Secondary_Research

Director’s Project Building Megabrands- Celebrity Branding Secondary Research Submitted by: Anubhav Balyan (2010A42) Stanzein Chozzom (2010B20) Mahalaxmi T.E. (2010B30) Iman Kalyan Pande (2010B35) Nikhil Agarwal (2010C45) BUILDING MEGABRANDS - CELEBRITY BRANDING Introduction One of the commonly viewed advertisements today is called Celebrity Branding advertising. Celebrity branding is a type of branding, or advertising, in which a celebrity uses his or her status in society to promote a product, service or charity. We see popular and talented artists endorsing different products in television shows, programs, special events and commercials. Branded clothes, perfumes, make-up, sports gear, and the likes are making good in the market. Celebrity branding can take several different forms, from a celebrity simply appearing in advertisements for a product, service or charity, to a celebrity attending PR events, creating his or her own line of products or services, and/or using his or her name as a brand. Customers have the flexibility adjusting to products that are offered in the market especially if it is new. More so, if they find out that the products are represented and endorsed by famous personalities, they become eager and excited to purchase them either for personal use or for gift giving purposes. Through further studies and research of brand specialists, they assign top personalities who can represent a specific product based on different aspects like their personality, occupation, physical attributes or even their capacity to effectively deliver to consumers the real essence of the product or charitable project. For example, former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan possesses stunning and expressive eyes and she effectively campaigned for an eye donation big event. Celebrity Branding is a channel of brand communication in which a celebrity acts as the brand’s spokesperson and certifies the brand’s claim and position by extending his/her personality, popularity, stature in the society or expertise in the field to the brand. In a market with a very high proliferation of local, regional and international brands, celebrity endorsement was thought to provide a distinct differentiation. But over the years, many aspiring brands in Asia have jumped on to this celebrity endorsement bandwagon. Even though endorsements have taken on a quasi-industry stature, there is hardly any hugely successful collaboration as those of Nike’s. There are many reasons for such a happening. Celebrity branding is a global phenomenon and it assumes paramount importance in developing countries like India where celebrities are given the status of demi Gods by the masses. There is a certain correlation between successful celebrity branding and brand endorsements. More recently, advertisers have begun attempting to quantify and qualify the use of celebrities in their marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to a brand's image and the celebrity's influence on consumer buying behavior. Today 'Celebrity Endorsement' has attracted immense debate on whether it really contributes to the brand building process or whether it is just another lazy tool to make the brand more visible in the minds of the consumers. Although it has been observed that the presence of a well-known personality helps in solving the problem of over-communication that is becoming more prominent these days, there are few undesirable impacts of this practice on the brand. The theories like 'Source Credibility Theory, Source Attractiveness Theory and Meaning Transfer Theory' provide a basis on which the methodology of celebrity endorsement works and also explains how the process of the celebrity endorsement influences the minds of the consumers. Firms invest huge amounts as advertising expenditure for hiring the right celebrity. However there lies uncertainty with respect to the returns that the company might be able to garner for the brand. The issue of matching the values of the celebrity with the brand values is also very important, i.e. getting the right celebrity to endorse the right brand. Consumers perceive the brand as having superior quality because it has been endorsed by a credible source. This makes endorsement as one of the indictors of quality for any brand. Corporate credibility along with endorser credibility plays a significant role in the attitude of the consumer towards the brand and the advertisement respectively. On the other hand, the over popularity of the celebrity sometimes overshadows the brand. If the celebrity is involved in multiple endorsements, it tends to create confusion among consumers and hence negatively affects the perception of the advertisement and the brand. There are around 130 television channels in India broadcasting over 3 million television commercials each year in India. The media-explosion can thus be easily demonstrated. Moreover, people forget 80% of the information in just 24 hours. Somewhere in the 80's, Indian marketers found the solution, 'Celebrity Branding' for the brand! Firms endorse celebrity for a variety of reasons. It might be the life experience of the celebrity that fits the advertising message or the endorser's high appeal with the firm's consumer target group. Studies associated with the market effect of celebrity endorsement suggest that consumers positively value the use of celebrity endorsers in the advertisements. Firms invest significant money in putting together brands and organizations with endorser qualities such as attractiveness, likeability, and trustworthiness. But today's dynamic market conditions make these investments unviable. Celebrities were involved in endorsing activities since late nineteenth century. The advent of celebrity endorsements in advertising in India began when Hindi film and TV stars as well as sportspersons began encroaching on a territory that was, until then, the exclusive domain of models. One of the first sports endorsements in India was when Farokh Engineer became the first Indian cricketer to model for BrylCream. The Indian cricket team now earns roughly Rs. 100 crore through endorsements. There was a spurt of advertising, featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige Pressure Cookers), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings). Celebrity endorsements give a brand a touch of glamour and the hope that a famous face will provide added appeal and name recognition in a crowded market. In the battle for the mind, you get the customer excited by showing him a known face, and an effective demand is created. In short it helps increase the recall value of the brand. As per the ‘Hindu Business Line, 2003’, the target audience of age group between 15-30 years gets influenced first by cricketers, then Bollywood stars and only then music, festivals and food4. According to ‘Source Credibility Theory’, acceptance of the message depends on 'Expertness' and ‘Trustworthiness' of the source. Expertness is defined as the perceived ability of the source to make valid assertions. Trustworthiness is defined as the perceived willingness of the source to make valid assertions. Audience acceptance increases with the expertness of the source and the ability of the audience to evaluate the product. According to ‘Source Attractiveness Theory’, which is based on social psychological research, the acceptance of the message depends on familiarity, likeability and similarity. Familiarity is the audience's knowledge of the source through exposure; likeability is the affection for the source's physical appearance and behavior while similarity is the resemblance between source and receiver. This theory explains the message acceptance in two ways: Identification and Conditioning. Identification is when the receiver or the target audience of the communication begins to identify with the source's attractiveness, and hence tends to accept his opinions, beliefs, habits, attitudes etc. Grant McCracken has criticized the previous two theories and proposed the ‘Meaning Transfer Theory’. The theory explains that a celebrity encodes a unique set of meanings which if well used can be transferred to the endorsed product. Such a transfer takes place in three stages – encoding meanings, meaning transfer, meaning capture. I. Encoding Meanings: Each celebrity has a unique set of meanings, which can be listed by age, gender, race, wealth, personality or lifestyle. In this way, the celebrities encode a set of meanings in their image. For example Preity Zinta can be seen as a lively, charming, bubbly, witty and enthusiastic. II. Meaning Transfer: This stage transfers those meanings to the product. When skillfully portrayed, celebrities can communicate this image more powerfully than lay endorsers. MEANING MOVEMENT AND THE ENDORSEMENT PROCESS Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Key - Path of Meaning Movement - Stage of Meaning Movement III. Meaning Capture: This assumes that consumers purchase products not merely for their functional value but also for their cultural and symbolic value. The theory says that consumers buy the endorsed product with the intention of capturing some of the desirable meanings with which celebrities have passed on to the product. This is more eminent in lifestyle products like clothes, perfumes, cell phones etc. | CULTURE ENDORSEMENT CONSUMPTION Objects Persons Context Celebrity Product Product Consumer Celebrity AMITABH BACHCHAN Amitabh Bachchan is known as the man with the Midas touch. He has been a household name for three decades now. And people have long loved to ape his style and his deep voice. Today, the star is one of the hottest advertising mascots and probably the most highly paid model for commercials. So far, Bachchan has endorsed brands like BPL, ICICI, Parker Pens, Maruti Versa, Pepsi, Reid & Taylor, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Gujarat Heritage, Himani Fast Relief, Navratna Oil, Emami Boroplus, Eveready, Nerolac Paints, and Dabur. He was also a prominent part of a recent AIDS campaign. The small screen played an important role in giving him a new lease of life. After a rough patch in the 90s, he barged into Indian homes with one of the most popular quiz shows of Indian television "Kaun Banega Crorepati" (KBC) and the famous BPL ad. Amitabh is endorsing everything - from pens to cars to hair oils to chocolates. His reach can be estimated from the fact that he was signed as a brand ambassador for Reid and Taylor. Earlier, Hollywood actor Pierce Brosnan endorsed the product. Amitabh Bachchan not only ruled the box office but also emerged as the top celebrity with the most endorsements for social causes on television. Be it Pulse Polio or Asian Conservation Awareness, Big B was seen in the television promoting a cause. The star was brand ambassador for Pulse Polio, Asian Conservation Awareness and Heroes Project. Even at 68, Bachchan makes more from his endorsements than the stars of today like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan. In 2007, he beat Aamir, who had bagged the biggest endorsement for Coke, with a whopping Rs 10 crore contract with ICICI. SACHIN TENDULKAR If you talk about Sachin Tendulkar endorsements, they are more than 100 in last 20 years. Sachin Tendulkar ads for Pepsi, ANZ Grindlays Visa, MRF, Britannia, Boost, Adidas, and TVS etc. have gained immense popularity over the years. Besides Pepsi, Sachin Tendulkar endorsements include famous domestic and international brands. Sachin Tendulkar ads get famous with his special voice. For instance, in Visa’s ad, Sachin used to say Go Get It or in a Pepsi ad, Nothing Official About It; Sachin Tendulkar ads of Boost ad showed Sachin saying Boost is the secret of my energy. Over the years, Sachin Tendulkar has endorsed brands which are very similar to Sachin’s attitude and life. Sachin Tendulkar ads of Adidas used to show a caption Nothing is Impossible. It is very true for a player like Sachin. Sachin Tendulkar ads are still very popular, which portray him as a gutsy cricketer. At present, Sachin has endorsement deals with 10 brands which include ITC (Sunfeast), Adidas , Future Group, Cannon, Reynold's, Aviva Life Insurance and JK Cements. Currently, Sachin charges Rs 5 crore per brand and his brand value is pegged at Rs 55 crore. Sachin Tendulkar recently refused a mega offer to endorse a liquor brand which according to some experts in the commercial endorsement business, would have been the highest-ever deal for an Indian sportsperson had it been clinched. The speculations are that the offer was made by UB Group. Sachin Tendulkar endorses the following brands: * Pepsi: 1992–Present * Canon: 2006–2009 * Airtel: 2004–2006] * Nazara Technologies: 2005–2008. * Britannia: 2001–2007 * HomeTrade: 2001–2002 * Sunfeast: 2007–2013/14 * National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC): 2003–2005 * Boost: 1990–Present * Action Shoes: 1995–2000 * Adidas: 2000–2010 * Fiat Palio: 2001 to 2003 * Reynolds: 2007–Present * TVS: 2002–2005 * ESPN Star Sports: 2002–Present * G-Hanz: 2005–2007 * Sanyo BPL: 2007–Present * AIDS Awareness Campaign: 2005 * Colgate-Palmolive * Philips * MRF * VISA * Aviva * Royal Bank of Scotland Group * Toshiba * Castrol India SHAHRUKH KHAN Shah Rukh Khan’s tryst with endorsements on television began in 1999 with brands like Pepsi and Hyundai Santro. Shah Rukh has had a steep rise over the years, which hasn’t really been perturbed by his box office success/failure ratio. While in 2003, SRK endorsed eight brands which had average monthly spends of Rs 8.6 million (Rs 0.86 crores); in 2004, spends increased to Rs 41.7 million (Rs 4.17 crores) with a total of 13 brands that the star endorsed. Whereas in 2005, SRK endorsed 21 brands (Rs 60.5 million). Brands endorsed by Shahrukh are: * Hyundai * Sunfeast * Bagpiper * Top ramen * Mayur suitings * Videocon * Airtel * Lux * Himani * Frooti * Compaq * Tag Heur * National AIDS Control Organization * UNICEF * Prevention of AIDS * National Rural Health Mission Khan’s endorsement portfolio extends across sectors- from two wheelers and durables to soaps and biscuits. Brands that SRK endorses also make their presence felt in his movies. SRK was prominently shown wearing the Tag Heur watch and using the Compaq Presario notebook in one of his movies. In recent times, we had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign with the objective of mitigating the impediment that an unknown Korean brand faced in the Indian market. The objective was to garner faster brand recognition, association and emotional unity with the target group. Star power in India can be gauged by the successful endorsement done by Sharukh for three honchos- Pepsi, Clinic All Clear and Santro. SAINA NEHWAL Saina Nehwal became a hot property in the celebrity endorsement market after a string of successes last year, most notably the gold medal she secured in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games. Telecom giant Airtel is the latest in a series of corporates that have sign her as a brand ambassador and Saina's endorsement value is understood to have reached the Rs. 1 crore per deal mark. She had signed her first endorsement contracts with MTV, The Cancer Society of India and Herbalife. Each of these contracts was worth Rs 10-15 lakhs each. . But now her values has increased much more in the world of celebrity endorsements. Herbalife India, a global nutrition company, renewed its brand endorsement partnership with her right after she was ranked World No two by the Badminton World Federation after she clinched the winning titles back to back at the India Open Grand Prix, the Singapore Open Super Series and the Indonesia Open Super Series. According to some sources, as many as 12 corporations including MNCs had lined up to talk to the managers of India's most popular badminton player. Nehwal is already a brand ambassador for the Deccan Chronicle newspaper and its IPL team the Deccan Chargers. Nehwal said that she would be endorsing only those products which suited her personality. Though the worth of the deal between Nehwal and Herbalife was approximately between Rs3 million to Rs5 million. Nehwal's endorsement value had zoomed up following her recent victories and her rise to the world's number two in World Badminton Federation rankings, sources said.