Celebrity Endorsement is the form of an advertising campaign or marketing strategy used by brands or companies who use the name and fame of a celebrity or a well-known person to promote their products.
Marketers use celebrity endorsers in the hope that the positive image of the celebrity or an influencer will pass onto the brand image associated with the celebrities. Celebrity Endorsement is largely effective because the celebrities have the potential to reach a large number of audience.
A high focus is placed upon the importance of choosing a trustworthy celebrity with a positive image similar to the company’s brand image.
Today, most celebrities are keen on endorsing a product for which they are paid a huge amount of money.
Celebrity Endorsements are used by countless businesses of all shapes and sizes as a marketing strategy.
Some critics claim that celebrity endorsement have a little positive impact on business sales, while some other critics claim that, the benefits that a company enjoy are countless.
Advantages of Celebrity Endorsement
Here are a few reasons why you should employ celebrity endorsement as a marketing strategy for your products and services.
1• Influence Consumer Purchases
Celebrities transfer meaning to the product that positively influences customer’s intensions to buy a particular product. It is shown by the fact, the consumers start using the products which are celebrity endorsed. It has become the most effective tool for companies to transmit the product’s information to a large audience. The attractiveness of celebrity endorser infers advertisement recall and is sought associated with the customers' intention of purchase. This is how celebrity endorsement helps in influencing consumers purchases.
2• Build Brand Equity
Celebrity Endorsement is used as an advertising strategy, by using celebrity status and image, to promote a brand’s recognition, recall and differentiation. Building brand equity also enables a brand to stand over the other brand that does not use celebrity endorsement. Building brand equity is the value that your brand brings to your company. Using a celebrity helps to represent that your brand is different from the other brands and this is how they help in building brand equity.
3• Builds credibility
Celebrity Endorsement is a promotional tool that boosts brand awareness. The celebrities naturally command the attention of the consumer. Featuring celebrities in advertising can grab attention immediately which enhances the brand, and for this reason, it has always been a high-impact marketing tool.
4• Position a Brand
Celebrities enjoy public recognition and they use this popularity on behalf of a product by appearing in an advertisement. Brand positioning is a major decision in marketing that seeks to build an image of a product in the consumer's mind. Product positioning denotes the specific product category or product class in which the given product is competing. In today’s world, every Brand wants to get an edge over the other competitors. To achieve this, each brand tries to successfully position its image in the mind of consumers. This concept of positioning helps the brand to create its image in the customer's mind and make them remember the brand.
Using celebrity endorsement in positioning brand is to sign popular celebrities to appear in an advertisement for the brand to create a positive impact in the user’s mind. This way celebrity endorsement helps in brand positioning.
5• Attract New Users
One challenge which most celebrities face is finding new users for their products. This can be achieved by celebrity endorsement as it helps to boost sales and build the credibility of the product. They inspire the confidence of the consumers and motivate their purchase intentions positively. The addition of the brand value is clear and immediate.
Celebrity Endorsement in India
Celebrity Endorsement has been a key aspect of Indian marketing evinced by the fact that close to 50% of endorsements in India feature celebrities as compared to around 20% in the US. In 2010 there has been a significant evolution in the Indian endorsement space with the increase in penetration of digital cable television and social media. The number of celeb-ads increased from 650 ads in 2007 to 1660 ads in 2017. Indian Celebrity Endorsement market is projected to grow at a robust CAGR during 2018–2023 owing to changing consumer lifestyle, growing media and communication and increasing population. In 2018, Virat Kohli has surpassed King Khan and bagged the number one position in brand endorsements. Major players operating in Indian Celebrity Endorsement market are Endorse My Brand, Cineyug, Adverlabs, Globosport etc.
Impact of Celebrity Endorsement
Today celebrity endorsement becomes the multi-million industries in the world. Marketers endorsed celebrities with their products and brands in the advertisement to increase the sales and change viewers perception regarding the product. Companies can use that star power and influence to boost their own products and services. Consumers feel more sympathetic towards a brand if the products are promoted by a celebrity they admire or relate to. This was all about Celebrity Endorsement.
