Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on a Product’s Brand

Introduction

Celebrity endorsement is regarded an efficient promotional and marketing technique used by marketers around the world. One in four marketing campaigns utilize celebrity endorsement. Celebrity endorsement impacts marketing success, brand recall, brand recognition, buying decisions and even buying behaviors. Current research has also depicted that celebrity endorsement directs to a favorable conduct toward the endorsed product, however does it have worth with respect to developing brand equity? The phrase brand equity relates to the incremental worth added by a product name to a brand. Existing literature focuses the requirement for further research recognizing marketing practices that can establish brand equity. It is generally accepted that marketing is beneficial in creating brand equity and the spokesperson may become related with a brand in reminiscence, however how does celebrity endorsement direct to enhancements in brand equity? Armbruster (2006) have recommended that celebrity endorsers can establish brand equity through generating secondary relations. Cornwell (2014) have offered that a celebrity endorser functions as a co-brand for the endorsed brand emerging from the generation of equity for both the endorsing celebrity and endorsed brand. There is also practical evidence to express that celebrity endorsement creates higher remembrance for both the advertisement and the endorsed brand (Cornwell, 2014). Research has also depicted that celebrity endorsement can impact perceived brand quality and exclusivity (Dwivedi, McDonald and Johnson, 2014). However, there is limited knowledge of how the endorser’s credibility might impact the endorsed product’s equity. Moreover, the credibility highlighted by a product is regarded critical and is assumed to participate in establishing brand equity through indirectly putting consumer value to the product (Dwivedi, McDonald and Johnson, 2014). Does the utilization of celebrities for brand endorsements lead to enhancements in brand credibility? Existing research does not resolve this query also. The activity of sub-branding, whereas a current brand name is linked with a new brand name to enter a varied product segment (Dwivedi, McDonald and Johnson, 2014), id hugely utilized in industries like automobiles. However, it is not apparent whether celebrity endorsement can be more or less efficient for sub-branding as contrasted to their parent products. Precisely, research is required to empirically evaluate the association between brand credibility and the endorser as well as the development of consumer based brand equity.

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Literature Review

Friedman and Friedman (1979) elaborates the word celebrity relates to a person who is recognized to the masses, like actors, entertainers or sports figures among others alike for their accomplishment in fields external to the brand class endorsed. Jafar, Adidam and Prasad (2011) elaborated that the common assumption among marketers is that marketing messages offered through celebrities offer an increased degree of attention, attraction and probably message reminiscence than those offered through non-celebrities. Advertisers also believe that celebrities impact the credibility of the pledges made, augment the recall of the message and may offer an optimistic impact that could be universalized to the product (Jafar, Adidam and Prasad, 2011). The utilization of (through relating paradigms) appeal individuals is general practice in print media and television, with tangibly appealing communicators having proved to be more effective in impacting consumers’ behaviors and assumptions as compared to unattractive presenters.

This literature review has following objectives in order to conduct an in-depth understanding and analysis of various researches:

To understand the reasons of using celebrities in brand endorsements.
To understand the impact of celebrities brand endorsement on brand equity and credibility.

To estimate the impact of marketing campaigns endorsed by celebrities

Several marketing researches assume that, through a customer viewpoint, brand equity relates to the gradual value added by a product name on to a brand (Malik and Sudhakar, 2014). Researches offer two of the most hugely approved outlines of brand equity relied on the customer viewpoint (Malik and Sudhakar, 2014). Brand equity can be recognized as a set of resources or liabilities comprising of brand recognition, brand partners, perceived brand quality, loyalty along with other ownership resources. On the contrary, brand equity has also been related to as a consumer oriented brand equity and explained as the differential impact of brand awareness on customer reaction to the marketing of the product (Ogunsiji, 2012). Though both concepts implemented a customer viewpoint and emphasized hugely on memory oriented brand relations there are small disparities in their ideologies of brand equity. The former had increased perceived brand quality or quality based brand relations as an individual dimension, the latter considered all forms of brand relations comprising of those that are quality based as brand image. Through a consumer viewpoint, the first four viewpoints (including brand awareness, perceived brand quality, brand loyalty and brand associations) are regarded crucial (Ogunsiji, 2012). Ohanian (1990) have demonstrated the term customer based brand equity to relate to the set of these four dimensions of brand equity. This conduct is adopted in the current research and customer based brand equity is determined as the value customers relate with a brand, as interpreted in the dimensions of brand knowledge, brand loyalty, brand associations and perceived quality (Ohanian, 1990). Brand awareness relates to the effectiveness of a brand’s existence in a consumer’s intellect (Pradhan, Duraipandian and Sethi, 2015). Brand awareness is an important condition for brand equity, devoid of which customers cannot have brand relations, brand loyalty and perceptions of brand quality. Brand knowledge constitutes of brand recall and brand identification while brand associations relate to the several interpretations encompassing a brand (Pradhan, Duraipandian and Sethi, 2015). Perceived brand quality relates to a consumer’s individual assessment of brand. Eventually, brand loyalty is assumed through an attitudinal brand loyalty viewpoint since customer based brand equity is relied on customer viewpoints, rather than real conduct. Intrinsically, brand loyalty is explained as the propensity to be dependable to a focal product, which is apparent by the deliberation to buy that product as a first choice.

Credibility of Endorser –Credibility of Brand

A company can work towards establishing brand credibility as it is hugely driven by the excellence of the data expressed through the marketing campaigns related with a product (Ohanian, 1990). Since as a tool of marketing communication, brand endorsement will constitute few of the signal of the endorsed product, it appears likely that the credibility of a brand endorser will eventually shift to the product. For instance, movie star who is dedicated to promoting ecological causes, Cate Blanchett is regarded to be highly credible. Thus, when the star endorsed skin care brand of SK-II, the customer’s credibility viewpoints of this extravagant product are likely to be optimistically impacted. As a whole, increased endorser credibility should direct to increased brand credibility. In addition, brand investment is also known to be as a sign of brand credibility, since it is regarded that businesses that make huge brand investments are more prone to offer the promised quality (Pradhan, Duraipandian and Sethi, 2015). Therefore, simple utilization of celebrity endorsement increase sales and may be related with an increased extent of brand credibility. Relied on the preceding debate, the following assumptions is obtained.

Credibility of Brand – Customer Based Brand Equity

It is assumed that brand credibility reinforces customer based brand equity. As such, theory of brand signaling recommends that credibility can establish brand equity (Sabunwala, 2013). Credible products relish lower data gathering and information processing prices, and reduced perceived risk (Sabunwala, 2013). Moreover, increased brand credibility can augment consumers’ viewpoints of product quality through impacting their psychological procedures whereby independent levels of quality are shifted into perceived, general levels of quality (Seno and Lukas, 2005). Through favorable impacting attribute viewpoints, perceived risk and information costs, brand credibility augments the customer-expected value of a product, therefore adding customer utility to a brand. It can be said that extant brand credibility is so important that devoid of which, even the most trustworthy endorser can be assumed to do little in establishing brand equity. Here, an old adage can be attributed which suggests that marketing cannot save an adverse brand. Based on the preceding explanations, a critical evaluation of the literature review is presented below.

Critical Analysis of Literature Review

The straight link between credibility of the endorser and customer based brand equity is elaborated in the literature review. It has been presented that celebrity endorsement could reinforce brand recognition and brand recall, as a celebrity endorser offers as an extra node in memory and is linked with a brand node. It becomes easier to detect this node when there are several links for a node since there are numerous substitute ways to this node in consumer’s memory (Seno and Lukas, 2005). An extremely credible celebrity will become more effectively linked with the endorsed product in a customer’s intellect (Seno and Lukas, 2005).

When an extremely credible scientist who accomplished celebrity status, Ian Frazer, through making a vaccine cure for cervical cancer patients, endorses social initiative ‘Ride to Work’, Bicycle Victoria’s effort, both recognition and recall are likely to be optimistic for the effort. Thus, it is predicted that endorser credibility would help brand recognition and recall. Managing brand equity hugely engages regulating the meanings related with a brand in reminiscence (Sivesan, 2013). Researchers support leveraging ancillary associations to reinforce brand equity, whereas a brand can be associated to another body like a celebrity (Sivesan, 2013). The other body will have its own links, which should eventually be shifted to the product (Spry and Pappu, 2011). As an example, endorsement through Ricky Ponting, a cricket player, who is respected by customers in the Indian market region due to his role as the head of the Australian cricket team, might assist the brand Valvoline through interacting links like reliability and high performance (Spry and Pappu, 2011). Thus, when a trustworthy endorser endorses a product, customers may not merely relate the celebrity with the product, and however they may also associate celebrity links to the endorsed product; therefore making a bigger network of connotations.

Celebrity endorsement can also impact perceived brand quality. Celebrities can work as external signals to infer data on brand features as well as quality, which subsequently decreases consumer ambiguity and motivates specific product preference (Armbruster, 2006). Previous study on classical conditioning has depicted how a relation with one provocation like a celebrity, can cause advantage to another provocation such as product (Armbruster, 2006). Conditioning can be helpful in shifting a lasting behavior towards a product (Cornwell, 2014), which can establish brand loyalty. The principles of conditioning recommend that celebrity endorsement can influence on brand loyalty by inferential formation of belief and affectual transfer.

According to Cornwell (2014) affectual transfer relates to the optimistic assessment of one body when it is linked with another body in a mind of a consumer, while inferential assumption formation relates to shifts in a person’s attitude toward a product because of its relation with another body. Eventually, predicting that celebrities are more effectively related with then endorsed product, it is likely that a highly trustworthy endorser would create increased extents of brand loyalty. As an example, brand endorsements by Dick Smith, credible Australian businessman and philanthropist for domestic products such as Temptin, are likely to impact customers’ loyalty towards these products more optimistically. On the contrary, developed products have their individual credibility and the degree of endorser impact on consumer-based brand equity is comparative to developed brand credibility. Based on the previous debate, the following assumptions can be generated.

The trustworthiness of a celebrity brand endorser will constructively influence the customer based equity of the endorsed product.
Brand credibility facilitates the link between endorser credibility and customer based brand equity.

Areas of Future Research

There exist numerous overarching dimensions for future research. Initially, longitudinal research could be carried out with repeated initiatives of within-topic empirical framework. A repeated measure framework would facilitate brand equity and brand credibility to be estimated before and after members are exposed to empirical action. Moreover, endorsement can be most successful for establishing brand equity when it is utilized persistently over time (Cornwell, 2014). Longitudinal research facilitating an array of empirical actions could expose whether associations between brand credibility, and brand endorser as well as brand equity would reinforce over time as the relative link between the celebrity and brand is supported through repeated revelation. Future research need to find out the efficacy of local celebrities comparative to local endorsers recognized throughout the world. Celebrity endorsement for a brand is a generally utilized strategy in Australian marketing, with several effective endorsers comprising of: movie celebrity Nicole Kidman endorsement of Chanel No.5 fragrance; Jennifer Hawkins former Miss Universe endorsement of Myer departmental store; Megan Gale model and film star’s brand endorsement of David Jones departmental store; and Greg Normal professional golfer’s endorsement of Land Rover automobiles. Whereas most of these celebrities are recognized by customers in numerous nations, a mass of local names would be unfamiliar to customers external to the country are employed effectively for brand endorsements. There is few experimental proof to express that celebrities who function at varied levels (national versus regional) vary with regard to their supposed credibility (Cornwell, 2014). The outline offered in this review could be used with other brand types, products and celebrities to augment the universality of the outcomes. We predict that the outcomes to be parallel for other product ranges as well. As mentioned before, brand endorsement through celebrities was found to enhance brand awareness and recognition, and was predicted to create promising brand relations for non-durable brand like lubricating and automotive oil.

Conclusion

The outcomes show a direct and optimistic link between celebrity endorsements and brand equity and credibility. This association has not been highlighted in past researches: therefore, this result contributes to the celebrity endorsement as well as branding research flows. Outcomes confirming the optimistic association between brand credibility and customer based brand equity reinforce past research. Specifically, the credibility of a product indication is assumed to augment perceived brand quality and reduce information expenses and assumed risk for customers (Cornwell, 2014). These results are predicted to augment the potential value of a brand, and as a result, enhance brand equity. Moreover, the results also show that there association between brand equity and brand credibility ranges by the form of branding used, with their association being lightly more effective more parent products compared to sub-products. The outcomes also recommend that celebrity brand endorsement does not establish direct brand equity; rather it influences on a brand’s credibility that eventually directs to increased brand equity. These results are important contribution to the understanding of celebrity brand endorsements, brand equity and brand credibility.