What is celebrity endorsement?: 

What is celebrity endorsement? Celebrity endorsement is an use of celebrities in order to increase the sales and or recall the value of particular brand is called celebrity endorsement.

Objective : 

Objective To know the impact of celebrity endorsement on brand. To know whether celebrity endorsement increase the sales of the company. To study and understand whether celebrity endorsement work in India.

From Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall advertising Robert Burns Cigarillos and Betty Davis selling Lustre Cream Shampoo to Bill Cosby and Jello Pudding, companies have long loved using celebrities to endorse their brands. And who can forget Brooke Shields’ famous line, “You wanna know what comes between me and my Calvins?”

It’s true: Celebrity endorsements can reap huge rewards for a brand. Yet they have numerous pitfalls that companies should consider before developing an endorsement program.

The Benefits of Celebrity Endorsements

Build brand equity. Prior to Michael Jordan, Nike primarily sponsored tennis and track athletes. Nike wanted expand into new markets. Who better to sign than one the most electrifying young athletes in sports? The Nike-Jordan partnership has blossomed into its own multibillion dollar subsidiary company, Air Jordan.

Help people remember ads.Celebrity endorsements can improve ad recall, according to researchers Jagdish Agrawal and Wagner Kamakura. When people would see or hear Dennis Haysbert on the show “24,” they associate his voice with Allstate.

Make people believe the product contributes to superstar status. Mobile One uses NASCAR superstar Tony Stewart to endorse its brand, which leads consumers to believe that Motor One oil contributes greatly to the performance of his car—and his success.

Stand out. Research from Charles Atkin and Martin Block suggests that “celebrities may help advertising stand out from the surrounding clutter.” People like watching George Clooney or Natalie Portman more than local dentists and attorneys.

Note: It takes time and repetition for association to occur. Celebrity endorsements are not short-term tactics.

Selecting a Celebrity for a Brand

Brands are important company assets. Advertisers need to select celebrities who represent the image and promise of their brands. (For more information on brand promises, read FrogDog’s article series on branding.) Not all celebrities fit with all brands.

For example, at the height of “Sex and the City,” Sarah Jessica Parker signed on as a face of Gap. However, Parker was so closely associated with her show’s haute couture style that the association didn’t resonate with consumers. In 2005, Gap replaced her with Joss Stone and Keith Urban, who are more likely to wear Gap-style clothing in the public eye. Since then, Gap has continued to use celebrities who align better with their brand, such as the Avett Brothers and Kaki King.

The Risks of Celebrity Endorsement

Yet even if a celebrity is a good fit for the brand, using one for endorsements has its own set of possible risks:

Images change. Celebrities make mistakes. And when they do, they can affect the brands they endorse. In 2009, Tiger Woods’ public image crumbled after his infidelity with a number of women, including pornography actresses, hit the news. General Motors, Gillette, Accenture, and Gatorade dropped Tiger to avoid negative perception. Nike stuck around and lost customers. And the golf industry as a whole saw a major revenue slow-down with no Tiger on the course.

Celebrities become overexposed. At the height of Tiger Woods’ popularity, he endorsed over ten companies at once. When a celebrity works with so many companies, the celebrity’s credibility may suffer. People may feel that the celebrity will endorse anything to make a buck.

Celebrities can overshadow brands. Consumers may focus on the celebrity, not the product. This is a particular danger when celebrities endorse multiple products at a time. David Beckham endorses a number of companies, which feature him prominently in print advertising. However, his image as the focal point of advertising devalues many products. Do you remember the brand or do you remember David Beckham?

The extent of the faithfulness of consumers to a particular brand, expressed through their repeat purchases, irrespective of the marketing pressure generated by the competing brands.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-loyalty.html#ixzz2yx431s6E

Just as the name suggests, brand loyalty is the preference a customer develops for a particular brand of product, above other brands in the same or similar category. The importance of brand loyalty in marketing pertains to the ability of a company to encourage and sustain the loyalty of consumers to its brand of products through effective marketing. Brand loyalty in marketing is a process that requires careful study of consumer trends by a company or manufacturer with a view to apply the knowledge gained to the sale of its products.

Studying some of the buying habits of the consumer will show if he or she is loyal to a brand. An example is if the consumer would rather buy a particular brand of product out of a variety of choices from the same category of products. For instance, a consumer would rather buy ABC glass cleaner out of a pool of about 30 other similar products. Another sign is if the consumer is willing to pay a little extra or put in a little more effort in order to get the desired brand. If a store does not have ABC glass cleaner and the consumer is willing to go to another store to look for the brand, then that shows the consumer is loyal to that brand of glass cleaner.

A company can use marketing tools like advertising, promotions and other types of strategy to encourage consumers to develop loyalty to its brand of product. While advertising the product, the company will emphasize its good qualities and why it has an edge over similar competing products. Effective marketing also includes the use of promotional tools, such as rewards for using the product, discounts, coupons and the buy-one-get-one-free strategy.

The effect of brand loyalty in marketing with regards to a company includes increased sales, consistent sales through the development of a reliable consumer base, and an overall growth of the company. Even though developing brand loyalty is important, it can be difficult to sustain due to a variety of reasons. Consumer trends change arbitrarily, and the company must adapt to the changes in trends in order to satisfy, retain and even add more consumers to its loyalty base. In a competitive market, companies also have to deal with the competition trying to grow their loyal consumer base. Just the same, other companies that sell similar products will explore the effect of brand loyalty in marketing in order to increase their profits and outsell the competition.

To help ensure your customers will remember your brand, we’ve outlined six (6) steps to build brand loyalty:

1)    Establish brand storytelling – Create stories that communicate the personality, values and experiences of your brand.  Genone Murrary, Course Director in Internet Marketing at Sail University, argues that companies should base these stories by analyzing and understanding the personality, values and experiences of your customers.  Create a brand story that connects with your product/service and target demographics.  Don’t equate your brand story with a list of products, services or prices.  Build your brand story by determining what sets your company apart from your competitors and what establishes a unique identity for you (unique selling proposition – USP). Create brand storytelling and experiences both in-person and online.

2)    Connect with your customers – Be present at touch points which matter most to your customers and provide an emotional connection.  As brands are battling for higher affinity, connect and engage with your customers on a regular basis.  Increase awareness amongst your customers.  Provide your customers with value and motivation and create a community that builds buzz around your brand.

3)    Anticipate their needs – Don’t start selling to your customers, listen to their needs and focus on what your customers want. Your customers are looking for the next experience, so offer them additional value or incentives (i.e. loyalty cards or programs), as these customers are typically more profitable and will most likely reciprocate by staying loyal to your brand.

4)    Deliver on promise – Make it a habit to deliver happiness every step of the way.  Show your customers that you truly care by surpassing their expectations.  Offer something new or exciting and stay true to your brand mission and promise.

5)    Be consistent – Consistently delivering the same message and performance through all lines of business is reassuring and helps keep your brand top-of-mind.  Being consistent helps re-affirm your customers’ trust and credibility in your brand, and helps provide clarity of distinction from competitors.

6)    Deliver personalized experiences – Digital marketing enables us to connect with customers in different ways.  Drive a strategy of conversational marketing that orchestrates one-to-one seamless messaging across all channels.  Profile, segment and analyze your customer base and past buying patterns and create personalized, two-way interactions with your customers that are relevant and customized. Don’t group your customers as stats. Keep your focus on building customer relationships.

To establish brand loyalty you must live by your company’s core principles and go above and beyond customer expectations.  Go the extra mile to set your brand apart from anyone else.  Determine your company’s inside advantage.  Find something uncommon about your offering, and find a way to become well-known to your core customer base by offering a differentiation. Kevin Roberts from Saatchi & Saatchi describes the goal of marketing as the creation of “loyalty beyond reason.”  Marketers should focus on creating more brand loyalists and “brands that create an intimate emotional connection that you simply can’t do without.  Ever” Your existing customers are the most valuable to your business, so start to create an emotional connection and reward them.

As a marketer, how much effort should you invest in growing brand loyalty?  Do you believe that if you attain brand loyalty, everything else will naturally follow?

Click here to find out more on how Couch & Associates brand loyalty marketing initiatives can help keep your brand top-of-mind with your existing customers.