ENDORSEE ADVERTISING Sharukh Khan, Aiswarya Rai, Aggasi, Amitabh Bachan, Anna Kornikova, Saurav Ganguly ,Salman Khan&

Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, David Beckham, Michael Jordan, these names have become symbols of the role of endorsers in advertising. Firms spend millions of dollars to sign up celebrities to endorse their products. Some popular endorsers such as Michael Jordan earn as much as $40 million a year from endorsements alone. Endorsement contracts are now so lucrative that many professionals in sports and entertainment direct their careers to this end. In some sports, such as track and field events, winning at the Olympics has pretty much become a means to subsequent endorsement contracts. Firms spend all this money on endorsements because finding the right celebrity endorser for their products can pay tremendous dividends. For example, some brands such as Nike's Air Jordan have been built around the image of a star. Nike earned over $200 million from its Air Jordan Lines of shoes and clothes in 1991 alone. Yet as the example of Madonna suggests, celebrity endorsers cave a powerful means of communicating a distinct image for a brand to target segment as well as a source of problems for the advertiser. Other types of endorsers can be equally effective but cost much less.
Celebrities impact on branding 5/1/03- Christine Schlecht-Page 1

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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. The endorsement process is the identification, selection and use of endorsers to communicate with a target segment. Endorsers can be grouped into three broad classes: 1. Experts. 2. Celebrities 3. Lay endorsers. Each has special characteristics and roles in the communication process. We will first consider a definition of the three types of endorser and then describe their roles.

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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. 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 American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, Good Housekeeping and the US Department of Agriculture 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.

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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. Most celebrity endorsers come from the entertainment world (Whitney Houston in AT & T's "True Voice" campaign) or the sports world (tennis legends Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert Lloyd for Nuprin). Talk show hosts (Rush Limbaugh for orange juice), business personalities (Lee locacca for Chrysler cars) and politicians (Bill Clinton for a Public service campaign against violence) are also used. Reporters (Dan Rather) educators (Carl Sagan), consumer advocates (Ralph Nader) and Religious leaders (Billy Graham) could also serve as effective endorsers though they may be unwilling to tarnish their images by appearing in paid commercial endorsement. For example, Pepsi has always promoted its drink as the choice of a younger generation. Madonna probably personified many characteristics that generation valued, such as sexual freedom, selfexpression and rebellion against strictures. Celebrities may not always be explicitly identified by name, especially if they are well known to the target audience.
Journal of advertising spring 1989 Page1-4 Selecting celebrity endorsers: The practioners : Perspective by Zufer Erdogan, Michael J Baker, Stephen Tagg

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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. However, for some products such as perfume or clothing and services such as insurance and health care these lay endorsers may be chosen because they personify the aspirations of the target segment. The three categories of endorsers are not mutually exclusive. As explained above 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. For example, Joe Montana's appearance for LA Gear could be considered an expert's endorsement of shoes but his appearance for Hanes hosiery would be that of a celebrity. Because 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.

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Is it smart to use celebrity endorsement for branding?

Stars, who are known to shape destinies, cast an enormous influence. No, were not talking about astrology here. Were referring to the powerful effect of celebrities on destinies of brands. One approving nod

from a famous face can translate into millions in brand sales. Perhaps thats why the world over, companies have been using stars to endorse everything, from food to food chains, from soft and hard drinks to health drinks, from clothes and accessories to cars (and the tyres on which they run). Even political parties are awestruck by the charisma of stars. Such is the Page 6 of 75

magnetism of celebrities in this country that in the recent general elections, major political parties fielded a record number of film stars and cricketers to contest from important constituencies around the country.

So what about celebrities drives companies to spend in millions on obtaining their stamp of approval on their brands? Celebrity Endorsements as a strategy Signing up stars for endorsements is a timetested strategy and has been effectively used by some of the top brands in the world including Nike and Pepsi. In India too, HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty soap Lux since the fifties. Vimal, Thums Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the other brands that used star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. And who can forget Kapil Palmolive Dev? Ask about the objective of using a celebrity in an ad and most admen will talk about making an impact on the bottom line. They believe that star endorsements have several benefits, key among them being
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building credibility, fostering trust and drawing attention any or all of which can translate into higher brand sales. So how does one decide whether to put a celebrity in an ad? Ideally, this should be dictated by the communication idea. MG Parmeswaran, Executive Director of FCB Ulka says, As advertising professionals, we recommend celebrity endorsements when the case is justified. There are many cases where you need to use the celebrity to break out of a category clutter. At times celebrity endorsement is used to build credibility to the brand offer.

Most experts concur that, when used judiciously, celebrity endorsements can be an effective strategy. According to Mohammed Khan, Chairman of Enterprise Nexus, Using a celebrity by itself is not a bad idea provided it is done intelligently. And there are many examples of good and bad use of celebrities. Take Amitabh Bachchan, who has been used by some companies like Parker Pens and ICICI Home Loans remarkably well while some others have been unable to exploit his Big B status too well. Shah Rukh Khans endorsement of Hyundai Santro too seems to have worked well. Parmeswaran adds, We used cricketers like Rahul Dravid for Castrol in an attempt to break out of the clutter, as well as have an image rub off of dependability on to the brand. Yet, there are some who dont have much conviction in star endorsements. Adrian Mendonza, Executive VP and Creative Director of Rediffusion DY&R does
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not recommend celebrity endorsements because he thinks that to be really successful, a brand needs to have a strong identity of its own. It should ideally not piggyback on the identity of a celebrity and hope to achieve success. Mendonza adds, I somehow get this feeling that not much effort is put in to think through an ad with a celebrity. Most times it seems like it is just the celebrity saying I use this product, so why dont you kind of thing and the ad agency thinks it has done its job.

Celebrity endorsements are capable of manifesting both favourable and adverse effects for the brands with which they associate. Lets analyse both. Six uses of Celebrity Endorsements Establishes 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. Attracts Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable. Associative Benefit: A celebritys preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.

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Psychographic Connect: Stars are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand. Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.). Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

ENDORSER ATTRIBUTES Now that a distinction has been made between the two general types of advertising endorsers, it is important to more formally explain endorser attributes and the role they play in facilitating communication effectiveness. Extensive research has demonstrated that two basic attributes contribute to an endorser's effectiveness: Attractiveness and Credibility. Each involves a different mechanism by which the endorser affects consumer attitudes and behavior. Some of these points have already been mentioned, but a formal treatment will now ensure that these key concepts are fully understood. Attractiveness: The Process of Identification
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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 Stabbing, in another 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 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). 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 match up between the endorser and the product.

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Credibility: The process of Internalization 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 endorsers position on an issue as his or her own. An internalized attitude tends to be maintained even if the source of th4e 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 deed an expert is unimportant; al 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.

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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 noting to gain by endorsing the product or as being completely objective.

Interestingly research with ethnic minorities reveals that when a spokesperson matches the audience's ethnicity, spokesperson trustworthiness in enhanced that, in turn promotes more favorable attitudes towards the advertised brand. Advertisers capitalize on the value of trustworthiness by selecting endorsers who are widely regarded as being honest, believable and dependable people. This probably explains why celebrities such a Candice Bergen. Bill Cosby Michael Jordan. Angela Lans-buy and Arnold Palmer are successful endorsers. They simply appear to be individuals who can be trusted.

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CELEBRITIES ENDORSEMENT IN ADVERTISING Advertising pay million of dollars to celebrities, hoping that the stars will bring their magic to the products and services they endorse and make them more appealing and successful. Are the dollars well spent? Not always. Although actress Candice Bergens Dine Lady portrayal for long-distance phone carrier Sprint was highly successful, and Jaclyn Smith moved millions to buy her clothing line at Kmart, Cybill Shepered and James Garner were discontinued as spokespersons for the Beef Industry Council. And a Pepsi commercial featuring pop diva Madonna that cost mega millions to produce was aired only once in the United States before being pulled off the air. Why? Why did entertainer Bill Cosby fail as an endorser for E.F. Hutton despite his success for Jell-O and Kodak? And what impact did boxing champion Mike Tysons rape conviction and the allegations of child molestation and drug addiction against pop singer Michael Jackson have on Pepsi, for which both were spokesmen? These are not only interesting questions, but questions that marketers and advertisers need answers to as they plan their advertising and make decisions Does celebrity endorsement sell? When a celebrity smiles at the camera to show the world just how good that juice/watch/holiday is, advertisers assume a positive transfer of image between celebrity and product.
Massey News Article by Massey University

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The rationale behind the use of celebrity athletes in New Zealand, and the extent of their influence on consumer behaviour, is the focus of a multidisciplinary research project in the College of Business. Funded by the Academy of Business Research Fund, the four-part project delves into an area that is comparatively under-researched, says Ms Jan Charbonneau. Conducted by academics from the Departments of Marketing, Management and Finance, the project will provide a comprehensive methodology for measuring the economic value of celebrity athlete endorsement in an Australasian context. Ms Charbonneau and Dr Ron Garland in the Department of Marketing will conduct a nationwide survey of the New Zealand publics evaluation of sport stars as celebrity endorsers in the first part of the project. Ms Charbonneau says little research has been conducted in Australasia in this area and research to date has been handicapped by small samples. The mail-out survey, designed by Ms Charbonneau and Dr Garland, aims to assess consumer attitudes to, and purchase intentions towards, brands, products and services endorsed by celebrity athletes. The information collected from a minimum of 450 adult New Zealanders, will be a valuable resource for sport

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marketing managers, event managers, corporate clients and their advertising agencies. After surveying consumers, the pair will canvass advertising agencies to determine how celebrity athlete selection criteria work in practice, and to provide a complete New Zealand view of techniques used to match celebrities with products for maximum consumer appeal and impact. This is the second part of the project and builds on preliminary research conducted by Dr Garland in conjunction with UNITEC in 2003. The third project component will focus on event organisers evaluative criteria for selection of celebrity athlete endorsers, led by Dr Andy Martin in the Department of Management. Dr Martin will conduct one-on-one interviews with event managers to assess the economic impact on the event as a result of the celebrity endorsement, and to appraise the techniques and criteria used to choose a celebrity. Mr. Hamish Anderson, from the Department of Finance, Banking and Property, is leading the fourth component. This examines the economic value of celebrity athlete endorsements. Using event study methodology, Mr. Anderson will examine shareholder wealth impact on New Zealand and Australian firms when announcing celebrity endorsement contracts. The methodology examines the abnormal share price reaction following the announcement.

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The Contribution of "Local Heroes" in the Athlete Endorsement Mix: A CASE Study Approach Jo V producers of sport performance products are prepared to pay star athletes astronomical amounts of money to be endorsers. Undoubtedly, these worldwide renowned celebrities have a great significance for these companies. Nevertheless, organisations such as Nike have many other endorsement deals with athletes of less stature. Many of them are well known only in their own country. The aim of this paper is to investigate how these "local heroes" can contribute to the endorsement strategy and in which way they create an added value. In literature, several benefits are pointed out to having celebrities endorse the related sporting products. The two most commonly cited are (a) increasing brand, product, and company awareness and (b) brand, product, and company image building (Cornwell, 1995). According to Dyson and Turco (1997), the third benefit is that athletes can provide testimony for a product of service, particularly when the product has contributed to their celebrity. The essence of an endorsement strategy consists in creating an emotional tie between the consumer and the athlete-endorsers. The positive associations that, in people's perception, are attached to the athlete (e.g. success, invincibility, ) have to be transferred to the product (Belch & Belch, 1998). Wearing the same shoes and shirt of their idols, consumers wish to identify themselves with their heroes.
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This role of affection is also important regarding to local heroes. Because of a feeling of patriotism, most people feel emotionally connected with an athlete of their own country, especially when they compete or, better, win at an international event. Another outcome of the relationship between sportcompany and top-class athletes is the free publicity through media coverage, including broadcast media as well as print media. This is perhaps one of the main reasons why companies include local heroes in their "endorsement portfolio". When they participate at international competitions, they are extensively followed by the media of their own country, gaining a lot of free publicity. The presented case study focuses on the impact and effectiveness of Nike's endorsement deal with the Belgian world-class long distance runner Vincent Rousseau. A media and attitudinal survey are conducted in order to examine the quantitative and qualitative aspects of this partnership. The results show that Rousseau is very well known in Belgium and many people are aware of his association with Nike. This confirms the assumption that local heroes may contribute to the creation of brand awareness. On the other hand, the perceived image of Rousseau (conservative and unattractive) is not perfectly congruent with that of Nike (modern, innovative). However, as he is also characterised as a real, great athlete with a lot of perseverance, he still ties in with the sport authentic image Nike wishes to portray; a company run by and for athletes. These findings suggest a rather moderate
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contribution of Rousseau to Nike's image building. The media survey showed that the attention of the Belgian press for Rousseau was amply sufficient in the defined period of eight months. Again, this confirms the hypothesis that local athletes can be very effective in gaining free publicity. The monetary value of the print exposure for Nike is estimated at US$ 165,945 for the analysed period. Paper Objectives To date, corporate sponsorship of sport, including athlete endorsements as a substantial component, has received no exhaustive academic attention (Copeland, Frisby, & McCarville, 1996; Thwaites, Aguilar-Manjarrez, & Kidd, 1998). Kuzma, Shanklin and McCally (1993) argue that the practice of sponsorship by marketing practitioners has been developed by trial and error and that much has been learned in this manner. Besides, most of the literature focuses on theories that are based on endorsement-deals with the few worldwide most renowned athletes such as Michael Jordan or Andre Agassi. Undoubtedly, the importance of these stars for the firms with who they are related (e.g. Nike) is unquestionable. Nevertheless, in the shadow of these "gods", companies such as Nike have many endorsement-deals with other athletes. Many of them are well known only in their own country. Question is how these "local heroes" can contribute to the marketing strategy and in which way they create an added value. Therefore, in this paper an attempt is made to provide an insight in the way the "local heroes"
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match in the theories on athlete-endorsement in general. Besides, these concepts are also checked in the case study of the Belgian long distance runner Vincent Rousseau and his relationship with Nike. Literature Review Athletes and sporting products In 1995, U.S. companies paid more than one billion dollars to 2000 athletes for endorsement deals (Lane, 1996). This means that approximately ten percent of the expenditure on corporate sponsorships is spent on this specific promotion strategy. The combination of basketball superstar Michael "Air" Jordan and Nike has become the sports business euphemism for "a perfect fit" (Amis, Pant & Slack, 1997). By early 1993, one in three pairs of athletic shoes sold in the United States were made by Nike, with "Air Jordan" shoes and apparel contributing more than US$ 200 million a year in sales to the Nike empire (Katz, 1994). Sport specific products products and non-sport specific

According to Veltri and Long (1998), athletes will usually pursue two types of endorsements: "sport specific products" and "non-sport specific products". Sport specific products are defined as articles necessary for the athlete to play his or her sport (shoes, racquets, clothing, etc.). Non-sport specific products include all other products or services not related to the sport itself (cars, cosmetics, etc.). According to O'Mahony and Meenaghan (1997/98), consumers' response to endorsement messages is
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linked to relatedness, which means that the more the athlete is related with the product, the more effective the endorsement is. This largely emphasises the importance of elite-level athletes as endorsers for athletic shoe companies (producing sport specific products), which are unquestionably the largest spenders on endorsements. On the other hand, when an athlete has an endorsement-deal with a producer of non-sport specific products it is crucial that there is an appropriate "image match" between the athlete or the sport in which he's involved and the brand. For example, for a company such as Mercedes it would be appropriate to sponsor a golfplayer, because of the shared perceptual characteristics (Milne & McDonald, 1999). Many of today's top professional athletes have signed sport specific endorsement contracts with sport apparel companies (Tedeschi, 1995). Beside Michael Jordan, other examples of high profile celebrity endorsers include Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Ronaldo for Nike, Shaquille O'Neal for Reebok, Earvin "Magic" Johnson for Converse, Donovan Bailey for Adidas and Lindford Christie and Merlene Ottey for Puma. In Europe the most eminent cases are situated in soccer: del Pierro, Zidane, Beckham and Kluivert as the showpieces of Adidas and Alan Shearer as the holder of a multi-million contract with Umbro. Some international sport celebrities have their own signature line of products, specifically designed to their individual characteristics and preferences.
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Again, the "Air Jordan" brand of Nike, characterised by the magic number 23 and the image of a dunking basketball player instead of the 'Swoosh' symbol, can be considered to be the best example. Through a careful promotional campaign, Nike made its "Air Jordan" range of athletic footwear the biggest selling athletic shoe of all time (Amis et al., 1997). Other signature products include the idiosyncratic golden spikes of Johnson, Ronaldo's 'R9 Mercurial' soccer boots and the diverse apparel and footwear lines inspired by the personalities of Sampras, Agassi and Woods. Endorsement as a marketing strategy Endorsement objectives According to Segers (1992), the majority of Belgian companies are considering sport sponsorship and athlete endorsements in particular, as a marketing tool to boost communication with existing and potential consumers. The use of celebrities as a marketing strategy contributes to brand name recognition and creates a positive association with the endorsed product (McCarville & Copeland, 1994; McCracken, 1989; Segers, 1992). In general, endorsements may serve both awareness and image functions as a contribution to brand equity. The value for the sponsorship dollar is increased as the sponsorship is used as an identity-enhancing vehicle as well as a name-awareness tool (Milne & McDonald, 1999). Most of the endorsement objectives can be categorised according to the general classification scheme of Sandler and Shani (1993). These
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researchers identified three broad categories of sponsorship objectives for business: broad corporate objectives (image based), marketing objectives (brand promotion, sales increase) and media objectives (cost effectiveness, reaching target markets). A more recent trend identified by Thwaites, Aguilar-Manjarrez and Kidd (1998) views sponsorship as an effective mechanism for developing image and awareness through its use as a focus for community involvement, particularly in support of grassroots initiatives. Consequently, this new category, community based objectives, should be added to the framework of Sandler and Shani (1993). The role of emotions and affective reactions The brand strategy of companies such as Nike using famous and adored athletes is mainly inspired by the "transfer meaning model" (Belch & Belch, 1998). This model claims that in the people's perception the meanings that are attached to the athlete (e.g. success, invincibility) are transferred to the product. By connecting the athlete with the product, Nike attempts to transfer the positive associations with the star to the product. When we see Michael Jordan in a Nike-commercial we'll like Nike because we like Jordan. Indeed, according to the top Nike officials in their headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon (USA), the essence of Nike's marketing strategy consists in creating an emotional tie between the consumer and top-level athletes. It is a form of direct marketing that makes idols of sportsmen, who have to
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propagate the corporate image and mentality in order to enhance loyalty and sales (Lamiroy, 1992). Wearing the same shoes and shirts of their idols, consumers wish to identify themselves with their heroes. Manufacturers of athletic performance products know this by experience and take advantage of these opportunities. Since the creation of their first female signature shoe named after Sheryl Swoopes, Nike hopes that female consumers actually will react like their male counterparts and want to be like Swoopes, the way the male consumer wants to be like Mike (Michael Jordan). Athletic footwear companies even try to encourage this phenomenon. For example, in one Nike commercial children can be seen expounding explicitly "I am Tiger Woods". Furthermore, some figures are selfevident: In 1984, Puma sold only 15,000 tennis racquets (sic) a year. In 1985, following Becker's first victory in Wimbledon and his backing of Puma's rackets, sales jumped to 150,000 rackets (Jeannet and Hennessey, 1988). Once, John McEnroe had some problems with his ankles and was advised to wear specific, higher shoes of which there were normally only sold some thousand pairs a year. That year more than 1.5 million pairs of that shoe were sold (Van Loon, 1998). Nike's chairman and CEO, Philip Knight, stated that people normally do not concentrate their emotional energy on products like fans identify themselves with the heroes of their games. However, when products are used by those athletes to come to their
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performance, customers will act like real fans toward the product (Katz, 1994). The role of emotions and affective reactions is essential regarding to the changes of behaviour and the purchasing behaviour. Lardinoit (1994) concludes that the cause of the power of sport sponsorship can be found in the exploitation of the enormous emotional potential of sporting events. In order to exploit this phenomenon, Nike's advertising also intends to bound consumers by emotions from the world of sports. Images of "Nike athletes" in full action are used in their television commercials to support the initiatives of the company. Knight asserts that in this way a lot of expensive time can be saved. "You can't explain much in 60 seconds, but when you show Michael Jordan, you don't have to" (Willigan, 1992; Katz, 1994). Lardinoit (1994) concludes that modern communication primarily aims to give a surplus in the form of images. The role of affection has of course a huge importance regarding to local heroes. Because of a feeling of patriotism most people feel emotionally connected with an athlete from their own country. Again, by sponsoring such an athlete a company hopes to win a piece of the people's hearth in a certain geographic segment. The long-term association of top line athletes with a particular sports brand can also be perceived as an indication for the superior quality of the products, which creates an image of credibility. The fact that Vincent Rousseau ran with Nikes for more than 15 years can be cited as undeniable proof of his satisfaction. This can positively influence the
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consumers' belief and trust in the respective product and its benefits. Free publicity Another outcome of the relationship between sportscompany and top-class athletes is the free publicity through media coverage, including broadcast media as well as print media. Segers (1992) rapports this by saying that mass media occupies an important place as intermediary between the sponsor, the public and the sponsored athlete. The endorsed athlete reaches a huge audience, the sponsor saves on its promotion budget, has the opportunity to target certain market segments and gains credibility. Segers found that athletes' apparel, which constitutes 23.7% of all publicity messengers, have the largest visibility in the press. According to Copeland, Frisby and McCarville (1996), in addition to sales and dealertrade feedback, awareness-exposure-media coverage is still seen by corporations as a top threepost evaluation determinant of sponsorship success. Notwithstanding changing or enhancing corporate image is considered as one of the two most commonly cited goals of sponsoring firms, in this list of measures of Copeland et al. (1996), it was ranked on the eighth place. Anyway, in spite of the gigantic amounts to be an official TOP sponsor of the Olympic Games, without visibility possibilities in the arenas, endorsements are still the only way for business to enter the Olympic arena. This contributed to the high visibility rates for Nike at the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics, even though Nike was not an official sponsor. By
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consequence, for suppliers of sport performance products, this is a substantial impetus to strive continuously for the best athletes. Finally, free publicity is perhaps one of the main reasons why companies include local heroes in their "endorsement portfolio". When an athlete competes or, better, wins at an international competition (e.g. the Olympics) he or she will be extensively followed by the media of his own country, gaining a lot of free publicity. That's why it's interesting to sponsor the best athletes in each country. Source effectiveness There are many factors that effect the success or failure of a celebrity endorser. According to Schaaf (1995), the marketability of an athlete depends on tangible and intangible factors. Level of skill and success in the sport are considered as tangible factors. Intangible factors include the consumer's perception of the athlete's level of skill and success as well as individual characteristics, such as image, charisma, physical appearance and personality. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986) claims that there are two paths to persuasion: the central and the peripheral path. The central path is most appropriately used when the receiver is motivated to think about the message. He will "elaborate" on the message, which makes strong arguments important. On the other hand, when receivers do not elaborate very highly on the message (which may be the case with commercials), the peripheral route is used for persuasion. In this route, the receiver uses simple or heuristic decision
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making rules to evaluate the message being advocated. For the most part, these simple rules are related to communicator credibility. The speaker, who in our case is the celebrity endorser, has to be trustworthy and the receiver must like him or her. Miciak & Shanklin (1994) suggested a celebrity should meet five baseline criteria: trustworthiness, readily recognisable by the audience, affordable, at little risk for negative publicity, and appropriately matched with the intended audience. On the other hand, the same authors also talk about the four concepts of a successful endorser, known by the acronym FRED: Familiarity, Relevance, Esteem and Differentiation. FRED is the result of a study interviewing 30,000 people around the world to find out why brands and their advertising efforts succeed and fail. Familiarity is the first essential component of an effective endorser. The target market must perceive the athlete as friendly, likeable and trustworthy. The next component of FRED is relevance. There should be some link between the promoter and the product, as well as between the promoter and the audience, as we stated earlier in this article. The third FRED principle deals with esteem. Consumers must have the utmost respect for the celebrity in order for the commercial or promotion to be credible. Differentiation is the final component of FRED. The public must see the endorser as different from all the rest. If there is no perceived disparity among celebrities, then the strategy is not worthwhile
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(Miciak & Shanklin, 1994). In this light Jim Riswold, a multi-awarded ad maker at Nike, always believed that the "unique selling proposition" - the famous USP, which, according to standard advertising and marketing practices, is that feature of a product that distinguishes it from the competition - could, under carefully crafted circumstances, be a guy or at least the image of a guy (Katz, 1994). McCracken (1989) states that the effectiveness of a communication message largely depends on the expertise and trustworthiness of the source. This is supported by O'Mahony and Meenaghan (1997/98), who reported that the source characteristics with the greatest impact on the consumers' intention to purchase are credibility and expertise. According to Ohanian (1991), who classifies expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness as subdimensions of source credibility, only the perceived expertise of the celebrities is a significant factor for explaining the respondents' intention to purchase. Ohanian's findings show that physical attractiveness does not seem to have a significant impact on consumers. Though, Kamins (1989) mentioned that the use of an attractive celebrity spokesperson appears to be effective for a particular category of products, which are attractiveness related. The evolution of endorsements within Nike Athletes always have occupied a special place in this company. Nike started as an athlete's company, an organisation run by and for athletes, where everything was geared toward the perfecting of the
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product. Meanwhile, Nike has evolved from a product-oriented to a marketing-oriented company with the product as the most important marketing tool (Lamiroy, 1992; Willigan, 1992; Katz, 1993). But, there is one thing that always stood central: to get as many shoes as possible on the feet of real athletes. Through their track connections, Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman, the founders of "Blue Ribbon Sports" who introduced in 1971 their own sneakers under the name "Nike", succeeded to win the feet of many runners (Farris, 1995a). In 1973, Steve Prefontaine, the controversial American distance runner, was the first well-known athlete who signed a contract to run in Nike shoes and apparel for $5,000, doing so violated the rules of the American Athletic Union (A.A.U.) (Farris, 1995b). Now, 20 years after the death of this "Nike figure", Nike's chairman Knight still refers to "Pre's winning spirit" and his anti-authoritarian impulses. Knight considers Pre's spirit as the cornerstone of company's soul. Also Bowerman's conclusion that nobody ever remembers number two inspires the people of Nike in their competition with Adidas and Reebok for the most prominent athletes (Lodwick, 1993; Katz, 1994). Knight declares that it was an athlete too who helped Nike to regain its number one position in sports and fitness. It was Michael Jordan, who brought the company to its roots again: enhancing people's lives through sports and fitness. Now Nike and Jordan have become inseparable, like one thing or one family. Notwithstanding the fact that Jordan retired, these days he's still CEO of his own Jordan brand at Nike.
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"The intention is to make "brand Jordan" a crossproduct. Jordan has become a myth, he exceeds a certain level, and he exceeds the borders of basketball. Jordan may create an added value in every sport. It's perfectly possible to make a soccer shoe carrying the brand Jordan", states Stefan Coenjaerts, former head PR Nike Belgium (Van Craen, 1999).
Is the athlete sport important when picking an athlete to endorse a no sport product Journal of Consumer marketing 16 (3)

Case Study Martin Coles, general manager and vice-president of Nike Europe, suggested that the fabulous contracts that we see in the USA do not exist in Europe. In Belgium, for example, only the absolute top performers can count on a little financial support. Moreover, most of the endorsement contracts between regionally recognised athletes and local establishments of Nike only deal with material support (Vandeweghe, 1994; Goossens, 1992). Notwithstanding these rather moderate contracts, it is interesting to determine the specific marketing value of these locally distinguished professional sports personalities. Do they actually accomplish a promotional function that is complementary to that of the world-famous sports endorsers? Can these local heroes be appealing in some additional markets so we can assert that they occupy a special position in the "endorsement mix" of a company?

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In the case-study an attempt is made to provide some empirical evidence to evaluate the specific impact and effectiveness of a European, nationally recognised athlete-endorser. The partnership between one sports goods supplier / sponsor (Nike) and one individual athlete (Vincent Rousseau) is presented and analysed according to the above mentioned theories. Information Rousseau and Background on Vincent

Vincent Rousseau can be considered as Belgian's number one track and field performer of the late eighties and the early nineties. Recently, he decided to retire from competition, just like the prototype Nike-endorser Michael Jordan. Rousseau's record of achievements includes the World Title (1993) and the European Record (1994) for the half marathon, as well as the Belgian Record for the marathon (1995), the 10,000m (1993) and the 5,000m (1993). In 1994, he also realised the Best World Performance in the marathon of Rotterdam. His relationship with Nike dates back to1980. Meanwhile his contract evolved from a youth-packet at the value of $700 to an international elite-contract worth about $150,000 - $300,000 a year, depending on his results. Nike Marketing used pictures of this athlete for ads in specialised runner magazines, posters and postal cards. At some events like the European Championships in Helsinki and the "10 kms Vincent Rousseau" in Brussels, a large billboard could be seen with the image of Rousseau finishing first at the Rotterdam Marathon.

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The media survey consisted of a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the print exposure in the Belgian press (papers and magazines) during eight months. Important to note is that these months can be considered as the best of Rousseau's career, including his World Title and European Record on the half marathon, the Best World Performance of the year in the marathon and the improvement of three national records. During this period he also received three considerable national awards, including the title of Sportsman of the Year. The characteristics of the articles and the corresponding pictures (the size of the photographs, the readability and the name of Rousseau's shirt sponsor, the number of other sponsors and persons on the picture) were analysed in SPSS. The monetary value of the print exposure is measured by multiplying square millimetres by the advertising rates of the time.

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Results and Discussion Consumer research Contrary to the media audit, the consumer research was focused on the subjective aspects of the endorsement relationship between Rousseau and Nike. In essence, this consumer survey intended to give an evaluation of both awareness as image issues relating to the endorsement deal of Nike with Vincent Rousseau. Recognition and recall of the athlete Figure 1 shows that Vincent Rousseau definitely can be considered a well-known athlete in his country. Aside from the high scores for the two sport related segments involved, it is noticeable that 62.7% of the average Belgian public is aware of this celebrity as a
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distance runner. Indeed, an American survey pointed out that in the same period only three percent of the American people were aware of their compatriot and 200m World Champion Michael Johnson (Anon., 1995). Furthermore, some little demographic differences can be distinguished in our results. The most remarkable is that Rousseau is recognised significantly more by men and by people between 26 and 50 year, a target group that is especially aimed for jogging material. Anyway, these findings are in line with the assumption that local heroes may be very well known in their own country.

Awareness and Celebrity Performance Successful advertising must start by being able to break through todays highly cluttered media environment and catch the reader or viewer's attention. It must also make an impact on the consumer such that the product or service advertised can be remembered. Do celebrity ads to do this better than no celebrity ads? There is strong evidence that suggests celebrity advertising delivers a premium in terms of impact and memorability. In an analysis of 248 celebrity print ads studied by Gallup & Robinson, Inc., over the period 1982-1993, celebrity ads show about a 34% higher level of awareness than non celebrity ads. Awareness is measured in terms of recall of the
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advertised brand the day after advertising exposure. In a similar analysis of 488 commercials over a 3year period, Rocky and Green found a 35% premium related the use of celebrities.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CELEBRITY ADVERTISING AWARENESS IN PRINT ADS

Popularity of celebrity Ease of celebrity recognition in Ad

Less Popular Less Popula Easy to r Recogni ze Awareness Index (%) Low (less than 80) Average 120)

Easy to Recog nize

19

8 28

22 37

11 25
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(80- 31

High (121 above)

and 50

64 58

41 106

64 142

Number of ads 190 in sample

Source: Data from Gallup & Robinson, Inc.

The use of a celebrity in the advertising, however, is no guarantee of awareness. As is also shown in table, and for obvious mathematical reasons, not every celebrity ad or commercial performs above average. More than one in five commercials and one in six print ads fall 20% or more below the category norm in terms of recall. The obvious question of interest is, why? The two most important factors that seem to influence attention getting and memorability in the print advertising analysis are the popularity of the celebrity used and the ease with which the star is recognized in the ads?. Consumers like gazing at stars. The success of magazines like People and tabloids like the National Enquirer clearly shows that people in general are interested in celebrities professional as well as private lives. Familiarity with star endorsers encourages consumers to pay attention to the advertising in which they appear. Better-known stars, therefore, perform better in terms of awareness. It is, of course, not enough that advertising breaks through the clutter and is attended to. To be fully effective, advertising must persuade the viewer or
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reader to feel more positive toward the advertised product or service. Buying intentions and usage of product or service should also be favorably influenced. Are celebrities perceived as being trustworthy and endorsing brands out of real interest, or are they perceived to be doing it just because they are being paid? In a nationwide survey of 661 magazine readers, only about 1 in 4 (24%) respondents indicated agreement with a statement that celebrities appear in ads because they are genuinely interested in the products they endorse; 57% disagreed with the statement. An overwhelming majority (90%) of these respondents felt that financial and publicity reasons were very important to celebrities who appear in advertising. However, when confronted with real celebrity advertising, consumers, often tend to rate celebrities quite highly on a variety of characteristics-indeed, significantly higher than no celebrity endorser in identical or very similar advertising. Research studies have shown this to be true again and again. Celebrities have often, though not always, been found to be more persuasive in advertising than other endorsers. In most instances, the attitude toward the product is more favorable when the product is associated with a celebrity. Results are mixed, however, for the variables of overall ad effectiveness and purchase intentions. It has been found, for example, that endorsements attributed to celebrities produce higher intention to buy, and significantly more positive scores have
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been found for brand attitude and purchase intentions for a celebrity ad compared with its no celebrity counterpart. Other research, however, has found no difference in buying intention as a function of the endorsers celebrity status. Petty, Cacioppo, and Schumann found that the product was liked well than when it was endorsed by sports stars, but intention to buy did not differ. It should be noted that most of this research has investigated the effects of celebrity advertising on fictitious brands, and thus the consumer participants in these studies have had no prior knowledge of or attitudes regarding these brands. The results, therefore, most applicable to new brand introductions. Advertisers pull in new celebrities to endorse existing brands all the time. All celebrity advertising, however, does not persuade. In an analysis of print celebrity ads, Persuasion (among recallers using the measure Favorable Buying Attitudes on a 5-point scale) showed a figure 20% higher than its product category norm for only about one in three ads. The mean for all celebrity ads was only at the norm. In fact, one in five ads fell at least 20% below norm. In a similar study of celebrity commercials, Rockey and Greene report a mean somewhat higher at 110; and whereas one-third of the celebrity commercials performed above norm, one in four fell 20% below. One of the most important variable the seems to influence how persuasive a celebrity will be in any advertising is the appropriateness of the celebrity for endorsing a particular brand and product. This appropriateness may be defined as the natural linkage between personality and product category,
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regardless of how the celebrity is actually used in the ad. Source Model Early attempts at understanding the influence of any source in the persuasive context suggested that an attractive, trustworthy, likable, or credible source facilitates the message-learning and acceptance process. Further although in one study respondents rated a product for beauty (razors) higher when a physically attractive celebrity endorsed it compared with an unattractive celebrity, in other analyses for fashion and cosmetic products-namely, jeans and perfumethe celebrities' expertise rather than attractiveness or trust-worthiness, influenced intention to buy. Even highly credible sources have not been found to be universally influential. Cognitive Response Model It has been suggested that involvement levels may influence to what extent a celebrity or any other source is successful in being persuasive. The respondents use the source (celebrity) in the message as a peripheral cue to help them accept or reject the message (peripheral route processing). However, under conditions of high involvement, the influence of the source is minimal and respondents "elaborate" on the message itself (central-route processing) and diligently consider the information provided. Peripheral and central-route processing can be monitored by means of capturing the thoughts and feelings-cognitive responsesrespondents generate during advertising exposure.
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The more favorable these responses, the more the likelihood of persuasion in the desired direction. The finding that celebrity-related thoughts influence the persuasive process suggests, first, that it is important that the celebrity herself and her use in the commercial generate positive thoughts so that persuasion is in the desired direction. Second, because product-related thoughts are few in connection with the celebrity herself, and do not influence overall attitude and buying intentions directly, it is important that the use of the celebrity in the advertising is able also to bring some focus on the product. Often the advertising is remembered, the celebrity in the advertising is remembered, but the brand name is lot. The Match up Hypothesis and balance Theory Recognizing the need for a celebrity to influence the endorsed product positively, it is well established that the message conveyed by the image of the celebrity and the message about the product ought to converge in effective ads. The match up or congruence between the two is important because it allows for meaningful processing and makes it more possible 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 associations.

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When the celebrity's image or attributes do not coincide with the known attributes of the brand, product, or service, incongruent results. Cultural Meaning Transfer According to the model hypothesized by Grant McCracken, celebrities' effectiveness as endorsers stems from the cultural meanings with which they are endowed.
Successful and unsuccessful celebrity endorsement Till & Busler 1998 Walker et.al.1992 Christine Schlesht- Jan 01, 2003 Celebrities impact on branding

A celebrity, possessing a unique, "individualized and complex bundle of cultural meaning," may transfer that meaning to the product, and from the product, it many transfer to the consumer. The research suggests that celebrities are effective endorsers to the degree that they are able to bring clear and unambiguous meanings to the products they endorse. It is very important for the advertiser to measure what the cultural meaning of a particular celebrity is. Whereas early attempts were made to measure celebrities on source characteristics such as trustworthiness credibility, attractiveness and likeability.
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Dynamic and Ever-Changing Celebrity Personas An important consideration in the use of celebrities in advertising is the dynamic nature of their cultural meanings. Celebrities embody their personal and professional achievements. As these change, their cultural meanings also change. Sometimes, they change to become incongruent with brands they are endorsing. The changes in celebrity personas over time can sometimes be expensive for advertisers, as Pepsi can testify.

Social Validity Hypothesis IT APPEARS THAT WHEN A CELEBRITY ENDORSES A PRODUCT FOR WHICH "IMAGE" IS NOT CRITICAL AND PERFORMANCE OR TASTE OF THE PRODUCT IS THE KEY TO PRODUCT ACCEPTANCE THE CELEBRITY MAY SERVE AS A SOURCE OF SOCIAL VALIDITY. IN CONSUMERS' MINDS, A CELEBRITY CAN TYPICALLY HAVE ANYTHING HE OR SHE WANTS; IF A CELEBRITY CHOOSES THIS PARTICULAR BRAND, IT MUST BE A GOOD BRAND. IN OTHER WORDS, IF THIS BRAND IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR A SUCCESSFUL STAR (GIVE, OF COURSE, THAT I BELIEVE THE CELEBRITY USES THE BRAND. THEN IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME A REGULAR CUSTOMER.

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INFLUENCE CONSUMER context

of Celebrity Endorsee ON BUYING BEHAVIOR IN Indian

Towel-clad models can sell just about anything. Soaps shampoos, body lotions, safety razors, electric hair removers, men's toiletry even ceramic tiles and bathroom fittings. And if the model happens to be a television icon that enjoys a huge fan following among youngsters, the product will sell like hot cakes. So when the Kerala-based S.V.Products launched its new brand of sandalwood soap. It hired a celebrity to endorse the soap, Result: A towel-clad Cyrus Broacha was hawking Chandrika soap on the idiot box. When bollywood heartthrob Ravena Tandan featured in the ad for Rotomac pens some years ago, many people wondered whether it was a good idea to hire such a high-priced model. But the strategy paid off
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and Rotomac today is a name to reckon with in the writing instruments industry. Using celebrities to peddle wares is not new for the Rs. 5,000 crore Indian advertising industries. After all, it's easier to influence people if a celebrity is endorsing the product. Says Imam Siddiqui, model coordinator, Ammirati Puris Lintas: "The strategy helps because a celebrity is instantly recognizable and brand recognition becomes easy". But that's where the similarity with the past ends. Now, even small and medium-sized companies are roping in big names to sell their products. For instance, one of the highest paid celebrity models, Sachin Tendulkar features in the Today's pen ads. That's not all. Rani Mukherjee, who features in the high profile Pepsi ad along with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol is also endorsing the humble bicycle. Kanpur based hi fi shoe manufacturing company Mirza tanners ltd added a new chapter in its success .The world famous shoe brand Red Tapes of Mirza tanners in Aug 2004 appointed film star Salman Khan as its brand ambassador . Company hoped that endorsement of the celebrity will augment its sale . Also, many companies realize that the bigger the celebrity the better is the impact. Instead of hiring smaller models at a lower price, they prefer to splurge on high-paid models. Signing Shah Rukh Khan over Milind Soman makes better business sense, they feel. For instance, when the Rajasthanbased textile manufacturer BSL Ltd. found that its
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sales graph was not moving upwards, it decided to sign up model-turned-actress Sonali Bendre. " Our previous campaigns lacked glamour. Now that shortcoming has been set right." Says BSL Marketing Manager R.P. Jhanwar. The company is confident that the campaign will be able to boost sales during the oncoming festive season. When S.V. Products wanted to reposition its Chandrika brand of sandalwood soap for the younger generation, it did the same. Instead of going in for female models that would have reinforced the belief that only women used Chandrika, it hired Broacha for its advertisement campaign. "Since we were targeting the youth, we decided to bring in a youth icon. Broacha fitted the description perfectly," say V.Krishnana, managing director of Asap advertising, which handled the advertising of Chandrika soap. Broacha, who was paid over Rs. 50,000 for the campaign, was able to convince the happening generation that the Chandrika brand was not merely something those fuddy duddy housewives used. Sales have jumped 25 per cent since the advertisements first appeared in July 1998. Similarly, Manish Makhija a.k.a. Udham Singh it's trying to breathe life into the Kanchan brand of home appliance. Jatland contribution to the world of pop must is endorsing the low-priced range from the Mumbai-based Kanchan International. But celebrities do not come cheap. The sticker price can range from Rs. 10 lakh for 10-second zapper to Rs. 5 crore for an extended tie-up.
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Some big companies are also realizing the benefits of celebrity endorsements. Computer education major NIIT has signed on chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand for its ads. Till now the company was using only ordinary models. With companies rushing to hire celebrities, the regular models are feeling the pinch. Says Sohail Mohammed, a model who has worked on campaigns for Lakhani shoes and Moov Ointment: " Previously we used to be called for tests. Now even that has stopped." For this ilk the future is tense.

Why do brands use celebrities? Brand may use celebrities for a variety of reasons. Getting attention may be one of the reasons to use a celebrity in a category, which is very "crowded" or in a category where involvement levels are low. Cema, a brand of bulb used a well-known celebrity to gain attention in a category where a number of brands existed and where differentiation is hard to achieve. Attention getting leads to recall especially when the consumer is in need of the product. This recall may lead to trial especially in categories which are low involvement and which have low unit cost (bulbs, commodities). Jams have a low penetration in India and involvement levels have been low. NLL uses a sport celebrity for its 'Jammy' TV commercial. Celebrities may be used to reinforce a popular brand in the durable category. BPL, which started off with
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industrial products, is today one of the top brands I the minds of consumers. BPL initially created a 'hightech' image with the 'Home Alone' campaign. Currently, it is competing in different product categories and has a consumer base of around five million (using at least one product of BPL). The semi urban and rural markets also hold a high potential for some products like audio systems, TVs and refrigerators. BPL ran a campaign with a top film celebrity known among the masses. A campaign of this kind serves two purposes. It reinforces .the familiar brand in the minds of the consumers. It also provides a reassurance against any perceived risk that potential consumers may experience (before going in for a durable). The reassurance lies in the charismatic celebrity provides in his association with the brand. Secondly, the message of the campaign which had the 'Indian ness" in it, brings in a sense of belonging as put across b the celebrity who is rated high by the target segment. The celebrity is for the reference group, which exerts a significant influence on the masses (the "follower" groups). The sense of belonging is the association created with the leading Indian brand in a scenario full of multinational brands. In consumer behavior terms, the message attempts to bring in a sense of ethnocentrism. Of course, the charismatic appeal of the celebrity is more important than the copy (message) for a large number of people who identify strongly with the celebrity. Brand may use celebrities to convey an up market image. Pataudi, the cricket celebrity with the regal touch has endorsed Royale, an up market brand from
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Asian Paints. This celebrity also endorsed Gold Caf (an instant coffee launched in the 80s), Gwalior suitings and Kohinoor rice. All these brands have targeted up market consumers, not the masses. Currently the same celebrity endorses Kohinoor brand of basmati rice along with his spouse, a former actress. Brand may use celebrities to enhance the brand image in niche markets. Omega is an up market brand of watches known for its classic appeal all over the world it has only premium ranges. The Indian contest after the launch of titan is currently in a phase is marked by the entry of a number of foreign brands. The upper end is also getting crowded with brands like Rolex, Cartier, and Raymond Well etc. Titan has also entered the global market with its premium offerings. It is interesting to observe Omega using the well known and glamorous Cindy Crawford with gift proposition and a jingle similar to the Mozart background score used all along by Titan. The background score of Titan is almost its brand property. The Omega commercial is frequently telecast on CNN, a niche channel, besides being flashed in a few up market Indian magazines. Omega has a classic image nurtured over decades. Titan advocated the gift proposition for a durable in India. It may be difficult to make use of the proposition of Titan to become a brand for the masses. But a wellentrenched proposition could be made use of by a very strong brand to create an impression on a small niche of up market consumers. Is Omega attempting to make use of the 'anchored perception" to compete with formidable world-class brands (if not directly with titan)?
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Colgate Total was launched in the late 80s as triplebenefit toothpaste at a high premium. Currently it has been re-launched as effective toothpaste offering 12-hous protections, using a celebrity. Celebrities could be used for re-launching brands (Other aspects relevant to the situation should also be considered). Celebrities could be used to appeal to distinctive segments, which may be differentiated by lifestyles. Limeca the lemony drink became popular through the zero-bacteria positioning and the occasion based positioning during the 80s. Currently its take it easy positioning targets urban youngsters who have been going through a modem but stressful lifestyle. Mirinda which entered the segment (cloudy lime) recently is using a celebrity-based appeal. There are to TV commercials with the celebrity, one appealing to the rural adults and the other to the elderly population in urban segments. A controversial celebrity could also be used to build a brand. Minolta has a number of camera models. It introduced a model called Rebel that was associated with John McEnroe the controversial tennis player. TVS mopeds was associated a film celebrity wellknown in the rural parts of Tamil Nadu in a regional campaign. In low-involvement products, it has almost become a trend to use celebrity appeals. This may be more effective if the brand pioneers celebrity usage. Though consumers are getting use to the celebrity clutter, there is always a novelty appeal that a celebrity could generate by being the first to be
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associated with a brand in the category. But is a leader in instant coffee (chicory-based) and all along it has been using the filter taste as its proposition. BBIL's Green. Consumer behavior dimensions What are the basic considerations, which are to be taken into account? What are the specific situations where this aspect is helpful to a marketer? What are the situations where this strategy may not be effective? How should a brand find out whether using a celebrity would be appropriate? These are some of the important dimensions, which could be explored using consumer behavior concepts. Reference group principles are useful in analyzing the usage of celebrities in advertisements. A reference group is one, which influences an individual's attitudes and values. There need not necessarily e face-to-face contact between the groups and the individual (Though there are number of aspects associated with the concept, the principle is simplified in this context). Pepsi's association with cricket celebrities, for example, may result in these celebrities becoming role models for a number of youngsters involved or associated with cricket in terms of their accomplishments, attitudes or even lifestyles. It is this aspect, which results in a lot of mileage for this specific brand that is associated with the celebrity. The youngsters may consumer more Pepsi because these celebrities endorse it. There are certain basic considerations, which matter when brands select celebrities. Target segments the
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type of celebrity chosen and the nature of the brand personality are some of the important considerations which need to be given a lot of importance. Pepsi's brand personality (the kind of human characteristics that could be associated with the brand) is vibrant, fun-loving, young lively and adventurous. The target segment is of course, the younger generation. Cricket is a sport, which is widely followed by the target segment, and there is always a charisma associated with the celebrities who are reigning and topical. Pepsi entered in the 90s and roped in Sachin Tendulkar who was not only a good performer, but also a celebrity who typified the aspirations of youngsters involved with cricket. The young age of the celebrity also synergies with the personality of the brand. This was the starting point of the celebrity plane for Pepsi (Adventure and fun was reinforced with the film-celebrity TV commercial). The brand brought in a string of cricket celebrities during the last two years during which one sport experienced a very active phase. The brand (in a specific category) should use the celebrity in such a way that it would be difficult for a competitive brand to follow the strategy (however popular it may be worldwide). Coke latched on to cricket after Pepsi had created a very strong association with cricket and the celebrities on the field. Currently, Coke is attempting the film celebrity route (which has also been preempted by Pepsi). It may be recalled that Thums Up was therapist brand to use cricket celebrities (in cinema halls about two decades ago). If the brand
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had strengthened its association with the sport, it is possible that Pepsi may not have chosen the cricket association.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY Towel-clad models can sell just about any thing soaps, shampoos, body lotions, safety razors, men's toiletries, ceramic titles, bathroom fittings, and any consumer durable even cars. And if the model happens to be a television icon that enjoys a huge fan following among masses, the product will sell like hot cakes. Using celebrities the pedal is a ware is not new for Rs. 5000 crore Indian advertising industry. After all it is easier to influence if the celebrity is endorsee the brand. Says Imran Siddiqui, model coordinator, Ammirai Puries. Lintas: "The strategy helps because a celebrity is instantly recognizable and brand recognition becomes easy." But that's where the similarity with the past ends. Now even small and medium sized companies are
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roping in big names to sell their brand. For instance, one of the highest paid celebrity models, Sachin Tendulkar features in Todays pen's advertisement. That's not all, Rani Mukharji, who features in high profile Pepsi advertisement along with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol is also endorsing the Hero Bicycle. Advertisers pay millions of dollars to celebrity hopping that the stars will bring their magic in the brand they endorse and make them more appealing and successful. This study aimed at understanding the impact of celebrity endorsee on brand building and consumer buying behavior. Before moving to next chapter, lets clearly understand the objectives of the study. Primary Objective To identify the influence of celebrity endorsee on consumer buying behavior and brand building. Secondary objectives To identify other factors which influence consumerbuying behavior? To identify is celebrity endorsee advertising more attention getting and memorable than other kind of advertising. To identify how is celebrity endorsee advertisement perceived. To identify that who make the best celebrity endorsee.

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Research Methodology Objective of the study To identify influence of celebrity endorsee consumer buying behavior and brand building. Type of research The research was exclusively exploratory in nature. The research design was characterized by flexibility in order to be sensitive to the unexpected and to discover insight not previously recognized. Research is totally done through Secondary Data collected from different journals, magazines, academic books etc., to understand consumer behavior and role of celebrity endorse.
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on

Findings & Analysis Influence of brand name on purchase decision A brand is more than just a product. A product is what a company makes. A brand is what customer buys-hopes/expectation/services. Most of the
Strongly Agree 10% Strongly Disagree 5%

Disagree 15%

Agree 70%

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company is acquired for the brand it has built not for its real estate, plant etc., according to our survey about 80% of the respondents agree on the fact that brand name influence the buying decisions. Brands, which have positive image like Nike, Reebok, Mercedes, Volvo Tata etc., differently influence the buying behavior of the customer.

Influence of quality on purchase decision

Strongly Disagree 3%

Disagree 8%

Strongly Agree 54%

Agree 35%

Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. According to G.E's chairman, John F. Welch Jr. "Quality is our best assurance of customer allegiance, our strongest defense against foreign

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competition and the only path to sustained growth and coming. In the purchase decision quality of the product is one of the important factors considered by customers. As data also shows that about 90% of the respondent either agree or strongly agree on this aspect. During survey it company provide good quality. In market there are brands like Sony that have better quality and have very good brand equity. Influence of price on purchase decision

Strongly Agree 42%

Strongly Disagree 10%

Disagree 22%

Agree 26%

A critical marketing mix tool is price, the amount of money that customers pay for the product company has to decide on wholesale and retail prices, discounts, allowances and credit terms. Its price should be commensurate with the offer's perceived value. If it is not, buyers will turn to competitors' product. So we can say that price is definitely one of
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the important factor which influence buying decision of customers, according to the survey about 70% of the respondent agree on this fact and rest of the respondent said that them price is not an important consideration while buying they look for quality and brand.

Influence of product features on purchase decision

Strongly Agree 2%

Strongly Disagree 3%

Disagree 22%

Agree 73%

Days are gone when there are few players in the market now competition is so intense that one can't sustain without having good quality and advanced technology in their products. Especially in the consumer durable segment product feature becomes more important. And this is also reflected by the
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survey, 75% of the respondent said that product feature influence. This purchase decision.

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Influence of family members on purchase decision Family is the most important consumer-buying

Strongly Agree 7%

Undecided 8%

Strongly Disagree 6%

Disagree 15%

Agree 64%

organization in society. Family members constitute the most influential primary group. Influence of family members in high involvement product category is more, According to survey about 70% of the respondent said that their purchase decisions were influenced by family members, it was quit interesting that about 10% respondent neither agree nor disagree on this point.

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Influence of peer group on purchase decision Beside from the family members, our most of time spend with our peer group. Our living style affected
Strongly Disagree 12%

Strongly Agree 18%

Undecided 5%

Disagree 22%

Agree 43%

by the group to which we belong, and our buying behavior is also influence by the friends and relatives. According to our survey about 60% respondents said that peer group influenced their purchase decisions. And especially in the case when a person did not have the sufficient knowledge about the product or brand the influence is more.

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Influence of celebrity endorsee on purchase decision Advertisers pay millions of dollars to celebrities,
Strongly Agree 6% Strongly Disagree 15%

Disagree 26%

Agree 42%

Undecided 11%

hopping that the stars will bring their magic to the products and services they endorse and make them more appealing and successful. Pepsi, Phillips, Total, Greenlabel, Coke, Pantene, Omega, BPL, Lux, Rotomac, Boost, Action, Santro, Top Ramon, Ganga, MRF, Atlas Cycle etc., some of the brands which are using celebrities to promote their products. According to our survey, about 50% of the respondents said their decision of purchasing influenced by celebrity endorsee and rest of the respondents said that brand name supported by famous personality did not influence this purchase decision.

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Influence of advertisement on purchase decision Companies are paying millions of dollars on their
Strongly Agree 16% Strongly Disagree 4%

Disagree 20%

Agree 54%

Undecided 6%

advertising campaign. The purpose of advertising differs from company to company. Some has brand awareness or some has sales, as this main objective for adverting. But does advertising really influences purchase decision of customers , it is the biggest whirlpool for every marketer. According to our survey about 70% of the respondents said that their purchase decisions were influenced by advertisement.

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WHO MAKE BEST CELEBRITY ENDORSEE

Social worker 8% Politican 5%

Writer 9%

Sport person 36%

Film Actor / Actress 42%

Sachin Tendulkar, Shan Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Javed Akhtar, T.N. Sheshan etc., these names have become symbols of the role of endorsers in advertising. But who makes the best celebrity whether they are sports persons or film actor/actress or politician or any one other. According to our survey. 36% of the respondents said sports persons can make best celebrity endorsee and 41% respondents said film actor/ actress could make best celebrity endorsee. For politician social workers and writers percentage was bellow 10%.

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SOME PRECAUTIONS CELEBRITY USAGE

TO

BE

TAKEN

ON

A celebrity used across product categories is likely to be less effective than a celebrity who starts with a few categories. Consumers tend to lose interest in the celebrity because of over-exposure. Besides that celebrity could dilute the credibility associated with his own image by the dilution of image created by diverse products. Celebrity image should fit in with the brand image or personality (as started earlier). A brand of jeans used a Western film celebrity (who is better known among middle-aged adults) while attempting to target youngsters. The target segment should be able to identify with the celebrity. Sometimes the celebrity used may be too sophisticated for the target segment and the very concept of reference groups may not be reflected if this happens. Bombay Dyeing used a celebrity (for men's suiting) who may have been above the identification plane of the target segment. There may be an alternative of creating a "Commonman appeal" for products like detergents and celebrities may have to be used carefully weighing a number of factors. Surfs Lalitaji typifying a middle class housewife may have been more effective than
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a glamorous celebrity for a product like detergent, which is for the mass market.

A "common-man appeal" brings in spontaneous identification with the commercial. The consumer feels a person like him or her is benefit the and hence identify with the brand. Ariel used this appeal with its candid camera technique. (A consumer in a super-market rejecting a free packet of another detergent in preference to Ariel). When there are already a number of celebrities in the category, a new brand attempting the celebrity route may not be the best alternative. With a proliferation of celebrities in the cola category, one cannot imagine Sport cola (from Cadbury Schweppes) taking the celebrity route. When a new concept product is introduced like an electric shaver, new to the Indian context, selling the product benefits is more important and hence the celebrity route if attempted has to be implemented on a low-key in a manner that would highlight the benefits of the product. The image given by a celebrity to a brand should be sustained with appropriate appeals over a period of time. Rajdoot was associated with a rugged and tough film celebrity to appeal to the rural market almost a decade back when Hero Honda was gaining ground. The appeal was able to sustain Rajdoot, but the image of the bike would have been strengthened

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if the initial appeal had been reinforced in the past few years. Reference group appeals could provide a creative dimension to brands if marketers are drawn by the rationale of using celebrities rather than by the emotion and excitement of celebrity usage. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The researcher used judgement sampling. Time allotted to carry out the study was short. Some of the responses might be biased. Most of the survey was carried out in and around Delhi only It was not possible for the researcher to meet more creative directors of the agencies. It was not possible to collect the opinion of the celebrities who are endorsing brands.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 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 aimed at to understand the influence of celebrity endorsee on consumer buying behavior and marketing. Marketers pay millions of Dollars to celebrity endorsee hoping that the stars will bring their magic to brand they endorse and make them more appealing and successful. But all celebrity glitter is not gold. Celebrity sources may enhance attitude change for a variety of reasons. They may attract more attention to the advertisement than would non-celebrities or in many cases, they may be viewed as more credible than non-celebrities. Third, consumers may identify with or desire to emulate the celebrity. Finally,
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consumer may associate known characteristics of the celebrity with attributes of the product that coincide with their own needs or desire.

The effectiveness of using a celebrity to endorse a firm's product can generally be improved by matching the image of the celebrity with the personality of the product and the actual or desired serf concept of the target market. What therefore seems relevant by the study is that , yes , definitely celebrity endorsee influence consumer buying behavior and brand building but while using celebrity endorsee, marketer has to take care of all the aspect that whether the brought personality and image of celebrity matches or not, whether celebrity endorsee has deep penetration among the masses or not, whether he is considered as credible source or not etc.

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CONCLUSION Understanding buying behavior of customer is the toughest task for a marker, 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. Marketers spend millions of dollars on advertising and especially on celebrities. Hoping that the stars will bring their magic to the products and services they endorse and make them more appealing a successful. But, all that celebrity glitter is not gold, but it can be. If appropriately used, celebrity advertising has paid off and definitely influenced the purchase decision. Celebrity endorsement does a premium in term of impact and memorability. There is also a position influence on persuasion, though less strong. It is not enough that the celebrity is the advertising be remembered, more important, the brand must be. In using celebrities as endorsed, advertisers need to understand not only how to choose celebrities but also how to use them in advertising. The strategy
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and creative execution should reinforce strongly and consistently the celebrity brand association. And the celebrity should not only evoke positive retains, but helps focus attention on the brand in the advertising. Thus the product will be made more desirable because of its association with the star.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY A & M - 1-15 March 2003 A & M - 1-15 October 2001 A & M - 30 April 2000 Brand Equity (Economic Times) Advertising and Sales Promotion strategy by Gerard J. Thellis. Advertising Excellence by Bovee, Thill Dovel and Wood. Advertising Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition by Williom wells, Vohn Burnett, Sandra Muriarty. Advertising Promotion and supplemental Aspect of Integrate marketing Communication, 4th edition, by Shimp. Consumer behavior by Robert East Consumer Behavior, 6th Edition, by Lean G. Sehiffman and Leslic lazan Kanuk.Copeland, R., Frisby, W., & McCarville, R. (1996). Understanding the Sport Sponsorship Process From a Corporate Perspective. Journal of Sport Management, 10, 1, 32-48. Consumer Behavior, 6th Etidion, by Hawkins, Best ad Coney. Stargazing editorial. CMO magazine P-1, June 2005 Massey News Article Strategic Marketing Times of India group article

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Selecting celebrity perspective.

endorsers-

the

practioners

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