The paper discusses the role that the celebrity endorsement plays in increasing the companyВ’s chances and potential in winning the loyalty of consumers, building a strong brand image, and using media communication tools for raising the product awareness. At the beginning of the paper, the literature review explains the topic through the lenses of various works that discuss the efficiency of the celebrity endorsement and its influence on the consumer behaviour. Customers go through multiple stages of the decision-making process before making purchases. Examples of expensive and luxury products prove that the celebrity endorsements are natural boosters of the readiness of people to spend money on products from such advertisements. Furthermore, the paper goes on to discuss the evaluated information from the literature and analyse it according to the implementation rate among different businesses. It proves that the celebrity endorsement can be useful. However, it requires a careful approach towards choosing characters for advertisements. Otherwise, the effects of the marketing campaign can be unpredictable.
The celebrity endorsement is a significant element of contemporary marketing strategies, which are developed by companies with the view to gaining appreciation among consumers and winning their loyalty by engaging famous people in their promotional strategies. These prominent individuals become the means of communication, which enhance the link between a company and its target audience. In this way, consumers listen to the sent message more attentively and look forward to new products that are offered by the company. Celebrities help consumers to believe that these products are worth of being purchased since famous public figures assure common people that the quality is high. Companies utilize this natural aspiration in building a unique brand, which will help clients distinguish its products from a great number of similar goods offered by competitors. In such a manner, the celebrity endorsement is an effective booster of the brand awareness and customer loyalty. The business environment seeks fresh ideas and new faces, which will be able to set trends in marketing. A complex literature review analyses the role of this tool in building effective business models, while the discussion proves that the engagement of famous public figures in the marketing campaign has a significant positive influence on the companyВ’s brand image.
Literature Review
Endorsement Models
The marketing sector has already introduced a great number of models that aim at impressing the target audience by outstanding marketing techniques. Celebrities are one of the means of attracting consumers; they ensure the willingness of clients to try new products (Awasthi & Choraria 2015, p. 223). The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is a two-process model, which helps predict the consumer reaction to an advertisement. It has two outcomes in terms of the clientsВ’ response: either low involvement or high involvement. The core element of the model is the motivation, which fosters the readiness of consumers to purchase a product or service that was seen in the advertisement. In a perfect situation, a consumer should process the message from the promotional piece of information, develop own preferences, and act according to the formulated attitude.
The source credibility model is another useful marketing concept, which asserts that consumers are ready to purchase a product or service based on the reliability of the feedback they find in an advertisement. Celebrities are a source of credibility; they ensure consumers that they can trust an advertisement (Bergkvist, Hjalmarson & M?gi 2015, p. 176). It happens for the reason that potential customers often see a celebrity from an advertisement in movies and TV shows, as well as can learn about celebrities from interviews in newspapers and magazines (Choi & Rifon 2012, p. 643). As a result, consumers have a trustworthy image of a celebrity that encourages them to purchase a product from the advertisement.
The source attractiveness model also has a similar effect on consumers as the aforementioned theories do. However, the distinctive feature is its ability to attract the attention of consumers only with the help of appealing characteristics. It means that celebrities help in making common products noticeable and desired with the help of their presence in an advertisement (Chang & Ko 2016, p. 684). If consumers see that their favourite actor or actress uses a new shampoo, it is most likely that they will be willing to purchase the same one. In such a manner, celebrities make products look appealing and useful.
Media Channels
The development of technologies in the digital era has created the diversity of media channels, which the contemporary companies use in order to implement their marketing strategies. TV, newspapers, magazines and social media contribute to the enhancement of the companiesВ’ productivity thanks to the celebrity endorsement. TV offers its viewers to watch promotional videos with famous celebrities (Carrillat, d’Astous & Christianis 2014, p. 1026). It became a common way of promoting products by sharing video commercials during breaks in movies and TV programs. Newspapers and magazines use printed advertisements on pages between articles; these pieces also attract attention and make readers interested in a new product (Dugalic & Ivic 2015, p. 210). Finally, the social media plays a significant role in implementing promotional strategies of companies (Chung & Cho 2017, p. 486). For example, it became common to advertise products on celebritiesВ’ pages on social networks. Companies offer celebrities millions of dollars if they post a photo with a product and short recommendation. In this way, not only celebrities but also popular bloggers collaborate with various businesses.
Decision-Making Factors
The celebrity endorsement has a significant influence on the decision-making process, which consumers face every time they need to purchase something. When it comes to purchasing expensive products, the choice becomes difficult and doubtful (Kuvita & Karl??ek 2014, p. 17). For example, consumers have to make a considerable analysis of cars present in the market before making a purchase (Johns, Weir & Weir 2015, p. 120). It happens for the reason that purchasing a car means spending a considerable amount of money, which automatically makes the decision difficult.
Nevertheless, celebrities have an outstanding power of influencing choices of consumers. Jackie Chan became one of the most famous celebrities that have been ever involved in the advertisements of the Mitsubishi Group (Dekker & van Reijmersdal 2013, p. 223). Genuinely attractive videos with Jackie as the lucky owner of the car showing unique features of the vehicle became the key to success. This example proves that consumers depend on the celebrity endorsement in helping them make the right decision. It is possible to conclude that the popularity of a celebrity defines the attractiveness of a product and the influence of its commercial on the decision of consumers along with the price, uniqueness, and belonging to a well-known brand. All these elements emphasize the stature of a lucky owner of the product.
Consumer Behaviour
The celebrity endorsement is a significant regulator of the consumer behaviour, which has a direct connection to the brand awareness, consumer loyalty, and companyВ’s profitability. It happens for the reason that celebrities automatically make products more valuable and attractive to their fans, who believe that their idols cannot lie.
If consumers can relate to the advertisement because of their favourite artist using the promoted product, the company gains success (Park 2016, p. 8). For example, Selena Gomez was involved in one of the Louis Vuitton campaigns, which issued the new collection. The famous luxurious brand made a famous singer and actress the new face of the brand (Pradhan, Duraipandian & Sethi 2014, p. 461). It became a major booster of sales thanks to millions of fans that were willing to purchase the product that was held by their idol in the printed advertisement. The secret behind the effectiveness of the celebrity endorsement lies in its ability to affect subconscious choices of people. Potential customers begin to believe that if they start using the same product as their idols do, they would be capable of attaining similar personal traits and success.
Branding and Media Communication Models
The celebrity endorsement influences the branding in several ways, including the brand image, brand alliance, and brand recognition. First, companies strive to choose a trustworthy famous person for their campaigns in order to avoid any unnecessary doubts and gossips in the society. The celebrity in the advertisement should embody the reliability, responsibility, and confidence in order to persuade consumers to purchase a product. If the company chooses an individual with burdened reputation, it is most likely to have a negative effect on consumers. A brand alliance is another effect of the celebrity endorsement, which takes place when global businesses become willing to collaborate with a company because of the famous celebrity that is involved in its advertisement (Thusyanthy & Tharanikaran 2015, p. 212). In addition, businesses may be willing to collaborate with each other in order to create a campaign with massive effect. For example, sports events engaging several sponsors may encourage these contributors to involve celebrities in their advertising strategies (Turnbull 2017, p. 130). Finally, the celebrity endorsement contributes to the brand recognition, which raises the product awareness among consumers thanks to colours or slogans, for example. Coca-Cola made it possible to associate the red colour and specific font with the famous beverage (Zipporah & Mberia 2014). In such a manner, the celebrity endorsement allows creating the same effect thanks to the involvement of outstanding public individuals, who are the triggers of positive associations in people.
Discussion
Media Communications and Theory
The analysis of the literature review demonstrates that celebrities have a significant place in the development of a particular brand or a company in general. Media communications depend on the engagement of famous actors, actresses, models, singers, and other public figures in different types of advertisements. Nevertheless, not every celebrity is capable of increasing the companyВ’s profits and raising the brand awareness. The theory of the celebrity endorsement as a media communication tool has all chances to become one of the most popular and useful tools in promoting new products. However, there are several nuances, which every company needs to consider in making this type of communication with consumers effective.
First, the effectiveness of the advertisement with a celebrity depends on the image of the chosen person. Consumers are willing to enjoy promotional videos featuring their idols, who can make them believe that the brand is worth of their attention. When companies choose popular public figures for their advertisements, it is easy to shape and manipulate tastes of clients. Also, celebrities dictate trends, which make the companyВ’s product lines more flexible.
Secondly, media communications define the success of the marketing campaign by spreading the information about a product in the most appropriate manner. If a manufacturer decides to promote a car, it will be beneficial to make a short promotional video with a celebrity, who will emphasize all the benefits of a given product. If a company advertises a new beverage, printed advertisements placed at malls can also be effective. Nevertheless, according to the analysis, promotional videos are more effective thank the printed media. Celebrity endorsements are more convincing when consumers have a chance to watch a video, listen to their favourite idol, and enjoy a new product.
Thirdly, if one compares contemporary digital opportunities of advertising with traditional marketing strategies, it is obvious that the continuously developing digital era brings a more sophisticated way of engaging celebrities in a marketing campaign. In such a manner, social networks have become effective tools for raising the brand awareness, spreading information about new products in a blink of an eye, and showing consumers the effectiveness of products in examples of celebrities. In contrast to TV advertisements, the social media covers a broad range of online users that willingly share the news with their friends. In addition, celebrities have millions of subscribers, who wait for new posts impatiently. It means that the media communication has become more useful and effective under the influence of the digital evolution, which made the celebrity endorsement more common and attainable. Moreover, the contemporary social networks help analyse the response of online users to recently posted images with advertisements that engage celebrities. It means that today, the social media is more important than the traditional media in terms of implementing marketing campaigns.
Finally, the effect of using appropriate media communications and celebrity endorsements lies in the consumersВ’ perception, behaviour, and response to the designed video or image. The literature review showed that companies should choose celebrities that are capable of addressing the profile of the target audience. For example, new product lines of luxury brands should focus on the youth with middle-level and higher income in order to make a worthy investment in the promotional strategy. However, the main point is the importance of paying attention to the reaction of consumers to the celebrity endorsement, which should address consumer needs, wants, and demands in a single promotional piece of the marketing campaign.
The Impact of the Celebrity Endorsement on the BrandВ’s Image
The reputation and image are two overlapping business terms, which should have a precise attention of every business owner in order to avoid any unnecessary impact of marketing campaigns. The celebrity endorsement does not mean that it is a guarantee of increasing the revenue or improvement of the companyВ’s reputation.
There were cases when the celebrity endorsement did not bring any effect or left consumers confused with the new promotional strategy chosen by the company. For example, Jennifer Lopez participated in the promotional video of Fiat. Consumers were left confused and distracted from the main theme of the video. On the one hand, the company engaged a well-known singer and actress in the marketing campaign, which should have been the key to success. On the other hand, the promotional video did not have appropriate design and failed to ensure that consumers will develop a demand related to the new product. However, it became an example, which showed that celebrities had to emphasize the companyВ’s culture and image in order to make a campaign successful. Otherwise, the companyВ’s reputation and image will be under a considerable threat.
Another possible application of the celebrity endorsement in the context of the brand image is the restoration of the reputation. For example, if a company still does not run a global level business, it is possible to make a breakthrough with the help of inviting a celebrity. The companyВ’s image requires a continuous analysis of the market in order to navigate through a huge number of marketing tools with the view to helping promote the brand. Celebrities are natural boosters of the brand awareness and product awareness. Videos and images contribute to the enhancement of the companyВ’s reputation in the minds of consumers; it means that they will automatically develop oneВ’s interest in companyВ’s products that are advertised by the idol. For example, the involvement of Michael Jordan in the marketing campaign launched by Nike helped the company generate billions of dollars by sponsoring athletes across the globe. The company supported its image of a reliable manufacturer of clothes, shoes, and accessories for athletes and succeeded in meeting expectations and desires of consumers. As a result, the combination of the celebrity endorsement and high quality of products has made the company reliable and respectable among consumers.
The celebrity endorsement is a popular tool for attracting the attention of the existing and potential consumers. It is a communication tool, which meets the needs of people by placing their favourite idols in the centre of the marketing campaign. Consumers listen more attentively to celebrities as if they were their friends. As a result, it becomes easier to study and manipulate consumersВ’ needs and tastes. Numerous examples of celebrity endorsements by outstanding companies prove that it is an effective method of increasing profits. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that the decision-making process regarding the celebrity endorsement is thoughtful and careful. The choice of a celebrity for the campaign is no less important than choosing the brandВ’s logo. It means that promotional pieces with celebrities become associations related to a company and its products. If there is a gap between the celebrityВ’s image and the companyВ’s reputation, it will most likely fail in meeting the needs of consumers. An unreasonable involvement of celebrities with the inappropriate image will create a negative reaction among consumers. As a result, it can be difficult to restore the companyВ’s image. A company should wisely develop a celebrity endorsement model and predict its outcomes before investing in a costly and doubtful marketing campaign.
