THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT NEW DELHI

THESIS ON

DETAILED STUDY ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

SUBMITTED BY: MEGHA JAIN ALUMNI ID NUMBER: TS12-M-167 BATCH: ISBE-B, Spring Summer 10-12 /SM1

SUBMITTED TO: PROF. ANGSHUMAN PAUL

ABSTRACT
The thesis focuses on celebrity endorsement and its use by marketers. It also explains the problems that marketers face when they do not choose the right celebrity for their brands.

Celebrity endorsements pull in hundreds of crores every year, and are widely

preferred by marketers to promote their products. Today

sector is

FMCG

4th largest sector in

the economy.
Using celebrities for endorsing brands has become a trend for building the brands as well as the company's image. Who are these celebrities? And what does celebrity endorsement mean? A celebrity is a person who is well recognized by the public, and has a reputation for his/her expertise in his/her chosen silos. Sports persons and film stars fit the bill perfectly. Promotion of a company's products through these celebrities is termed as celebrity endorsement. The company makes use of the celebrity's characteristics and qualities to establish an analogy with the products specialties with an aim to position them in the minds of the target consumers. Celebrity endorsement, thus, is one of the powerful tools adopted by companies/marketers to consolidate their brand(s) in the crowded marketplace. Consumers prefer to own a brand that has a good reputation, and when someone like a famous film star or a sport star is associated with that particular brand, it is obvious that the consumers will get attracted to it, because the consumer wants to maintain some status, and feels that using a brand promoted by a star can satisfy that longing. There is a myth that celebrity endorsement is used to give a brand advantage over its competitors. However, choosing a celebrity for this purpose requires considerable amount of calculations. There should be something common between the brand and the celebrity promoting it. Let us come to the main question as to why marketers use
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celebrities to promote their brands. Is there a real need to associate a celebrity with the product? Yes seems to be the resounding answer. This is because a company needs to create awareness and interest in the consumers mind when it unveils a new brand or product. To be successful, brands need to convince consumers that they carry a different image and value from other competing products. In other words, brands have to show their true personality to the potential consumer(s).

TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER ISBE B (SS 10-12 ) PROJECT THESIS TOPIC APPROVAL
Dear MEGHA JAIIN, This is to inform you that the approved topic for project thesis is - DETAILED STUDY ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS. This email is an official confirmation that you would be doing your project thesis work genuinely and shall try to achieve the said objectives mentioned in the synopsis. You must always use the thesis title as approved and registered with us. Your project thesis id Number is TS12-M-167. You are required to correspond with your Internal Guide MR.ANGSHUMAN PAUL (angshuman.paul@iipm.edu) at regular intervals before sending the thesis final draft to him.

Regards,

Dipti Sharma
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management dipti.sharma@iipm.edu iii

Phone: 011 42789995

THESIS SYNOPSIS
Name Batch Section Contact no. Email_id Megha Jain ISBE-B, SS 10-12 SM1 9891665262 ku.meghajain@gmail.com

Thesis Topic: Detailed Study On Celebrity Endorsements. Specialization: Marketing

Introduction: Three of humankind's greatest inventions (cinema, radio & television) have extended the scope of endorsement as an advertising technique. Today use of celebrities as a part of marketing communications strategy is fairly common practice for major firms in supporting corporate or brand imagery. Research Objectives: a. To know the impact of celebrity endorsements on brands. b. To know whether celebrity endorsements increase the sales of the company. c. To know & understand whether celebrity endorsement work in India. d. Does celebrity endorsement always have a positive effect on the brand?

Research methodology:
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Secondary data Books, Newspaper, Magazines, journals, market reports & internet Primary data- Tool used, Sampling method, sample size, Target Audience Questionnaires, Simple random Sampling used, Sample size-100 respondent, Target Area- New Delhi & Gurgaon [Malls, retails outlets etc.]

Justification of choosing the topic: As know day celebrity endorsement is used as effective tool for effective market penetration and this effect the consumer behavior, So as a Market student I like to understand the effect of this topic on consumer.

Summer training details: Topic: Employment morals in FCI Head Quarters. Company name: FCI, Delhi Area of specialization: HR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satiation and euphonies that accompany the success completion of a task would be incomplete without a mention of people who made it possible. So, with immense gratitude, I acknowledge all those, whose guidance and encouragement served as a beacon light and crowned my effort with success. It is entrenched fact that behind every achievement lays an unfathomable sea of gratitude to those who have extended their support and without whom the project would ever have come into existence. I express my gratitude to IIPM, New Delhi for providing me an opportunity to work on this thesis as a part of the curriculum. I would like to thank Prof. Angshuman Paul for his guidance and supervision to completion of my thesis project.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................ii TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER .....................................................................................iii SYNOPSIS.................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT .............................................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................. vii

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...................................................................................... 24 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ........ 30 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 31 COCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................... 32 DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS.. . 35 FINDINGS ................................................................................................................... 44 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 45 CONCLUSION ............ 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... ...47 ANNEXURE ............................................................................................................... 48

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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 1 TABLE 2 TABLE 3 TABLE 4 TABLE 5 TABLE 6 TABLE 7 TABLE 8 TABLE 9 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

LIST OF FIGURES
FIG 1 FIG 2 FIG 3 FIG 4 FIG 5 FIG 5 FIG 6 FIG 8 FIG 9 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

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INTRODUCTION
The present is era of mass production and mass distribution. Similar products are taken to market. This involves stiff competition amongst the producers. Many firms adopt the vigorous means to maintain their existence in the market, as there are many substitutes in the market. This tendency is a struggle for the producers for their survival in the modern business world. All businessmen aim to make profit by increasing the sales at a remunerative price policy. Public must know when we manufacture good quality products or offer expert services, these. For this mass communication is needed as the population is great or the market area is wide. We can adopt sales promotion and advertising as tools to mobilize the marketing machinery. In the present business world, suitable publicity is done through advertising, which is adopted by commercial and industrial undertakings and almost all types of concerns. Therefore advertisement is a method of publicity. Advertisement has the prominent place among the techniques of mass education and persuasion on the public. It is not a modern origin. It has been used for immemorial period. In earlier periods, advertisement was displayed in the form of sign boards, writing on historical buildings or inscriptions on stones, stone pillars, stone walls etc. The development of printing has greatly boosted the ideas of advertising through newspapers, magazines, handbooks etc. In earlier period it was used only in a limited manner. The evolution of printing technology and the changing of the marketing policies have been greatly utilized and many are benefited from advertising. Now, manufacturers, businessmen, employers, institutions, new shop owners, marketers etc. are benefited greatly by displaying the advertisement. Increasing literacy, modern techniques of printing, stiff competition etc. add to the necessity of advertisement. Advertising is a non-personal form of promotion that is delivered through selected media outlets that, under most circumstances, require the marketer to pay for message placement. Advertising has long been viewed as a method of mass promotion in that a single message can reach a large number of people. But, this mass promotion approach presents problems since many exposed to an advertising message may not be within the marketers target market, and thus, may be an inefficient use of

promotional funds. However, this is changing as new advertising technologies and the emergence of new media outlets offer more options for targeted advertising. Advertising also has a history of being considered a one-way form of marketing communication where the message receiver (i.e., target market) is not in position to immediately respond to the message (e.g., seek more information). This too is changing. For example, in the next few years technologies will be readily available to enable a television viewer to click a button to request more details on a product seen on their favorite TV program. In fact, it is expected that over the next 10-20 years advertising will move away from a one-way communication model and become one that is highly interactive. Another characteristic that may change as advertising evolves is the view that advertising does not stimulate immediate demand for the product advertised. That is, customers cannot quickly purchase a product they see advertised. But as more media outlets allow customers to interact with the messages being delivered the ability of advertising to quickly stimulate demand will improve. The field of advertising is extremely broad and diverse. In general terms, of course, an advertisement is simply a public notice meant to convey information and invite patronage or some other response. As that suggests, advertising has two basic purposes: to inform and to persuade and while these purposes are distinguishable both very often are simultaneously present. Advertising can be very simple a local, even? Neighborhood, phenomenon or it can be very complex, involving sophisticated research and multimedia campaign that span the globe. It differs according to its indented audience, so that, for ex, advertising aimed at children raises some technical and moral issues significantly different from those raised by advertising aimed at competent adults. Advertising is everywhere in todays world, so that, as Pope Paul VI remarked, No one now can escape the influence of advertising. We do not agree. There is truth to the criticisms, and we shall make criticisms of our own. But advertising also has significant potential for good, and sometimes it is realized.

Advertising
The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media. Also defined as "the non personal communication of information through various media, paid for by the advertiser and is usually convincing in nature about the need to buy products and services" - the advertisers of course. Advertising your companys products and services to your targeted audience is essential to maintain a long lasting and prosperous relationship. If youre not continually winning your customers over than the competition will. Advertising is defined in Webster's dictionary "as the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements, to call public attention by emphasizing desirable qualities so as to arouse a desire to buy or patronize: promote." Advertising is a mass-mediated communication. For communication to be classified as advertising it must be: 1) Paid for, 2) Delivered to an audience via mass media, and 3) Be attempting to persuade. Advertising, when properly understood, is a powerful tool for marketing. It can be most effective with products that can be differentiated from similar products based on consumer accepted quality differences. However, regardless of the quality of a products advertising, it is important to remember that a product has to compete on its own. For example, brand preference cannot be established if the product fails to meet consumer expectations. The characteristic features of advertising are: It must be non-personal communication as differentiated from personal selling. It should persuade target audience with relevant information.

It may be presented in any form in any medium or in a combination of forms suiting the media where it is carried. It should be paid for.

It is controlled in the sense that the advertiser can control the content, time and direction of the message. The source and purpose of the message should be identifiable.

ROLE OF ADVERTISING: Advertising plays a vital role in the society and on economy of the society as: Advertising is a strong communication tool for providing information to both consumers and industrial purchasers regarding product quality, price and new technology. It helps raising standards of life by bringing in information about new products, services and concepts. Advertising helps in generating employment and improvement in GNP. Advertising sponsors competitive market and indirectly provides check and balance against market leaders and monopolists. Advertising subsidies media expenditure and helps media to maintain independence to a great extent. The role of advertising are many, there are three primary roles: Give information Generate needs

Promise to fulfill needs

FUNCTIONS OF ADVERTISING: Advertising is an important part of many marketers promotional mix. As it can be cost- effective method for communicating with large audiences.

General aim or focus of advertising is to provide a possible help to sales. The most companys objective is to: Create awareness

Educate or convey information Remind or reassume

Project a new brand image Project a corporate image

CELEBRITY ADVERTISING: The latest craze in advertisements to be to adopt the formula of Celebrity Advertising. In their attempts to improve the effectiveness of their advertising, a number of marketers utilize celebrities to present their product and message. A wellchosen celebrity can draw attention to product or brand. The primary advantage of using celebrities is that they improve product recognition in a promotional environment filled with hundreds of competing commercials. As competition is increasing at greater pace among marketers the need arises for them to attract consumers and they are adopting this technique of using celebrities in ads. The use of celebrities makes the viewers more comfortable in adopting the product. It brings faster awareness in the first stage. This is because of high recognition the celebrity has. In the second stage the interest among consumers is created very quickly as it is being endorsed by the celebrity. A celebrity ad makes evaluation easy for consumers so that the trial is automatic if the product is well designed. The adoption may be for a longer period of time. The use of celebrity reinforces the confidence of consumers. The choice of celebrity is critical. The celebrity should have high recognition, high positive effect and high appropriateness to the product. Any celebrity who posses these factors will significantly influence the consumer. These factors will help the marketer a lot in establishing a brand in the minds of consumers. In todays world, where competing ads try to gain attention of viewers/readers, the formula of celebrity advertising will click and these ads will have a definite edge over other ads.

Because of high recognition of celebrity among masses, ads carrying celebrity will make easy for the market to make a roadway into the consumers choice set. Due to high recognition, celebrity ads will create easy awareness and high recall of brand. Another factor of high positive effect plays an important role. Because of the high positive image celebrities have, consumers will feel the genuineness of the product functionality. The celebrity should have some sort of relationship with the product being endorsed. Certain parameters that postulate compatibility between the celebrity and brand image are:

Celebritys fit with the brand image. CelebrityTarget audience match

Celebrity associated values. Costs of acquiring the celebrity. CelebrityProduct match. Celebrity controversy risk.

Celebrity popularity. Celebrity availability.

Celebrity physical attractiveness.

Celebrity credibility.

Celebrity prior endorsements. Whether celebrity is a brand user.

Celebrity profession.

Celebrity advertising is ineffective when there is no reasonable relationship between the celebrity and the advertised product or service. It is to be seen how far the celebrity resembles the product. For a food item being endorsed by an expert like Sanjeev Kapoor will have a significant effect, as he is considered being an expert in his field. This way of relationship will definitely bring substantial benefits to the advertiser.

Further if the celebrity is involved in a scandal it will crate a negative image of the product. The trustworthiness of the product will be at stake if such an incidents happen. As seen in the recent past, some cricketers were found to be involved in a match fixing scandal. And one of such cricketers ads was withdrawn immediately after such incident. Similarly in a cigarette advertising in which an actor, who expired because of throat cancer was also withdrawn. With the advent of satellite TV channels, it can be said that there is substantial increase in the number of ads. This made more scope for consumers to watch the same ad and on different channels at different points. Television is popular and essential media for ads. As now a celebrity endorses various different kinds of products, confusion will develop in the minds of consumers as to which product the celebrity is associated. This will ultimately make consumers forget the product and solely remember the celebrity only. The real goal of celebrity advertising will be missed. 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. Convincing clients.

The realm of the celebritys impact is confined to bestow a distinctive identity and provide AV to the brand; the celebrity does not have the power to improve or debilitate the efficiency and features of the core product. Thus, we are gradually approaching an evident proposition claiming, The health of a brand can definitely be improved up to some extent by celebrity endorsement. But one has to remember that endorsing a celebrity is a means to an end and not an end in itself.

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 cynical about celebrity endorsements.

SUCCESSFUL CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS FOR A BRAND INDIAN PERSEPECTIVE The society that we live in can not only be called secular or democratic, it should be more appropriately termed as over-communicated these days. A typical super-market in USA displays more than 12000 brands, an American family has at least one television set and a consumer is exposed to around 1000 ads per day1. Likewise, there are around 130 television channels in India broadcasting over 3 million television commercials each year in India. The media-explosion can thus be easily demonstrated. Moreover, people forget 80% of the information in just 24 hours! Just imagine the plight of the marketer to make his brand shout over the deafening clutter of all the brands! Somewhere in the 80's, Indian marketers found the solution, 'Celebrity Endorsement' for the brand! Firms endorse celebrity for a variety of reasons. It might be the life experience of the celebrity that fits the advertising message or the endorser's high appeal with the firm's consumer target group. Studies associated with the market effect of celebrity endorsement suggest that consumers positively value the use of celebrity endorsers in the advertisements. Firms invest significant money in putting together brands and organizations with endorser qualities such as attractiveness, likeability, and trustworthiness. But today's dynamic market conditions make these investments unviable. In this paper we are attempting to discuss the positive and negative effects of celebrity endorsement with few examples. 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
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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. The latter part of the '80s saw the burgeoning of a new trend in India 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 Tabassum (Prestige pressure cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings) became common. Probably, the first ad to cash in on star power in a strategic, long-term, mission statement kind of way was Lux soap. This brand has, perhaps as a result of this, been among the top three in the country for much of its lifetime. In recent times, we had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign with the objective of mitigating the impediment that an unknown Korean brand faced in the Indian market. The objective was to garner faster brand recognition, association and emotional unity with the target group. Star power in India can be gauged by the successful endorsement done by Sharukh for three honchos- Pepsi, Clinic All Clear and Santro. Similarly, when S Kumars used Hrithik Roshan, then the hottest advertising icon for their launch advertising for Tamarind, they reckoned they spent 40 - 50 per cent less on media due to the sheer impact of using Hrithik. Ad recall was as high as 70 per cent, and even the normally conservative trade got interested. In the Indian context, it would not be presumptuous to state that celebrity endorsements can aggrandize the overall brand. We have numerous examples exemplifying this claim. A standard example here is Coke, which, till recently, didn't use stars at all internationally. In fact, India was a first for them. The result was a ubiquitously appealing Aamir cheekily stating Thanda matlab Coca Cola. The recall value for Nakshatra advertising is only due to the sensuous Aishwarya. The Parker pen brand, which by itself commands equity, used Amitabh Bachchan to revitalize the brand in India. According to Pooja Jain, Director, Luxor Writing Instruments Ltd (LWIL), post Bachchan, Parker's sales have increased by about 30 per cent.

To cite an instance , to overcome the resistance of a particular community in the state of Uttar Pradesh which was inimical to the administration of polio drops , personalities of the stature of Amitabh Bacchan and Shahrukh Khan were brought in by the government to endorse the efficacy and harmlessness of the polio drops. Think of Sachin Tendulkar. He means Pepsi in soft drinks, Boost in malted beverages, MRF in tyres, Fiat Palio in cars, TVS Victor in two-wheelers, Colgate Total in toothpastes, Britannia in biscuits, Visa in credit cards, Airtel in mobile services and Band-aid. India is one country, which has always idolized the stars of the celluloid world. Therefore it makes tremendous sense for a brand to procure a celebrity for its endorsement. In India there is an exponential potential for a celebrity endorsement to be perceived as genuinely relevant, thereby motivating consumers to go in for the product. This would especially prove true if the endorser and the category are a natural lifestyle fit like sportspersons and footwear, Kapil-Sachin and Boost or film stars and beauty products.

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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 productimage 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. Certain other parameters that must be carefully considered before engaging a celebrity are:

Celebritys fit with the brand image. Celebrity - Target audience match Costs of acquiring the celebrity. Celebrity - Product match. Celebrity controversy risk.

Celebrity popularity. Celebrity availability.

Celebrity physical attractiveness.

Celebrity credibility.
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Compatibility of the Celebritys Persona with the Overall Brand Image A celebrity is used to impart credibility and aspirational values to a brand, but the celebrity needs to match the product. A good brand campaign idea and an intrinsic link between the celebrity and the message are musts for a successful campaign. Celebrities are no doubt good at generating attention, recall and positive attitudes towards advertising provided that they are supporting a good idea and there is an explicit fit between them and the brand. On the other hand, they are rendered useless when it comes to the actual efficiency of the core product, creating positive attitudes to brands, purchase intentions and actual sales.

ADVANTAGES OF A CELEBRITY ENDORSING A BRAND

Brands have been leveraging celebrity appeal for a long time. Across categories, whether in products or services, more and more brands are banking on the mass appeal of celebrities. As soon as a new face ascends the popularity charts, advertisers queue up to have it splashed all over. Witness the spectacular rise of Sania Mirza and Irfan Pathan in endorsements in a matter of a few months. The accruement of celebrity endorsements can be justified by the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand:
1.

Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new products. We had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign. At launch, Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Santro and this ensured that brand awareness was created in a market, which did not even know the brand.
2.

Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by

breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.
3.

PR coverage: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage. A good example of

integrated celebrity campaigns is one of the Worlds leading pop groups, the Spice Girls, who have not only appeared in advertisements for Pepsi, but also
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in product launching and PR events. Indeed, celebrity-company marriages are covered by most media from television to newspapers (e.g. The Spice Girls and Pepsi)
4.

Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity with the brand thereby increasing the recall value. Golf champion Tiger Woods has endorsed American Express, Rolex, and Nike. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is used by T-Mobile and Elizabeth Arden. 007 Pierce Brosnan promotes Omega, BMW, and Noreico.
5.

Associative Benefit: A celebritys preference for a brand gives out a

persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.
6.

Mitigating a tarnished image: Cadbury India wanted to restore the consumer's confidence in its chocolate brands following the high-pitch worms controversy; so the company appointed Amitabh Bachchan for the job. Last year, when the even more controversial pesticide issue shook up Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and resulted in much negative press, both soft drink majors put out high-profile damage control ad films featuring their best and most expensive celebrities. While Aamir Khan led the Coke fight back as an ingenious and fastidious Bengali who finally gets convinced of the product's `purity,' PepsiCo brought Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar together once again in a television commercial which drew references to the `safety' of the product indirectly.
7.

Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.
8.

Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).

9.

Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

10.

Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the stagnant chyawanprash category and staving off competition from various brands, Dabur India roped in Bachchan for an estimated Rs 8 crore.

11.

Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.

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BRAND IMAGE & CELEBRITY

Research has shown that there are three aspects that influence a customer's attitude and, hence, the long term impact on the brand - Attractiveness, Trustworthiness and Expertise. The matrix below shows us the images and the celebrities: Aspect of Brand Image Elegance Beauty Attractiveness Classy Stylish Amitabh Bachhan Honest Trustworthiness Reliable Knowledge Expertise Qualified Naina Balsavar Shampoo Sachin Tendulkar Sachin & Sehwag TVS Victor Reebok Tarun Tejpal Reid & Taylor Tehelka Celebrity Renuka Shahane Madhuri Dixit Saif & Tiger Pataudi Fardeen Khan Product Whisper Emami Asian Paints-Royale Provogue

Hence, we see, depending on the product and aspect of brand, the choice of the celebrity is important so that the celebrity can reflect that and not go against the brand.

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CELEBRITY SELECTION
There are various scientific ways in which the right celebrity is selected for the product endorsement, which are discussed here after Stereotyping Stereotypes are defined 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.

Physical Attractiveness: For example - Tennis player Anna Kournikova who earns 10 Million dollars per year in just endorsement. Respect: For example - Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and the Eye donation campaign. Similarity: For example - a child artist promoting a chocolate brand.

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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. 2.

Celebrity & audience match up, Celebrity & brand match up,
3. 4.

Celebrity credibility, Celebrity attractiveness,

5. 6. 7. 8.

Cost consideration,

A working ease and difficulty factor, An endorsement saturation factor,

A likelihood-of-getting-into-trouble factor

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.

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DISADVANTAGES OF A CELEBRITY ENDORSING A BRAND

1. The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product: Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Since the behaviour of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse. 2. The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity overshadowing the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand, then the audience will remember the celebrity and not the brand. Examples are the campaigns of Dawn French - Cable Association and Leonard Rossiter - Cinzano. Both of these campaigns were aborted due to celebrities getting in the way of effective communication. Another example could be the Castrol commercial featuring Rahul Dravid. 3. Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may lose his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances. For example, when Tendulkar went through a prolonged lean patch recently, the inevitable question that cropped up in corporate circles - is he actually worth it? The 2003 Cricket World Cup also threw up the Shane Warne incident, which caught Pepsi off guard. With the Australian cricketer testing positive for consuming banned substances and his subsequent withdrawal from the event, bang in the middle of the event, PepsiCo - the presenting sponsor of the World Cup 2003 - found itself on an uneasy wicket 4. Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to overexposure: The novelty of a celebrity endorsement gets diluted if he does too many advertisements. This may be termed as commoditisation of celebrities, who are willing to endorse anything for big bucks. Example, MRF was among the early sponsors of Tendulkar with its logo emblazoned on his bat. But now Tendulkar endorses a myriad brands and the novelty of the Tendulkar-MRF campaign has scaled down. 5. Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsburys encountered a problem with Catherina Zeta Jones, whom the company used for its recipe advertisements, when she was caught shopping in Tesco. A

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similar case happened with Britney Spears who endorsed one cola brand and was repeatedly caught drinking another brand of cola on tape. 6. Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand: Celebrities manifest a certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an egalitarian congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the brand. Each celebrity portrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and lifestyle. Madonna, for example, is perceived as a tough, intense and modern women associated with the lower middle class. The personality of Pierce Brosnan is best characterized as the perfect gentlemen, whereas Jennifer Aniston has the image of the good girl from next door 7. 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. 8. 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. 9. 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. 10. Extinction: The favourable 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. 11. Financial Risk: The decision for hiring an expensive endorser may not be always feasible if there is a poor brand fit.

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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.

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
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Home Trade). It is said that 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, there 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.

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SWOT Analysis Strengths

Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new products.

Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by

breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.

PR coverage: is another reason for using celebrities. Managers perceive celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage.

Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity with the brand thereby increasing the recall value. Amitabh Bacchan promotes Dairymilk, Aamir Khan promotes Titan watches.

Associative Benefit: A celebritys preference for a brand gives out a

persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.

Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.

Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).

Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the stagnant chyawanprash category and staving off competition from various brands, Dabur India roped in Bachchan for an estimated Rs 8 crore.

Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative ideas.

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Weakness
The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product: Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Since the behavior of the celebrities reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse. The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity overshadowing the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand, then the audience will remember the celebrity and not the brand. Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may lose his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances. Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to

overexposure: The novelty of a celebrity endorsement gets diluted if he does too many advertisements. Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsburys encountered a problem with Catherina Zeta Jones, whom the company used for its recipe advertisements, when she was caught shopping in Tesco. A similar case happened with Britney Spears who endorsed one cola brand and was repeatedly caught drinking another brand of cola on tape. Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand: Celebrities manifest a certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an egalitarian congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the brand. Each celebrity portrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and lifestyle. Madonna, for example, is perceived as a tough, intense and modern women associated with the lower middle class.

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Opportunity
Celebrity endorsement increase brand awareness through popularity of the endorser Profitable from positive image transfer due to the celebrities attractive and likeable personality Reinforces brand appeal through the endorsers credibility and believability Differentiate from the competition Influence consumer behavior

Amplify consumer purchase intent Lead to an increase in sales

Boost employee motivation by providing a role model to look up to

Threats
According to a study, celebrity endorsement does not work. In fact, they came second last on the list of very important information channels that consumers used to judge products. Consumers rely on is information on the package, views of consumer groups, and friends and family. People also depend on websites and blogs to judge information, because they consider the motivation of those behind the claims. Formal celebrities played an important role, but were not sufficient alone.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The Impact of Celebrity Endorsers on Consumers Product Evaluations: A Symbolic Meaning Approach James B Hunt, University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Celebrities can be very effective in the endorsement of products; however, they can also be dangerous. The advantages of using a celebrity are that they can increase attention to and memorability of the ad and product, enhance credibility of the message, and imbue a product with positive image characteristics. The disadvantage, or danger, is that if a celebrity has a negative image, it can be passed on to the product being endorsed. As shown in this study, bed sheets are perceived as ordinary, safe, reliable, and delicate. When advertised by Deion Sanders, However, bed sheets are perceived as unusual, risky, less reliable, and somewhat rugged. This suggests that great care should be taken in selecting a celebrity endorser. The celebrity's image must be taken into account.

The results of this study indicate that the perception of the endorser does affect the image of the product by moving it toward the image of the endorser. However, this study does not support Langmeyer and Walker (1991), who found that regardless of the endorser, the pattern for the endorser/product combination was located closer to the pattern for the endorser than to the pattern for the product. The results of the present study indicate that the pattern for the endorser/product combination is located closer to the pattern for the endorser for Deion Sanders, But not in the case of Michael Jordan. This suggests that evaluation of the endorser may, for some endorsers, have a greater impact on the combination than the evaluation of the product. Michael Jordan and Deion Sanders appear to have more of an impact on a product that is high image, and has been previously endorsed by celebrities. This finding is in sharp contrast to Langmeyer and Walker (1991), who found Madonna and Christie Brinkley to have
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only moderate effect on the image of jeans. Whether celebrities are good for the endorsement of products is a question that many advertisers face. The answer is, "It depends on the endorser and the product." Future research needs to Continue focusing on a variety of product categories and a variety of types of endorsers (e.g., actors, athletes, entertainers). Different types of audiences should also be studied to help advertisers better understand the roles of celebrity image, product characteristics, and consumer Profile on product evaluation.

Ads with Celebrities Draw Higher Recall- Study

Customer recall is higher in products whose ads feature celebrities, according to a study on celebrity endorsement carried out by Indica Research. Celebrities who feature in a wide range of ads and in highly visible ones like Coke and Pepsi score on overall visibility. Ergo, there are no surprises in the dominance of Sachin Tendulkar. Shah Rukh Khan follows a close second. The real surprise is Kareena Kapoor who seems to have made a very high impact entry with the Pepsi ad. In comparison, coke endorsers like Hrithik Roshan (who also figures in a range of other ads) does not seem to be that highly visible. Amongst ads featuring celebrities with the highest recall, Pepsi tops the heap. Archrival Coke, though, is lower across all markets. It is likely that, given the high mention of Kareena Kapoor, the current Pepsi ad has been something of a hit. The research was conducted in Delhi, Mumbai , Chennai and Bangalore. A total of 599 SEC A (upper class) adults in the age group of 15-45 years were interviewed. When the Versatility Index (how many categories does a celebrity fit in?) was undertaken, it was seen that Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) amongst the younger lot, emerges as the most versatile with cross category association - strongly associated with cold drinks, mobile services and cars - all of which he endorses. Also with branded clothes, insurance and banks. Indeed, he is the most highly associated male celebrity with female dominated categories like perfumes and watches, the Indica research states

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RECALL VALUE OF CONSUMERS AS SHOWN BY THE STUDY

Product Pepsi Coke Thums Up Lux Limca Palio Fanta Santro ICICI Hero Honda

Percentage 70 52 13 12 9 9 8 8 5 5

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VERSITALLITY INDEX OF DIFFERENT CELEBRITIES AS SHOWN BY STUDY

Shah Rukh Khan Sachin Amitabh Bachchan Hrithik Kareena Aishwarya Preity Zinta

80 70 50 30 30 30 20

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Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Overall Brand By Sanyukta A. Kulkarni Sahir U.Gaulkar

Today 'Celebrity Endorsement' has attracted immense debate on whether it really contributes to the brand building process or whether it is just another lazy tool to make the brand more visible in the minds of the consumers. Although it has been observed that the presence of a well-known personality helps in solving the problem of over-communication that is becoming more prominent these days, there are few undesirable impacts of this practice on the brand. The theories like 'Source Credibility Theory, Source Attractiveness Theory and Meaning Transfer Theory' provide a basis on which the methodology of celebrity endorsement works and also explains how the process of the celebrity endorsement influences the minds of the consumers. Firms invest huge amounts as advertising expenditure for hiring the right celebrity. However there lies uncertainty with respect to the returns that the company might be able to garner for the brand. The issue of matching the values of the celebrity with the brand values is also very important, i.e. getting the right celebrity to endorse the right brand. Consumers perceive the brand as having superior quality because it has been endorsed by a credible source. This makes endorsement as one of the indictors of quality for any brand. Corporate credibility along with endorser credibility plays a significant role in the attitude of the consumer towards the brand and the advertisement respectively. On the other hand, the over popularity of the celebrity sometimes overshadows the brand. If the celebrity is involved in multiple endorsements, it tends to create confusion among consumers and hence negatively affects the perception of the advertisement and the brand. Hence, to say clearly whether the practice of celebrity endorsement impacts positively or negatively to the brand still remains a debate.

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Celebrity endorsements and brand celebrity mismatches By: Dr R K Srivastava The use of celebrities in order to increase the sales and/or the recall value of a brand is called celebrity endorsements. Advertisers have used celebrity endorsement for as long as advertisement has existed. The fact of associating the product with a well known individual acts to increase the positive view of the consumer as the celebrity becomes the role model for consumers.

They have given six uses of celebrity endorsementsEstablishes Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new products Attracts Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable Associative Benefit: A celebritys preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit. Psychographic Connect: Stars are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand. Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.). Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

To know the impact of celebrity endorsements on brands w.r.t FMCG sector. To know whether celebrity endorsements increase the sales of the company. To know & understand whether celebrity endorsement work in India.

To study the impact of celebrities on the consumer perceptions of product. . To compare the two celebrities, which one is better in advertising the product and making it more popular? To examine the images evoked by individual celebrity endorsers and products. To explore the impact of combining celebrity and product images.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Selection of correct Methodology is the first step in getting a good response or result from the research. It should be a mixture or a method that helps in extracting the correct information from the population using a sample. In this research we are using Descriptive Research Design as this area has some previous study. For this we are using Questionnaire method i.e. using a standard questionnaire to extract primary data as to what the viewers feel about the usage of animated characters/brand mascots and celebrity endorsers and to highlight the attributes that has a significant positive impact on their perception towards an advertisement.

Sampling
SAMPLE SIZE

100

PRIMARY DATA It is collected using structured questionnaire. SECONDARY DATA Books, Newspaper, Magazines, journals, market reports & internet

BASIS OF SAMPLING Questionnaire: The respondents were mainly those who had an opportunity to watch both spokes characters and celebrity endorsers in advertisements. It is a Probability, convenient sampling Target Area Delhi & Gurgaon

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The conceptual framework has been modified using the Conceptual Model Effects of Price, Brand, and Store Information on the Buyers Product Evaluation.

This study is based on the hypothesis that the involvement of a celebrity in a marketing communication of a brand positively influences the consumer behaviour towards that brand and thus piloting the chart to Branding and enhancing the Brands value.

The brand is developed using a positioning strategy which is done through a marketing communication strategy that the company aims to use to spread the message. There are various strategies a company can use, among which the most used are:

Country of origin whereby the company pitches its product against the place from where it originated and that helps in building the brand value. The expertise of a country in producing goods of similar nature conveys a particular type of image. Co-Branding is the companys conscious effort to leverage the success of an existing brand to introduce a new product and make consumers associate the new product with the already successful and established brand.

Company Branding Strategy refers to the corporate branding strategy or the logo or name branding.

Licensing is when a product is sold under the famous name or logo or character of another companys brand.

Events and Sponsorships is a common strategy of many companies to link its product to an event whose image they want to portray for their product as well. Also the sponsorships for such events help them reach their target audience easily.

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Awards and Reviews of a company in a prestigious journal, magazine, or newspaper or patronization by certain review programs and television channels help build the product into a brand.

Among all these strategies, Spokesperson is an increasingly used strategy whereby an expert, an executive, a common man or even more common a celebrity is used to lure a consumer into believing the message conveyed. Of the various spokespersons, celebrities being highly eminent public figures draw enormous amount of attention unlike any other spokesperson or even through various other communication strategies.

They attract a larger audience simply because they are publicly well-known individuals and it is due to this immense attracting capability that they tend to have a larger impact and influence on the consumers as compared to other spokespersons. The influence and impact of the celebrity creates a certain image in the consumers mind which is established due to the characteristics of the product personified through the celebrity. This forms a positive image of the brand in the minds of those consumers who have a good image of the celebrity. Those consumers who dislike or hold a negative opinion of the celebrity tend to distance themselves with the brand.

The positively influenced consumers associate themselves to the brand. They patronize, believe, support and recommend the brand further which leads to higher purchases and thus brand building.

Those consumers who are not influenced by the celebrity or dislike the celebrity are either not affected by the presence of the celebrity in the advertisement or dissociate their selves from the brand.

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34

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

1. Gender of the respondent Table 1 Gender Male Female Percentage 65 35

Figure 1

35% Male Female 65%

Interpretation: This pie-chart depicts that 65% of the respondents are males and 35% are females.

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2. Age of the respondent: Table 2 Age 18-25 26-32 33-39 Above 40 Percentage 30 20 30 20

Figure 2

No. of respondent
35 30

Percentage

25 20 15 10 5 0 18-25 26-32 Age 33-39 Above 40 Percentage

Interpretation: This pie-chart depicts that mostly respondents are young and while rest are above 25 years.

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3. Occupation of the respondent: Table 3 Occupation Business Class Service Class Student Others Percentage 25 25 30 20

Figure 3

20%

25% Business Class Service Class Student Others

30%

25%

Interpretation:

From this pie-chart it is clear that majority of the respondents are students and rest of the share is occupied by service and business class.

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4. View of respondents on quality of products endorsed by celebrity Table 4

Preference Strongly Agree Agree Indifferent Disagree Strongly Disagree

Percentage 45 15 10 20 10

Figure 4

10% 20% 45% Strongly Agree Agree Indifferent Disagree Strongly Disagree 10% 15%

Interpretation: This chart depicts that mostly people agree that products endorsed by celebrities are of good quality, nearly 45% of people strongly agrees to this statement and 20% of people disagrees to this statement.
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5. Factors affecting purchase decisions Table 5

Factors Price of the product Celebrity Endorser Brand Name Opinion-leader

Percentage 20 35 15 30

Figure 5

20% 30% Price of the product Celebrity Endorser Brand Name Opinion-leader 15% 35%

Interpretation: This pie-chart depicts that 35% of the people consider celebrity endorser while going for the purchase, followed by brand name-with 15%, opinion leader 30% and 20% people consider price. Brand name usually covers all aspects like functional aspects viz.mileage, speed etc. As people usually are more interested towards well known brands and if these brands are advertised by famous celebrity it creates a huge impact.
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6. Like to see any celebrity endorsing your brand Table 6 Preference Yes No Can't say Percentage 55 25 20

20%

Yes No 55% 25% Can't say

Figure 6 Interpretation: This pie-chart clearly indicates that 55% of the respondents want their products to be advertised by celebrities, 25% dont want and 20% of the respondents werent sure. So, this clearly shows how much important these celebrities are in the daily life of common man.

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7. Celebrity endorser as an effective method of persuasion Table 7 Preference Strongly Agree Agree Indifferent Disagree Strongly Disagree Percentage 45 15 10 20 10

Figure 7

10% 20% Strongly Agree 45% Agree Indifferent Disagree 10% 15% Strongly Disagree

Interpretation: This chart depicts that mostly people agree that Celebrity endorsement is an effective tool of persuasion. 45% of people strongly agree that celebrity endorsement is an effective tool of persuasion and 20% of people disagree that it is one of the tool.

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8. Persuasion of Celebrity Endorsement to purchase the product. Table 8

Preference Film star Famous personalities Cricketer Politician

Percentage 35 15 20 30

Figure 8

30%

35%

Film star Famous personalities Cricketer Politician

20%

15%

Interpretation: This chart depicts that mostly people agree that Celebrity endorsement persuades them personally to purchase products. 35% of people strongly agree that celebrity

endorsement is an effective tool of persuasion and 15% of people disagree that it is one of the tool.

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9. Respondents view on revenue generation because of celebrity endorsement

Table 9 Preference Yes No Dont know Percentage 70 20 10

Figure 9

10% 20% Yes No Dont know 70%

Interpretation: This chart depicts that mostly people agree that revenue is generated because of Celebrity endorsement, approx 70% agrees to this. 20% does not agree to this.

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FINDINGS

1. Celebrity endorsement plays a very minute role in final decision making for buying a new product. Celebrity might help in easy reorganization and popularity of a product but not in final decision making. 2. If a consumer wants to purchase a new product then latest technology matters the most to him/her and brand ambassador matters least to them. 3. Effect of brand ambassador differs with different products, according to our survey results, it matters most in case of clothing and food products. Because people tends to be more choosy in case of high attachment and costly products like cars. 4. A common man feels that a celebrity helps an organization in increasing their total sales and hence the revenue. 5. A brand ambassador also helps in increasing the market share of the product. 6. But vast majority of the surveyed people feels that celebrity themselves dont use their endorsed products. 7. Film stars are the most popular celebrities among all, followed by cricketers. 8. The high cost of a celebrity is the biggest drawback of celebrity brand endorsement followed by celebrity vampire effect. 9. In final decision making, a value for money is most important for a consumer and a brand ambassador matters the least.

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SUMMARY

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when used consistently over time to increase the strength of the link between the celebrity and the endorsed brand.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when the ad execution is simple, clean, and free of irrelevant design elements. Focus on the celebrity and the brand together.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when using a celebrity who is not already strongly associated with another product or service.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective when using a celebrity with a high fit, congruence, or belongingness with the endorsed brand.

Celebrity endorsers can be used to effectively reinforce and/or create an image for a product or service.

Test potential brand/celebrity combinations to ensure that the impression and image of the celebrity is positive for the target audience.

Celebrity endorsements will be more effective for less familiar brands. Celebrity endorsers will be more effective for brands for which consumers have limited knowledge/facts.

Celebrity endorsers will be more effective when integrated across the elements of the marketing mix.

Caution in choice of celebrity endorser is warranted given the potential risk of tarnishing the brands image.

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CONCLUSIONS
Celebrity endorsement can be a goldmine or a minefield for a companys 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 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. There is an increasing challenge to the marketing manager to develop and implement an integrated marketing communication (IMC) plan to realize the true value of the celebrity endorsements. There is a gradual shift from the traditional approach of showing celebrities in advertisement to making them the spokes-person of the brand. Companies have taken celebrity endorsement to next level by projecting brands as a way of life. Smart companies are using their brand ambassadors in other mediums such as movies to promote their brands. Eg, Amitabh Bachchan, who endorses the financial instruments of ICICI Bank, is shown as a branch-manager of ICICI Bank in the movie Baghban. Wooing the key existing and potential target customers is the trait of a successful promotion strategy. However, the marketing manager should be able to offer significant value propositions in the services / products offered to the customers. Thus, one needs to integrate celebrity attributes align with the overall brand or company. Companies that succeed in developing such an integrated IMC plans is the one to succeed in the long-term.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
JOURNALS:Ohnian. Roobina (1991), "The Impact of Celebrity Spokespersons' Perceived Image on Consumers' Intention to Purchase," Journal of Advertising Research, 31 (February/March), 46-54. BOOKS:1. Principles of marketing by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong. 2. Marketing Management (12th edition) by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller. 3. Marketing Research by David A. Aaker. 4. Advertising and promotion, an integrated marketing communications perspective by George E Belch, Michael A Belch and Keyoor Purani . WEBSITES: www.thedayaftertomorrow.com www.indiantelevision.com www.magindia.com www.blonnet.com

www.rediff.com article by Country head, O&M India indiainfoline.com article 'Celebrity Endorsements in brands. www.coolavenues.com

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ANNEXURE
Questionnaire
Name of the respondent 1) What is your gender? Male Female 2) What is your age? 18-25 26-32 32-39 More than 40

3) What is your occupation? Business Class Service Class Student Others (Please Specify) _________

4)

5) 6)

7)
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8) 9)

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