1.1 INTRODUCTION

According to McCracken's (1989) definition, a celebrity endorser is an individual

who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a

consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement (marketing

communication). Celebrity endorsement is expected to influence the feelings of

the consumers and also influence the attitude consumers have towards the

advertisement and attitude towards the brands, which can increase the purchase

intentions and consequently increase sales. A celebrity endorser used in an

advertisement can be interpreted as a reference group or an aspiration group. To

become 'associated' with this group, consumers are willing to behave like

members of the aspiration group. This means that consumers are trying to

behave in the same manner, e.g. try to use the same symbolic meanings – of the

aspiration group. This means that a celebrity endorser can be interpreted as the

'personality' of the reference group. The reference group 'rich and famous', which

often correspond with the way the ‘celebrities’ live, is frequently indicated as an

aspiration group of which consumers like to be part of.

With the opening up of the Indian economy in 1991, the country witnessed for the

first time aggressive competition between new players and big established

businesses. The various industry segments until then were identified by only one

or two companies, primarily owing to the protectionist policy of the Government.

This new open competition spilled over to the advertising arena, where the Indian

advertising industry heard a new demand from its clientele: a requirement for a

‘known face’ to endorse the client’s product and generate new-found sales. Thus

was born the celebrity brand endorsement saga that in India today is a multi-

million dollar industry.

Today, the celebrity endorsement industry is worth Rs.550 crore and is growing

at high double digit growth rate ranging between 60- 80%. Experts predict the

growth rate to touch even triple digits, soon. Today almost 60% of Indian brands

use celebrities in some form or the other; a steep climb from 2001, when only

25% of brands needed such razzle-dazzle. A top-notch celebrity like Sachin

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Tendulkar could charge over Rs 5 crore for a single endorsement. If you were to

collate all the commercials featuring ShahRukh Khan in a year on all channels,

and play them on a television set, they would run non-stop for 49 days! The

undisputed star endorses 39 brands across 25 categories (eight brands in 2003),

and appears for 4.25 million seconds annually on the idiot box. It is a similar story

for the others too. Amitabh Bachchan endorses 36 brands across 23 categories.

He was seen in commercials for approximately 3.16 million seconds in 2007.

Then, there are cricket superstars like Sachin Tendulkar (21 brands), MS Dhoni

(24 brands).Other types of endorsers can be equally effective but cost much less.

1.2 TYPES OF ENDORSERS

An endorser is a person, character or organization that speaks or appears in an

ad in support of the advertiser or its claim. The terms endorser includes the terms

spokesperson or model. Endorsers can be grouped into three broad classes:

1. Experts.

2. Celebrities

3. Lay endorsers.

Experts

In January 1956, Procter and Gamble launched

Crest toothpaste with the theme of cavity

prevention. Despite heavy advertising over four

and a half years, Crest achieved only a 12 per cent

market share versus Colgate's 35 percent.

Colgate had been the leading brand of

toothpaste in the US market for many decades.

Then in August 1960, crest won an endorsement by the American Dental

Association as the only toothpaste that prevented dental cavities and one of only

three means of fighting dental cavities. A massive advertising campaign

announcing that endorsement catapulted crest into the leadership of the

toothpaste market, a position it still retains.

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Experts are individuals or organization that the target population perceives as

having substantial knowledge in a particular area. Typically experts are chosen

because of the knowledge they have accumulated through experience, training or

study.

Various organizations such as the Indian Medical Association, the Indian Dental

Association, will certify the quality of products, sometimes through awarding seals

of approval. A seal of approval is a logo of the certifying organization that

appears on the products package or ad and states that the certifying organization

vouches for the merits of the product. In some cases the organizations are paid

by the manufacture of the products, while in other cases the endorsement is

made in the public interest.

Celebrities

India does not have a single legislation, order, rule or judgment that defines a

celebrity (not even the 20-odd court decisions where the term celebrity

appears).In the absence of a legal definition a celebrity refers to an individual who

is known to the public for his or her achievements in areas other than that of the

product class endorsed .They are individuals or characters who are known to a

large portion of the general population, primarily because of the publicity

associated with their lives. This is true for classic forms of celebrities, like actors

(e.g., Amitabh Bachchan, ShahRukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee Aamir Khan and

Pierce Brosnan), models (e.g., Mallaika Arora, Lisa Ray, Aishwarya Rai, Naomi

Campbell etc), sports figures (e.g. Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Sourav

Ganguly, Anna Kournikova, Michael Schumacher, Steve Waugh, etc),

entertainers (e.g., Cyrus Broacha, Oprah Winfrey, Conan O'Brien), and pop-stars

(e.g., Madonna, David Bowie) – but also for less obvious groups like

businessmen (e.g., Narayan Murthi,Donald Trump, Bill Gates,) or politicians.

Celebrities appear in public in different ways and when celebrities act as spokes-

people in advertising to promote products and services, it is referred to celebrity

endorsement.

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Lay Endorsers

Lay endorsers are unknown individuals or characters that appear in ads, just like

Harry, Louise and Libby. They are selected to closely resemble the target

segment, enabling the target segment to identify with the endorser and the

message.

The three categories of endorsers are not mutually exclusive. Sustained and

effective use of lay endorses over time may make them celebrities in their own

right. Also some individuals could belong to more than one category depending

on the product they endorse. Since sports celebrities frequently endorse sporting

goods as well as other products, there may be an especially large overlap in

classifying endorsers from the world of sports as experts or celebrities.

1.3 HISTORY OF CELEBRITY ADVERTISING

Businesses have been looking to celebrities to sell their products for almost 100

years. As early as 1899, celebrities were hocking off cigars and patent medicines

for local businesses. The earliest dated endorsements of products by celebrities

may have even happened by accident. Kodas Cigarettes began including

baseball cards in their packs of cigars; the baseball cards were intended as gifts

to loyal customers. The most famous of these is from 1910 of Honus Wagner,

worth well over $500,000 in today's market. As the packaging popularity rose,

and people began buying the cigarettes for the cards, advertisers realized the

potential of this new phenomenon. In no time, celebrity endorsements began to

flood the United States.

Up until the early 1930's, athletes were among the biggest celebrity endorsers.

They continued to endorse products through trading cards for anything from

bread to cigars to patent medicines. But, by 1935, a new trend had begun.

Celebrities had actively begun promoting products and businesses. No longer

were their endorsements merely that of an image on a card. For the next 15

years, until the inception of TV in the American household, athletes dominated

the advertising market.

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By 1945, celebrity endorsements saw a switch from athletes to TV & movie

personalities. Movie stars, such as Charlie Chaplin, became the mainstream of

American advertising. Movie celebrities continued to be the popular choice of

product endorsements for the next 40 years. Then, with the rise of color TV in

1965, the TV celebrity saw a surge in popularity over the movie screen celebrity.

By 1975, the number of TV spots featuring a celebrity had jumped to one in eight.

The celebrity boom had reached such a large hype that a new industry known as

"celebrity brokering" formed. These "celebrity brokers" still exist today; they are

specialists in matching up advertisers and name performers. The largest such

company at the time, Berg-Albert Corp. in Beverly Hills, Calif., billed over $12

billion for about 400 deals alone within the first two years of its formation.

On top of brokers, a system for scoring celebrities was also developed.

Celebrities were given a Q rating based on their enduring popularity and

recognition. Advertisers often consulted the Performer Q score to estimate a

Celebrity’s endorsement potential. Compiled by Marketing Evaluations Inc. in

Port Washington, N.Y., the Q value is an annual composite of a celebrity's

familiarity and likeability calculated from consumer-panel data. The company

gives advertisers access to a list of approximately 1,500 nationally known

performers, personalities, and celebrities (but not political figures, fictional

characters, deceased persons, or "jet-setters"). The Q scores became the means

by which advertisers based their selection of a potential celebrity endorser.

The market for celebrity endorsements became so tremendous by 1978, that

companies began creating products around celebrities. However, by 1985 the

trend of the TV/movie star endorser began to fade. In 1984, Nike discovered the

strength and power of advertising in a young, highly talented basketball player

hailing fresh from North Carolina. His name was Michael Jordan. For the first time

in a long time, an athlete had existed that personified an image. “The image,”

Nike believed, would push them into the upper echelon of global mega brands.

Since Michael Jordan became a superstar in the NBA, advertisers

have placed a stronger emphasis on the athlete endorser.

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In 1989, Coke employed 59 different celebrities. Of those 59 celebrities, 48 were

athletes. There was also a flux of sporting goods companies and those products

closely associated with sports (i.e. shoes, clothing) that saw a surge in celebrity

advertising. Nearly three-quarters of all active/sports products were endorsed by

athletes.

During the 1980s, cartoon characters also became popular

celebrity endorsers. Fred Flintstone was among one of the most

popular animated celebrities of the 80s. The trend of athlete

endorsements has continued into the next century. Though in

recent times, the TV/movie personality has seen resurgence in their popularity as

an official endorser of a product. The newest trend to hit the market in the realm

of celebrity advertising has been with the public announcement of contracts with

celebrities for advertising. Between 1990 and 1997, there were 207 cases of

endorsements for which public announcements were held.

In the last few years, an even newer trend with respect to celebrity endorsements

has begun to gain in popularity. Celebrities’ characters are beginning to push

advertisements in their regular shows and movies through product placement and

branded entertainment. For example, in a Friends episode the cast members buy

their furniture from Pottery Barn, throughout the entire show promoting the

product No matter what the case, celebrity endorsements have proven to be an

enduring success. Nearly 20 percent of American network television commercials

employed celebrities by 1999. Celebrities flood the advertising scene, whereas

today, it is not uncommon to see three well-known celebrities supporting brands

in one commercial break alone.

1.3.1 CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT IN INDIA

Phase 1: The Pioneering Phase (1950-1980).This phase was characterized by:

1. Limited channels of communication

2 Demand exceeded supply

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3. Heavy regulation and governmental regulations

Some bigger companies from their global experience introduced the concept of

celebrity endorsement. HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty

soap Lux since the fifties.

Phase 2: The Growth Phase (1980-1990)

The introduction of television added a variable effective medium of

communication. Indian stars going global with events like Asiads and World Cup

victory. One of the first sports endorsements in India was when Farokh Engineer

became the first Indian cricketer to model for Bryl cream.Vimal; Thums-Up,

Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the other brands that used star-appeal in the

early days of mass advertising. There was a spurt of advertising, featuring stars

like Tabassum (Prestige Pressure-cooker), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag Pan-masaala),

Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings).

Phase 3: Globalisation

In highly competitive markets, the following realities about brand management

exist:

1. Product differentiating factors are duplicable and imitable.

2. All long existing and successful brands imbue their products with a meaning.

The meanings cannot be ephemeral expressions but they have to be strategically

decided. This explains why a company like Nirma was not able to launch its

tooth-paste product.

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1.4 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRAND AMBASSADOR & BRAND

FACE

A Brand Ambassador would be one who is not only a spokesperson for the brand

but also an integral part of the brand persona and helps to build an emotion,

which goes beyond just appearing on TV commercials. He takes up the cause of

a Brand Champion and is associated with every aspect related with the brand.

What is more, there is a significant difference between making just an

endorsement for say, a shampoo or an automobile, and being that brand's alter

ego. Both parties take the latter far more seriously to the deal. So a brand

ambassador would be involved in press releases, he/she would be actively

participating in any sales promotion, sporting the Brand all the while. For

example, Fardeen Khan is the brand ambassador for Provogue while he remains

a brand face for Lux Body Wash. On the other hand, a Brand Face would be the

current celebrity who is just used as a tool to increase brand recall and is only

appearing in the advertisement. It is usually seen that a brand face is a temporary

contract and is very short term at times. An example would be Sona Chandi

Chawanpryash using Sourav Ganguly for a while in its commercials. Brand faces

are easily forgotten and fade away with the campaign's end.

1.5 UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer behaviour is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they

buy and why they buy. It attempts to understand the buyer decision-making

process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual

consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in

an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the

consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in

general.

The study and knowledge of consumer behavior helps firms and organizations to

improve their marketing strategies and product offerings. Following are the

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important issues that have significant influence on consumer's psyche and their

ability to take decisions:

The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between

different alternatives (e.g., brands, products);

The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment

(e.g., culture, family, signs, media);

The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing

decisions;

Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities

influence decisions and marketing outcome; 

How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products

that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the

consumer; and

How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and

marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Their Age, Religion, Culture, Income, informal group and Referent Group.

Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by taking the consumer

into consideration. For example, by understanding that a number of different

messages compete for our potential customers’ attention, we learn that to be

effective, advertisements must usually be repeated extensively. We also learn

that consumers will sometimes be persuaded more by logical arguments, but at

other times will be persuaded more by emotional or symbolic appeals. By

understanding the consumer, we will be able to make a more informed decision

as to which strategy to employ.

1.5.1 CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

The consumer decision making process is very complicated though on first sight

it does not look so. Process starts with problem recognition or with an unsatisfied

need. This need can be Psychological, attitudinal or Physiological but yes it

should have the capacity to be fulfilled by consuming a particular product or

service.

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To satisfy the given need what all are the components that should be taken into

consideration and how one can maximize the satisfaction is the next stage. In this

stage, one will consider ability to purchase, level of involvement, people whose

opinion will count and other relevant details that will help in optimizing

satisfaction. Based upon information search one will generate various

alternatives i.e. which brand or product is affordable for me, where will it be

available comfortably and above all in comparison to other brands or products

how better or economical it is.

Figure1.1 Consumer Decision Making Process

Evaluation stage will look like cost benefit analysis and based upon maximum

value or utility per rupee spend, we will decide or shortlist the product or brand.

This is the decision and confirmation stage where the consumers prepares

himself for the purchase of a particular brand and give preference to one and only

one over and above the others.

Next comes the purchase when the consumer will finally go to the market and

look for the brand or the product, physically verifies it and purchases it. Last is the

post purchase Evaluation in which the customer wants to justify his consumption

or purchase decision. He tries to find out whether his purchase decision was right

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Problem Rcognition

Information search

Generation of Alternatives

Evluation of Alternatives

Purchase Decision

Post -purchase Evaluation

or not. Companies make lot of effort to tackle this situation successfully and they

want the customer to be satisfied with their product.

1.5.2 IMPACT OF A BRAND ON CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION

Research studies have proven that known products and names are sold more

than unknown ones. Therefore, a known brand or an optimally exposed brand will

find more recognition and buyers in the market in comparison to completely

unknown or unexposed brand. Recognition of brand and its significance along

with the traditional factors plays a very significant role in consumer decision-

making process. More or less every consumer has a brand preference and given

the affordability and societal norms, each buyer would like to buy and consume

one of the highly acceptable, recognizable, and reputed brands.

Figure 1.2 Consumer Decision Making Process and brand preference

The above given model explains the important role that a brand plays in three

different stages of consumer's purchase decision making. A consumer start

collecting data or information about his favourite brand than he keeps his

favourite as one of the alternatives and he evaluate his selected brand against all

available options and on finding it suitable or best among all options based upon

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Problem Rcognition

Information search

Generation of Alternatives

Evluation of Alternatives

Purchase Decision

Post -purchase Evaluation

Brand

Preference

Consumer’s Final product choiceTraditional Factors

Brand Preference

Purchase Decision Process

a qualitative and quantitative evaluation he will ultimately purchase the selected

or favourite brand.

Figure 1.3 Impact of Brand & Other factors on Consumes Purchase Decision

The diagram above explains how various traditional factors along with brand

preference interact during purchase decision process and finally results into a

consumer's final product choice or ultimate purchase.

1.6 CELEBRITY AND A BRAND

Surveys suggest that compared to any other types of endorsers, famous people

achieve a higher degree of attention and recall. They increase awareness of a

company's advertising as well as help in retention of message in the psyche of

the audience. They can also help the company in reducing their expenditure on

Media and other forms of publicity. An example will bring more clarity. When S

Kumars, a known textile brand entered into readymade garments business they

used Hritik Roshan, then the hottest advertising icon for their launch advertising

for TAMARIND, now one of the premium readymade brands. They reckoned that

they have spent 40-50 percent less on media due to sheer impact of using hottest

star like Hritik. The Ad recall was as high as 70 percent and the campaign can be

termed as a great success. Celebrities also create positive feelings towards

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brands, connect user to brand and are perceived by consumers as more

entertaining.

Using a celebrity in advertising or for any other type of communication for brand

building is likely to positively affect consumers' brand preference, brand attitude,

brand association and purchase intentions. To ensure positive results, however, it

is critical for advertisers to have a clear understanding of consumer's reactions

and reinforcement of celebrity endorsement. The impact of celebrity endorsement

on any brand as well as on consumer's purchase decision is very critical.

1.7 CURRENT THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING

Source credibility model, source attractiveness model, match-up hypothesis and

meaning transfer model (MTM) have all been used to provide theoretical

background in explaining the effects of celebrity endorsement in advertising.

Each model more formally explains endorser attributes and the role they play in

facilitating communication effectiveness. Each model explains a mechanism by

which the endorser affects consumer attitudes and behavior.

1.7.1 SOURCE ATTRACTIVENESS MODEL

The source attractiveness model is a component of the 'source valence' model of

McGuire (1985). The attractiveness model contends that the effectiveness of a

message depends on source’s 'familiarity', 'likeability', 'similarity' and

'attractiveness' to the respondent.

Attractiveness does not mean simply physical attractiveness -although that can

be a very important attribute-but includes any number of virtuous characteristics

that receivers may perceive in an endorser intellectual skills, personality

properties, lifestyle characteristics athletic prowess and so on. The general

concept of attractiveness consists of three related ideas: similarity familiarity and

liking. That is an endorser is considered attractive to receivers if they share a

sense of whether the two are similar in any respect. Gabriela Sabatini, in the

milk-mustache advertisement would seem to epitomize the use of attractiveness

and capture all dimensions of that concept. That is Sabatini, in addition to her

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physical beauty, is attractive to tennis fans who are similar to her (in the sense

that they also play or enjoy tennis), are familiar with her (via watching her play on

TV and reading about her) and like her (due to her generally pleasant demeanor

and fiery competitive spirit).

Gabriela Sabatini, in the milk-mustache advertisement

When receivers find something in an endorser that they consider attractive

persuasion occurs via an identification process. That is when receivers perceive

a source to be attractive; they identify with the endorser and are very likely to

adopt the attitudes, behaviors, interests, or preferences of the source. In other

words, an attractive endorser does not necessarily benefit a product if there is a

poor matchup between the endorser and the product.

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1.7.2 SOURCE CREDIBILITY MODEL

Source credibility is used to imply a communicator's positive characteristics to

affect the receiver's acceptance of a message. The source credibility model of

Hovland et al. (1953) analyses the factors leading to the perceived credibility of

the communicator. In its most basic sense, credibility refers to the tendency to

believe or trust someone. When an information source such as an endorser, is

perceived as credible the source can change attitudes through a psychological

process called internalization. Internalization occurs when the receiver accepts

the endorser’s position on an issue as his or her own. An internalized attitude

tends to be maintained even if the source of the message is forgotten or if the

source switches to a different position.

Two important properties of endorser credibility are expertise and

trustworthiness. Expertise refers to the knowledge, experience or skills

possessed by an endorser as they relate to the communications topic. Hence,

athletes are considered to be experts when it comes to the endorsement of sport-

related products. Expertise is a perceived rather than an absolute phenomenon.

Whether an endorser is indeed an expert is unimportant. All that matters is how

the target audience perceives him or her. An endorser perceived by an audience

as an expert on a given subject is more persuasive in changing audience

opinions pertaining to his or her area of expertise than an endorser who is not

perceived as possessing the same characteristic. This no doubt explains the

extensive use of athletes to endorse sports-related product.

Trustworthiness refers to the honesty, integrity and

believability of a source. While expiates and trustworthiness

are not mutually exclusive, often a particular endorser is

perceived as highly trustworthy but not particularly expert. An

endorser's trustworthiness depends primarily on the

audience's perception of his or her endorsement motivations.

If the audience believes that an endorser is motivated purely by self-interest, he

or she will be less persuasive than someone the audience perceives as having

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nothing to gain by endorsing the product or as being completely objective.

Advertisers capitalize on the value of trustworthiness by selecting endorsers who

are widely regarded as being honest, believable and dependable people. Titan

uses Aamir Khan in his different avatars for communicating to the public that their

watches are as reliable and passionate as Aamir is for films. Aamir carries the

message well and enhance the credibility of the brand.

1.7.3 MEANING TRANSFER MODEL (MTM)

Meaning transfer model provides insight to explaining the complicated process of

celebrity endorsements in advertising. McCracken (1989) explains the

effectiveness of celebrity spokespersons by assessing the meanings consumers

associate with the endorser and how that eventually transfers to the brand. The

central premise of the meaning transfer model is that a celebrity encodes a

unique set of meanings that can, if the celebrity is well used, be transferred to the

endorsed product. The model is divided into three stages: culture, endorsement

and consumption.

Figure -1.4Meaning Transfer Model

According to McCracken (1989) celebrities are different from the anonymous

models (or anonymous actors) that are normally used to bring the advertisement.

Anonymous models offer demographic information, such as distinctions of

gender, age, and status, but these useful meanings are relatively imprecise and

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blunt. Celebrities offer all these meanings with special precision. Furthermore,

celebrities offer a range of personality and lifestyle meanings that the anonymous

model cannot provide. Finally, celebrities offer configurations of meaning that

anonymous models can never possess. Each celebrity has particular

configurations of meanings that cannot be found elsewhere.

In addition, celebrities are more powerful endorsers than anonymous models and

actors. Even when they deliver meanings which can be found elsewhere, they

deliver them more powerfully. Celebrities evoke the meanings in their persona

with greater vividness and clarity. Models and actors are, after all, merely

“borrowing” or acting out the meanings they bring to the advertisement. The

celebrity, however, speaks with meanings of long acquaintance. Celebrities “own”

their meanings because they have created them on the public stage by dint of

intense and repeated performance.

Celebrities draw these powerful meanings from the roles they assume in their

television, movie, military, athletic, and other careers. Indeed, these careers act

very much like large advertisements. Each new dramatic role brings the celebrity

into contact with a range of objects, persons, and contexts. Out of these objects,

persons, and contexts are transferred meanings that then reside in society. When

the celebrity brings these meanings into an advertisement, they are, in a sense,

merely passing along meanings with which they have been charged by another

meaning process. Or, to put it this way, the meaning that the celebrity

endorsement gives to the product was generated in distant movie performances,

political campaigns, or athletic achievement. It is these characteristics of a

celebrity, which are passed on to the product and hence to the audience who

start associating the product through the characteristics passed on by the

celebrity.

According to McCracken (1989) this, in broad detail, suggests, how celebrity

endorsement operates as a process of meaning transfer. It is a review of each of

the three stages in this process, considering in turn how meaning moves into the

persona of the celebrity, how it even moves from the celebrity to the product and,

finally, how it moves from the product to the consumer. Celebrities are by this

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account, key players in the meanings transfer process. For

example Kurkure used actress Juhi Chawala with the punch

line 'Masti Bole To Kurkure' since the actress on screen and off-

screen personifies masti and helped the brand in

communicating the same easily.

1.7.4 MATCH-UP HYPOTHESIS

The match-up hypothesis suggests that the effectiveness depends on the

existence of a 'fit' between the endorsing celebrity and the endorsed brand (Till

and Busler 1998). In other words, the degree of consumers' perceived 'fit'

between an advertised brand and a celebrity endorser's image plays a significant

role in product and ad-based evaluations. There should be congruence between

the celebrity and the product in terms of characteristics such as image, expertise

or attractiveness. The celebrity-product match model states that attractive

endorsers are more effective when promoting products used to enhance one's

attractiveness and that their impact will be not significant in the case of a product

that is unrelated to “attractiveness”. The match up or congruence between the

two is important because it allows for meaningful processing and makes it more

possible for the brand name to be effectively linked and associated with the

celebrity.

It should be less difficult to associate the meanings of a celebrity with a product

lacking an existing meaning than to change the existing meaning of a brand by

adding new association.

In India, a brand called Reid & Taylor presented its perfect example when they

first launched their advertising campaign featuring James Bond fame of the time

Mr. Pierce Brosnan along with the tagline 'BOND WITH THE BEST' but the

James Bond idea did not work and the company was not happy with the results.

After the debacle of the first campaign, company introduced a family ad where

children are celebrating their parent’s silver wedding anniversary and they are out

with their father to purchase a suit for him. Even this commercial did not work and

it was taken off the air. As a last resort, company introduced Mr. Amitabh

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Bachchan as Reid & Taylor man, a man propagating the

brand for special occasion and for very special people in life.

The commercial from the initial days got good response and

did extremely well as people were able to connect with Mr.

Bachchan and the values he was propagating. For the masses, there was a

perfect match of an ideal Indian family man, a star and a good quality but bit

highly priced brand reserved especially for special occasions and for very special

people.

Second example that can be quoted is of Vishwanathan Anand, who endorsed

NIIT. NIIT adopted a very smart strategy by roping in Vishwanathan Anand an

international chess wizard for their advertising campaign. As chess is considered

to be a game full of strategies and a game for smart people and when one of the

greats of the game is asking people to join NIIT it was suppose to have a positive

influence on the people and actually it had. There was complete congruency and

compatibility between the celebrity endorser, the product and the message.

1.7.5 ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL (ELM)

Involvement plays a crucial role in determining which part of the advertisement

has the biggest impact on consumer preference of the brand. One model of

advertising that focuses on the role of such involvement is the elaboration

likelihood model or ELM.

According to ELM, developed by psychologists Richard E. petty and John T.

Cacioppo, a basic dimension of information processing and attitude change is the

depth or amount of information processing. At one extreme, the consumer can

consciously and diligently consider the information provided in the advertisement

in forming attitudes towards the advertised brand. Here attitudes are changed or

formed by careful consideration, thinking, and integration of information relevant

to the product or object of the advertising. The consumer is therefore slightly

involved in processing the advertisement. This type of persuasion process is

therefore termed the central route to attitude change.

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In contrast to such central processing, there also exists what Petty and Cacioppo

termed the peripheral route to attitude change. In the peripheral route the

attitudes are formed and changed without active thinking about the brand’s

attributes and its pros and cons. Rather, the persuasive impact occurs by

associating the brand with positive or negative aspects or executional cues in the

advertisement that really are (or should be) central to the worth of the brand. For

example, rather than expressly considering the strength of the arguments

presented in the arguments presented in the advertisement, an audience

member may use cognitive “shortcuts” and accept the conclusion that the brand

is superior because

• There were numerous arguments offered, even if they were not strong and

logical.

• The endorser seemed to be an expert, or was attractive and likable.

• The consumer liked the way the advertising was made, the music in it, and so

on.

Conversely, a conclusion may be rejected not because of the logic of the

argument but because of some surrounding cues.

• The position advocated may have been too extreme.

• The endorser may have been suspect.

• The magazine in which the advertisement appears was not respected.

Attitudes resulting from central processing should be relatively strong and

enduring, resistant to change, and predict behavior better than the attitudes

framed by the peripheral route.. However, attitudes formed peripherally can still

end up determining choice, especially if the central information available to the

consumer doesn’t really help in selection (e.g. when the alternative brands are

highly similar, or when no brand is clearly dominant).

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Figure 1.5 ELM Model of Attitude Change

Petty and Cacioppo have proposed the framework in the figure, which predicts

when the audience member will cognitively elaborate and follow the central route.

Two factors identified in the ELM as significant are an audience member’s

motivation to process information and ability to process information. Consumers

are most likely to process centrally when both motivation and ability are high;

when either is low then peripheral processing is most likely.

1.7.6 ELM AND HIGH INVOLVEMENT AND LOW INVOLVEMENT

The categorization of products into low and high involvement is based on the risk

perceptions consumers have when purchasing products (which is significantly

higher for high involvement products). Risk perceptions can be classified into four

categories (Friedman and Friedman, 1979): (1) Psychological risk, the fit between

product image and self image. (2) Financial risk is associated with the price of the

brands/products. (3) Social risk is the fear of not belonging or not taking part to/in

a reference group as a result of purchasing the 'wrong' product/brand. (4)

Operational risk is the risk of buying a product that does not operate the way it

should do. Under conditions of high involvement, where elaboration is likely, the

attitude change travels through a 'central route' in which a person exercises

'diligent' consideration of information that (s)he feels is central to the true merits

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of a particular attitudinal position. For low involvement, low elaboration likelihood,

the attitude change travels through a 'peripheral route' in which various simple

cues associated with the issue, object, or context exert optimal influence. This

means that under conditions of high involvement, arguments but not celebrities

should influence attitudes, whereas under conditions of low involvement,

celebrities but not arguments should influence attitudes.

1.8 MULTIPLE PRODUCT AND MULTIPLE CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

Endorsement can be classified according to the number of products endorsed

(single product vs. multiple products) or number of celebrities doing the

endorsement (single celebrity vs. multiple celebrities). Single

product endorsement refers to an endorsement by a celebrity for

one product or one brand. Single product endorsements constitute

distinctive actions since the spokesperson endorses one brand and

not other brands or products. Since over time celebrities are likely to

endorse more than one product, single celebrity endorsement is rare. However,

this practice is found in two tobacco brand campaigns, Marlboro and Joe Camel.

The Marlboro Man has been a spokesman for Marlboro since 1954. The Marlboro

advertising campaign was created by Leo Burnet Worldwide and is considered

one of the most brilliant ad campaigns of all time. The image of the Marlboro Man

usually involves one or more rugged cowboys, featuring actors and professional

athletes. The Marlboro Man was listed as number one in the book, The Most

Influential People Who Never Lived.

Multiple product endorsement refers to when a celebrity endorses

more than one brand. According to Tripp et al. (1994), some

celebrities are "shared" by different advertising firms, i.e., they

promote more than one brand. When one becomes a

celebrity, he or she will likely be tempted to endorse more than one

brand for financial gain. Tiger Woods, for instance, endorses not only

Nike but many other brands, such as American Express, Tag-Heuer,

Buick, Accenture, etc.

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Multiple celebrity endorsement refers to the use of two or more celebrities in an

advertising campaign (Hsu and McDonald 2002). There are two sub-types of

multiple celebrity endorsement based on how a celebrity or celebrities are

featured in ads: Type I multiple celebrity endorsement refers to an endorsement

in which two or more celebrities come together and endorse a product or brand in

the same ad; Type II multiple celebrity endorsement refers to an endorsement in

which different celebrities endorse the same product or brand in a series of ad

campaigns overtime. It is a common advertising practice for a brand or product to

be associated with various celebrities over a long period of time. American

Express is a good example. To promote its credit card and enhance its brand

image American Express has been using different celebrities for different

advertising campaigns. The milk mustache campaign is another prime example.

More than 100 celebrities have been recruited to promote milk consumption since

1995 (Hsu and McDonald 2002).Multiple celebrity endorsement advertising may

help the advertiser build a sense of consensus, avoid audience boredom and

appeal to multiple audiences".

1.9 CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT AND THE COMMUNICATION

PROCESS

By the 1940s, researchers realized there was more to mass communication than

simple cause and effect. While mass communication has some influence, the

strongest influence comes from interpersonal communication, especially with

people whom researchers called opinion leaders .An opinion leader is a peer to

whom others turn for information and who influences the opinions of others. Peers

are people who are their equal, who are just like them. Opinion leaders gather

information from the media and other sources, synthesize it, think about it, form

their opinions about it, and pass it on to others.

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Figure-1.6 Katz and Lazarsfeld Model of Communication

The idea of opinion leader became a very important one, especially for

professional communicators who were trying to influence the opinions and actions

of large numbers of people. When a celebrity endorses a product through a mass

medium, the form of communication is considered to be interpersonal as he or she

seems to be influencing you directly to purchase a product by giving his or her

opinion about it after using the product and synthesising all facts related to it.

Since people relate to such celebrities and are deeply impacted by their

endorsements, they can easily be categorised as opinion leaders. These opinion

leaders tend to impart information coloured by their own perceptions and hence

the possibility of facts getting distorted is high. Same is the case with celebrity

endorsements, where people might get lured into buying a product without

knowing its true characteristics.

1.9.1 THE EIGHT ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

The diagram below represents the actual process of communication. In this

diagram all forms of communication like mass communication, interpersonal

communication etc. are included.

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Figure-1.7 the communication process based on understanding the consumer and the

use of celebrity endorsement

1. Source

Source is basically from where the information (of a communication process)

originates. By “originating” we mean the actual number of people involved in

delivering the information. It may range from 1-2 individuals to a large organization

depending on the type of communication process involved.

2. Encoding

The message or information received has to be passed on to the higher authority

or the receiver. This process of passing on the information is known as encoding.

Celebrity endorsers are usually encoders, since they are not the originators of the

message but are the ones imparting it. They thus tend to affect the way the

message is decoded or interpreted by the receivers or consumers, as in this case.

3. Message

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The message is the actual idea which the sender wants to transmit to the receiver.

The message could be written, verbal, non verbal or symbolic that is, the message

could be in semiotics. The message should be such that is easily and

appropriately transmittable through the channel of communication being used.

4. Channel

A channel is a medium through which the sender sends the message to the

receiver. The channel could be a visual medium, an audio visual medium or

simply an audio medium. The message to be transmitted should be easily and

appropriately transmittable through the channel of communication.

5. Decoding

The message sent by the sender has to be decoded into a form understandable

by the receiver. The interpretation of a message depends upon the social

environment and the social conditioning of the receiver. Celebrity endorsements

influence the interpretations of messages to a large extent as people add great

value to messages transmitted through them, as in a country like India where

awareness levels are low people tend to treat celebrities like heroes and thus

consider them highly credible.

6. Receiver

The receiver is the person/ persons to which the message is directed at. In mass

communications, the receivers are large in number and hence tend to be self

directed. In a country like India which harbors people from diverse cultures and

backgrounds, people tend to interpret information transmitted through mass

mediums according to their cultural environments.

7. Feedback

Feedback is an important part of communication, as without the feedback the

sender would not be able to make out if the receiver has been able to interpret the

message in the way it was intended and hence he would not be able to make out

the shortcomings and hindrances in any element of the communication process.

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8. Noise

The noise in the communication process signifies hindrance in any element of the

communication process. Noises can be of three kinds; semantic, environmental

and mechanical.

Semantic noise: A same word said in a communication process may mean

different to different people according to their social and cultural differences.

Environmental: When the actual communication process is on and there is some

noise coming from the environment/surroundings which is not required, but from it

the actual communication process is hindered is called environmental noise. E.g.

dogs barking in the back ground.

Mechanical :When a machine through which the message is transmitted fails to

function properly such that the message being transmitted is hampered or

delayed, thus hindering effective communication, it is said to be mechanical

noise.

1.10 SOURCE DIMENSIONS OF COPY INFORMATION

Shown in the figure below are various source components of advertising copy. At

the center is the object of the advertising, such as the brand, product, service,

idea, political candidate, and corporation and so on. The model shows the

credibility of this object to depend on the sponsor, the endorser, the media

vehicle,etc.

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Figure 1.8 Model of the source dimensions of copy information

A key source component in this model is the endorser. The endorser in an

advertisement is the person, celebrity, spokesman, announcer, and so on who

endorsers or who demonstrates the product. Not all components have a celebrity

endorser as a copy component, but many of them do. Most of the work on source

credibility in advertising has focused on this component. Another aspect is the

credibility of the media element itself. The same advertisement appearing on a

ladies journal can have a different impact than in playboy.

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2.1 INTRODUCTION

Strategic Positioning and effective communication are the two most important

“mantras” guiding brand success in today’s competitive marketing environment.

Corporate are ensuring all possible efforts to promote their brands and to grab

the customer’s mind share. The impetus is on attracting the customer’s attention

and developing positive associations not just to influence recall but also to induce

trial and eventually effect purchase decisions.

In a market where advertising plays a vital role in coordinating consumer

purchases, it becomes pertinent for companies to induct all possible measures to

influence motivate and inculcate desire to purchase, in the customer through an

effective advertising campaign. This battle for a piece of the consumers “mind

space” has lead companies to want to associate their brands with desirable and

trustworthy celebrities in order to attract consumer’s attention and interest. The

use of celebrities as means of communication has been commonly utilized in

advertising and branding. This is done because it is assumed that celebrities

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have a powerful effect on the affluence of the brands they endorse. According to

McCracken's (1989) definition, a celebrity endorser is an individual who enjoys

public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by

appearing with it in an advertisement (marketing communication). Celebrity

endorsement on TV saw a whopping growth of six times during 2007 over 2003.

In 2008, 60% of all advertising rupees were spent on ads carrying celebrities

The field of consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups or

organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use and dispose of

product, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and impacts that these

processes have on the consumer and society. And understanding the consumer

behavior is the prime and toughest task in front of every marketer. There are a lot

of factors, which influence consumer buyer behavior. This study is aimed at to

understand the “influence of celebrity endorsee on consumer buying behavior

and the overall brand.”

2.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Firms spend millions of dollars to sign up celebrities to endorse their products.

On one hand celebrity endorsement may been seen as a means to create

awareness, attract the customer’s attention and develop positive associations not

just to influence recall but also to induce trial and eventually effect purchase

decisions. On the other hand concerns over celebrities' negative information,

multiple product endorsement and celebrity overshadowing the brand persist.

The impact of using celebrity in advertisements is an issue highly debated, many

believing that celebrity endorsement does not help the brand, and others

suggesting that it can turn around an ailing brand too. Does the consumer really

believe that Amitabh Bachchan wears Reid & Taylor or that Aishwarya Rai trusts

L'Oreal to iron out her wrinkles, or is the mere association sufficient to influence a

buying decision? This study aims to find answers to these and many such

questions.

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2.3 NEED FOR THE STUDY

Not long ago celebrity endorsement was definitely a way to differentiate a brand

and attract the attention of the consumers.However today every alternate brand

is endorsed by a celebrity and celebrity endorsement has become common

place. In this era of multiple celebrity and multiple product endorsements,

celebrity endorsements would definitely affect consumers in a significantly

different way that it would have a decade ago. In today’s scenario how does a

consumer perceive celebrity endorsements and to what extent does celebrity

endorsement influence his buying decision. Also why is it that the celebrities who

create magic with certain brands fall flat on their face trying hard to get another

going. Thus arises a need for a study that can provide answers to these

questions.

2.4 LITERATURE REVIEW

Agarwal & Kamakura studied all endorsement contracts over the period 1980-

1992. In their sample 60% of the endorsement deals involve soft drink companies

and athletic shoes manufacturers. They also provide an event study that

examines abnormal stock returns on the day that a company announces the

signing of a celebrity for product and endorsement purpose.

Experiments suggest that in certain situations, celebrity endorsement can

enhance recall and consumer assessment of the products. (Clark & Horstman,

2003) Mishra and Beauty (1990) Petty et al (1983) and Menon et al (2001)

indicate that celebrity endorsements enhance brain recall. Petty et al find that

subject tended to like the product more when it was endorsed by the famous

athlete than by an average citizen. Mishra and Beauty found that subject tended

to rate the product as better and of higher quality if it was endorsed by a

congruent celebrity. Horstman and Clark 2003 provide a model that explains the

success of fictional Celebrity endorsement. They find that if there are two

celebrities that achieve the same audience variable cost, the firm prefers the

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celebrity with lower fixed cost .In this sense, cultural icon like Ronald Mcdonald,

Amul Girl, Pillsbury dough boy, fidodido are the ideal celebrities as they are

memorable and so have a low cost of audience reach and are fictional so do not

have large endorsement fees. Tom et al. (1992) found that created endorsers

were more effective in creating a link to the product than celebrity endorsers.

Prachi Raturi (2005) finds that when it comes to selling, there is nothing like a

celebrity sales person. Signing a celebrity helps the brand leap out of clutter and

if the chemistry between the celebrity and the brand is right, the buzz could well

turn into a roar. Mehta (1994) has found that there were no significant differences

for the concepts ‘attitudes towards the advertisement’, ‘attitude towards the

brand’ and ‘intentions to purchase endorsed brands’ between celebrity and non-

celebrity endorsement advertisements. When confronted with non celebrity

endorsers, consumers were significantly more focused on the brand and its

features, whereas with celebrity endorsers the subjects were significantly more

concentrated on the celebrity in the advertisement. However, Atkin and Block

(1983) and Petty et al. (1983) have found the opposite results of Mehta (1994).

Cyber media research study published in business world unearthed different

truths about celebrity endorsement. The study spread over 3 phases in different

cities of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Nasik, Coimbatore, and Meerut)

12 focus group interviews, 6 expert instruments and 8 expert interviews with ad

agencies were conducted. Besides this survey of 480 respondent in 4 cities and

3375 respondent in 8 cities helped to develop different insights on celebrity

endorsements that are given as under:

(i) Over 80% of the people remembered the celebrity but forget about the brand.

(ii) Different stars appealed to different geographic groups of customers e.g.,

Aishwarya Rai had highest recall in down south as against ShahRukh Khan who

had little appeal there.

(iii) Research emphasized that ads without celebrity had a good a chance of

working as one with them. For instance, Hutch ad did better jobs of building a

brand then coke which had many big celebrity names associated with it.

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2.5 OBJECTIVES

To identify the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behavior.

To identify if celebrity endorsement advertising is more attention getting and

memorable than other kind of advertising.

To identify how is celebrity endorsed advertisement perceived.

To identify who make the best celebrity endorser.

To identify the sector for which celebrity endorsement is perceived to be most

suited.

To examine the relationship between endorsements and brand there by

unearthing risks and returns related to this strategy.

To investigate the perceptions about multiple product and multiple celebrity

endorsements and impact of multiple product and multiple celebrity

endorsement on recall and remembrance of advertisements.

2.6 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Endorser:

An endorser is a person, character or organization that speaks or appears in an

ad in support of the advertiser or its claim

Experts

Experts are individuals or organization that the target population perceives as

having substantial knowledge in a particular area

Celebrities:

Celebrities are individuals or characters who are known to a large portion of the

general population, primarily because of the publicity associated with their lives.

Lay endorsers:

Lay endorsers are unknown individuals or characters that appear in ads

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Celebrity endorser

Celebrity endorser is an individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses

this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an

advertisement

Brand Ambassador

Brand ambassador would be one who is not only a spokesperson for the brand

but also an integral part of the brand persona and helps to build an emotion,

which goes beyond just appearing on TV commercials.

Brand Face

Brand face is the current celebrity who is just used as a tool to increase brand

recall and only appears in the advertisement.

Single product endorsement

Single product endorsement refers to an endorsement by a celebrity for one

product or one brand.

Multiple product endorsement

Multiple product endorsement refers to when a celebrity endorses more than one

brand

Multiple celebrity endorsement

Multiple celebrity endorsement refers to the use of two or more celebrities in an

advertising campaign

Low involvement product:

Low involvement products are products purchased without much forethought.

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High involvement product:

High involvement products have more involvement of the consumers. To explain

it further, these products are costlier and it is risky to buy them without much

thought. For example, a luxury car is a high involvement purchase. So is getting

surgery done or buying a beauty product.

2.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will be conducted on consumers in Bangalore only. This study will help

to find out the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying behaviour.

For this study only advertisements on television would be considered.

2.8 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A) Type of research

This is a Descriptive Study because it aims at identifying the various

characteristics of a community, but does not deal with the testing of hypothesis.

B) Type of data

Primary data-Primary Sources are original sources from which the researcher

directly collects data that have not been previously collected. Data will be

collected through questionnaires.

Secondary data- Data collected in the past for some other purpose other than the

problem at hand. This was done by referring to various studies, articles, books

and websites.

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C) Tools of primary research

Primary data mainly includes the responses of the consumers addressed. For

collecting the primary data, a detailed sample survey was done because a survey

focuses on opinions or factual information depending on its purpose and survey

involves administering questions to individuals.

D) Type of survey

In this study, sample survey methodology was used to obtain information about a

large aggregate population by selecting and measuring a sample from that

population. Sample survey was done as the census method was not feasible

owing to the huge population of Bangalore city.

E) Method of sampling

The sampling method used to conduct the study was convenience and

judgement based sampling for the ease of access.

F) Sample size

The Sample Size undertaken for the purpose of this research will be 100

consumers in Bangalore.

G) Tool for data collection

The tool used for data collection was structured questionnaire. The questionnaire

comprised of 21 questions

H) Tools of analysis

For all the data required, an in-depth analysis was done. The data collected was

filtered down to the core. Tabulation succeeds this stage, where the data was

mentioned in a tabular form. Graphs like bar diagrams were made. Inference was

drawn out of these tables and was mentioned in addition to the explanation of the

table and graphs. For determining the degree of agreeableness, ranking was

36

done. For this purpose Likert scale was used. The scale for measuring priority is

given as below:

strongly agree

Agree

neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

strongly agree

Weighted Averages mean method was used to analyze the degree of

agreeableness and the rating given to the variable. For example, the calculation

of weighted average mean for table number 4.26 is shown below.

Table 2.1Showing the opinion of the respondents about their preference for

celebrity endorsed products

Working note: calculation of the weight score and weighted average mean

a) Calculation of weight score

Weighted score = 30*5 + 39*4 + 5*3 + 14*2 + 12*1 = 361

b) Calculation of weighted average mean

c) Weighted average mean = 361/100 = 3.61

This means that, on an average, the respondents agree that they prefer celebrity

endorsed products to products not endorsed by celebrities.

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Response Frequency Percent

Strongly disagree 12 12.0

Disagree 14 14.0

Neither agree nor

disagree

5 5.0

Agree 39 39.0

Strongly agree 30 30.0

Total 100 100.0

Weight average mean 3.61

2.9 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The research is based on written questionnaires obtained from a sample of

consumers in Bangalore. This limitation would obviously imply that the study

can only provide some pointers to the research questions at hand relevant to

consumers in Bangalore.

Non probability convenience and judgement sampling will be used.

Some of the responses may be biased. The recently viewed advertisements

may influence the opinion of the respondents and therefore some responses

may be biased.

The statistical tools employed are valid under some assumptions and not

fulfilling even one assumption can lead to varied results.

2.9 CHAPTER SCHEME

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter includes definition of various type of endorsers, meaning of a

celebrity, concept of celebrity endorsement, story of celebrity endorsement,

difference between a brand endorser and a brand face, understanding consumer

behaviour and consumer decision making process ,impact of a brand on

consumer decision making process and various models and theories related to

celebrity endorsement.

Chapter 2: Research Design

This chapter would include introduction, review of literature, statement of

problem, objectives of the study, scope of the study, research methodology,

limitations of the study and the chapter scheme.

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Chapter 3: Industry Profile

This chapter includes introduction to advertising, nature of the industry, profiles of

the various advertising mediums, highlights of Indian advertising industry in 2008,

advertising outlook in future, top global and Indian advertising companies and

snapshot of celebrity endorsement on television in 2007.

Chapter 4: Influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying

behaviour- An Analysis

This chapter would include processing and analysis of data collected. Processing

of data would involve editing, classifying according to attributes and class

intervals and tabulating. Analysis part deals with finding out the attitude of

consumers towards various facets of celebrity endorsement.

Chapter 5: Summary of Findings, Conclusions and Suggestions

This is the summary of the study. This chapter shows the consumers perception

about celebrity endorsement and its influence on consumer behaviour.

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3.1 ADVERTISING

Advertising, generally speaking, is the promotion of goods, services,

companies and ideas, usually performed by an identified sponsor. Marketers see

advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the

promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling, and sales

promotion.

Advertising involves the process where in a massage is designed so as to

promote a product, a thought, an idea or even a service. The concept of

advertising has assumed a dynamic form with the use of the various mediums of

communication. From the newspaper, magazines, posters, neon and fluorescent

signboards, billboards to the commercial on TV, laser shows to inflated high-rise

figures and objects, advertising has come a long way. The work is formidable as

it spearheads a process intended to attract, modify, change and influences public

opinion.

From the local business to multinational firm and all need to advertise.

While politicians, social organizations, government special groups need to

advertise their motto, national airlines, auto mobile manufactures, food and

consumer goods manufacturers have to reach the consumer. Specialist products

and services are often advertised through trade magazines and exhibitions.

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Lately mail-shots, handbill circulation, special offers have become very popular.

There are still other ways of advertising. There are window displays, display on

telephone directories, transit sign on buses, lamp posters, banners, etc.

Advertising through the electronic media has been perhaps the most popular

medium.

Advertising, as an effective medium, uses a variety of techniques to create

effective advertisements. A basic appeal is at the heart of advertising. Slogans

and product characters are created to catch the attention of the viewers. Most

winning advertisements would encompass factual information with emotional

appeal. The advertising industry has three major sectors.

Business or organization which wishes to advertise,

Media which provides the medium for advertising and

Ad-agency which creates the ad to suit the need of the firm.

3.2 EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISING IN INDIA

18th Century

Ads appear for the first time in print in Hickey's Bengal Gazette-India's

first newspaper (weekly).

Studios mark the beginning of advertising created in India

Major advertisers: Retailers like Spencer's, Army & Navy and Whiteaway &

Laidlaw

Ads appear in newspapers in the form of lists of the latest merchandise

from England

Horlicks becomes the first 'malted milk' to be patented on 5th June 1883

(No. 278967).

The 1900s

1905: B Dattaram & Co claims to be the oldest existing Indian agency in Girgaum

in Bombay.

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1920: Enter the first foreign owned ad agencies, Gujarat Advertising and Indian

Advertising set up, Expatriate agencies emerge: Alliance Advertising, Tata

Publicity LA Stronach's merges into today's Norvicson Advertising, D J

Keymer gives rise to Ogilvy & Mather and Clarion

1925: Beginning of multinational agencies, J Walter Thompson (JWT) opened to

service General Motors business

1929: J Walter Thompson Co Pr. Ltd formed

1931:National Advertising Service Pr. Ltd. Bombay set up, Universal Publicity Co,

Calcutta Formed

1934: Venkatrao Sista opens Sista Advertising and Publicity Services as first full

service Indian agency

1935: Indian Broadcasting Company becomes All India Radio (AIR)

1939: Lever's advertising department launches Dalda - the first major example of

a brand and a marketing campaign specifically developed for India

1947:Grant Advertising Inc, Bombay formed, Swami Advertising Bureau,Sholapur

started

1951: Vicks VapoRub: a rub for colds, causes ripples with its entry in the balm

market

1954: Advertising Club, Mumbai set up, Express Advertising Agency, Bombay

1957: Vividh Bharati kicks off

1962: India's television's first soap opera - Teesra Rasta enthralls viewers

1963:BOMAS changes names to SH Benson's, Levers toying with giving its

brands to other Agencies, Wills Filter Tipped cigarettes launched and

positioned as made for each other, filter and tobacco match.

1966: Government persuaded to open up the broadcast media

1967: First commercial appears on Vividh Bharati

1970: Concept of commercial programming accepted by All India Radio, Hasan

Rezavi gives the very first spot on Radio Ceylon

1971: Benson's undergo change in name to Ogilvy, Benson & Mather

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1976: Commercial Television initiated

1978: First television commercial seen

1979: Ogilvy, Benson & Mather's name changes to Ogilvy & Mather

Glued to the television in the eighties

1980: Mudra Communications Ltd set up, King-sized Virginia filter cigarette

enters market with brand name of 'Charms'

1981: Network, associate of UTV, pioneers cable television in India

1982: The biggest milestone in television when television turned to colour

transmission Bombay Dyeing becomes the first colour TV ad

1983: Maggi Noodles launched to become an overnight success, Manohar

Shyam Joshi's Hum Log makes commercial television come alive, Mudra

sponsors first commercial telecast of a major sporting event with the India-

West Indies series

1984: Hum Log, Doordarshan's first soap opera in the colour era is born, Viewers

still remember the sponsor (Vicco) of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi!

1985: Mudra makes India's first telefilm, Janam

1986: Mudra Communications creates India's first folk-history TV serial Buniyaad.

Shown on DD, it becomes the first of the mega soaps, Price quality

positioning of Nirma detergent cakes boost sales

1990: Marks the beginning of new medium Internet

1991: First India-targeted satellite channel, Zee TV starts broadcast

1993: India's only advertising school, MICA is born

1996: The ad fraternity hits big time for the first time by bagging three awards at

the 43rd International Advertising Festival, Cannes

1997: Army resorts to the services of private sector agencies, Reinventing of

cinema –Advertising through cinema begins

2000: Mudra launches magindia.com - India's first advertising and marketing

gallery, Game shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati become a rage

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2001: Bharti's Rs 2.75-crore corporate TV commercial, where a baby girl is born

in a football stadium, becomes the most expensive campaign of the year

2005: Hindustan Lever spends $99million on advertising, followed by Maruti

Udyog and PepsiCo $27million

2007: Today the growth rate - is over 22 percent with the total size of the

advertisement Industry touching approximately Rs.16 billion

3.3 NATURE OF THE INDUSTRY

Firms in the advertising and public relations services industry prepare

advertisements for other companies and organizations and design campaigns to

promote the interests and image of their clients. This industry also includes media

representatives—firms that sell advertising space for publications, radio,

television, and the Internet; display advertisers—businesses engaged in creating

and designing public display ads for use in shopping malls, on billboards, or in

similar media; and direct mail advertisers. A firm that purchases advertising time

(or space) from media outlets, thereafter reselling it to advertising agencies or

individual companies directly, is considered a media buying agency. Divisions of

companies that produce and place their own advertising are not considered part

of this industry.

Most advertising firms specialize in a particular market niche. Some

companies produce and solicit outdoor advertising, such as billboards and

electric displays. Others place ads in buses, subways, taxis, airports, and bus

terminals. A small number of firms produce aerial advertising, while others

distribute circulars, handbills, and free samples.

Groups within agencies have been created to serve their clients’ electronic

advertising needs on the Internet. Online advertisements link users to a

company’s or product’s Web site, where information such as new product

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announcements, contests, and product catalogs appears, and from which

purchases may be made.

Some firms are not involved in the creation of ads at all; instead, they sell

advertising time or space on radio and television stations or in publications.

Because these firms do not produce advertising, their staffs are mostly sales

workers.

Companies often look to advertising as a way of boosting sales by

increasing the public’s exposure to a product or service. Most companies do not

have the staff with the necessary skills or experience to create effective

advertisements; furthermore, many advertising campaigns are temporary, so

employers would have difficulty maintaining their own advertising staff. Instead,

companies commonly solicit bids from ad agencies to develop advertising for

them. Next, ad agencies offering their services to the company often make

presentations. After winning an account, various departments within an agency—

such as creative, production, media, and research—work together to meet the

client’s goal of increasing sales.

Widespread public relations services firms can influence how businesses,

governments, and institutions make decisions. Often working behind the scenes,

these firms have a variety of functions. In general, firms in public relations

services advise and implement public exposure strategies. Firms in public

relations services offer one or more resources that clients cannot provide

themselves. Usually this resource is expertise in the form of knowledge,

experience, special skills, or creativity; but sometimes the resource is time or

personnel that the client cannot spare. Clients of public relations firms include all

types of businesses, institutions, trades, and public interest groups, and even

high-profile individuals. Clients are large and small for-profit firms in the private

sector; State, local, or Federal Governments; hospitals, universities, unions, and

trade groups; and foreign governments or businesses.

In an effort to attract and maintain clients, advertising and public relations

services agencies are diversifying their services, offering advertising as well as

public relations, sales, marketing, and interactive media services. Advertising and

public relations service firms have found that highly creative work is particularly

45

suitable for their services, resulting in a better product and increasing their clients'

profitability.

3.4 MEDIA

Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards ,

street furniture components, printed flyers, radio, cinema and television ads, web

banners, web popups, skywriting, bus stop benches, magazines, newspapers,

town criers, sides of buses, taxicab doors and roof mounts, musical stage shows,

subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, stickers on

apples in supermarkets, the opening section of streaming audio and video, and

the backs of event tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an "identified"

sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising.

Covert advertising embedded in other entertainment media is known as

product placement. A more recent version of this is advertising in film, by having

a main character use an item or other of a definite brand - an example is in the

movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character Tom Anderton owns a

computer with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch

engraved with the Bulgari logo.

The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-

market advertising format and this is reflected by the high prices TV networks

charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events.

Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television

programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise

blank backdrops or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the

remote broadcast audience. More controversially, virtual billboards may be

inserted into the background where none existing in real-life. Virtual product

placement is also possible. Increasingly, other mediums such as those discussed

below are overtaking television due to a shift towards consumer's usage of the

Internet.

Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Prices of

Web-based advertising space are dependent on the "relevance" of the

46

surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives. E-mail

advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is

known as "spam".

3.4.1 PROFILE OF MAJOR ADVERTISING MEDIUMS

MEDIUM ADVANTAGES LIMITATIONS

Newspapers Flexibility; timeliness; good local

market coverage; broad acceptance;

high believability.

Short life; poor reproduction

quality; small pass along

audience.

Television Combines sight, sound and motion;

appealing to the senses; high

attention; high reach.

High absolute cost, high clutter,

fleeting exposure, less audience

selectivity

Direct mail Audience selectivity, flexibility, no ad

competition within the same medium,

personalization.

Relatively high cost, junk mail

image.

Radio Mass use, high geographical and

demographic selectivity; low cost.

Audio presentation only; lower

attention than television; non

standardized rate structure;

fleeting exposure.

Magazines High geographical and demographic

selectivity; credibility and prestige;

Long ad purchase lead time;

some waste circulation; no

47

high quality reproduction, long life;

good pass-along readership.

guarantee of position.

Outdoor Flexibility; high repeat exposure; low

cost; low competition.

Limited audience selectivity;

creative limitation.

Brouchers Flexibility; full control; can dramatize

message.

Overproduction could lead to run

away costs.

3.5 TOP GLOBAL ADVERTISING COMPANIES

Ameredia

Arnold Worldwide

Arnold Worldwide

BBDO

Doyle Dane Bernbach

Goodby Silverstein & Partners

N.W. Ayer & Son

Ogilvy & Mather

Saatchi and Saatchi

Partnership Advertising

3.6 TOP ADVERTISING COMPANIES OF INDIA

Advertising is a big business in this era in India. Indian Advertising industry has

witnessed a prominent globalization. With the inception of various divisions, the

advertising industry has undergone a sea change. Indian consumer's deepening

pocket and blooming markets for ad-spends have touched new heights in India.

The Indian Advertising Companies are creating stories and brand experiences in

a way that engages and involves.

48

Ogilvy and Mather

This is one of the leading advertising companies in India. This organization

believes that devotion to the brand defines the profile of their company. This

company has offices across the globe. The objective of the company is to build

brands. It is a subsidiary of WPP Group plc. The headquarters of the company is

in New York.

J Walter Thompson India

One of the most popular companies in the advertising industry is J Walter

Thompson India. Their objective is to make advertising a part of the life of the

consumers. This is also world's best advertising brand with about 200 offices in

90 countries. This company is the first one to introduce pioneer careers in ad for

women sex-appeal ads and also produced the first ever sponsored -TV program.

Mudra Communication Pvt. Ltd

This is one of the renowned advertising companies of India. This advertising

organization was founded in the year 1980 at Mumbai. Recently the Ad Company

declared the addition of public relations, rural marketing, events etc. The head

office of the company is in Bombay Area.

FCB-Ulka Advertising Ltd

One of the best companies in India in the advertising arena is FCB-Ulka

Advertising Ltd. In US, this advertising company ranks third and tenth in the world

having about 188 offices in 102 countries. Their aim is to reflect the needs of the

brand and not the personality of the brand. It has about 500 professionals and no

prima donnas.

Rediffusion-DY&R

This Advertising Company of India has made a benchmark in the field of

creativity. India's 5th largest advertising company is Rediffusion. This advertising

49

agency offers a wide array of integrated PR services for external and internal

communications. The primary strength of the company lies in the media relations.

McCann-Erickson India Ltd

The prominent name among the best advertising companies of India is McCann-

Erickson India Ltd. They define work in relation to the impact that advertising has

on the lives of masses. The testimony of the company in which it firmly believes

is the campaign of Coca -cola-'Thanda Matlab Coca Cola'.

RK Swamy/BBDO Advertising Ltd

It maintained the record of remaining consistently among the top ten advertising

agencies in India. Established in 1973, this advertising reached great heights.

This is also India's No.1 research company in the market sector and is fully run

by Indians. Brand Equity is an integral part of the company.

Grey Worldwide (I) Pvt. Ltd

A significant name in India in the world of advertising agencies is Grey Worldwide

(I) Pvt. Ltd. The Company is primarily based in Mumbai and has offices in

Kolkata, Ahmadabad, Bangalore and New Delhi. It is a subsidiary of Grey

Worldwide. The company specializes in advertising and marketing services.

Leo Burnett India Pvt. Ltd

It has a significant presence in about 96 offices in 10 countries. This advertising

agency was awarded the 'Worldwide Agency of the Year' in 2004.They are

proficient in explaining how a single image is worth thousand words and can

break the barriers of language but not at the cost of the ad's emotional power.

Contract Advertising India Ltd

This advertising company of India is one of the leading advertising agencies in

India. It is one-to-one customer lifecycle management advertising agency. It was

50

founded in 1992 and is situated in Mumbai. It offers a wide range of services like

online marketing and strategy and many others.

3.7 HIGHLIGHTS ADVERTISING INDUSTRY 2008

The Pitch-Madison study places the advertising industry in 2008 at Rs.

20,717 crore, a 17% increase over 2007.

The previous year’s study had forecast the advertising spend in 2008, to be

Rs. 21,314 crore, a  20% growth over 2007 but a slowdown in the 2nd half of

2008 has led to a lower growth rate of 17%.

This 17% growth is substantially lower than the 22% growth achieved in

each of the previous 2 years.

Print continues to hold the largest share of pie at 47%, although Print did

seem to loose the steam in 2nd half of 2008 and lost a 1% share compared

to 2007.

TV is a close no. 2 with 41% of the advertising pie and has gained a 1%

share compared to 2007.

Print & TV continue to dominate the advertising market with a combined

share of 88%.

Outdoor, in 2008 grew by 11%, substantially lower than previous year’s

growth rate of 28%.

Internet, though on a very small base, grew at 45% and has now reached a

respectable size of Rs. 363 crore. Internet advertising contributes only 1.8

% of the country’s total advertising spends. Internet medium was expected to

witness 150 per cent growth in 2008.

51

Radio registered a robust growth of 38%, having grown by 68% the previous

year.

3.8 ADVERTISING OUTLOOK IN FUTURE

As per report by Zenith OptiMedia, advertising expenditure in India is

expected to increase from 0.50% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to

0.53% over the next three years.

After witnessing an average growth rate of only 12-13 per cent over the last

three years, the Indian advertising industry is set to grow 61 per cent by 2010

with advertising spend climbing to Rs 36,731 crore from Rs 22,721 crore this

year.

The Indian Media and entertainment industry stood at INR 584 billion in 2008,

a growth of 12.4 percent over the previous year. Over the next five years, the

industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.5 percent to reach the size of

INR 1052 billion by 2013, says a FICCI & KPMG report on the sector .The

report however, highlights that the market environment has become

increasingly challenging for the sector, on the back of economic slowdown

and the consequent slowdown in advertising revenues, especially in the last

quarter of 2008. Sectors like TV, Print, Radio and Outdoor which depend on

advertising revenues were largely affected and this is estimated to continue

into the current year too.

52

Whilst continued display of faith by FMCG sector in advertising is likely to

help Television’s fortunes, the coming General elections should help the

cause of Press, which despite this help is expected to remain flat.

The ad market will be boosted by $6 billion in spending from quadrennial

events in 2008: $3 billion from the Olympics, $2 billion from the US

Presidential and congressional elections and $1 billion from the Euro 2008,”

says the report.

Cinema and Outdoor are likely to de-grow in 2009.

MediumAdvertising Market

size(08)Growth % Share %

TV 8319 17 40.2

Press 9825 16 47.4

Radio 662 38 3.2

Cinema 129 24 0.6

Outdoor 1419 11 6.8

Internet 363 45 1.7

TOTAL 20717 17 100

Table -3.1The Pitch-Madison Media Advertising Outlook for advertising

According to KPMG FICCI Report 2009-2013

M&E Industry

(In Rs.Crore)

CAGR%

(2006-08)2009 P 2010 P 2011 P 2012 P 2013 P

CAGR%

(2009-13)

Television 16.7 8820 9710 11260 13170 15550 13.5

Print 16.0 11480 12380 13650 15360 17430 10.0

Radio 19.7 920 1030 1190 1390 1630 14.2

Internet 45.2 840 1100 1370 1710 2140 27.9

Outdoor 17.3 1770 1980 2240 2550 2930 12.8

P=Projected

53

Table 3.2 Outlook for Advertising According to KPMG FICCI Report (2009-13)

Advertising spends grew at CAGR of 17.1 percent in the past three years.

Going forward, it is expected to exhibit a robust growth rate at CAGR of 12.4

percent over the next five years.

Internet advertising is seen at 840 crores in 2009 by KPMG and is expected to

have one of the highest growth rates with an expectation to move to 2140

crores by 2013.

3.9 SNAPSHOT ON CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT ON TV DURING

2007

49 per cent growth in Celebrity endorsement advertising volumes on TV

during 2007 compared to 2006.

Celebrities from Film Industry lead with 81 per cent share of overall Celebrity

endorsement advertising pie on TV during 2007.

Aerated Soft Drink' was the top category with maximum advertising volumes

of Celebrity endorsement during 2007.

ShahRukh Khan' had maximum number of advertisers in his kitty during 2007.

(Base: Celebrities from Hindi - Movies & TV Industry and Sports personality considered)

54

2003 2004 2005 2006 20070

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Inde

xed

grow

th

 Graph 3.1 Graph showing Celebrity endorsement on a steady rise since 2003

Celebrity endorsement on TV saw a whopping growth of six times during 2007

over 2003.

Share of Celebrity Profession on TV during 2007.

3% 2%

50%31%

14%

Personalities frm Film industry drives TV ad volumes(%)

TV Actors

TV Actress

Film Actor

Film Actress

Sportsmen

Film Industry = 81%

55

Graph 3.2 Graph showing Personalities from Film industry drives TV ad volume

Film Celebrities had the largest chunk i.e. 81 per cent share of overall

Celebrity endorsement on TV during 2007.

Sports and TV personalities took the second and third rank with 14 per cent

and 5 per cent share respectively during 2007.

Film Actors accounted for 50% share followed by Film Actress and Sportsmen

with 31 per cent and 14 per cent share of Celebrity endorsement on TV during

2007.

Share of Top 10 Categories with Celebrity endorsement advertising

volumes.

Top Categories % Share

Aerated soft drinks 7%

Cellular phone service 5%

Toilet soaps 5%

Biscuits 4%

Shampoos 4%

Social ads 4%

Tooth Paste 3%

Cellular phones 3%

Suitings 3%

Two wheelers 3%

56

Table 3.3 Table showing share of top 10 categories with celebrity endorsement

ad volumes

Top 10 categories share aggregates to 40 per cent of total advertising

volumes of Celebrity endorsement on TV during 2007.

'Aerated Soft Drink', 'Cellular Phone Service' and 'Toilet Soaps' were at the

top three positions of top 10 categories with maximum advertising volumes

of Celebrity endorsement on TV during 2007.

Shahrukh Khan

Amitab Bachan

Shewta Tiwari

Sachin Tendulkar

Rahul Dravid

0 5 10 15 20 25

21

20

19

17

16

Number of ads

Graph 3.3 Showing Top Celebrities with maximum no. of ads in 2007

57

ShahRukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Prerna (Shweta Tiwari) were the

top three celebrities with maximum number of advertisers.

Rank Celebrity Avg. Ad Duration/ Day

1 Saif Ali Khan 3:27

2 ShahRukh Khan 3:14

3 Amitabh Bachhan 2:24

Table 3.4 Showing Top three Celebrities Visibility per day on Television through

commercials in 2007.

During 2007 top three position of maximum visible celebrity on TV was occupied

by Film Actors viz. Saif Ali Khan, ShahRukh Khan, Amitabh Bachhan. As seen

above Saif Ali Khan enjoys the highest Visibility in a day.

4. INTRODUCTION

The study entitled “Influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying

behaviour” was carried out to assess in what ways does the use of celebrities

impact consumer buying behaviour. Over the years the use of celebrities for

endorsements has been on a rise in India .The foremost objective of the study

was to identify the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying

behaviour. The other objectives of the study were study were

To identify if celebrity endorsement advertising is more attention getting and

memorable than other kind of advertising.

To identify how is celebrity endorsed advertisement perceived.

To identify who make the best celebrity endorser.

58

To identify the sector for which celebrity endorsement is perceived to be most suited.

To examine the relationship between endorsements and brand there by

unearthing risks and returns related to this strategy.

To investigate the perceptions about multiple product and multiple celebrity

endorsements and impact of multiple product and multiple celebrity

endorsement on recall and remembrance of advertisements

A descriptive research ha been conducted wherein a structured questionnaire

was administered to collect responses from 100 consumers on the basis

convenience and judgemental sampling. The data so collected has been

analyzed in this chapter in order of the objective of the study.

4.1 FINDINGS

Objective 1: To identify the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer

buying behaviour

The perception of the consumers changes with a change in his/her age. To see

the impact of age on the perception level of consumers about celebrity

endorsements, their age was enquired and the responses are tabulated below.

Table-4.1Showing the percent distribution of various age groups

AGE PERCENT

BELOW 20 21.0

59

20-30 YEARS 23.0

30-40 YEARS 24.0

40-50 YEARS 17.0

50 YEARS AND ABOVE 15.0

TOTAL 100.0

Graph-4.1Showing the percent distribution in various age groups

Below 20 20-30 YEARS 30-40 YEARS 40-50 YEARS 50 YEARS AND ABOVE

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2123 24

1715

It can be inferred from the table and the graph that the 21% of the respondents

who were enquired were in the age group of below 20 years. The people in the

age group of 20-30 years constitute 23% of the total respondents. The

respondents in the age group of 30-40 years constitute 24% of total respondents.

The respondents in the age group40-50 years constitute 17% of the total

respondents. The respondents above 50 years of age constitute 15% of total.

The respondents were asked about their gender as it has significant implication

on the perceptions and the buying behaviour. The response has been tabulated

below.

Table 4.2-Showing the gender distribution of respondents

GENDER FREQUENCY PERCENT

60

MEN 54 54.0

WOMEN 46 46.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

Graph 4.2 -Showing the gender distribution of respondents

MEN WOMEN42

44

46

48

50

52

54

5654

46Series1

It can be inferred from the table and the graph that the 54% of the respondents

who were enquired were men and 46% were women.

The level of education of the respondents also influences their perceptions and

has an impact on the buying behaviour. The responses about the completed

education level have been tabulated below.

Table 4.3-Showing the education level distribution of respondents

COMPLETED EDUCATION

LEVELFREQUENCY PERCENT

Secondary 6 6.0

College 20 20.0

Diploma 14 14.0

Graduation 30 30.0

Post graduation 30 30.0

61

Total 100 100.0

Graph4.3- Showing the education level distribution of respondents

SECONDARY COLLEGE DIPLOMA GRADUATION POST GRADUATION0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

6

20

14

30 30

It can be inferred from the table and graph that of the total respondents, 6% were

educated upto secondary level,20% till college level,14%were diploma

holders,30% were graduates and the rest 30% were post graduates.

The respondents were asked whether they preferred celebrity endorsed products

and brands to products not endorsed by celebrities. The response has been

tabulated below.

Table4.4- Showing the opinion of the respondents about their preference for celebrity

endorsed products

62

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 12% of the respondents strongly disagree

that they prefer celebrity endorsed products to products not endorsed by

celebrities, 14% of the respondents disagree, 5% of the respondents neither

agree nor disagree, 39% of the respondents agree and 30% of the respondents

strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.61 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that they have prefer celebrity endorsed products to products

not endorsed by celebrities.

Other than respondents who strongly disagreed or at least disagreed that they

preferred celebrity endorsed products to products not endorsed by celebrities

were asked the reason for their preference towards celebrity endorsed products.

The response has been tabulated below.

Table4.5- Showing the reason for preference towards the celebrity endorsed products

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Credibility 28 37.83

Status symbol 36 48.64

Liking 25 32.43

Interpretation

63

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 12 12.0

Disagree 14 14.0

Neither agree nor disagree 5 5.0

Agree 39 39.0

Strongly agree 30 30.0

Total 100 100.0

Weight average mean 3.61

It can be interpreted from the table that out of 74 respondents who preferred

celebrity endorsed products 37.83% of the respondents said that the celebrity

endorsed products were more credible, 48.64% attributed their preference for

celebrity endorsed products to status symbol and 32.43% preferred celebrity

endorsed products simply due to their liking towards the celebrity.

Inference

It can be inferred from the table that majority of the respondents felt that their

preference towards celebrity endorsed products was because celebrity endorsed

products were more credible.

Respondents were asked whether a celebrity endorsed product increased their

desire for the product. The response has been tabulated below.

Table 4.6- Showing the opinion of respondents about the impact of celebrity

endorsement on the desire for a product

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 25 25

Disagree 34 34

Neither agree nor

disagree

14 14

Agree 22 22

Strongly agree 5 5

Total 100 100.0

Weight Average Mean 2.48

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 25% of the respondents strongly disagree

that celebrity endorsed products increases their desire for the product, 34% of the

respondents disagree, 14% of the respondents neither agree nor disagree, 22%

of the respondents agree and 5% of the respondents strongly agree with the

statement.

Inference

64

The weighted average mean comes to around 2.48 i.e. on an average the

respondents disagree that celebrity endorsement has an influence on the desire

for the product.

Respondents were asked if they had already known the product information from

a celebrity then does it help them reduce the time on searching the product

information. The response has been tabulated below.

Table4.7- Showing the opinion of respondents about the impact of celebrity

endorsement on the information search for a product

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 5 5

Disagree 14 14

Neither agree nor disagree 13 13

Agree 37 37

Strongly agree 31 31

Total 100 100

Weight Average Mean 3.75

Interpretation

It can be inferred from the table that 5% of the respondents strongly disagree that

knowing the product information from a celebrity helps them reduce the time on

searching the product information, 14% of the respondents disagree, 13% of the

respondents neither agree nor disagree, 37% of the respondents agree and 31%

of the respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.75 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that if they have known the product information from a

celebrity then it does help them to reduce the time on searching the product

information

Respondents were asked whether price comparison becomes less necessary for

products endorsed by celebrities. The response has been tabulated below.

65

Table4.8- Showing the opinion of respondents about the impact of celebrity

endorsement on the price comparison for a product

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 23 23

Disagree 45 45

Neither agree nor

disagree

11 11

Agree 19 19

Strongly agree 2 2

Total 100 100.0

Weight Average Mean 2.32

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 23% of the respondents strongly disagree

that price comparison becomes less necessary for products endorsed by

celebrities, 45% of the respondents disagree, 11% of the respondents neither

agree nor disagree, 19% of the respondents agree and 2% of the respondents

strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 2.32 i.e. on an average the

respondents disagree that price comparison becomes less necessary for

products endorsed by celebrities.

Respondents were asked whether a brand endorsed by a celebrity comes to their

minds before other brands when they go to buy a product. The response has

been tabulated below.

Table 4.9- Showing the opinion of respondents about the impact of celebrity

endorsement on the recall of a product

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 3 3

Disagree 9 9

66

Neither agree nor disagree 4 4

Agree 51 51

Strongly agree 33 33

Total 100 100.0

Weight Average Mean 4.02

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 3% of the respondents strongly disagree

that a brand endorsed by a celebrity comes to their minds before other brands

when they go to buy a product, 9% of the respondents disagree, 4% of the

respondents neither agree nor disagree, 51% of the respondents agree and 33%

of the respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 4.02 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that a brand endorsed by a celebrity comes to their minds

before other brands when they go to buy a product.

Respondents were asked whether they perceived a brand endorsed by a

celebrity to be of better quality than similar non celebrity endorsed products. The

response has been tabulated below.

Table 4.10- Showing the opinion of respondents about the impact of celebrity

endorsement on the quality of a product

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 28 28

Disagree 41 41

67

Neither agree nor disagree 11 11

Agree 16 16

Strongly agree 4 4

Total 100 100.0

Weight Average Mean 2.27

Interpretation

It can be inferred from the table that 28% of the respondents strongly disagree

that a brand endorsed by a celebrity is of better quality than similar non celebrity

endorsed products, 41% of the respondents disagree, 11% of the respondents

neither agree nor disagree, 16% of the respondents agree and 4% of the

respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 2.27 i.e. on an average the

respondents disagree that a brand endorsed by a celebrity is of better quality

than similar non celebrity endorsed products.

The perception of the consumers varies across age groups, gender, educational

level and other demographic variables. The table below shows the difference in

responses across different age groups and some of the results are significant.

However for other demographic variables considered in this study namely gender

and completed educational level the results were not significant.

Table 4.11-Showing the difference in responses across different age groups

AGE PREFERENCE DESIREINFORMATION

SEARCH

PRICE

COMPARISIONRECALL QUALITY

BELOW

20 Mean 4.14 2.81 4.00 2.57 4.29 2.52

Std. 1.062 1.436 1.304 1.363 .717 1.289

68

YEARSDeviation

20-30

YEARS

Mean 3.80 2.83 3.91 2.20 4.23 2.31

Std.

Deviation

1.208 1.043 .981 .994 .646 1.278

30-40

YEARS

Mean 3.92 2.04 3.46 2.31 4.00 2.19

Std.

Deviation

1.294 1.248 1.303 1.050 1.020 1.021

40-50

YEARS

Mean 2.42 2.08 3.83 2.25 3.25 2.17

Std.

Deviation

1.311 .996 1.267 1.055 1.712 .937

50

YEARS

AND

ABOVE

Mean 1.67 2.00 3.00 2.33 3.50 1.67

Std.

Deviation

.516 1.095 .894 1.033 1.049 .816

Total

Mean 3.61 2.48 3.75 2.32 4.02 2.27

Std.

Deviation

1.363 1.227 1.184 1.091 1.005 1.153

Sig. .000 .039 .230 .816 .017 .578

Interpretation and Inference

From the above table it can be inferred that there is a significant difference in the

preference for celebrity endorsed products across the different age groups and

this preference decreases with the increase in age. There is also a significant

difference in the impact of celebrity endorsement on the desire across different

age groups. Likewise influence of celebrity endorsement on recall is significantly

different across different age groups.

Objective 2: To identify if celebrity endorsement advertising is more

attention getting and memorable than other kind of advertising.

69

The respondents were asked if they were able to remember the information about

a product endorsed by a celebrity better than the ones not endorsed by

celebrities. The response has been tabulated below.

Table 4.12- Showing the opinion of respondents about the remembrance of information

provided through a celebrity endorsed advertisement

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 3 3.0

Disagree 16 16.0

Neither agree nor

disagree12 12.0

Agree 45 45.0

Strongly agree 24 24.0

Total 100 100.0

Weight Average Mean 3.71

Interpretation

It can be inferred from the table that 3% of the respondents strongly disagree that

they were able to remember the information about a product endorsed by a

celebrity better than the ones not endorsed by celebrities, 16% of the

respondents disagree, 12% of the respondents neither agree nor disagree, 45%

of the respondents agree and 24% of the respondents strongly agree with the

statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.71 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that the remembrance of celebrity endorsed advertisements is

higher than non celebrity endorsed advertisements.

Respondents were asked to name two advertisements each from telecom,

beverages, automobiles and apparel sectors. They were asked to give a brief

description of the ad and mention whether the ad involved a celebrity. The

responses were as follows

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1) 82% of the ads mentioned involved a celebrity and only 18% were non

celebrity advertisements. This is consistent with the results found earlier.

2) ShahRukh Khan had the most number of recalled ads across all sectors

followed by Amir Khan then Ahishek Bachan & Hritik Roshan.

3) In the telecom sector most respondents recalled the recent Airtel

advertisement(without a celebrity) in which a little boy gets punished by his

mother & calls his father from a toy mobile and complains that his mother

shouted at him and asks his father to shout back at her.

4) In the beverages segment the respondents recalled more ads that had the

presence of celebrities rather than non celebrity ads.

5) Respondents found advertisements from apparel sector hardest to recall.

Objective 3: To identify how celebrity endorsed advertisement is perceived.

The respondents were asked whether they believed that the celebrities use or at

least believe in the products that they endorse. The responses have been

tabulated below.

Table 4.13- Showing the opinion of the respondents about the belief that celebrities use

or believe in the products that they endorse

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 26 26.0

Disagree 39 39.0

Neither agree nor

disagree20 20.0

Agree 12 12.0

Strongly agree 3 3.0

Total 100 100.0

Weight Average Mean 2.27

Interpretation

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It can be interpreted from the table that 26% of the respondents strongly disagree

that celebrities use or at least believe in the products they endorse, 39% of the

respondents disagree, 20% of the respondents neither agree nor disagree, 12%

of the respondents agree and 3% of the respondents strongly agree with the

statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 2.27 i.e. on an average the

respondents disagree that celebrities use or at least believe in the products they

endorse.

Objective 4: To identify who makes the best celebrity endorser

Respondents were asked to mention who according to them was the best

celebrity endorser. The response is shown in the pie chart below.

19%

23%

28%

11%

9% 10%

BEST CELEBRITY ENDORSER

SHARUKH KHANAMIR KHANAMITABH BACHANSACHIN TENDULKARPRIYANKA CHOPRAOTHERS

Chart 4.1-Showing the percentage breakup of the responses for the best celebrity

endorser

Interpretation and Inference

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It can be inferred from the chart that 28% of the respondents felt that Amitabh

Bachan was the best celebrity endorser.Amitabh’s Credibility, trustworthiness and

ability to appeal to elder as well as younger generation were cited as the reasons.

23% of the respondents felt that Amir Khan was the best celebrity endorser.

Respondents felt that Amir’s image as highly professional and choosy actor

increased the credibility of the brands that he endorsed. Although ShahRukh

enjoyed the highest recall only 19% of the respondents felt that ShahRukh was

the best celebrity endorser.

Objective 5: To identify the sector for which celebrity endorsement is

perceived to be most suited.

To meet this objective the respondents were asked to name the sector that they

thought was most suited for celebrity endorsement. The response has been

shown in the pie chart below.

Chart 4.2- Showing the Opinion of the respondents about the sector most suited for

celebrity endorsement.

21%

9%

31%

35%

4%

FMCGAUTOMOBILESAPPARELSBEAUTY CAREOTHERS

Interpretation and Inference

It can be inferred from the chart that 35%of the respondents felt that celebrity

endorsement made most sense for beauty care products, 31%for apparels, 21%

for FMCG and 9% for automobiles. The reason for this can be that people aspire

to look like a celebrity and would want to wear what a celebrity wears .When a

celebrity who is known to be attractive and good looking, uses a beauty cream on

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T.V, people would want to use it too. Also we associate celebrities with style,

good looks, attitude etc.Thus when we see them wearing a particular garment of

a particular brand it enhances our desire to have the same.

The respondents were also asked about their opinion on the suitability of celebrity

endorsement for high involvement or low involvement products. The response

has been tabulated below

Table 4.14- Showing the opinion of the respondents on the suitability of celebrity

endorsement for high involvement or low involvement products

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Low involvement 27 34.0

High involvement 51 44.0

Both 20 20.0

Neither 2 2.0

Total 100 100.0

Interpretation

It can be inferred from the table that 34% of the respondents felt that celebrity

endorsement had the highest impact for low involvement products and 51% felt

that celebrity endorsement had the highest impact for high involvement products.

Inference

It can therefore be inferred that majority of the respondents felt that that celebrity

endorsement had the highest impact for high involvement products.

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Objective 6: To examine the relationship between endorsements and

brands there by unearthing risks and returns related to this strategy.

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:

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.

Awareness and Ensured Attention: A new brand can benefit greatly if a

celebrity endorses it. It can attract the customer’s attention and inquisitiveness to

see what product is being endorsed. Research has shown consumers have a

higher level of message recall for products that are endorsed by celebrities.

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. A good example of

integrated celebrity campaigns is one of the World’s leading pop groups, the

Spice Girls, who have not only appeared in advertisements for Pepsi, but also 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)

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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.

Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a persuasive

message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will

also benefit. Celebrities actually tend to become models or idols for the target

audience who tend to start using the product just because the celebrity name is

attached with it. For instance, Lux has been used by many as it is a beauty soap

recommended by the beauty queen, Aishwarya Rai.

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 Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on a Brand 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.

Psychographic Connect: Some celebrities like ShahRukh Khan, Amitabh

Bachan command great adoration among people. Such celebrities can positively

influence their fans to a great extent and hence tend to even connect with the

brand emotionally because of their star enduring it. Advertisers use stars to

capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.

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Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic

segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.)

Quick Connect: The communication process tends to hasten up due to the more

presence of a celebrity. This is because the star carrying the message tends to

click with the customer more. Because of likeability, recall attractiveness and

creditability thereby helping the company to clearly and quickly pass on the

message to the target customers.

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

Means of Brand differentiation: using a celebrity is a source of brand

differentiation.

Better Brand Image: the use of celebrities could also bring in positive image

among the masses for brand. The credibility and authenticity attached with

Amitabh Bachan has inculcated trust for ICICI, Nerolac Paints and many others

Celebrity endorsement can sometimes compensate for lack of innovative

ideas.

The basic assumption underlying celebrity endorsement is that the value

associated with the celebrity is transferred to the brand and therefore help create

an image that can be easily referred by consumers. Consequently by association

the brand can very quickly establish the creditability get immediate recognition

and improve sales. However, there are many risks associated with such

endorsers. The brand could slide down just as quickly as it moved up the

consumers mind. There are many cases of brands failing in the market place

despite famous celebrities endorsing them.

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The celebrity approach has a few serious risks:

The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the

product: A number of entertainers and athletes have been involved in activities

that could embarrass the companies whose products the endorsed. When the

endorser’s image is finished it actually leads to a greater fall in image for the

brand.

For instance Azharuddin was charge with betting and match fixing, which created

negative feeling and repulsive thoughts among people for the products he was

endorsing. Pepsi has suffered with three tarnished celebrities - Mike Tyson,

Madonna and Michael Jackson. Coca-Cola India was caught in a similar situation,

when a couple of years ago, one of its star endorsers, Salman Khan, was accused

in a couple of cases. A red-faced Coke subsequently dropped Khan from its

endorsement package 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. Cyber

media research study reveals that 80% of the respondents approached for

research remembered the celebrity but could not recall the brand being

endorsed. 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.

In this research as well many of the respondents not only incorrectly associated

celebrities with brands but also some of them could only recollect the celebrity

and not the brand. For example the future group’s brand Pantaloon was

endorsed by Zaid Khan and Bipasha Basu but many of the respondents

associated them with Tata Groups Westside. Likewise many of the respondents

associated Amitabh Bachan with Raymonds although he endorses Reid &Taylor.

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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

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 commoditization 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.

Celebrities endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsbury

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. 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. A mix

match between the image of the credibility and the product can damage both.

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Unless there is a synergy between celebrity’s own image and that of product

category the strategy of endorsement is rendered futile.

Necessary Evil: Marketing have felt that once the brand rides the back of

celebrity it becomes difficult to promote it without the star as it becomes difficult to

separate the role of message and the role of the celebrity in selling the brand.

The celebrity activity becomes an addiction and the task to find substitute

becomes more and more difficult.

Celebrity creditability a question mark for the competent customer: Today’s

marketing endorsement has to deal with a competitive and knowledgeable

customer who has begun to voice his opinion about their perception about

endorsing a brand. Celebrity is said to befool the public as he is paid to sell and

communicate good things about the brand. Hence the question of creditability of

the celebrity being chosen to protect the brand is becoming pertinent.

Objective7: To investigate the perceptions about multiple product and

multiple celebrity endorsements and impact of multiple product and

multiple celebrity endorsement on recall and remembrance of

advertisements

Respondents were asked whether multiple celebrities in an ad made the

advertisement more likable and attention seeking. The response has been

tabulated below.

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Table 4.15- Showing the opinion of the respondents about the influence of multiple celebrities

on attention and likability

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 3 3.0

Disagree 20 20.0

Neither agree nor

disagree18 18.0

Agree 35 35.0

Strongly agree 24 24.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

WEIGHT AVERAGE MEAN 3.57

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 3% of the respondents strongly disagree

that multiple celebrities in an ad make the advertisement more likable and

attention seeking, 20% of the respondents disagree, 18% of the respondents

neither agree nor disagree, 35% of the respondents agree and 24% of the

respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.57 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that multiple celebrities in an ad make the advertisement

more likable and attention seeking.

Respondents were asked whether the presence of multiple celebrities in an ad

had a positive impact on their purchase intentions. The response has been

tabulated below.

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Table 4.16- Showing the opinion of the respondents about the influence of multiple

celebrities on purchase intentions

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 33 33.0

Disagree 28 28.0

Neither agree nor

disagree21 21.0

Agree 11 11.0

Strongly agree 7 7.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

WEIGHT AVERAGE MEAN 2.31

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 33% of the respondents strongly disagree

that the presence of multiple celebrities in an ad had a positive impact on their

purchase intentions, 28% of the respondents disagree, 21% of the respondents

neither agree nor disagree, 11% of the respondents agree and 7% of the

respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 2.31 i.e. on an average the

respondents disagree that the presence of multiple celebrities in an ad had a

positive impact on their purchase intentions

Respondents were asked whether the presence of multiple celebrities in an ad

overshadowed the product or the brand. The response has been tabulated below.

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Table 4.17- Showing multiple celebrities in an ad overshadow the brand

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 4 4.0

Disagree 14 14.0

Neither agree nor disagree 14 14.0

Agree 41 41.0

Strongly agree 27 27.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

WEIGHT AVERAGE MEAN 3.73

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 4% of the respondents strongly disagree

that multiple celebrities in an ad overshadow the brand, 14% of the respondents

disagree, 14% of the respondents neither agree nor disagree, 41% of the

respondents agree and 27% of the respondents strongly agree with the

statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.73 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that multiple celebrities in an ad overshadow the brand

Respondents were asked whether the presence of multiple celebrities in an ad

merely increased the expenses without influencing the perceptions towards the

product. The response has been tabulated below

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Table 4.18- Showing the opinion of the respondents about multiple celebrities

increasing the expenses without influencing the perceptions towards the product

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 0 0.0

Disagree 12 12.0

Neither agree nor

disagree23 23.0

Agree 40 40.0

Strongly agree 25 25.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

WEIGHT AVERAGE

MEAN3.78

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that none of the respondents strongly

disagree that multiple celebrities in an ad merely increase the expenses without

influencing the perceptions towards the product, 12% of the respondents

disagree, 23% of the respondents neither agree nor disagree, 40% of the

respondents agree and 25% of the respondents strongly agree with the

statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.78 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that multiple celebrities in an ad merely increase the

expenses without influencing the perceptions towards the product.

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In order to ascertain the influence of multi product endorsements the respondents

were asked if they believed that the trustworthiness and credibility of a celebrity

decreased with the increase in the no of the products endorsed. The response

has been tabulated below.

Table 4.19- Showing the impact of multiple product endorsements on the

trustworthiness and credibility of the celebrity

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 2 2.0

Disagree 12 12.0

Neither agree nor disagree 28 28.0

Agree 42 42.0

Strongly agree 16 16.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

WEIGHT AVERAGE MEAN 3.58

Interpretation

It can be inferred from the table that only 2% of the respondents strongly

disagree that trustworthiness and credibility of an endorser decreases with the

increase in the number of products endorsed, 12% of the respondents disagree,

28% of the respondents neither agree nor disagree, 42% of the respondents

agree and 16% of the respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.58 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that trustworthiness and credibility of an endorser decreases

with the increase in the number of products endorsed

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The respondents were asked whether single product celebrity advertisements

enjoyed higher recall and remembrance than multi product celebrity brands. The

response has been tabulated below

Table 4.20- Showing the opinion of the respondents on the recall and remembrance of

the single product celebrity brands

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 7 7.0

Disagree 13 13.0

Neither agree nor

disagree10 10.0

Agree 48 48.0

Strongly agree 22 22.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

WEIGHT AVERAGE MEAN 3.65

Interpretation

It can be interpreted from the table that 7% of the respondents strongly disagree

that single product celebrity brands enjoy higher recall and remembrance than

multi product celebrity brands, 13% of the respondents disagree, 10% of the

respondents neither agree nor disagree, 48% of the respondents agree and 22%

of the respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 3.65 i.e. on an average the

respondents agree that single product celebrity brands enjoy higher recall and

remembrance than multi product celebrity brands.

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Respondents were asked whether multiple product celebrity advertisements

increased awareness and developed positive associations with the brand. The

response has been tabulated below.

Table 4.21- Showing the opinion of the respondents about the awareness and

associations towards brands having multi product celebrities

RESPONSE FREQUENCY PERCENT

Strongly disagree 23 23.0

Disagree 36 36.0

Neither agree nor disagree 29 29.0

Agree 10 10.0

Strongly agree 2 2.0

TOTAL 100 100.0

WEIGHT AVERAGE MEAN 2.32

Interpretation

It can be inferred from the table that 23% of the respondents strongly disagree

that multiple product celebrity ads increase awareness and develop positive

associations towards the brand, 36% of the respondents disagree, 10% of the

respondents neither agree nor disagree, 29% of the respondents agree and 10%

of the respondents strongly agree with the statement.

Inference

The weighted average mean comes to around 2.32 i.e. on an average the

respondents disagree that multiple product celebrity ads increase awareness and

develop positive associations towards the brand

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5.1 INTRODUCTION

The study entitled “Influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying

behaviour” was carried out to assess in what ways does the use of celebrities

impact consumer buying behaviour. Over the years the use of celebrities for

endorsements has been on a rise in India .The foremost objective of the study

was to identify the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer buying

behaviour. The other objectives of the study were study were

To identify if celebrity endorsement advertising is more attention getting and

memorable than other kind of advertising.

To identify how celebrity endorsed advertisement is perceived.

To identify who make the best celebrity endorser.

To identify the sector for which celebrity endorsement is perceived to be most

suited.

To examine the relationship between endorsements and brand there by

unearthing risks and returns related to this strategy.

To investigate the perceptions about multiple product and multiple celebrity

endorsements and impact of multiple product and multiple celebrity

endorsement on recall and remembrance of advertisements.

The relevant data was collected from 100 consumers in Bangalore through

structured questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed in the previous

chapter using various statistical tools. The summary of findings is elicited, the

conclusions are drawn and suggestions are made in this chapter.

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5.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The major findings of the research have been listed below:

Objective 1: To identify the impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer

buying behavior.

On an average the majority of the respondents agree that they prefer celebrity

endorsed products to products not endorsed by celebrities.

Out of the respondents who preferred celebrity endorsed products 37.83% of

the respondents preferred celebrity endorsed products because they believe

celebrity endorsed products to be more credible, 48.64% attributed their

preference to status symbol and 32.43% preferred celebrity endorsed

products simply due to their liking towards the celebrity.

On an average majority of the respondents disagree that celebrity

endorsement has an influence on the desire for the product.

On an average majority of the respondents agree that if they have known the

product information from a celebrity then it does help them to reduce the time

on searching the product information.

On an average majority of the respondents disagree that price comparison

becomes less necessary for products endorsed by celebrities.

On an average majority of the respondents agree that a brand endorsed by a

celebrity comes to their minds before other brands when they go to buy a

product.

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On an average majority of the respondents disagree that a brand endorsed by

a celebrity is of better quality than similar non celebrity endorsed products.

It was found that there existed a significant difference in the preference for

celebrity endorsed products across the different age groups and this

preference decreases with the increase in age. There is also a significant

difference in the impact of celebrity endorsement on the desire across

different age groups. Likewise influence of celebrity endorsement on recall is

significantly different across different age groups with recall being higher

among younger age groups.

Objective 2: To identify if celebrity endorsement advertising is more

attention getting and memorable than other kind of advertising.

On an average majority of the respondents agree that they are able to

remember the information about a product endorsed by a celebrity better than

the ones not endorsed by celebrities.

Out of the total advertisements recalled by the respondents 82% involved a

celebrity confirming the fact the advertisements involving a celebrity enjoy

higher recall.

ShahRukh Khan had the most number of recalled ads across all sectors

followed by Amir Khan then Ahishek Bachan & Hritik Roshan.

Objective3: To identify how is celebrity endorsed advertisement perceived

On an average majority of the respondents disagree that celebrities use or at

least believe in the products they endorse.

Objective4: To identify who make the best celebrity endorser

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28% of the respondents felt that Amitabh Bachan was the best celebrity

endorser due to his Credibility, trustworthiness and ability to appeal to elder

as well as younger generations.

35% of the respondents felt that celebrity endorsement made most sense for

beauty care products and 31% of the respondents felt that celebrity

endorsement made most sense for apparels.

Objective5: To identify the sector for which celebrity endorsement is

perceived to be most suited

35%of the respondents felt that celebrity endorsement made most sense for

beauty care products, 31%for apparels, 21% for FMCG and 9% for

automobiles.

34% of the respondents felt that celebrity endorsement had the highest impact

for low involvement products and 51% felt that celebrity endorsement had the

highest impact for high involvement products.

Objective6: To examine the relationship between endorsements and brand

there by unearthing risks and returns related to this strategy.

The use of a celebrity may provide benefits like establishment of credibility,

increased awareness and ensured attention,PR coverage, higher degree of

recall, help mitigate tarnished image, psychographic connect and

demographic connect, rejuvenate a stagnant brand and provide brand

differentiation but at the same time risks like reputation of the celebrity

derogating after he/she has endorsed the product, celebrity overshadowing

the brand, over exposure due to multiple endorsements, celebrities endorsing

one brand and using another (competitor),and mismatch between the

celebrity and the image of the brand exist.

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Objective7: To investigate the perceptions about multiple product and

multiple celebrity endorsements and impact of multiple product and

multiple celebrity endorsement on recall and remembrance of

advertisements.

On an average majority of the respondents agree that multiple celebrities in

an ad make the advertisement more likable and attention seeking.

On an average majority of the respondents disagree that the presence of

multiple celebrities in an ad had a positive impact on their purchase intentions.

On an average majority the respondents agree that multiple celebrities in an

ad overshadow the brand

On an average majority of the respondents agree that multiple celebrities in

an ad merely increase the expenses without influencing the perceptions

towards the product

On an average majority of the respondents agree that trustworthiness and

credibility of an endorser decreases with the increase in the number of

products endorsed

On an average majority of the respondents agree that single product celebrity

brands enjoy higher recall and remembrance than multi product celebrity

brands.

On an average majority of the respondents disagree that multiple product

celebrity ads increase awareness and develop positive associations towards

the brand

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5.3 CONCLUSION

Understanding buying behavior of customer is the toughest task for a marketer.

We can identify the factors, which influence purchase decisions, but it is next to

impossible to know which factor influence when. We have countless permutation

and combination for it, each individual has different behavior and different

influencing factors.

From this study it was found that use of celebrities in advertisements influences

the information search, recall and remembrance but at the same time does not

have any impact on the desire for the product, perception of quality, price

comparison and purchase intention. At the same time consumers find only a

handful of celebrities credible as they believe that majority of the celebrities do

not believe in the products they endorse and as the number of products endorsed

by a celebrity increases the credibility and trustworthiness of the celebrity takes a

hit.

Multiple celebrities in an ad may tend to make the ad more interesting and

attention seeking but at the same time there is a greater threat of the celebrity

overshadowing the brand. Multiple endorsements do clutter the minds of the

consumer. When one endorser endorses many brands, then the recall of the

endorsement depends entirely on the power of the brand. There are definitely

some brands that go unnoticed and the recall for those stands at a bare

minimum. It is not enough that the celebrity in the advertising be remembered,

more important, the brand must be. Hence the right use of celebrity can escalate

the Unique Selling Proposition of a brand to new heights; but a cursory

orientation of a celebrity with a brand may prove to be claustrophobic for the

brand. A celebrity is a means to an end, and not an end in him/her.

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5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS

Celebrity endorsements are the norm of the day today. However a Celebrity can

not ensure that he will increase the sales of the brand. As quoted by Shah Rukh

Khan recently "I cannot take a brand forward. Just because my face is there,

people are not going to use it," Despite this companies continue to use celebrities

to be their brand endorsers hoping that Celebrity endorsements would help build

strong brand preference in the minds of consumers. Companies look for a

synergy between the brand and the celebrity's personality to connect better with

their target audience. Companies need to take care that the celebrities they

select should not overpower their brand and consumers should see a clear

connect between the brand and the celebrity. Continuous feedback from the

target audience will help companies in understanding which celebrity works well

for their brand. Once the click happens, then the Celebrity becomes a brand

champion rather than a one off endorser. Some of the suggestions for advertisers

and brands involving celebrity endorsement are:

Advertisers should consider a celebrity’s career prospects to generate and

maintain high consumer awareness when choosing the right celebrity to work

with.

Additionally, advertisers should examine whether consumers will believe that

a celebrity actually would use the product and that he or she is truly involved

in the product design

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.

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When using a celebrity endorser, keep the ad execution simple, clean, and

free of irrelevant design elements. Focus on the celebrity and the brand

together.

When selecting a celebrity endorser, choose a celebrity who is not already

strongly associated with another product or service.

When selecting a celebrity endorser, consider carefully the “fit”, “congruence”,

or “belongingness” of the celebrity and brand.

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 brand’s image.

Research the impact of the celebrity endorsement on your target consumers

Use qualitative and quantitative measures of effectiveness.

Feed the results back to the celebrity so they understand their value

Equally important to partnering with the right celebrity is producing products

and packaging of the highest quality. Celebrities will generate the awareness

that draws consumers to the store, but the best way to ensure a successful

licensing program is to produce high-quality products that are compelling and

competitive in terms of both price and design

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The success of a brand through celebrity endorsement is a cumulative of the

following 14 attributes. Greater the score of the below parameters, greater are

the chances of getting close to the desired impact.

Figure 5.1 Showing attributes for effective celebrity endorsements

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CELEBRITY ENDORSEMEN

T

Celebrity credibility

Fit with the advertising idea

Celebrity popularity

Celebrity profession

Celebrity attractiveness

Celebrity values

Celebrity availability

Cost of acquiring the

celebrity

Celebrity Regional Appeal

Factors

Whether celebrity is a brand user

Multiple Endorsement

Celebrity controversy risk

Celebrity - Product match

Celebrity-Target audience match

5.5 MY LEARNING

This study helped me to gain a profound understanding of the advertisement

industry in general and celebrity endorsements in particular. This study helped

me comprehend the rationale behind the ever growing use of celebrities for

endorsements. Through this research I understood the various intricacies

involved in celebrity endorsements, the benefits and the risks associated with

celebrity endorsements. This study helped me understand why is it that the

celebrities who create magic with certain brands fall flat on their face trying hard

to get another going. More importantly this study helped me to understand the

various facets of consumer behavior and the influence the celebrity endorsement

has on consumer behavior. Although there is no exact science that would

describe how celebrity endorsements can be used to achieve desired results this

study certainly helped me understand what an advertiser must consider and

concentrate on before deciding to a use a celebrity to endorse a particular brand.

During the process of interaction with the respondents I realized the diversity of

ideologies that people posses and how important it is to deal with different people

in different ways.

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