

• The Solutions

Celebrity management is very crucial to avoid the brand-celebrity disconnect, and

subsequently, brand failures. Proper market research should be carried out and

right positioning strategies should be in place. If the consumers have questions in

their minds regarding the quality or performance of the product then even God

cannot save the brand. There shouldn't be any ambiguity or confusions when

showing the celebrity in the advertisement. The obvious solution to the problem of

overshadowing is to make sure that both the advertisement and the celebrity are

focused on the brand or Celebrity Endorsement.

The Issues Involved

There are several factors to consider before resorting to celebrity endorsement.

There is no single formula to win in the world of marketing. A company must

analyze the prospect of endorsement from 360 degrees, prior to product promotion.

•Price vs. Profit

The most important issue is that of return on investment (ROI). Companies need to

perform a cost-benefit analysis prior to endorsement. The process of gauging the

effectiveness of endorsement on the overall brand is but difficult. The companies

expect to bring, in the long run, future sales, revenues and profit from the present

investments on celebrity endorsement. Celebrity endorsement is an expensive

means of brand promotion and the price burden almost always shifts on to the

consumers; if not, then it narrows the companies' profit.

• Multiple Brand Endorsement vs. Multiple Celebrity Endorsement

In the advertising landscape, we find either a celebrity endorsing multiple brands or

multiple celebrities being used to endorse a single brand. Sachin Tendulkar, for

example, in 2002 endorsed 12 brands (including Pepsi, Boost, Colgate Total, Gillette,

Britannia Tiger, Fiat Palio, TVS Victor, Fiat Sienna, MRF, Adidas, Visa Cards and

Home Trade). Tripp et al, says that the endorsement of as many as four products

negatively influences the celebrity spokesperson's credibility and likeability.

Also, the use of multiple celebrities to endorse a brand may hinder the meaning

transfer process, and thus, lead to confusion among the consumers.

Similarity between the target audience and the celebrity is the third

important attribute.

A person well-known in a society can have greater impact than a celebrity of a

different world. If the endorser and receiver have similar needs, goals, interests and

lifestyles, the position advocated by the brand communication is better understood

and received. Similarity is also used to create a situation where the consumer feels

empathy for the person shown in the commercial. The bond of similarity between

the endorser and the receiver increases the level of persuasiveness.

The companies have to first clarify their business objectives, brand values and then

decide who the celebrities are who can carry them forward. Otherwise, their can be

unnecessary investments without proper return. So the celebrity endorsement cost

has to be weighed up against the return on marketing investment.

Besides, while designing an ad campaign, one should also keep in mind that the

overuse of some extremely popular celebrities often tends to confuse consumers

and reduce the utility of celebrity endorsement. Another argument against celebrity

endorsement involves the behavior of the celebrity. The values that display

themselves in regrettable behavior could transfer themselves to the brand. The

marketing function of a company should also understand that brands should assume

a much greater space than the celebrities, because their association may be

temporary but the brands are permanent.

The various risks associated with celebrity endorsements are as follows: -

Negative publicity - If the celebrity is strongly associated with the brand then the

occurrence of the negative publicity can spill over the brand. This can harm the

trustworthiness and credibility in the mind of the consumers. E.g., Salman Khan lost

his endorsement deal with Thumbs-Up after his infamous incidents like buck-killing

and rash-driving.

Overshadowing - When celebrity endorser is used, the risk of consumers focusing

on the celebrity and not on the brand exists.

Overexposure - This risk arises when the celebrity chooses to endorse several

different products simultaneously which might leave the consumers confused. E.g.,

Sachin Tendulkar endorses several brands such as MRF, TVS Victor, Pepsi, Fiat,

Boost, etc.

Overuse - Sometimes the company can use many different celebrities to appeal to

different market segment. But multiplicity of endorser might blur the image of the

brand

and reduce the effectiveness of the means of persuasion.

Extinction - The favorable response obtained by a particular brand may weaken

over time if the brand gets significant exposure without the association of the

celebrity. If the celebrity contract is for a considerable period of time, then it can

lead to draining out capital without proper return.

Financial Risk - The decision for hiring an expensive endorser may not be always

feasible if there is a poor brand fit.

Therefore, for celebrity endorsements to work effectively there are some

fundamental ground rules: -

The brand promise and the brand personality should be clearly articulated.

The communication objectives for the campaign should be frozen.

Focus must be on the synergy between the brand and the celebrity image

Establish explicitly what the celebrity is going to communicate

Once these criteria are met, endorsements can work as a force multiplier. A deeper

insight in the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumers' minds can be

explained by the meaning transfer model, explained in the next section.

BRAND BUILDING USING CELEBRITY:

CELEBRITIES ENDORSING THE BRANDS AND THEIR IMPACT :

Getting a well known personality is perhaps the easiest shortcut to

brand – building. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan as

well as Indian Cricke t captain Mahendra singh Dhoni each endorse more than a

dozen brands. But several companies are now breaking out of the mould.

BRANDS AND THEIR CELEBRITIES:

MAHINDRA:

Mahindra chose Kasbekar and not a popular Bollywood star or cricketer for

the television commercial launched in 2010. They have chosen the celebrity who is

credible and not over exposed.

CADBURY:

Another company which has tied up with niche celebrity is Cadbury. The

confectionary maker has roped in film director Anurag Kashyup for an advertising

campaign. Kashyup, known for making offbeat films with newcomers, features in a

tv commercial for Cadbury chocolates where he is shown looking for female actors

for his next movie.

NICHE CELEBRITIES:

The list of niche celebrities with endorsement deals is fast growing. Fashion

designer Wendell Rodricks endorses sanitary ware maker Jaguar’s premium brand

Artize. Olympian boxer Vijender singh promotes Mountain Dew, a Pepsico product

positioned as a drink with a macho image. Wrestler Sushil Kumar who won a bronze

medal at the 2008 Beijing endorses Eicher tractors. Kolkata based Emami has roped

in Singh, Kumar and two other Olympic medalists, boxer Mary Kom and Shuttler

Saina Nehwal, for its pain reliever ointment. Singh and Nehwal now endorse 8 to 9

brand each.

The use of niche celebrities to promote a product is not a recent

phenomenon. In 1990s, tablo maestro Zakir Hussain endorsed Taj Mahal Tea.

Famous Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has been promoting kitchen products and spoces for

several years.

The obvious reason for a brand signing up a lesser known celebrity is lower

cost. A Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan or ShahRukh Khan charges between

Rs. 6 crore and Rs. 10 crore per brand. A top cricketer like Virat Kohli would take

between Rs.1.5 crore and Rs.3 crore. In contrast a niche celebrity makes Rs. 50 lakh

to 1 crore per endorsement. Another important reason for using the niche celebrity

is the braking of clutter in endorsements. Most big stars also do not sign a written

contract with the celebrity management companies. Lesser known celebrities, on

the other hand, sign three to four year contracts. The companies take care of their

endorsements deals.

M S DHONI:

Mahendra singh Dhoni is the first Indian sportsperson to earn more than

Rs.100 crore a year in endorsements. Dhoni used to get Rs. 2.5 crore to 3 crore per

brand. Now because of the recent trend in the celebrity endorsement, he gets Rs.10

crore per deal and the total was then about Rs.100 crore. In India, sports icons were

so far exploited. M.S.Dhoni as a brand has risen above all this. The fees rose from

Rs.60 lakh per deal to over Rs.100 crore in under eight years. He expanded the

scope of endorsements by signing the equity deals. He has special purpose vehicles

for the ventures like the superbike racing team. Things began to change as

corporatisation and transparency pulled Bollywood out of the shadows. Around the

same time, cricket players came into their own as brand ambassadors. One of

Dhoni’s early moves to build his own brand was a deal with Prannoy Roy’s NDTV for

exclusive interviews, views and special shows. But it is not just about money. The

idea is to ensure that brand Dhoni lives betond his planning days.

BRANDS ENDORSED BY DHONI:

Reebok ,Lays, Pepsi beverages, Aircel, Exide, Boost, TVS, AshokLeyland, Maxx

mobiles, Siyarams, Orient , Dabur, Titan, Lafarge, UB, Amrapali and Gulf oil.

BRANDS ENDORSED BY SUSHIL KUMAR:

Mountain Dew, Eicher tractors, Emami fast relief, Ralson tyres and National

Egg Coordination committee.

BRANDS ENDORSED BY SANJEEV KAPOOR:

Sweekar sunflower oil, Dawaat Basmati Rice, Sleek Modular Kitchens, Tata i-

Shakti dal, Natura Sugarfree sweetener, Kenstar microwave ovens, Henkel’s Pril

Dishwash bar.

BRANDS ENDORSED BY SAINA NEHWAL:

Yonex Sportswear, Fortune cooking oil, Indian overseas bank, Whisper

sanitary napkins, Emami fast relief, Herbalife health and wellness products, Top

Ramen noodles and Airtel 3G.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT DEALS AND EARNIGNS PER DEAL:

Celebrity No.of.deals Earn per deal

Ranbir Kapoor 10 Rs.8 crore

Imran Khan 2 Rs. 4 crore

Virat Kohli 13 Rs. 3 crore

Mary Kom 12 Rs. 40 – 60 lakh

Narghis Fakhri 6 Rs. 80 lakh – 1 crore

Parineeti chopra 4 Rs. 60-70 lakhs

Shah Rukh Khan 15 Rs. 8-10 crore

MS Dhoni 17 Rs. 10-12 crore

Salman Khan 15 Rs. 7 crore

Hrithik Roshan 6 Rs. 6-7 crore

Amitabh Bachchan 10 Rs. 6-7 crore

Katrina Kaif 12 Rs. 4 crore

Sachin Tendulkar 17 Rs. 5-6 crore

Aishwarya Rai 3 Rs. 4 crore

Conclusion

Celebrity endorsement can be a goldmine or a minefield for a company's

brand building process. There have been extensive studies relating to the process of

celebrity endorsement and brand-building These studies indicate that celebrity

endorsement has worked well in some consumer segments while failing in others.

Few celebrities have been more successful than those with almost parallel fame. So

the role of celebrity endorsement in the advertising space is equivocal and cannot

be seen as a assured strategic tool to win profits, market share, revenues, etc.