Wednesday, September 24, 2008

"Celebrity Endorsement"

A bit wavering off the main theme of the blog.This post is about "Celebrity Endorsement".

I still remember the lecture in which we were taught this topic as a special emphasis was laid on managing a brand over their endorsements.I'd found it very amusing as I couldn't believe the fact that people buy brands because a particular celebrity promotes it.I mean how many people,today use Navratna hair oil just because Mr Bachchan endorses it???

I was wrong.....

It was only after the completion of the lecture that I actually went and asked people if they would eat 'Lays' (chips) if their favourite star started endorsing it.That's probably why Dhoni has been brought against Saif these days.I got mixed reactions from everyone but eventually,to my surprise the people staying positive turned out to be higher in number.The hottest favourite was Aamir Khan.

Later I learnt that 'Celebrity Endorsement' is just not promoting the brand.It is far more deeper than what I thought it was.It creates an association in the minds of people.The association with which the celebrity can be linked to the brand.Imagine if Amitabh Bachchan started endorsing Kingfisher beer!!!His brand image will suffer a great setback as people see him as more of a family man and a matured personality.Yes,but at the same time if Sanjay Dutt proposes to endorse it,the campaign might be a success.It depends on the brand image of the celebrity at that point of time.For example;Saurav Ganguly was taken off from Brittania immediately after he was kicked out of the team due to bad performance,Salman Khan's ads were stopped the minute he was arrested by the cops,so on and so forth.

Thus the issue of Celebrity Endorsement has to be dealt with very carefully in branding.It has a direct impact on the consumer's buying behavior and at the same time is more attached to their sentiments than any other way of promotion.

2 comments:

  1. Sarvesh,

    Get back to the original theme of the blog man! Ads and Brands.

    That raises an argument easily.

    I think a purchase decision of a person can be influenced by a celebrity only once and that's for the first purchase.

    If you know what u get, whom ever might endorse the brand, u will not buy it.

    And at some point it depends on the product being endorsed.

    I might buy a cadbury because of Mr. Bachan, but not Navratna tail.

    And try throwing some light on multiple brand endorsement and dilution of the brand association with the celebrity because of this.

    Tomorrow, Bindra might be the hottest brand. Which products do u think will suit him?

    Does the Vishvanathan Anand ad for AMD processor (or something do not remember the brand but have watched the ad, where he tries to play cricket for good long time and was unsuccessful) was of any use?



    Have I written too much?

    Some!

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  2. Hi

    What you have said about the first time purchase is absolutely true.But checking the population of India the first time purchases for a brand which cannot be capitalised also recovers the inital costs.Anyways thats not the point.

    The buying behavior of a consumer largely depends on the target segment he/she belongs to.Eg. you won't buy Navratna hair oil because Mr Bachchan endorses it but you wouldn't mind buying a cadbury.Think it from a point of view of a consumer (usually lower segement...may be the barbers) who can get influenced by BigB and buy the hair oil.Yes,it matters on the product that is endorsed too but a huge contribution goes to "Celebrity Endorsement" too.Otherwise our dear marketers wouldn't have trusted the idea so much,right?

    Lets talk about multiple brand endorsement now.There are two problems when a celebrity endorses multiple brands:
    a) Over exposure of the celebrity &
    b) Conflicting views in different ads.

    Over exposure of a celebrity can have a negative value on the brand endorsement.Eg.When Shahrukh Khan was seen everywhere just before the IPL,in the ads,in Kya aap paanchvi pass se tez hai,on the TV promoting his team the brands he used to promote had a major setback.The problem is people get bored by the over exposure of celebrities.The psychology of a consumer plays a vital role in this.Celebrities are someone special and if they become too common they loose their value in the consumer's eyes.

    Conflicting views in ads too can affect the brand endorsement.I remember reading an article in Bangalore times once.It was about an interview with Salman Khan.Now Salman used to promote "Lux" inner garments.He was asked in the interview whether he wears them or not.He refused it very promptly (a blunder on his part).Result?He was taken out from the ad and now I guess Sunny Deol promotes it.

    Well,talkin about Bindra,I seriously think a celebrity needs to be persistent enough to promote or endorse a brand.One time wonders are not what I believe in.I
    think he can promote brands Carl Zeiss,TAG Heure (optics)etc.[saying clear vision like Bindra] or Accenture,IBM likes,those from the service industry (saying -always on target).

    The last part about Vishwanathan Anand promoting the AMD ad now.Well,I am not sure if it was of any use or not but yes the ad met its message according to me pretty clearly.The peocessor need not waste time in doing what it is not good at.The AMD processors are good for optimum performance and an optimum performance can be delivered only if the processor is used in the proper areas and if its designed properly (probably by AMD...:))

    Thank you for the suggestion of sticking to the theme of the blog.I'll surely continue to do that in the future but I would also like to continue such kind of discussions here.Maybe I'll have a seperate column for it.

    Thank you.

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