What Is Celebrity Marketing? Why Should You Care?
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WHAT IS CELEBRITY MARKETING?
GLITZ! GLAMOUR! CELEBS! Which consumer is not familiar with these 3 words? With an ocean of brands flooding the markets, consumers are spoilt for choice. Celebrity marketing has taken over our lives and has been the order of the day just like daily bread and butter.
Whether you walk past an alley, or switch on the television or browse through your cellphones, celebrity marketing is indispensable. The success of a marketing campaign is directly proportional to the success of the celebrity endorsing it. Is it always?
First, let’s get to the basics. As millennials and youngsters who are more familiar with T2 pages rather than the main Telegraph newspaper it would be bizarre of us to provide a corporate definition of Celebrity marketing. But for a change, WEBBIES would love to take you on a bizarre ride.
“Celebrity marketing employs a famous person to offer an endorsement of a product. This famous person might be an actor, musician, athlete, ex-politician or a cartoon character, or a new fictional character. They do not need to be international superstars but can be familiar to a national or regional target audience. ”
HOW DID CELEBRITY MARKETING START?
Would you believe it if we told you that the first-ever celebrity endorsement started way back in the 18th century around 250 years ago? In 1760s Josiah Wedgewood the founder of Wedgewood Pottery and Chinaware pursued royal endorsements to build an exaggerated luxurious image of a brand far beyond the product itself.
Pears soap was the first to get its first Female endorser Lillie Langtry, a well-known British actress in 1893 who featured on the package of the soap.
By the 20th-century sports brands like Nike witnessed well-known athlete endorsements by uber-talented basketball player Michael Jordan creating a trend of Sports brand endorsements by athletes mostly. With colored TVs hitting our homes, the fascination with celebrity faces also increased.
Celebs with their name and fame become an excellent salesman of products. Association with a memorable personality became a psychological phenomenon that paved the way for healthy relationships between consumers and the brand and establishing sufficient credibility. There was no looking back.
ELIGIBILITY OF A CELEBRITY TO ENDORSE A BRAND:
- FAMILIARITY- The more famous a celebrity is across a wide range of population nationally or globally, the more successful will the campaign be. Many regional brands also choose celebrities who are well known regionally. For example: Sourav Ganguly endorses Senco Gold. Even though he is a sports player, he represents the values and culture of Bengalis.
- RELEVANCE- The celebrity should be relevant to the product. He or she should represent some aspects or qualities of the product in his/her personality. The greater the link between the celebrity and the product the more successful the campaign. Alia Bhatt endorsing fruity represents the youth who are the main target audience of the product.
- ESTEEM- This is a pure psychological phenomena where the esteem of the endorser transfers to the product. For example Amitabh Bachchan is not only a national name but a global name in the business. He is one of the highest paid brand ambassadors in the country. As a result he endorses most of the products ranging from Cadbury to Emami creating greater esteem for the brand.
- DIFFERENTIATION- This does not only mean the USP of the product but the but the message representation of the differentiation via the brand ambassador. Hrithik Roshan endorsing Mountain dew an energy beverage highlights the USP of the product as Hrithik represents and energetic personality and consumers might hold the Mountain Dew energy synonymous to Hrithik’s zeal.
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