Ad Report-final for Print

INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Advertising The Effectiveness of Celebrity

Endorsements

M Aneeb Yasin Zeeshan Aslam

M Masood Khan Omair Mushfiq Siddiqui

This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Advertising Course (elective) for MBA, at the IBA Karachi. We would like to thank Mr Ejaz A Mian for extending his support in making this report a possibility

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Table of Contents

List of Figures 4

Chapter 1: Introduction 5

1.1 Background 5

1.2 Statement of Problem 6

1.3 Research questions 7

1.4 Significance and Justification of the research 8

1.5 Scope of the Study 8

1.7 Key Terms 9

Chapter 2: Review of Literature 10

2.1 Introduction 10

2.2 Celebrity endorsers as Apparitional Groups 10

2.2.1 Theory of Attribution 11

2.3 Advantages of Celebrity Endorsements 11

2.4 Risks of Celebrity Endorsements 12

2.5 Fictional Celebrities 13

2.6 Cognitive Balance Theory 13

2.7 Source credibility and source attractiveness model 15

2.7.1 Endorsed brands – Consumer Involvement theory 16

2.7.2 The Elaboration Likelihood Model 18

2.8 The Meaning Transfer Model 21

2.9 Attitude towards the brand and Advertisement 22

Chapter 3: Research Methodology 24

3.1 Research Hypotheses 24

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3.2 Participants 26

3.3 Materials 26

3.4 Procedure 27

Chapter 4: Results 29

4.1 Impact of Source Factors on Ab 29

4.2 Impact of source factors on Aad 30

4.3 Impact of source factors on PI: 31

4.4 Descriptive Comparison of Ab, Aad and PI for print copies 33

Chapter 5; Discussion 39

Bibliography 41

Appendix A: Print Ads 43

Appendix B: Questionnaire 45

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List of Figures

Fig2.1 Cognitive Balance Theory

Fig2.2 Elaboration Likelihood Model

Fig2.3 McCracken’s Meaning Transfer Model

Fig2.4 Relationship between Feelings, Judgements and Ab, Aad

Fig3.1 Research Framework

Fig4.1 Relationship between Source factors and Ab (Celebrity)

Fig4.2 Relationship between Source factors and Ab (Non-Celebrity)

Fig4.3 Relationship between Source factors and Aad (Celebrity)

Fig4.4 Relationship between Source factors and Aad (Non-Celebrity)

Fig4.5 Relationship between Source factors and PI (Celebrity)

Fig4.6 Relationship between Source factors and PI (Non-Celebrity)

Fig4.7 Descriptive Statistics for Ab, Aad and PI

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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background

Pakistani advertising industry has been using celebrity endorsement for

some time now. Imran Khan and Wasim Akram are famous examples from the

80s and 90s. Research has shown that the use of celebrities in advertisements

can have a positive influence on the credibility, message recall, memory and

likeability of the advertisements and finally on purchase intentions (Kak Yoon,

1998); (Silvera & Austad, 2004). Due to the declining effectiveness of the

different marketing communications (BlondE & Roozen, 2007) – the global

advertising industry is willing to pay the increasing rewards to the celebrities for

endorsing their product (David Beckham for Adidas $160 million; Gillette $68

million and Pepsi $25.5 million; Tiger Woods for Nike’s golf advertisements $18

million). Research also indicates that firms have a tendency to go towards

celebrity endorsements for their products when the products have a large

customer base and high price-cost margins (Clark & Horstmann, 2003).

1.2 Statement of Problem

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 (or any other marketing communication). Celebrity endorsers

are typically expensive and there is a risk that the celebrity and or his/her

unexpected behavior over shadow the product. This suggests that the use of

anonymous models or even no celebrity (no picture) is still an option that should

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be investigated seriously. In the case of low-involvement products, advertisers

emphasize on the affect-based components, such as imagery, music, symbols etc.,

which leads them to employ celebrities to boost their brand’s image.

The question that needs to be answered is whether these endorsements

are able to justify the huge sums of money spent on them.

1.3 Research questions

When a brand and/or product is endorsed by a celebrity endorser, the

perceived celebrity image and the perceived brand image will interact with each

other and images will be transferred from the endorsed brand to the celebrity

endorser and vice versa (McCraken 1989). This raises the following questions:

1. What is the influence of the endorser towards the brand?

2. What is the influence of the celebrity endorser towards the advertisement?

3. What is the influence of the endorser towards the purchase intentions of the

consumer for the brand?

This study tries to answer these questions for celebrity endorsers in view of

consumer attitudes that are formed as a consequence of exposure to celebrity

endorsed advertisements. This paper takes an evaluative look at locally

produced product endorsement campaigns by measuring consumer’s attitude

towards the brand and its communication. The purchase intentions of the

consumer will also be measured to ascertain whether attitudes towards the

brand and advertisement are transferred to the consequent intentions to buy the

product.

The research phase attempts to analyze the congruency between the

celebrity endorser and the Credibility, Expertise & Attractiveness that he/she

brings to the advertisement. From thereon, the research will analyze the relative

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effectiveness of celebrity endorsement compared to “non-celebrity”

endorsement and no endorsement at all.

Advertisement effectiveness can be measured using a variety of indicators

ranging from Sales to Brand equity. However, these indicators cannot always be

directly traced back to the advertisement (Belch & Belch, 6th edition). This means

that the next method is to test the effectiveness of the advertisement directly on

the target audience. For the purpose of this study we measure the extent to

which marketing communications impact the attitude towards the brand (Ab),

attitude towards the advertisements (Aad) and finally purchase intentions (PI)

(Roozen 2004).

The research will attempt to find out whether these endorsements have

an effect on the target audience in a positive way and to what extent it does it

influence their buying behavior.

1.4 Significance and Justification of the research

Companies are investing heavy amounts on celebrity endorsements. With

the cost of doing business increasing at fast pace, businesses must rely on

research to ensure that their advertising money is well spent.

This research will investigate the phenomenon of celebrity endorsements,

to measure its effectiveness amongst the youth of the largest city in Pakistan,

Karachi.

By defining a clearly modeled approach to measuring celebrity

effectiveness, the results will help organizations who want to use celebrity

endorsements, as a part of their marketing communication strategy, analyze and

predict the relative effectiveness of celebrities.

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The research is based on written questionnaires obtained from a sample

of IBA Students. This limitation obviously implies that the study can only provide

some pointers to these research questions at hand, relevant to the Karachi youth.

However, once the analysis is replicated across different population segments to

analyze whether the results can be generalized and a better understanding of

advertisement effectiveness can attained.

Moreover, firms are investing huge sums of money in celebrity

endorsements. This research will help in determining whether the investment in

such advertisements is worthwhile.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The sample used for this study comprises students at the IBA. These

students are aged between 19 to 28 years of age and consist of both male and

female respondents.

The sample selection method used in this research is Convenience

Sampling, because of two reasons. Firstly, a list of students is not available, that

would have allowed us to select the sample in a systematic approach. Secondly,

this sample comprises students belonging to a variety of social and economic

segments, hence a fair representation of the

1.6 Limitations

Every research is prone to certain limitations, which confines its practical

application. Some of the major limitations of our research are discussed below:

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Time Constraints: The research had to be conducted within a span of 4

months. As time was a big constraint we had to use convenience sampling for

our questionnaire.

Financial Constraints: Since the researchers were personally financing the

research, it limited their options for traveling to various different places in

Karachi, and of conducting more questionnaire as it usually involves

providing incentives to the participants afterwards.

1.7 Key Terms

1. Ab: Attitude towards the brand

2. Aad: Attitude towards the advertisement

3. PI: Purchase Intentions

4. Celebrity Endorser: A publicly recognized individual who uses this

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

advertisement

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Chapter 2

Review of Literature

2.1 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). Research has shown that in general celebrity endorsement

influences the feelings of the consumers and can 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

large body of research on this topic exists, ranging from theories on how the

process of endorsements works, to the way their effectiveness can be measured.

2.2 Celebrity endorsers as Apparitional Groups

A celebrity endorser used in an advertisement can be interpreted as a

reference group. A reference group is defined as any person or group of persons

that serves as a point of comparison (or reference) for an individual by

communicating values, attitudes and providing a specific guide for behavior

(Mowen, 1998). An aspiration group is a derivative of the reference group: in this

case, the consumer does not belong to the group but is willing to be associated

with it. 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

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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 (Mowen, 1998).

2.2.1 Theory of Attribution

This theory suggests that when an audience is exposed to any form for

product endorsement they tend to form certain attributions to the celebrity.

Internal attributions are formed when a consumer perceives the endorser’s

endorsement as being honest, truthful and unbiased. External Attributions are

formed when an endorsement is perceived as only serving the endorser’s

purpose. Statements such as “he’s doing it for the money” or “he’ll endorse

anything that comes his way” are examples of external attributions.

External attributions are associated with a celebrity’s message in

situations where the celebrity has endorsed more than one product. This is

especially true for situations where the celebrity has endorsed products in the

same category over an extended period of time.

2.3 Advantages of Celebrity Endorsements

Potential advantages of utilizing celebrity endorsers are that it can

increase attention, polish the image of the brand, especially when a brand will be

introduced in the market or a repositioning of a brand will take place. However,

pre-testing and careful planning is very important and the life-cycle stage of the

celebrity has also to be taken into account (Ang, Dubelaar, & Kamakara, 2007).

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Celebrity endorsing has a potential advantage when a global campaign

will be organized and celebrities who are appropriate for a global target

audience can be used; however this can be also be very expensive.

2.4 Risks of Celebrity Endorsements

Companies invest large sums of money to align their brands and

themselves with celebrity endorsers. Research has shown that because of the

fame of celebrities, they do not only create and maintain attention of the

consumers but they also achieve high message recall (Clarks and Hortsman,

2003). However, companies have limited control over the celebrity's persona

which can also result in high risk and “no gain” situations (e.g. the “scandals”

surrounding celebrities like Meera, Mohammad Asif, and more recently, PEPSI

cancelled their endorsement deal with the Pakistani cricketers involved with the

spot-fixing scandel).

As a result, companies build characters (using people who are not

celebrities) which are congruent with their brands and target-audiences, and

ensure that these characters are endorsing only one particular product.

Examples of such Endorsements are Commander Safegaurd for P&G’s Safegaurd

Soap, and Fido-Dido for PepsiCo’s 7UP.

In general, potential hazards of celebrity endorsement are the costs and

that the possibility that the celebrity overshadows the brand, or that it can

change the image, that overexposure of the celebrity takes place (especially

when a celebrity become an endorser for many different products) (Schlecht,

2003)

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2.5 Fictional Celebrities

Literature suggests that created endorsers were more effective in creating

a link to the product than non-celebrity endorsers and that there were no

significant differences for the concepts ‘attitudes towards the advertisement

(Aad)’, ‘attitude towards the brand(Ab)’ and ‘intentions to purchase (PI)

endorsed brands’ between celebrity and non-celebrity endorsement

advertisements (Roozen, 2008).

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 (Geuens & De Pelsmacker 1998). This finding augments

research on fictional-celebrity endorsements, by suggesting that fictional

characters, by their very existence, keep the consumer’s attention towards the

brand and its features.

In the literature, two general models are often used to analyze celebrity

endorsement: the source credibility model and the source attractiveness model.

Moreover, the Cognitive Balance Theory views the celebrity endorsement process

from the consumer’s cognitive perspective. These models will discussed in the

subsequent sections.

2.6 Cognitive Balance Theory

The balance theory was introduced by Fritz Heider in his book “The

Psychology of interpersonal Relations”. It deals with the cognitive relationships

between an observer (the audience), another person (the endorser) and an

object (the product being advertised) collectively known as cognitive elements.

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Each cognitive element is linked to another like apexes in a triangle via attitudes.

These attitudes are classified as positive (+) or negative (-).The Fig 2.1 shows

how these relationships are connected.

The balance theory states that people have a tendency to maintain

balanced states between these three cognitive elements (Mowen, 1998). Such a

balance exists when either all three attitudes or linkages are positive or two are

negative and one is positive or when all three are negative.

Advertisers use celebrity endorsers to introduce imbalance in the

framework which leads people to shift towards a balanced state. They choose an

endorser who is viewed favorably by the audience and introduce a positive link

between the endorser and the brand being advertised. This leads to an

imbalance which changes the attitude of the audience towards the brand.

Balanced States can be achieved in three ways which are not mutually

exclusive. First, the advertisers hire endorsers who are known to be experts so

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that people can really associate them with the product. Secondly, they hire them

for a longer period of time so that people can have a consistent image of the

brand and the endorser as being related to each other. Lastly, they have the

celebrity use and display the product in public so that the link between the

celebrity and the product is reinforced in the eyes of the audience.

2.7 Source credibility and source attractiveness model

These two models were originally defined to study the impact of the

‘source’ in the communication process (Sender MessageMediumReceiver).

They are designed to determine the conditions under which a source is

persuasive. The study of celebrity endorsements under these models is a lateral

application, since there are many types sources in a marketing communication.

The source credibility model developed by Carl Hovland and Walter

Weiss in the 1950s and is used to imply a communicator's positive

characteristics to affect the receiver's acceptance of a message. The research

concluded that the two factors trustworthiness and expertise underscore the

concept of Source Credibility (Hovland & Weiss, 1951).

Trustworthiness is defined as the degree of confidence in the

communicator's intent to communicate the assertions he considers most valid.

Research shows that when a communicator is perceived to be highly

trustworthy, an opinionated message is more effective than a non-opinionated

communication in producing attitude change. Expertise is defined as the extent to

which a communicator is perceived to be a source of valid assertions (Roozen

2008).

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To create effective messages, celebrity advertisers also have to consider

the attractiveness of the spokesperson. McGuire’s Source attractiveness model

refers to the endorser’s physical appearance, personality, likeability, and

similarity to the receiver, thus to the perceived social value of the source

(Schlecht, 2003). The use of attractive people is common practice in television

and print advertising, with physically attractive communicators having proved to

be more successful in influencing customers’ attitudes and beliefs than

unattractive spokespersons (Ohanion, 1991). This behavior mainly goes back to

a halo effect, whereby persons who perform well on one dimension, e.g. physical

attractiveness, are assumed to excel on others as well, e.g. happiness and

coolness (Mowen, 1998).

2.7.1 Endorsed brands – Consumer Involvement theory

By analyzing the influence of celebrity endorsement on the brands and or

products shown in the advertisements, it is important to make a classification

between high and low involvement of the advertisement.

Broadly speaking, consumer involvement can exist in the following areas

of Advertisements, products, persons and personal interests (Zachkowsky,

1985). Involvement in any of these areas will lead the consumer to increase his

knowledge in the respective areas. This increase in knowledge is often

accompanied by an increase in the amount of time the person allocated to the

areas of involvement. Moreover, there is also an increase in the amount of

resources an individual is will to expend as a consequence of his involvement

(Zachkowsky, 1985).

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However, it is important to note that the level of consumer involvement is

determined by a number of internal factors (Belch & Belch, 2003). Personal

Factors, such as inherent interests, values systems, or needs that provide

motivation for certain behaviors. Characteristics of the product itself also

impacts Involvement, in the sense that if the product is relevant to the

consumers’ needs, the consumer will be more involved with the product. Finally,

situational factors, such as the environmental elements that stimulate the

generation of consumer interest in a particular object (for e.g. a flashy/eye-

catching advertisement).

Thus we can broadly classify consumers and products as high

involvement and low involvement. Involvement may also depend on the share of

disposable income the product in question requires. Expensive, durable and

capital goods (automobiles, big appliances, machinery) are generally perceived

to be high involvement product groups. High involvement may also result due to

far reaching implications of a product purchase (a nose job, joining a slimming

program, installing machinery critical to a factory) or the perceived importance

of the purchase.

When studying the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements of various

products’ print advertisement, the authors concluded that less physically

attractive or non celebrity endorsers can also have high persuasion powers

depending on the type of product (Phau & Lum, 2000). If the product is low

involvement, the use of a physically attractive celebrity endorser has a high

impact on persuading the audience.

The effectiveness of the celebrity endorser is then gauged in the following

order from most effective to least effective:

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Attractive endorser > No endorser > Unattractive endorser

If the product is high involvement, the use of a relatively unattractive

endorser can achieve the same or slightly less results as those achieved by highly

attractive celebrities. Here the effectiveness follows the order:

Attractive endorser > Unattractive endorser > No endorser

The Elaboration Likelihood Model deals with how consumers develop attitudes

and beliefs about particular endorsers and products within specific categories. It

incorporates aspects of consumer involvement and presents a model of how

consumer decision-making process differs with regards the level on

involvement.

2.7.2 The Elaboration Likelihood Model

We can link the above findings back to the Elaboration Likelihood model

ELM developed by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo which states that the

advertising message can follow one of the two routes i.e. central and peripheral

(Belch & Belch, 2003).Fig 2.2 shows the ELM in detail.

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If the product is high involvement, the central route is more likely to be

followed whereby the audience will process the information using cognition. The

information is then compared with the person’s existing attitudes about the

product. People may change their attitudes as a result of this cognition. Beliefs

and attitudes that are changed due to cognition are more enduring and

predictive of the behavior of the consumer (Mowen, 1998).

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Whether or not the central route is followed depends on the motivation

and ability to process the information. In this scenario, a highly attractive

celebrity endorser is less likely to exert a great influence over the audience. The

audience may not pay too much attention to the endorser or the mere presence

of such an endorser may obstruct the cognition process. In this case, a non-

attractive celebrity endorser may perform well.

If the product is low involvement, the audience may use a peripheral

route to process the information because they are not willing to weigh the pros

and cons of the product in question. Consumers may change their beliefs about a

particular product in this case but it is unlikely that their attitudes and feeling

will be affected as well (Mowen, 1998).

A highly attractive celebrity will be more effective when the audience is

most likely to take the peripheral route of persuasion because their involvement

is low and they do not possess the motivation to process the information. The

attractive celebrity endorser will provide the peripheral cues to the audience to

process the information. These peripheral cues bypass the cognition process and

are in the realm of affection.

The implications of the involvement and ELM theory can be translated

into monetary terms. If the product is high involvement, the advertisers need not

spend too much money on hiring attractive and well know celebrities to appear

in their ads. They can make do with an unattractive celebrity. However, they

need to fulfill the audience’s need for cognition by providing as much

information as possible and in a way that it can be processed by the audience.

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2.8 The Meaning Transfer Model

McCracken (1989) explains the process of celebrity spokespersons by

assessing the meanings consumers associate with the endorser and eventually

transfer to the brand. This perspective is shared by a number of researchers

(Kambitsis, Harahouso, & Theodorakis, 2002), who found the athletes’

personality as being an important factor in influencing “specific target groups, to

which such personalities are easily recognizable and much admired.” McCracken

suggests a meaning transfer model that is composed of three subsequent stages.

The meaning transfer process is shown in the figure below.

First, the meaning associated with the famous person moves from the

endorser to the product or brand. Thus, meanings attributed to the celebrity

become associated with the brand in the consumer’s mind. Finally, in the

consumption process, the brand’s meaning is acquired by the customer. The

third stage of the model explicitly shows the importance of the consumer’s role

in the process of endorsing brands with famous persons.

McCracken’s model is based on the concept of meanings. Celebrities

contain a broad range of meanings, involving demographic categories (e.g. age,

gender, and status), personality and lifestyle types. Madonna, for example, is

perceived as a tough, intense and modern western women, and is associated

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with the lower middle class American. The personality of Imran Khan is best

characterized as the perfect gentlemen, whereas Shoaib Akhter has the image of

the ‘Bad Boy’ or ‘Rebel’. Although these examples are based on individual

perceptions, is important to understand that the endorsers all have a set of

meanings that they bring to a product. In other words, a famous person

represents not one single meaning, but expresses a number and variety of

different meanings. According to Martin (1996), celebrity spokespersons are

useful in marketing because they provide a “set of characteristics” that supports

consumers in evaluating the presented brand.

In contrast to anonymous endorsers, celebrities add value to the image

transfer process by offering meanings of extra depth and power, what is

complemented by their lifestyles and personalities (McCracken 1989).

2.9 Attitude towards the brand and Advertisement

The Elaboration Likelihood Model suggests that consumers develop

attitude towards the advertisement by observing the degree of affect and

cognitive information from them. These attitudes influence their attitudes

towards the brand. ‘

Literature further explains that Attitude towards the ad refers to a

consumer’s liking or disliking for a particular advertising stimulus during a

particular advertising exposure. In the case of low-involvement products, the

decision making process is mainly effected by the peripheral cues in the

advertisement. Factors affecting the attitude towards the Brand include Content,

imagery vividness, consumer’s mood, emotions the advertisement elicits,

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consumer liking for the TV program in which the ad is embedded. The Figure

below shows the relationship between Ab and Aad.

When a consumer is exposed to an advertisement, she/he develops a set

of feelings and judgments about the advertisement. Moreover, the exposure to an

advertisement also impacts the consumers’ beliefs about the brand being

advertised.

The feelings developed for the advertisement in turn impact the attitude

toward the advertisement (Aad), and the judgments impacts the consumers

beliefs about the brand.

The attitude towards the advertisement and beliefs about the ad result in a

consumers Attitude towards the Brand (Ab).

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Chapter 3

Research Methodology

The model this research paper follows is defined below

The paper is going to determine whether there is a relationship between source

factors (i.e. credibility and attractiveness) and Ab, Aad and PI. Moreover, a

descriptive statistical analysis will be used to compare respondents’ score on Ab,

Aad and PI for all three print advertisements.

3.1 Research Hypotheses

On the basis of the review of the literature the conclusion can be drawn that

celebrity endorsement can be effective, but only under well defined conditions

(Clark & Horstmann, 2003). Celebrity endorsers are, however, typically

expensive and there is a risk that the celebrity and or his/her unexpected

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behavior overshadows the product. This suggests that the use of anonymous

models or even no celebrity (no picture) is still an option that should be

investigated seriously. Moreover, on the basis of research results, it is not always

significantly less effective (Roozen, 2008).

When a brand and/or product is endorsed by a celebrity endorser, the

perceived celebrity image and the perceived brand image will interact with each

other and images will be transferred from the endorsed brand to the celebrity

endorser and vice versa. This raises the following Hypotheses:

H1: Celebrity endorsements positively reinforce Brand Attitude

H2: Celebrity endorsements positively reinforce Attitude towards the Advertisement.

H3: Celebrity endorsements positively reinforce Purchase Intentions.

This study tries to test the three hypotheses for celebrity endorsers in respect of

low involvement product category product (Pantene Shampoo). The research is

based on written questionnaires obtained from a sample of the population of

IBA, Karachi

The study is articulated along two separate, but linked, areas of celebrity

endorsements. The first part attempts to analyze the congruency between the

celebrity endorser and the Credibility, Expertise & Attractiveness that she brings

to the advertisement. Here the researchers will assess the perceived fit between

the product and celebrity and compare it to the source factors of a non-celebrity

endorser. The respondents will be shown one celebrity endorsed and one non-

celebrity endorsed print advertisements, and will be asked to rate these models

on Likert scales for items that measure credibility, expertise and attractiveness

(Ohanian, 1990). An element of internal attribution will also be gauged to

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ascertain as to how the respondents attribute the celebrity’s endorsement as

being honest and credible.

In the second part the two print advertisements will be compared in

terms of their impact on the same audience’s Ab, Aad and PI. The second part will

also include in its assessment a print advertisement with no model at all.

The main objective of the second research phase is to analyze the relative

effectiveness of celebrity endorsement compared to “non-celebrity”

endorsement and “non-endorsement”.

The print advertisements used in the research have been made by the

researchers, and bear no connection with the advertisements of Proctor &

Gamble. Since this particular study deals with low involvement products, the

amount of verbalization has been kept constant for all three advertisements, to

ensure equal levels of elaboration.

3.2 Participants

The target population for the research are the people, between the ages of 18

and 25 year, living in Karachi. The sampling plan that will be used is Convenience

Sampling. This is due to time and cost restrictions. In convenience sampling,

members of the population are chosen based on their relative ease of access. A

total of 30 survey questionnaires were filled by IBA Students, belonging to the

same age bracket as the population, with 22 female respondents and 8 male

respondents.

3.3 Materials

The research is a study on the stochastic relationship between the Celebrity

Endorsements and attitude towards the brand, attitude towards the

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Advertisement and purchase Intentions of the consumers. The materials used

were a set of print advertisements for low involvement products. No other

materials were used (see appendix A)

The celebrity endorsed advertisement shows the Indian actress and model

Katrina Kaif. She has previously endorsed a number of products, ranging from

tea to hair-removal creams to beauty soaps.

The Non-celebrity endorsed ad shows as Brazilian ad for Pantene. The model is

unknown to most Pakistanis; therefore she was used to represent Pantene as an

anonymous endorser.

The unendorsed print ad shows a pair of broken scissors. Without any verbal

information, the consumer’s mind interprets the ad as saying that Pantene makes

your hair very strong.

3.4 Procedure

Respondents will be shown a set of print advertisements for Pantene Shampoo

(one each for Celebrity endorsed, Anonymous Model, and No Model) (see

Appendix A). Respondents will then be asked to assess these models with

regards to their fit with the product (Ohanian, 1990), after which they will

respond to a set of items that measure their Ab, Aad and PI (Roozen, 2008) (See

Appendix B). The Advertisements used in the research were of Pantene Shampoo,

due to its low-mid consumer involvement.

When measuring credibility, it is important to differentiate credibility with

regards to the brand and credibility as a characteristic of the endorser. To be

effective, an endorser must have credibility that goes beyond the realm of the

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brand. However, for low involvement situations credibility restricted to the

confines of the ‘brand universe’ are acceptable since the target does not process

too much cognition based communication.

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Chapter 4

Results

4.1 Impact of Source Factors on Ab

A simple regression analysis was conducted to assess the effect of source factors

(credibility and attractiveness) on the consumers’ attitude towards the brand. A

composite figure was used as the independent variable that represented the

combined scores of credibility and attractiveness. The dependent variable here is

the consumer’s Ab, measured on semantic differential scales.

For each advertisement, celebrity and non-celebrity, the source factors

composite was tested on the Ab. The results for the celebrity endorser are as

shown in Fig 4.1, and for non celebrity endorser in Table 4.2

Fig 4.1 Aad vs celeb

Regression Statistics Multiple R 0.604758677 R Square 0.365733057 Adjusted R Square 0.343080667 Standard Error 0.401509047 Observations 30

Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value

Intercept 1.445019963 0.389797063 3.707108389 0.000916191

X Variable 1 0.259630949 0.064614706 4.018140196 0.00040025

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Fig 4.2

Aad vs non celeb Regression Statistics

Multiple R 0.413861727 R Square 0.171281529 Adjusted R Square 0.141684441 Standard Error 0.458947286 Observations 30


Intercept 1.884299197 0.464477693 4.056813113 0.000360767

X Variable 1 0.163526468 0.067976263 2.405640748 0.022995054

The R-square value suggests that 36.45% of changes in a consumer’s attitude

towards the brand are caused by the positive perception of the celebrity’s

credibility and attractiveness, as compared to 17.12% for Non-celebrity

endorser. The results also show that the coefficient for Ab is relatively higher

(0.259) for Celebrity endorsements as opposed to that for anonymous endorser

(0163). This clearly indicates that using celebrity endorsements has a stronger

impact on Attitude towards the brand than using a non-celebrity endorser.

4.2 Impact of source factors on Aad

Results for the effect of attitude towards the advertisements are shown in Fig 4.3

and Fig 4.4, for celebrity and non-celebrity endorsers, respectively.

Fig 4.3 Ab vs Celeb


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Intercept 0.312007662 0.751637418 0.415103951 0.004229466

X Variable 1 0.488831337 0.124595169 3.923357068 0.000515881

Fig 4.4 Ab vs non celeb



Intercept 1.992730316 0.947056649 2.10413001 0.044473033

X Variable 1 0.180870877 0.138601644 1.304969205 0.202526688

Once again, the results show that attitudes towards the brands are influenced by

35.4% by celebrity endorsers as compared to only 5.7% for non-celebrity

endorsers. The coefficient is also higher for celebrities as compared to non

celebrities.

4.3 Impact of source factors on PI:

The results of regression for endorsers versus purchasae intention is tabulated

below.

Fig 4.5 Purchase intention vs celeb


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Intercept -

1.343449876 0.66442742 -

2.021966337 0.052828846

X Variable 1 0.592424733 0.110138805 5.378891986 9.85271E-06

Fig 4.6 PI vs non celeb Regression Statistics

Multiple R 0.525837491 R Square 0.276505067 Adjusted R Square 0.250665963 Standard Error 0.830086015 Observations 30


Intercept -0.53637984 0.840088719 -

0.638479994 0.528349543

X Variable 1 0.402189189 0.122946898 3.271243075 0.002841537

It is evident from the results that a celebrity endorser is much more

effective (50.8%) in increasing the purchase intention of conumsers than non-

celebrity endorsers (27.6%). The slope for celebrity endorsers is also much

steeper for celebrity endorser than for non-celebrity endorsers.

Based on the results obtained, it is safe to assume that celebrity

endorsements have a better impact in terms of attitude towards the ad, attitude

towards the brand and purchase intention.

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4.4 Descriptive Comparison of Ab, Aad and PI for three print copies

The table below gives the average score of the three advertisements for attitude

towards the brand and advertisement and respondent’s purchase intentions.

Internal

Attribution Attitude towards

the Brand Attitude towards

the Advertisement Purchase Intentions

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Celebrity 2.74 1.02 3.43 0.59 3.21 0.90 2.17 0.92

Non Celebrity

3.00 0.96 3.76 0.78 3.44 0.80 2.30 1.16

No Model 3.72 1.18 3.65 0.85 3.00 0.42

Fig 4.7 Average scores for print copies

The internal attributions of the consumer for the celebrity was lower than that of

the non-celebrity endorser. This can be because of the fact that Katrina Kaif has

endorsed a number of products belonging to various categories, ranging from tea

to hair-removal creams.

The Ab score was lowest for the celebrity endorsed advertisement, whereas

these scores were relatively equal for the non-celebrity endorser and un-

endorsed advertisement. However, it is important to note that there is not much

of a difference in the consumer’s Ab across all three advertisements. This can be

attributed to the fact that Pantene is one of the most well know shampoo brands

in the Pakistani market.

Moreover, the Aad was significantly higher for Un-endorsed ad (no model used).

This indicated towards the notion that a creative execution can have relatively

greater impact on the consumer’s attitude.

Finally, the purchase intention was noted to be significantly higher for the un-

endorsed advertisement. It is also worth noticing that the standard deviation of

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purchase intentions is also much lower that the two endorsed advertisements.

This can again be seen as a product of the creative approach used by the

marketers at P&G.

35

Chapter 5

Discussion

The purpose of this research was to analyze the effectiveness of celebrity

endorsements on the attitude towards the Brand and its advertisement along

with the consequent intentions to purchase that product. The research

hypothesized that celebrity endorsements positively affect the entire above

mentioned criterion. However, the results direct us in a different direction,

implying that celebrity endorsements have the same, or greater, effect as the

non-celebrity endorsed advertisements, however, there is evidence to suggest

that the use of a model-less creative execution can also have positive impact on

the attitudinal constructs measured in this research.

Moreover, it can be inferred from the results of the descriptive analysis on

attitudes and purchase intentions, that a creatively executed print copy also has

a strong influence. This means that creative ‘out-of-the-box’ executions can be a

better substitute for expensive celebrity endorsement campaigns. Investments in

creative executions can thus lead to effective usage of advertising dollars.

This research however was conducted with limited time and resources.

This means that various extensions to the original research problems are

required to enhance the understanding of the celebrity endorsement

phenomenon. There are various ways in which this could be undertaken.

First, a larger number of products should be analyzed. Moreover, in light

of the findings in this research, it would be interesting to explicitly analyze the

perceived nature (e.g. low involvement) of the products since this may differ

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from standard categories found in the literature of the 1980s and 1990s which

may not be fully relevant to today’s product mix and young generations.

Secondly, it would be interesting to analyze to what extent generational

and cultural differences affect the relative effectiveness of different

advertisements. Extending the research to other age groups, introducing regional

variation (city vs. country-side) and covering nationals in more countries would

be necessary to obtain results that can be more easily generalized.

Thirdly, there are some indications in this research that the nature of the

pictures used for endorsers (revealing, sexy, and close-up vs. full frontal) may

have a significant effect. Given that such variations can be easily obtained at low

cost in designing real life advertisement campaigns, this extension could be

highly relevant.

Finally, this analysis has limited itself to youth of Karachi, leaving open

the question whether older people or different socio-economic classes perceive

celebrity endorsements differently for some product categories. This again,

should be addressed in follow up research.

37

Bibliography

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Endorsement. Australia and Newzealand Marketing Academy) Conference 2007. University

of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand: Department of Marketing, School of Business, University of

Otago.

Badura, A. (1965). Influence of Models Reinforcement Contingencies on the Acquisition of

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Belch, M. A., & Belch, G. E. (2003). Advertising and Promotion: An IMC Perspective. McGraw-

Hill Co.

BlondE, K., & Roozen, I. (2007). An Explorative Study of Testing the Effectiveness of Product

Placement Compared to 30-Second Commercials. International Congress "Marketing

Trends". Paris.

Clark, C. R., & Horstmann, I. J. (2003). Celebrity Endorsements. Journal of Marketing

Research, Vol 14, Issue 4 .

Hovland, C. I., & Weiss, W. (1951). The Influence of Source credibility on communication

effectiveness. Public Opinion Quaterly .

Kak Yoon, C. H.-S. (1998). A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Effects of Source Credibility on

Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions. Mass Communication & Society. Volume: 1. Issue: 3/4. ,

151-153.

Kambitsis, C., Harahouso, Y., & Theodorakis, N. (2002). Sports Advertising in Print media: the

case of 2000 olympics. Corporate Communications: An international Journal, vol 7 , 161.

McCracked, G. (1989). Who is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the

Endorsement Process. Journal of Consumer Research .

Mowen, J. C. (1998). Consumer Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity Endorsers'

Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness and Attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, vol. 19, pp

39 – 52 .

Ohanion, R. (1991). The Impact of Celebrity Spokespersons' Perceived Image on Consumers'

Intentions to purchase. Journal of Advertising Research .

Phau, I., & Lum, L. (2000). The effects of physical attractiveness in the evaluation of print

advertisements. Asia-Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics .

Roozen, I. (2008). The Relative Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement for Beauty, High- and

Low. International Congress "Marketing Trends", (p. 1). Venice.

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Schlecht, C. (2003, January 15). Celebrities’ Impact on Branding. Center on Global Brand

Leadership Periodical .

Silvera, D. H., & Austad, B. (2004). Factors predicting the effectiveness of celebrity

endorsement advertisements. European Journal of Marketing , 1509.

Walker, M., Langmeyer, L., & Langmeyer, D. (1992). Celebrity Endorsers: Do You get what

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Zachkowsky, J. (1985). Measuring the Involvement Construct. Journal of Consumer research .

39

Appendix A: Print Ads

Celebrity Endorser

Anonymous Endorser

40

Unendorsed Advertisement

41

Appendix B: Questionnaire

SECTION 1

42

PART I

1. Do you recognize the celebrity in the advertisement?

a. Yes

b. No

If no, please move to the last page of this section

2. What is the Celebrity’s name?

a. Shilpa Shetty

b. Resham

c. Katrina Kaif

d. Mahnoor Baloch

3. What is the Celebrity primarily famous for?

a. Movies

b. Modeling

c. TV serials

d. Sports

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PART II

Answer the following statement

Strongly

Disagree Disagree Indifferent Agree

Strongly Agree

1 The Model has expertise necessary to endorse this product.

2 The Model has experience necessary to endorse this product.

3 The Model has qualifications necessary to endorse this product.

4 The Model has knowledge necessary to endorse this product.

5 The Model is honest enough to endorse this product.

6 The Model is trustworthy enough to endorse this product.

7

The Model is reliable enough to endorse this product.

8

The Model is dependable enough to endorse this product.

9

The Model is attractive enough to endorse this product.

10

The Model is charismatic enough to endorse this product.

11

The Model is beautiful enough to endorse this product.

12 The Model is sophisticated enough to endorse this product.

13 If I think of The Model, I think almost directly of Pantene

14

The idea of The Model as an endorser for Pantene is according to me an optimum fit.

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15 I think that The Model is a relevant endorser for Pantene

16

I think that The Model is a suitable endorser for Pantene

PART III

Answer the following statements by circling one of the five given options (1 “highly unlikely”, 2

“unlikely”, 3 “I don’t know”, 4 “likely” and 5 “Likely”)

The Model likes Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

The Model frequently uses Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

The Model views Pantene as a good product 1 2 3 4 5

Rate the Advertisement on the following criterion

Interesting [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Uninteresting Pleasant [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Unpleasant Likeable [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Unlikeable Good [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Bad

Rate Pantene on the following criterion


Answer the following question by circling one of the five given options (1 “strongly disagree”, 2

“disagree”, 3 “indifferent”, 4 “agree” and 5 “Agree”)

I would buy a Pantene every time

I purchase a shampoo 1 2 3 4 5

The presence of the model has further motivated me to purchase Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

I would prefer to buy another shampoo

besides Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

45

SECTION 2

46

PART I

Please check the relevant box

Strongly

Disagree Disagree Indifferent Agree

Strongly Agree

1 The Model has expertise necessary to endorse this product.

2 The Model has experience necessary to endorse this product.

3 The Model has qualifications necessary to endorse this product.

4 The Model has knowledge necessary to endorse this product.

5 The Model is honest enough to endorse this product.

6

The Model is trustworthy enough to endorse this product.

7 The Model is reliable enough to endorse this product.

8 The Model is dependable enough to endorse this product.

9 The Model is attractive enough to endorse this product.

10

The Model is charismatic enough to endorse this product.

11 The Model is beautiful enough to endorse this product.

12 The Model is sophisticated enough to endorse this product.

13

If I think of The Model, I think almost directly of Pantene

14

The idea of The Model as an endorser for Pantene is according to me an optimum fit.

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15 I think that The Model is a relevant endorser for Pantene

16

I think that The Model is a suitable endorser for Pantene

PART II

Answer the following statements by circling one of the five given options (1 “highly unlikely”, 2

“unlikely”, 3 “I don’t know”, 4 “likely” and 5 “Likely”)

The Model likes Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

The Model frequently uses Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

The Model views Pantene as a good product 1 2 3 4 5







I would buy a Pantene every time

I purchase a shampoo 1 2 3 4 5

The presence of the model has further motivated

me to purchase Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

I would prefer to buy another shampoo besides Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

48

SECTION 3

49

Please answer the following questions







I would buy a Pantene every time I purchase a shampoo 1 2 3 4 5

I would prefer to buy another shampoo besides Pantene 1 2 3 4 5

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