The endorsement can work as a power booster for any brand or product. Word of mouth is best and simple promotional technique to spread recommendation from users.
The endorsement is a type of communication in which one person speaks in the favor of brand or product.
Celebrity endorsement is a further extension of endorsement in which a celebrity, either film star or sportsman or social worker act as a spokesperson or brand ambassador and endorses what brand claims.
People like to talk and listen to those who had already used the brand and words of mouth generated by any special personality act as a final stamp on the consumers’ decision-making process.
Companies put their most part of advertisement budget in this section to get contact with finest personality exact matching with their brands.
Promotional Techniques
Top level brands use this promotional technique in an advertisement to influence their potential consumers. Sports brands always use athletes for its endorsement.
Tennis star Rafael Nadal is a brand ambassador of Nike and always endorses Nike products. Nike also uses different football players as celebrity endorsers.
Pepsi uses film star Shahrukh Khan for endorsement in India. World No. 1 tennis star Roger Federer act as a celebrity endorser for Rolex Watch Brand.
Indian film actress Kareena Kapoor is selected for endorsement for Q Mobile in Pakistan for its high-end smartphones.
One hot news moving around in Pakistani media is that Q mobile is now approaching Holly Wood film star Angelina Jolie for its next upcoming advertisement.
Promotional Objectives
This isn’t a simple task that hires any celebrity and put him your advertisement and you will achieve your promotional objectives.
There is some key point must keep in mind while selecting celebrity for endorsement. First, the celebrity should be attractive for the brand and the target audience.
Selected celebrity should be attractive in terms of appearance, intellectual capabilities, lifestyle and athletic capabilities.
The more the endorser attractive and smart, chances of success of the promotional campaign will be greater too.
The second thing must be kept in mind is the credibility of celebrity.
Personal Credibility
Personal credibility is most important thing to be considered in words of mouth. Most of the time celebrity generates positive words of mouth for selected brand, so credible celebrity star will get high attention from the audience.
Credibility here is defined as the celebrity’s trustworthiness and the perceived expertise for the brand. Third and the last one is most important that the collaboration between celebrity and the brand.
Without matching and collaboration, the target audience cannot much impress with the advertisement.
Collaboration can be considered in terms of personality, lifestyle, identity, and positioning of the brand in the market with respect to competitors. When a brand makes
When a brand makes contract with celebrity, these are the basic rules that have to exist in the celebrity to leverage the maximum from that campaign.
Important points should be considered…
Celebrity endorsement is quite risky because it doesn’t work every time. Head & Shoulder did not get as much reward as it should have to with Hollywood stars’ endorsement.
There are many important things which should remember while going for the celebrity endorsement.
- Consistency between the endorser and the brand is very important. The marketer should take it series because this will develop strong personality and identity of the brand ultimately.
- Long term commitment between the endorser and the brand will leave a deep impact on the audience because audience believes that if the endorser himself is not committed to the brand, how could they be?
- Before hiring the celebrity, a marketer should make sure that the celebrity should be attractive, should have a positive image in the society and should have the necessary knowledge about the brand.
- Most of the campaigns fail because of mismatch between celebrity and the brand. Selected celebrity should be consistent with the brand and the personality of celebrity should be coordinated with the brand. Image of the brand depends on the image of the endorser.
- A very important element of the endorsement campaign is monitoring. Many campaigns fail because of lack of monitoring. Marketers should monitor public image of celebrity, conduct, and behavior to minimize the potential negative publicity repeatedly. The best way to fix this matter by keeping contract keen and clear.
- Every brand has its own uniqueness. Brand losses its popularity when that particular unique quality presents poorly. Celebrity should be selected according to nature of the brand. The uniqueness of brand should be visible in endorser.
- New emerging stars can be the best option for any brand because of their popularity and low pricing to get a win-win situation.
- Marketers must keep in mind that celebrity endorsement is not all and all. This is just one part of communication and t should be treated like this.
- Without measurement of the effect of endorsement on brand, the endorsement is useless. Marketers should measure the effect of endorsement through qualitatively and quantitatively so that effectiveness of endorsement strategy can be clear to the company.
- Legal processes are very important in this matter. Marketers should guarantee that the celebrity they hire is in legal terms and conditions so that they can stop their competitors to doing the same activity with same celebrity. Mismanagement in this regard can also create confusion in audience mind.
- Sometimes, it is seen that during celebrity endorsement activities, celebrity takeover brand and overshadow the brand which decreases the desired effects of endorsement campaigns. Marketers must manage this process in a way that celebrity endorses a brand with clear and unambiguous activities.
Recently a commercial of biscuit “Zeera Plus” can be seen on Pakistani TV channels. In this TV ad, Pakistani superstar Shaan endorses zeera plus biscuit matching with his silver screen journey. It is quite effective when you discover clear match between celebrity and brand.
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