A commercial value gets associated with the celebrity face that enjoys widespread recognition. The magnetic appeal and instant familiarity of the celebrity help advertisers to grab the attention of their target audience. As Hamish Pringle, author of Celebrity Sells, comments, "Celebrities bring with them a huge cluster of values, associations and imagery from their celebrity lifestyle."

Marketers have been leveraging celebrity appeal for a long time. What makes celebrity endorsement stand out now is the scale on which it is practiced. Cutting across product categories, whether in products or in services, more and more brands are banking on the mass appeal of celebrities. The reasons are many - exploding media options, expanding customer choice, heightened competition, and rising advertising clutter.


The amounts doled out by advertisers for celebrities are astronomical. Seventeen year old Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon ladies champion, has lucrative contract deals with Motorola and Nike among others, within months of her first Grand Slam win. Nike has upped the ante many times with its sensational deals. It signed on golfer Tiger Woods for $100 million¹ in a five-year deal back in 2000. In 2003, it enrolled upcoming basketball player in US, Le Bron James for seven years at a $90 million².

The advantages of instant appeal transfer of personality traits to the brands, ability to lend credibility and trust, and adding life and zest to brands are too appealing for marketers to ignore. No wonder audience is inundated with celebrities promoting a host of products. Multiple celebrities are endorsing one brand and super celebrities are endorsing several products.

This book consists of 16 articles spread over three sections - Introduction, Indian Perspectives and Cases.

Introduction
The celebrity endorsements scenario has seen several transformations over the past few decades. Progressively, more and more thrust is being laid on encashing the mass appeal of celebrities across different elements of marketing communication. No longer it is restricted to just advertising. It is quite common to come across involvement of celebrity faces in sales promotion, events and even in sub-branding exercises.

The collection of articles in this section cover many dimensions of celebrity endorsements, such as its benefits, issues involved, types and forms, celebrity selection criteria, perspectives of marketers and advertising agencies, experiences in different countries, critical analysis and various brand experiences.

"Celebrity Endorsements - A Critical Look", the first article, introduces the concept of celebrity endorsement and discusses the reasons why it has become marketers' preferred tool. One of the main reasons is that it helps beat the advertising clutter, in an environment where the audience is faced with an overdose of marketing communication messages. The article elaborates on the benefits and drawbacks of using celebrities to endorse products and services. The advantages include faster awareness generation, better recall value, positive rub-off of the celebrity's personality on the brand persona, generation of trust and credibility, and facilitating targeted marketing. Drawbacks include high costs involved, negative rub-off on the brand, and dependence on the performance of the celebrities in their areas of excellence. The caveats include determining the fit between the brand and the celebrity, and overexposure risk of the celebrity involved.

The second article, "Fame Game", is sourced from HPI Research Group and examines the issues behind the thrust on celebrities in advertising. The author, David Iddiols, says that the hope for a positive rub-off of the celebrity on the brand persona is the principal reason for the continued use of celebrities in advertising over the decades. The research so far has focused on two aspects - integrating the celebrity into the overall marketing strategy, and fulfilling the twin roles of a 'brand spokesman' and providing 'added interest' to the brand. Major issues involved in a successful celebrity campaign are - the extent of association between celebrity and the brand; extent of 'good fit' between the brand and the celebrity; and the extent to which brand success can be linked with celebrity involvement. The author also classifies celebrity endorsements into two - imposing the existing credentials onto the brand in advertising context, and integrating it within the advertising campaign.


The article, "Advertising Agency Perspectives" explores the attitudes of advertising professionals towards celebrity endorsements. Major findings of a research conducted among advertising agencies are - (i) celebrities refresh and add new dimensions to a brand image; (ii) target audience match, prior endorsements by the person, and whether he/she is an actual brand user are some of the major criteria applied in selecting a celebrity; (iii) TV is the most preferred media, as it brings the celebrity to life; (iv) preference to involve celebrity in all aspects of integrated marketing communication; (v) supermodels, sportstars and filmstars as celebrities can be leveraged internationally; (vi) to target different segments, multiple celebrities are preferred; and (vii) perceptions vary across countries, with greater association with products desired in Germany and celebrities endorsements seen as an easy way out in UK.

"When the Stars Don't Shine", the next article, is sourced from Gallup and captures the US celebrity endorsement scenario. Celebrities are used for a wide range of product categories, even with little credible relevance to the products. In the maze of high cost endorsements and prime time scramble, association of celebrities with select brands is low among consumers. The tendency to use celebrities for making the brand exciting and generating news value is high among marketers. Citing the ineffective advertisements of Toyota and Reebok, the author opines that without strong brand linkages, celebrity endorsements are a costly waste.


The next article,"Losing Credibility", takes a critical look and recounts different brand-celebrity experiences. Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and Sephora are the major brands whose celebrity associations are analysed, along with the deals of one of the most sought after celebrities - Tiger Woods. The author feels that there is a glut of celebrities, and that brands are striving for endorsement credibility. Tapping the right celebrity calls for a mix of instinct and careful research, according to the author. In a situation where the credibility of endorsements is under threat, marketers are opting for actual users, who can lend a real touch to the endorsement.

Indian Perspectives

This section has five articles, capturing the developments in India with respect to celebrity endorsements. Over the past few years, the money spent by marketers to tap celebrities has grown manifold. Cricketers and film stars, the eternal favourites, continue to rule the popularity charts. It comes as no surprise therefore that almost the entire Indian cricket team is involved in promoting different products and the top-notch actors endorse multiple brands.

The change from the earlier days is that previously just a couple of players in the Indian cricket team were modeling. Today, even the junior most member as well as one season old player features in commercials. Within the film fraternity, the top actresses are as busy in endorsements as the leading actors. Witness the familiar face of Preity Zinta. She is as visible in advertisements as say Shah Rukh Khan.

The onset of professional firms such as IMG has contributed significantly in celebrities managing to get attractive contracts from marketers.

The section starts with an article sourced from Business India, titled, "Endorsed by Advertisers". The article provides the Indian perspective and evaluates the developments in celebrity endorsements. Experiences of different brands with celebrity endorsers are recounted. A study by market research firm Indica is quoted, which revealed that an overall fit between the brand and the celebrity is more important than matching of individual personality traits of the celebrity and the brand. The author concludes that unless the script of the marketing message is also strong, the celebrity appeal cannot be fully leveraged.

"Face Value", the next article, examines the reasons for the rise in celebrity endorsements in India, analyses the aspects of such endorsements and discusses the relevant issues. The major reasons listed are - triggering faster brand recognition, generating emotional appeal in the target group, adding glamour to a brand, engendering instant credibility, creating aspirational value, adding a new dimension to brand image, creating hype, and leveraging PR coverage. The aspects dealt with include an overall fit between the lifestyle of the celebrity and the brand being endorsed, and the conduct of the celebrity involved. The issues discussed include the threat of the celebrity overshadowing the brand, risk with an overexposed celebrity, and the impact of lack of form of a celebrity. Major influencers for the 15-30 age group audience are filmstars and cricketers, according to the article.

The next article, "Influence on Indian Youth", is sourced from The IUP Journal of Marketing Management. The article lists the reasons for popularity of celebrity endorsements among marketers and also discusses the disadvantages involved. Better attention, higher recall value, and a positive rub-off on the brand image are the major reasons why advertisers are increasingly resorting to celebrity endorsements. High costs and risk of any misconduct by the celebrities are the disadvantages. The article also discusses three models in selecting celebrities - Source attractiveness (familiarity and likeability of the celebrity); Meaning Transfer (symbolic meanings transferred to the brand); and Match-up (an overall fit between the endorser and the brand). Findings of a study on youth's perception attributes of five leading Indian endorsers are also shared. Among these are that a celebrity endorsing high-involvement brands instills more trust, and endorsement by a celebrity who is on the high of career graph has significant impact on the buying process.

"Celebrities for Sale", the next article, takes a critical look at the use of celebrities in advertising. The author questions the morality of celebrities in promoting products such as tobacco and alcohol. Detailing Home Trade's promotion by many Indian celebrities, the author criticizes the propriety of endorsing non-existent products. It is suggested that celebrities too need to retain their integrity by being selective in the endorsement contracts they sign. Endorsements by Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan are discussed.

The section's concluding article, "Siyaram's: A Failed Attempt", details the unfortunate experiences of Siyaram's in the context of its endorsements by celebrities. It had enrolled a couple of South African cricket players to endorse its brand. Within a short span, some of those players got embroiled in the famed match-fixing scandal, forcing Siyaram's to curtail the contract. It picked up the successful Indian tennis pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati, and used their appeal for its apparel brand J Hampstead. Unfortunately differences cropped up between them and the duo split, blowing away Siyaram's plans to leverage them.

Cases
Films and sports, thanks to their appeal cutting across age and income barriers, are without surprise the two most actively tapped sources for marketers in their pursuit of celebrities. Globally and in India, several celebrities have had glorious associations with brands.

The section has six cases - three personalities each from the international and Indian context. While four are from the sporting arena (David Beckham, Shane Warne, Ludmila Engquist and Kapil Dev), two (Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan) owe their popular appeal to their acting careers.

The cases capture their persona and the brands with which they got associated.

"David Beckham", the first case, chronicles the growth of the personal brand and endorsement deals of England's football player. With his good looks, immense talent and carefully cultivated image, he evolved into a lifestyle icon. His personal brand was estimated to be worth £200 million in 2003. Among the major brands, which he endorsed are Pepsi, Adidas, Castrol, Brylcream, Vodafone and Marks & Spencer. His popularity in Japan got him several promotional contracts there. Going beyond the traditional promotional tools, he was innovative and allowed Vodafone to use his voice in their voicemail. He was also involved in the design of garments sub-branded on his name by Marks & Spencer.

The next case is on "Shane Warne", the Australian cricketer. Deregulation and permitting of Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of nicotine replacement therapy triggered Pharmacia Upjohn's roping in Shane Warne to promote its Nicotte brand of gums and patches. As part of the deal, he announced his resolution to quit smoking on the eve of a New Year and appeared in advertisements. An announcement was made that if he succeeded in quitting smoking in four months he would collect a fee, part of which would be donated to a cancer charity institute. The deal created huge media interest and generated wide coverage. Nicotte's sales rose dramatically within three months. However, days short of the four month period, Warne was caught smoking. The case highlights how heightened awareness levels are possible when celebrities are associated with health issues.

"Ludmila Engquist", the next case, brings forth the risks involved for a brand when a celebrity endorsing it is involved in unethical practices. A Russian athlete, Ludmila married a Swede and became a popular figure in Sweden. Representing that country, after a surgery, she won several medals. Axa, a Swedish marketer of oats-based snacks and breakfast products, signed her up for its endorsements. Her revelation later that she had taken performance-enhancing drugs put Axa in trouble. Besides stopping the endorsements, it had to withdraw its cereal boxes from the market that featured her on the packs. From then on, the company added moral clauses to its celebrity endorsement deals.

The case on "Kapil Dev", is the next article. Sourced from Business Line, the case examines the multi-dimensional facets of the popular Indian cricketer. He endorsed a multitude of brands in a career spanning over a decade-and-a-half and continues to promote products long after his retirement. The more famous brands endorsed by him include Thums Up, Palmolive, Rapidex, Timex, Kinetic Boss and SET Max. He enjoys a son-of-the-soil image, and has a reputation of simplicity and integrity. Perspectives of different marketers, who used him as their brand ambassador, are provided.

"Amitabh Bachchan", the case on India's acting superstar profiles him and his role as a celebrity endorser. As against a single endorsement in his first three decades of acting career, he ended up signing up more than a dozen deals in a short period of four years. This was triggered by the popularity of a television programme anchored by him, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). Though he was quite popular even before KBC, the game show added several notches to his fame and catapulted him to the top league of Indian celebrity endorsers. Across a wide range of product categories, marketers leveraged his persona. The case highlights his magnetic appeal to advertisers, and their reflections on his contributions to the brands he endorsed.

The last case, "Shah Rukh Khan", captures the marketers' perspectives on leveraging the immense popularity of the actor through endorsements. Over a nine-year period, the successful actor endorsed as many as 15 brands and acted in 45 commercials. His consistent performance at the box-office and his ability to straddle both classes and masses are cited as the reasons for his popularity among advertisers. The risk of overexposure is also touched upon.