Celebrity Endorsements Influence on Consumer Behavior towards Luxury Brands - Coursework Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: Celebrity endorsements influence on consumer behavior towards luxury brands Course: Studies have demonstrated that brand promotion is an effective strategy that can be used by marketers to increase consumer awareness and turn the product or service into a household name. The use of celebrities for advertising within product and service companies has become very common and a perceived means of product marketing and building of a corporate image. Park and Yang (2010) elaborate that celebrity endorsement describes the kind of advertising or branding whereby a celebrity is made a brand ambassador and employs his status within the society in promoting a service, charity or product. In some cases the celebrity can be a promotional model like for fragrances or body lotions. In many places in the world celebrities are worshipped or held in high esteem. These celebrities could be football stars, movie stars, television legends, basketball stars, or golf stars. In a recent market survey eight out of ten media commercials with the highest level of recall involved celebrity appearances (Tynan, McKechnie & Chhuon, 2010). There is increased debate whether celebrity endorsements actually enhance brand building process or it is just a tool for making the brand more visible in the consumers’ minds. The association between the product and the brand has a positive effect on the purchasing behavior of consumers and it is commonly enabled through the use of primary endorsers. About a quarter of media advertisement and commercials are usually endorsed by well known celebrities within the society. About ten percent of some product organizations budgets are allocated for celebrity endorsements. Celebrity endorsement has been used for quite a lot time (Spry, Pappu & Bettina Cornwell, 2011). It can be backdated to two centuries ago when it was first used. Celebrity endorsement is very expensive. Despite the cost, many companies are willing to part with huge sums of money for powerful endorsements entrenched within the celebrities whose face, name or voice recognition can attract millions of consumers within the desired market. Research indicates that both the endorsed product and the celebrity endorser represent units that are connected to other specific units drawn from the consumers’ experiences with the product as well as the endorser. According to Delgado-Ballester, Navarro and Sicilia (2012), the connections stands for the association developed between the endorser and the product. Is the strategy used for celebrity endorsement is correct then the product will automatically turn out to be successful in the market. This is very true for luxury brands that normal target the high-end market (Spry, Pappu & Bettina Cornwell, 2011). Consumers associate some celebrities with class, elegance, quality, complexity, perfection, or flawlessness hence when they are used to endorse a certain luxury product; the consumers are swayed towards liking the product or service even before using it. Using advertising messages as well as branding strategies an organization can look for ways of communicating a specific image for a brand and consumers will go ahead and examine the message of the company via the prism of their personal subjectivity (Liu et al, 2012). Celebrity endorsement is efficient in raising consumer awareness, increases sales and revenues, as well as differentiating the products of the company from those of competitors. Luxury brands use mostly celebrity endorsements since they are restricted within the ‘traditional’ mass advertising. Brand endorsement forms part of the marketing mix and type of advertising that a company can use in externalizing their brand identity for the purpose of building a brand image that is favourable (Eng & Bogaert, 2010). Marketers are able to use various tools in developing and maintaining suitable associations hence celebrity endorsers provides a means through which meanings are able to be transferred to brands. Nevertheless, brand endorsement can occur in other different forms that are not usually initiated by the company. Implicit brand endorsement is initiated by the brand hence resulting in a positive brand image. Not every brand endorsement is sought after or wanted. There are endorsements where the endorser can be very harmful to the brand image or the company. Incidents like that happened in the case of rape conviction of Mike Tyson, gambling debt by Michael Jordan, or O.J. Simpson murder charges. Many companies withdraw their sponsorship due to Tiger Woods extramarital affairs linked to the media (Fleck, Korchia & Le Roy, 2012). Tiger Woods endorsed Nike products among other companies. From these cases it can be concluded that not all publicity is good publicity. Movie star Nicole Kidman has been used in several successful luxury brands’ endorsements. Luxury brands have to be associated with the right things and perceived within the right context to avoid harming the product or brand negatively. Halonen-Knight and Hurmerinta (2010) explain that Brand endorsement can be positive and wanted but it could be also be unwanted and unintended. One case of unintended endorsement is the Burberry’s baseball caps that were usually worn by majority of football-hooligans in England compelling Burberry to stop their production completely (Eng & Bogaert, 2010). During that time some restaurants and pubs within London would normally deny entrance to people who had Burberry’s caps and shirts on. Celebrity endorsements for luxury brands persuade consumers to try the product since a certain celebrity has used it or said the product is good. Consumer behavior develops from the experiences that the customer has had with the product and his own subjectivity. Celebrity endorsements enabled the consumer to make a quick decision whether to buy or not to buy a certain luxury brand like cars, clothing, or sportswear (Spry, Pappu & Bettina Cornwell, 2011). Celebrity endorsement where it is right gives credibility to the product and makes it easy for the consumer to make a decision whether to buy or not to buy. Brand endorsement is a result of effort and careful planning by the company. The luxury brand image can be adversely affected by unintended negative celebrity endorsements. This has happened particularly for fashion and luxury brands (Tynan, McKechnie & Chhuon, 2010). Burberry had to part with undisclosed sum of money in order to dissuade a public figure from putting on their merchandise. Unintended and negative brand endorsement can hurt the sale of the product and even force the company to withdraw the product from the market. If a consumer a negative perception or attitude towards a certain celebrity, he will for sure boycott any luxury brand endorsed by the celebrity (Jin & Phua, 2014). The company has to do thorough research on the general perception of the celebrity before using him as a brand endorser. Brands are perceived as complex entities that only exist within the minds of the consumers and portray certain characteristics. Luxury brands dwells on the image and perception. The image is conjured up by relating the brand to desirable and favourable images and values (Fleck, Korchia & Le Roy, 2012). The overall superiority or quality of a product held by the consumers relates to relevant alternatives vis-à-vis the intended purpose. Luxury brands must maintain thin-line equilibrium between awareness and high exposure but a level of sales that is controlled. Luxury brands are out of reach for mass consumption due to the high prices as an entry barrier. Luxury incumbents seek create an illusion whereby real scarcity is usually replaced by a form of rarity (Eng & Bogaert, 2010). When consumers realize that persons that they would not like to link with the brand have the inaccessible luxury, it hugely influences their perceptions of the image of the luxury brand. If a wrong endorser is used, the brand can lose the perception of exclusivity associated with luxury brands. Celebrity endorsements emphasize the rarity and exclusivity associated by luxury brands in the minds of consumers. Using the right celebrity will increase chances of higher sales and perceived exclusivity of the luxury product. Celebrity endorsements have great impact on consumer behavior towards the luxury brand (Okonkwo 2010). Developing a marketing strategy for a luxury brand has to be meticulous and elaborate to avoid common mistakes. In conclusion, celebrity endorsement has been used for a long time within the field of marketing whether intended and wanted or unintended and unwanted. Celebrity endorsement for luxury brands influences the perception of the brand in the minds of the consumer. There are certain products characteristics that a consumer attaches to a brand with regard to which celebrity has endorsed it. Celebrity endorsement of a brand can help the consumer to make the purchase decision or recommend a friend or a family member for the same brand. Unintended and unwanted endorsement can harm a luxury brand forcing the consumers to seek for alternatives. A company has to carefully plan before settling for a particular celebrity for its luxury brands. The celebrity has to promote the exclusivity and rarity of the product that attract the consumer towards purchasing it. The reputation and public conduct of the celebrity will determine how successful the marketing campaign will be. Luxury brands have to have a carefully planned marketing strategy to avoid obvious blunders that may cost the company. A celebrity has to enhance the quality, elegance, class and rarity of the luxury brand. A company can mitigate the impact of negative endorsement by withdrawing the product from the marketing order to avoid further damage. References Delgado-Ballester, E., Navarro, A. and Sicilia, M., 2012. Revitalizing brands through communication messages: the role of brand familiarity. European Journal of Marketing, 46(1/2), pp.31-51. Eng, T.Y. and Bogaert, J., 2010. Psychological and cultural insights into consumption of luxury western brands in India. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 9(1), pp.55-75. Fleck, N., Korchia, M. and Le Roy, I., 2012. Celebrities in advertising: looking for congruence or likability? Psychology & Marketing, 29(9), pp.651-662. Halonen-Knight, E. and Hurmerinta, L., 2010. Who endorses whom? Meanings transfer in celebrity endorsement. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 19(6), pp.452-460. Jin, S.A.A. and Phua, J., 2014. Following celebrities’ tweets about brands: The impact of twitter-based electronic word-of-mouth on consumers’ source credibility perception, buying intention, and social identification with celebrities. Journal of Advertising, 43(2), pp.181-195. Liu, F., Li, J., Mizerski, D. and Soh, H., 2012. Self-congruity, brand attitude, and brand loyalty: a study on luxury brands. European Journal of Marketing, 46(7/8), pp.922-937. Okonkwo, U., 2010. Luxury brands & celebrities: An enduring branding romance. Park, S.Y. and Yang, Y., 2010. The effect of celebrity conformity on the purchase intention of celebrity sponsorship brand: The moderating effects of symbolic consumption and face-saving. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 1(4), pp.215-229. Spry, A., Pappu, R. and Bettina Cornwell, T., 2011. Celebrity endorsement, brand credibility and brand equity. European journal of marketing, 45(6), pp.882-909. Tynan, C., McKechnie, S. and Chhuon, C., 2010. Co-creating value for luxury brands. Journal of Business Research, 63(11), pp.1156-1163. Read More