Is it smart to use celebrity endorsements for branding?
Manoj Khatri
Research and Coordination Editor

Stars, who are known to shape destinies, cast an enormous influence. No, we’re not talking about astrology here. We’re referring to the powerful effect of celebrities on destinies of brands. One approving nod from a famous face can translate into millions in brand sales. Perhaps that’s why the world over, companies have been using stars to endorse everything, from food to food chains, from soft and hard drinks to health drinks, from clothes and accessories to cars (and the tyres on which they run). Even political parties are awestruck by the charisma of stars. Such is the magnetism of celebrities in this country that in the recent general elections, major political parties fielded a record number of film stars and cricketers to contest from important constituencies around the country.

So what about celebrities drives companies to spend in millions on obtaining their stamp of approval on their brands?
Celebrity Endorsements as a strategy
Signing up stars for endorsements is a time-
tested strategy and has been effectively used by some of the top brands in the world including Nike and Pepsi. In India too, HLL has used Hindi film stars to endorse their beauty soap Lux since the fifties. Vimal, Thums Up, Gwalior and Dinesh are some of the other brands that used star-appeal in the early days of mass advertising. And who can forget Kapil ‘Palmolive’ Dev?
Ask about the objective of using a celebrity in an ad and most admen will talk about making an impact on the bottom line. They believe that star endorsements have several benefits, key among them being building credibility, fostering trust and drawing attention… any or all of which can translate into higher brand sales. So how does one decide whether to put a celebrity in an ad? Ideally, this should be dictated by the communication idea. MG Parmeswaran, Executive Director of FCB Ulka says, “As advertising professionals, we recommend celebrity endorsements when the case is justified. There are many cases where you need to use the celebrity to break out of a category clutter. At times celebrity endorsement is used to build credibility to the brand offer.”
Most experts concur that, when used judiciously, celebrity endorsements can be an effective strategy. According to Mohammed Khan, Chairman of Enterprise Nexus, “Using a celebrity by itself is not a bad idea provided it is done intelligently.” And there are many examples of good and bad use of celebrities. Take Amitabh Bachchan, who has been used by some companies like Parker Pens and ICICI Home Loans remarkably well while some others have been unable to exploit his Big B status too well. Shah Rukh Khan’s endorsement of Hyundai Santro too seems to have worked well. Parmeswaran adds, “We used cricketers like Rahul Dravid for Castrol in an attempt to break out of the clutter, as well as have an image rub off of ‘dependability’ on to the brand.”
Yet, there are some who don’t have much conviction in star endorsements. Adrian Mendonza, Executive VP and Creative Director of Rediffusion DY&R does not recommend celebrity endorsements because he thinks that to be really successful, a brand needs to have a strong identity of its own. It should ideally not piggyback on the identity of a celebrity and hope to achieve success. Mendonza adds, “I somehow get this feeling that not much effort is put in to think through an ad with a celebrity. Most times it seems like it is just the celebrity saying ‘I use this product, so why don’t you’ kind of thing and the ad agency thinks it has done its job.”
Celebrity endorsements are capable of manifesting both favourable and adverse effects for the brands with which they associate. Let’s analyse both.
Six uses of Celebrity Endorsements
Establishes Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new products.
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 loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.
Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.).
Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

Cont