Companies today spend millions of dollars on celebrity endorsements, reflecting the fact that celebrity dominates our culture. However, doing so presents not only rewards, but also a variety of risks. This paper explores the use of a sports star such as Real Mardrid's David Beckham and pop star Robbie Williams to illustrate why this is true.
According to an article in strategic marketing, the major benefits of using celebrities for marketing are:
Establishes Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience.
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 celebrity's preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.
Psychographic Connect: Stars are adored by their fans and ad
vertisers use stars to capitalize on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.
Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.1
And, there are many more risks associated with celebrity marketing. A celebrity's ability to break through the clutter of advertisements may become limited if the celebrity takes on too many endorsements. Perhaps Beckham decides that he wants to rake in all the money while he can and endorses beer, sports clothing, cars, and a fast food chain to boot. The impact of Beckham reduces as the number of brands he endorses increases. In converse, the brand can be overshadowed by the overwhelming presence of the star. Showing Williams singing for a product could cause the audience to be so consumed with the artist and his performance that they don't remember the product/brand being advertised. In other cases, a celebrity can give rise to skepticism if
All papers and essays are for research and reference purposes only!
Copyright 2002-2009
Direct Essays , LLC. All Rights Reserved. DMCA Webmasters make $$$$