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entertainers (e.g.,Cyrus Broacha, Oprah Winfrey, Conan O'Brien), and pop-stars (e.g.,

Madonna, David Bowie) -but also for less obvious groups like businessmen (e.g.,

Donald Trump, Bill Gates) or politicians.

Celebrities appear in public in different ways. First, they appear in public when

fulfilling their profession, e.g., Vishwanathan Anand, who plays chess in front of an

audience. Furthermore, celebrities appear in public by attending special celebrity

events, e.g., award ceremonies, inaugurations or world premieres of movies.

In addition, they are present in news, fashion magazines, and tabloids, which provide

second source information on events and the 'private life' of celebrities through mass-

media channels (e.g., Smriti Irani being regularly featured in various publications). Last

but not least, celebrities act as spokes-people in advertising to promote products

and services, which is referred to celebrity endorsement

Objectives of study:

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The objectives of the study are as follows:

To identify the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behavior.

To study celebrity endorsement as a source of brand-building.

To find which type of celebrity persona is more effective.

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Scope of Celebrity Endorsement:

The use of testimonials by advertisers dates back to the 19th century when medicines

were patented. Firms have been juxtaposing their brands and themselves with celebrity

endorsers (e.g., athletes, actors) in the hope that celebrities may boost effectiveness

of their marketing. The increasing number of endorsements throws a valid question to

the consumers. Is there a science behind the choice of these endorsers or is it just

by the popularity measurement? What are the reasons which lead to impact of celebrity

endorsement on brands? The success of a brand through celebrity endorsement is

accumulative of the following 14 attributes. Greater the score of the below parameters,

greater are the chances of getting close to the desired impact.

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Impact Regions of Celebrity Endorsement

While brand marketers with positive experiences would tend to believe that celebrity

endorsements work and some would disagree, but one would be sure that the magnitude

of its impact is difficult to measure even if sales figures are at our disposal. However,

we can understand why it works and the impact regions of celebrity endorsement. The

illustrations below explain the same: -

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Impact of Celebrity Endorsements

Advertisement helps consumers in making their purchasing decision. Over the years

advertising strategies have gone through various changes. Today, one of the most

popular advertising strategies used by companies is celebrity endorsement. (Goldsmith,

Lafferty and Newell, 2000)

In India, celebrity brand endorsement has started since late 1970s. Celebrities have their

power to grab public attention towards an advertisement. This article will discuss

whether celebrity endorsement can effectively influence consumers buying decision.

(Joshi and Ahluwalia, 2008)

How Celebrity Endorsements Influence the Consumer

The basis for the effectiveness of celebrity-endorsed advertising can be linked to

Kelman's processes of social influence as discussed by Friedman and Friedman

According to Kelman, there are three processes of social influence, which result in an

individual adopting the attitude advocated by the communicator:

Compliance, Identification & Internalization

These latter two processes are particularly applicable to celebrity-endorsed advertising.

Compliance

Infers that another individual or group of individuals influences an individual cause he

or she hopes to achieve a favourable reaction from this other group. This process of

social influence is not directly applicable to celebrity advertising because there is little,

if any, interaction between the celebrity and the consumer.

Identification

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Applies to the situation wherein the individuals emulate the attitudes or behaviour of

another person or group, simply because they aspire to be like that person or group.

This process is the basis for referent power. It was found that celebrities are more

commonly liked than a typical consumer spokesperson.

Internalization

As a process of social influence is said to occur when individuals adopt the attitude or

behaviour of another person because that behaviour is viewed as honest and sincere and

is congruent with their value system. The effectiveness of celebrity advertising

traditionally has not been strongly linked to this process, as a celebrity's reason for

promoting a product can just as easily be attributed by the consumer to an external

motive (i.e., payment of fee) as to an internal motive (i.e., the celebrity's true belief in

the value and benefit of the product). An important issue of concern relates to the

development of a strategy for use in Celebrity Advertising, which benefits from the

dramatic impact of dual support of both the identification and internalization processes

of social influence. Celebrities are well-liked, but the techniques that can be used to

enhance their credibility as spokespeople, and therefore, tie-in more closely with the

internalization process needs to be looked into.

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Celebrity endorsement and Indian consumer buying behavior

Various empirical studies have found that celebrities get more attention and recall than

any other endorsers (Kulkarni and Gaulkar, 2005; Joshi and Ahluwalia, 2008; Matrade

Chennai, 2005). Celebrities are quite effective in generating positive attitude to brands.

Celebrities are more powerful in connecting consumers to brands compared to other

types of endorsers. (Choi and Rifon, 2007; Atkin and Block, 1983)

In India, celebrity power can rightly be assessed by their successful endorsements.

Here, celebrities like film stars and cricketers have not only been successful in

gathering huge public attention, but also in increasing sales volume. For example,

Cadbury used Amitabh Bachchan to promote the brand when it went through a bad

phase in India. Soon the ad recreated peoples love for the brand and increased

Cadburys sale. (Joshi and Ahluwalia, 2008; Matrade Chennai, 2005)

Aamir Khan is used by Titan to communicate the message that Titan watches are as

trustworthy as the actor is for his films. This celebrity endorsement has also been quite

effective in influencing consumers buying decision. Similarly, various endorsements by

Sharukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and others have been found to be successful in

affecting consumers buying decision. (Joshi and Ahluwalia, 2008)

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The crescendo of celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past

20 years or so. Marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrity in influencing

buyer's purchase decision. They have firm believe that likeability or a favorable attitude

towards a brand is created by the use of a celebrity. The crore of rupees spent per year

on celebrity endorsement contracts show that celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan,

Sharukh khan and Sachin Tendulkar play an important role for the advertising industry.

It is an established fact that celebrity endorsement can bestow unique features or special

attributes upon a product that it may have lacked otherwise.

In India from late 1970's and early 80's the new trend in advertising started. Brands

started being endorsed by celebrities. Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons

were roped in to endorse prominent brands. Advertisements featuring stars like Late

Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Tabassum (Prestige cookers), Sunil Gavaskar for Dinesh

Suiting, Ravi Shastri and Vivian Richards (Vimal), Persis Khambhata and Kapil Dev

(Palmolive Shaving cream) became common.

Though marketers should remember that celebrities are mere living beings like us and if

they can highlight the benefits or advantages of a brand they can also have some

uncanny negative impact. Theory and practice suggests that the use of stars and their

unleashing power in advertising generate a lot of publicity and attention from the public

but the underline questions are, do these stars really help a brand by increasing its

sales? On the other hand, can they really have an Impact on the person's consumption

pattern, thereby changing his brand preference? How an advertisement featuring a

celebrity can influence consumers buying decision and can create an association

between a brand and a common man.

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To answer these questions, the article will examine the relationship between celebrity

endorsements and brands, and the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer's

buying behavior as well as how consumer makes brand preferences.

We will apply a wide range of accepted principles of how consumers brand attitudes

and preferences can be influenced, howbuyer'sbehavior can be influenced, how buyer's

behavior can be molded. We will use the principles of credibility of source and

attractiveness, the match-up hypothesis, the consumer decision-making model and the

communication model to understand this phenomenon.

Brand- A layman perspective

Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational and cultural image that you can

associate with a company or the product. Few examples will bring home the meaning

i.e. Amul - utterly butterly delicious; Coke thanda matlab coca-cola; Pepsi Yeh dil

mange more; Kurkure- Masti bole to kurkure and Daewoo ka India.

These examples convey one message that when people watch advertisement a connect

is being created and result is that people go for experience of buying. People feel by

using the brand they will portray certain traits or characteristics that otherwise they do

not have. This generates a certain level of emotional affiliation and a sense of

fulfillment. It is this emotional relationship with brands that make them so powerful.

Advertisements enforces what exactly the brand stands for and what to expect by its

consumption and above all what factors, features and attributes makes it better from

competition. Advertisements along with other marketing efforts generate expectations

and feelings in a customer and force them to think when they see or hear the brand

name. This Thinking process and emotional bonding gets more mature and relevant

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when a celebrity endorses the brand. The subjective intangible feelings of a customer

become objective and tangible in the form of celebrity and the level of expectations will

rise. The customer will start to perceive himself in the reference frame of the celebrity

after the brand or the advertised product has been purchased or consumed by him.

Celebrity

Celebritiesare people who enjoy public recognition and mostly they are the experts of

their respective fields having wider influence in public life and societal domain.

Attributes like attractiveness, extraordinary life style or special skills, larger than life

imageand demigod status can be associated with them.

It is safe to deduce that within a corresponding social group celebrities generally differ

from the social norm and enjoy high degree of public awareness.

Celebrities appear in public in different ways. To start, they appear in public when

fulfilling their professional commitments example: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who played

cricket in front of an audience in Twenty-Twenty World Cup. Furthermore, celebrities

appear in public by attending special celebrity events, example: the movie award nights;

special screening; world premiers of movies or for social causes. These celebrities have

universal presence and appeal, they are present everywhere, in news, fashion shows and

magazines, tabloids and above all advertisements.

Brand V/s Celebrity

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Sometimes the celebrity is more highlighted than the products, making no recall value

of the product. When Rahul Dravid advertised for Castrol, the brand gets overshadowed

by the celebrity & that is also a wrong choice of celebrity. Dravid is never famous for

racing& when he promotes the product, if gives a wrong signal to the customers. The

productcan use Narain Karthikeyan to endorse it which will give some reliability to the

product.

Some success story

Cadbury India used Amitah Bachan not only to recover their image from

wormcontroversy but also to establish itself as the leading company in the Indian

chocolatemarket.Aamir Khans ad campaign Thanda Matlab Cocacola was also a

huge hit. Not only thatthe company uses the superstars to come out from the pesticides

controversy.Dabur brings in Amitabh Bachan in the stagnant chawanprash market

which brings in boost in market and helps Dabur to remain the market leader.

The Lux Story

The Lux Soap in its 75 yrs journey as a product always used a Film Celebrity to

promote the product with the most catchy lines Lux meri Khubsurti Ka raaj. They

used a huge number of celebrities from the beginning to promote their product & in

their 75 years celebration advertisement campaign; they used SRK as the main endorser

who has said the famous Lux mera Khubsurti ka raaj along with Hema Malini, Sridevi

& Kareena Kapoor. That is the first time a male celebrity endorsed a female product in

India.

Some Controversies

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When SRK promoted Emamis Fair & Handsome cream. It was highly criticized

assaying that if a star with SRKs stature promotewhiteness cream then actually

we areadvocating for racism saying black is bad & white is gold. And how SRK could

canendorse such products as there will be a huge impact among the masses regarding

theskin colors. A person must be judged by his/her qualities & not by his/her

skin color.But what we basically forgot that stars get money to endorse products & we

shouldnteye washed by the advertisement & there is no point in criticizing a celebrity

for endorsing product like Fair & Handsome.

Shilpa Shetty & Romanov Vodka.

Shilpa Shetty also hardly criticized for promoting alcohol. As being a celebrity

she must be a responsible citizen & a responsible citizen should never promote

alcohol.Celebrity branding is all right as long as the celebrity conducts himself in a

good manner but if something wrong happens it will affect the image of the product

also. When Salman Khan got warrant for killing endangered dear ThumbsUp has no

option but to replace him. So the product and the celebrity remain good as long as

both of them remain individually good. The main problem of celebrity branding is that

when a particular product is known to the common people with the effect of the

celebrity, it is very difficult to separate the product from the star. Like Coca-Cola

-Aamir Khan, Cadbury-Amitabh Bachan,Santro-SRK. Now, if any one of the company

want to change their endorser they have to redesign the product to let out their product

from the shadow of the old campaign. In case of celebrity marketing another problem

also arise, that no separate brand value grows up for the product unless and until

the product is extraordinary. The product is known in the name of the celebrity.

Sometimes if the attributes of the celebrity doesnt matches with the product, it also

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gives a negative attribute to the product endorsed. Like in a Survey study it is found that

people locates Amitabh Bachan with Asian Paints the most but in reality Amitabh

endorsed Nerolac paints and Nerolacs biggest competitor is Asian paints. So there are

certain positive as well as negative points in celebrity branding in India. As a producer

of the product the company always wants to minimize the negative sides of the

celebrity endorsement and maximize the positive impact of the celebrity endorsement.

This clearly raises a question what impact celebrity endorsement have on people in case

of automobiles and whether it acts as a source of brand-building?

Celebrity and a Brand

Star power in India can be gauged by the successful endorsements done by Sharukh

Khan (Pepsi, Hyundai Santro, Sunfeast, and Navratan etc.), Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin

Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Hrithik Roshan and the others. The inevitable question is, if

and how the lively interest of the public in the rich and famous can be efficiently and

effectively used by companies to promote their brands and consequently to increase

their sales revenues.

This fact can be brought out by using certain examples i.e. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan

promoting Cadbury chocolates after the fiasco of infestation when the image of

Cadbury India went very low in the eyes of people. Soon the company found a perfect

fit and a reliable celebrity to transmit the correct message and help regenerating the lost

trust. The fit between the product and celebrity is evident as Mr. Bachchan and Cadbury

chocolates both have tested troubled times and still they stand tall and the love and trust

they both share with the people all across India. This is a live example of how a

celebrity brought certain attributes to a product like chocolate.

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Actor Sharukh khan has also endorsed diversified products. His endorsement basket is

ranging from Hyundai Santro to Sunfeast biscuits on one hand and from Compaq

computers to Videocon electronics on the other.

According to Advertising research companies both the actors are doing well and the ad

spent on both by the companies is increasing at a phenomenal rate, so does their basket

of endorsements. These actors bring reliability and trust in the brand and above all, they

help in increasing the sales revenues.

Celebrity endorsements are powerful, has become evident from the above two examples

but, why is it so? This power is offered by the following elements, which also creates a

'Top of the Mind Position'.

* Instant Awareness, knowledge about the brand and easy recall.

* Values and image of the brand is defined, highlighted and refreshed by the celebrity.

* The celebrity adds new edge and dimension to the brand.

* Credibility, trust, association, aspiration and connectivity to brand.

* Belief in efficiency and new appearance that will result in at least trial usage.

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Understanding Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behavior is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and

why they buy. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, socio-psychology,

anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision-making

process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual

consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an

attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer

from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.

The study and knowledge of consumer behavior helps firms and organizations to

improve their marketing strategies and product offerings. Following are the important

issues that have significant influence on consumer's psyche and their ability to take

decisions:

The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between

different alternatives (e.g., brands, products);

The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment

(e.g., culture, family, signs, media);

The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing

decisions;

Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities

influence decisions and marketing outcome;

How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that

differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer;

and

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How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and

marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Their Age, Religion, Culture, Income, informal group and Referent Group.

Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by taking the consumer into

consideration.

Consumer Decision-making process

The given process is very complicated though on first sight it does not look so. Process

starts with problem recognition or with an unsatisfied need. Something that a consumer

would like to have or purchase in order to attain satisfaction. This need can be

Psychological, attitudinal or Physiological but yes it should have the capacity to be

fulfilled by consuming a particular product or service.

To satisfy the given need what all are the components that should be taken into

consideration and how we can maximize the satisfaction is the next stage. In this stage,

we will cover ability to purchase, level of involvement, people whose opinion will

count and other relevant details that will help us in optimizing satisfaction.

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Based upon information search we will generate various alternatives i.e. which brand or

product is affordable for me, where will it be available comfortably and above all in

comparison to other brands or products how better or economical it is.

Evaluation stage will look like cost benefit analysis and based upon maximum value or

utility per rupee spend, we will decide or shortlist the product or brand. This is the

decision and confirmation stage where the consumers prepares him for the purchase of

a particular brand and give preference to one and only one over and above the others.

Next comes the purchase when the consumer will finally go to the market and look for

the brand or the product, physically verifies it and purchases it.

Last is the post purchase Evaluation in which the customer wants to justify his

consumption or purchase decision. He tries to find out whether his purchase decision

was right or not. Companies make lot of effort to tackle this situation successfully and

they want the customer to be satisfied with their product.

This stage may result into three situations, first is satisfaction where customer is

satisfied and he got expected results but this does not necessitates the repeat purchase

by the consumer. Second is dissonance where the consumer is not satisfied as he got

less utility or less than expected result from the consumption or product performance.

Third is Delight, here the consumer gets more than expected satisfaction and utility and

this will assure the repeat purchase and creation of brand loyalty.

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Traditional Factors affecting consumer decision making

There are several factors that affect consumer's decision to purchase a brand and a

product. These factors though at time are not very much visible but they make an

impact and affects sales of a product or brand up to a great extent. The table below

shows some of these factors.

Impact of a Brand on consumer purchase decision

Research studies have proven that known products and names are sold more than

unknown ones. Therefore, a known brand or an optimally exposed brand will find more

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recognition and buyers in the market in comparison to completely unknown or

unexposed brand. Recognition of brand and its significance along with the traditional

factors plays a very significant role in consumer decision-making process.

More or less every consumer has a brand preference and given the affordability and

societal norms, each buyer would like to buy and consume one of the highly acceptable,

recognizable, and reputed brands.

The above given model explains the important role that a brand plays in three different

stages of consumer's purchase decision making. A consumer start collecting data or

information about his favourite brand than he keeps his favourite as one of the

alternatives and he evaluate his selected brand against all available options and on

finding it suitable or best among all options based upon a qualitative and quantitative

evaluation he will ultimately purchase the selected or favourite brand.

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The diagram above explains how various traditional factors along with brand preference

interact during purchase decision process and finally results into a consumer's final

product choice or ultimate purchase.

Celebrity and a brand

Surveys suggest that compared to any other types of endorsers, famous people achieve

a higher degree of attention and recall. They increase awareness of a company's

advertising as well as help in retention of message in the psyche of the audience. They

can also help the company in reducing their expenditure on Media and other forms of

publicity. An example will bring more clarity, When S Kumars, a known textile brand

entered into readymade garments business they used Hrithik Roshan, then the hottest

advertising icon for their launch advertising for TAMARIND, now one of the premium

readymade brands. They reckoned that they have spent 40-50 percent less on media due

to sheer impact of using hottest star like Hrithik. The Ad recall was as high as 70

percent and the campaign can be termed as a great success.

Celebrities also create positive feelings towards brands, connect user to brand and are

perceived by consumers as more entertaining.

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Using a celebrity in advertising or for any, other type of communication for brand

building is likely to positively affect consumers' brand preference, brand attitude, brand

association and purchase intentions. To ensure positive results, however, it is critical for

advertisers to have a clear understanding of consumer's reactions and reinforcement of

celebrity endorsement. The impact of celebrity endorsement on any brand as well as on

consumer's purchase decision is very critical.

Source Credibility

Central goal of advertising is the convincing of consumers and persuasion to purchase,

the ultimate objective, though not openly spoken, is to some how attract consumers to

the market offering of the company, generating positive attitude, reinforce positive

association and ultimately to generate sales, may be a trial purchase. At later stages, the

sponsor may work towards creating a brand loyalty but generating initial sales or

increasing the existing sales is the primary objective. In this respect, the credibility of

an endorser along with advertisement plays an important role in convincing the target

audience of the attractiveness of the company's brand and generates sales. Pursuing a

celebrity endorsement strategy enables advertisers to project a credible image in terms

of expertise, persuasiveness, trustworthiness, and objectiveness.

To create effective messages, celebrity advertisers also have to consider the

attractiveness of the spokesperson. Source attractiveness refers to the endorser's

Physical appearance, Personality, Likeability and Similarity to the receiver, thus to the

perceived socialvalue of the source. This behavior mainly goes back to halo effect,

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After the debacle of the first campaign, company introduced a family ad where children

are celebrating there parents silver wedding anniversary and they are out with their

father to purchase a suit for him. Even this commercial did not work and it was taken

off the air. As a last resort, company introduced Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as Reid &

Taylor man, a man propagating the brand for special occasion and for very special

people in life. The commercial from the initial days got good response and did

extremely well as people were able to connect with Mr. Bachchan and the values he

was propagating.

For the masses, there was a perfect match of an ideal Indian family man, a star and a

good quality but bit highly priced brand reserved especially for special occasions and

for very special people.

Second example that can be quoted is of Vishwanathan Anand, who endorsed NIIT.

NIIT adopted a very smart strategy by roping in Vishwanathan Anand an international

chess wizard for their advertising campaign. As chess is considered to be a game full of

strategies and a game for smart people and when one of the greats of the game is asking

people to join NIIT it was suppose to have a positive influence on the people and

actually it had. There was complete congruency and compatibility between the celebrity

endorser, the product and the message.

Contrary to only favorable outcomes, there are several examples where the product,

even the entire campaign collapsed due to heavy weight celebrity as the agency or the

ad failed to establish the relationship between the endorser and the product. Keeping the

focus only on success, where the product and the celebrity were a perfect match,

following are few examples:

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* Videocon

* Sunfeast

* Pepsi

Juhi Chawala * Kurkure

Ustad Zakir Hussain * Taj mahal tea

Aamir Khan

* Titan

* Coke

* Toyota Innova

Aishwarya Rai

* Nakshatra

* Lux

Rani Mukherjee

* Fanta

* Nestle Munch

Kajol and Ajay Devgan

* Whirlpool

* Tata Indicom

The campaigns are not only basking with the glory of success stories, but there is

considerable number of failures as well. Assuming that a person just have to be famous

to represent a successful brand, however, would be incorrect and may turn out to be a

very dangerous preposition resulting into a big calamity for the entire advertising

campaign or the brand.

Very well accepted and attractive super stars like Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh

Bachchan failed in turning their endorsements into success i.e. Maruti Versa similarly

Virendra Sehwag also failed to deliver Reliance Telecommunication with the master

stroke of his cricketing genius.

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Among the possible reasons identified by several authors, including overexposure and

identification, the 'match-up hypothesis' specifically suggests that the effectiveness

depends on the existence of a 'fit' between the celebrity spokesperson and endorsed

brand.

Empirical work on the congruency of brand with the celebrity often has concentrated on

the physical attractiveness of the endorser. Results show that an attractive

spokespersons are more effective in terms of attitude change when prompting brands

that enhance one's attractiveness i.e. cosmetics; health drinks or fashion wear.

Primary data states, for celebrity spokespersons to be truly effective, they should be

knowledgeable, experienced, mature, and a bench mark in their respective field and

qualified to talk about the product.

Transferring the Meaning

After watching an advertisement the consumers try to find the meaning of the

advertisement and associate the same with the endorser and eventually transfer to the

brand. To understand this phenomenon Mc Cracken (1989) suggested a comprehensive

model known as Meaning Transfer Model. This three-stage model suggests how the

meaning associated with the famous person moves from the endorser to the product or

the brand. Thus, meanings attributed to the celebrity become associated with the brand

in the consumer's mind. Finally, in the consumption process, the customer acquires the

brand's meaning. The third stage of the model explicitly shows the importance of the

consumer's role in the process of endorsing brands with famous persons.

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In contrast to anonymous endorsers, celebrities add value to the image transfer process

by offering meanings of extra depth and power, what is complemented by their life

style and personalities. Therefore, to transfer the correct meaning to the consumer the

company should select a celebrity that will produce the most favorable response for

consumers and for the purpose the celebrity should have, the appropriate set of

characteristics and the public should be able to visualize and comprehend the same. The

company should consider the consumer's needs while developing their communication

strategy and selecting an appropriate celebrity to transmit the same, i.e. Kurkure used

actress Juhi Chawala with the punch line 'Masti Bole To Kurkure' and the actress on

screen and off-screen personifies the masti and helps the brand in communicating the

same easily.

Compatibility of the celebrity's persona with the overall brand image is very important,

as a celebrity imparts credibility and inspirational value to a brand and his or her image

should perfectly match the brand's image. A good brand campaign idea and an intrinsic

link between the celebrity and the message are must for a successful campaign.

Certain elements that generate a perfect match or compatibility

between the celebrity and brand image are:

* Celebrity's fit with the brand image along with celebrity-target audience match.

* Celebrity associated values and celebrity-product match.

* Costs of acquiring the celebrity and his or her popularity along with controversy risks

associated with the celebrity.

* Credibility, availability and physical attractiveness of celebrity.

The above points can be put to perspective by using two examples, first Kapil Dev's

'Palmolive da jawaab nahin' and second Nakshatra's brand recall due to its endorser, the

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gorgeous Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Both brands have edged out and carved out their

niche in consumer's mind due to image and credibility of their endorsers. These were

the cases of perfect match between the brand image and the image or persona of the

celebrity endorser.

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Endorsement: Risk vs. Returns

The basic assumption underlying celebrity endorsement is that the value associated with

the celebrity is transferred to the brand and therefore help create an image that can be

easily referred by consumers. Consequently by association the brand can very quickly

establish the creditability get immediate recognition and improve sales. However, there

are many risks associated with such endorsers. The brand could slide down just as

quickly as it moved up the consumers mind. There are many cases of brands failing in

the market place despite famous celebrities endorsing them.

Risks

a) Celebrity overshadows the brand: In certain cases where the celebrity values

category benefit and brand values are not closely linked. There are chances that the

celebrity is remembered more than a brand. Cyber media research study reveals that

80% of the respondents approached for research remembered the celebrity but could not

recall the brand being endorsed.

b) Necessary Evil: Marketing have felt that once the brand rides the back of celebrity it

becomes difficult to promote it without the star as it becomes difficult to separate the

role of message and the role of the celebrity in selling the brand. The celebrity activity

becomes an addiction and the task to find substitute becomes more and more difficult.

c) Celebrity creditability a question mark for the competent customer: Todays

marketing endorsement has to deal with a competitive and knowledgeable customer

who has begun to voice his opinion about their perception about endorsing a brand.

Celebrity is said to befool the public as he is paid to sell and communicate good things

about the brand. Hence the question of creditability of the celebrity being chosen to

protect the brand is becoming pertinent.

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d) Conflicting Image: A mix match between the images of the credibility and the

product can damage both. Unless there is a synergy between Indian Media Studies

Journal Vol1 No.1. July-Dec. 2006 35 Celebrity Endorsement: A Strategic

Promotion Perspective celebrities own image and that of product category the strategy

of endorsement is rendered futile.

e) Multiple Endorsements: The poly endorsement has lead to a celebrity clutter.

Celebrities endorsing multiple products and multi brands in a category have left the

customer confused and have lead to dilution in the celebrities value.

f) Influence of Celebrity scandals and moral violation on brands: a number of

entertainers and athletes have been involved in activities that could embarrass the

companies whose products the endorsed. When the endorsers image is finished. It

actually leads to a greater fall in image for the brand. For instance Azharuddin was

charge with betting and match fixing, which created negative feeling and repulsive

thoughts among people for the products he was endorsing.

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Returns

a) Build Awareness: A new brand can benefit greatly if a celebrity endorses it. It can

attract the customers attention and inquisitiveness to see what product is being

endorsed. Research has shown consumers have a higher level of message recall for

products that are endorsed by celebrities.

b) Connects emotionally: some celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan

command great adoration among people. Such celebrities can positively influence their

fans etc. a great extents and hence tend to even connect with the brand emotionally

because of their star enduring it.

c) Quick Connect: The communication process tends to hasten up due to the more

presence of a celebrity. This is because the star carrying the message tends to click with

the customer more. Because of likeability, recall attractiveness and creditability thereby

helping the company to clearly and quickly pass on the message to the target customers.

d) Means of Brand different ion: using a celebrity is a source of brand differentiation.

In a category where a brand is suing a celebrity the first that picks one up could use it

differently itself in the market the same was done by Boost in the malted beverage

category.

e) Source of Imitation and hence inducing increased product usage: celebrities

actually tend to become models or idols for the target audience who tend to start using

the product just because the celebrity name is36 Indian Media Studies Journal Vol.1

No.1. July-Dec. 2006 attached with it. For instance, Lux has been used by many as it is

a beauty soap recommended by the beauty queen, Aishwarya Rai.

Conclusion

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A brief assessment of the current market situation indicates, that celebrity endorsement

advertising strategy can under the right circumstances indeed justify the high costs

associated with this form of advertising. The use of celebrity for endorsements create a

very favorable impact on the consumer and it creates a connect which forces a

consumer to purchase a product. However, as several failures show, it is essential for

advertisers to be aware of the complex processes underlying celebrity endorsement.

It has been proved from the discussion that celebrity endorsements are a powerful and

useful tool that magnifies the effect of a campaign but the word of caution to be

followed seriously; celebrities alone do not guarantee success nor does a great

advertising campaign or the best possible product. It is the combination of several

factors and elements that work together for the success of a brand and its acceptance in

the minds of consumers as well as for its market offering.

Modern day consumers are well educated and smart, they know celebrities are being

paid for these endorsements and this knowledge makes consumers rather more cynical

about the product and celebrity endorsements. Majority of the consuming population

also knows what is advertising and how it actually works and this knowledge of

consumer makes the task of celebrity endorsement all the more difficult and

challenging for the advertising companies and the sponsors. Indian companies both

advertising and product offering companies have top make an effort to overcome this

ever-mounting challenge.

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WEBSITES:

1. www.marketingmania.in/india.htm

2. http://en.wiki.wikipedia.com/indian_industry

3.www.managementparadise.com/consumerbehaviour_celebrityendorsement_automobi

les.htm

4.http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?

sectionName=&id=acf176cd-6f53-42b6-a47b-72e34341cfe1&&Headline

5.http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2008/id20080227_377233_page_

2.htm

6. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081007/jsp/opinion/story_9933949.jsp

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project purchase decision of customer

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