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Strategic
Brand Management
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TURN
YOUR BRANDS INTO CELEBRITIES — ARE YOU READY FOR IT?
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In India today, the use of celebrity advertising for
companies has become a trend and a perceived winning
formula of corporate image-building and product marketing
Associating a brand with a top-notch celebrity can do
more than perk up brand recall. It can create linkages
with the star’s appeal, thereby adding refreshing and
new dimensions to the brand image. . |
Celebrity
Management: A Concept-Selling Challenge
In a world filled with faces, how many do you remember?
Admittedly the ones that evoke some kind of feeling
in you, whether it’s humor, acceptance, appreciation
or recognition. These are the faces you’d turn to look
at, the ones that would stop you in your tracks. And
that’s when you have more than just a face. You have
personality. Personality that’s reflective of your brand
and promises to take it that extra mile. As existing
media get increasingly cluttered, the need to stand
out has become paramount — and celebrities have proved
to be the ideal way to ensure brand prominence. Synergising
personality with product and message can create an instant
breakthrough. Result? Brand buzz. People begin to notice,
opportunities come about. People want to be a part of
the brand. Touch It. Feel it. Experience it. ‘Celebrities
as Brands’ is a concept-selling challenge, as the current
notion of celebrity management is far from ideal — it’s
perceived as a business that merely attaches the celebrity
to the brand to get that added advantage. However, the
actual job is not mere brokerage — it’s about selecting
a spokesperson whose characteristics are congruent with
the brand image.
So what exactly is the right personality?
It’s one which can personalise your brand, is in sync
with the product/service and is the perfect match for
it. The one that puts buzz into your brand. Creates
opportunities for advertising promotions and events.
And forms the fertile ground for clutter-bursting ideas.
Celebrity endorsement is a serious business, and if
used effectively could have a lasting impression on
the brand, its activities and its image. Right from
Kapil Dev’s ‘Palmolive ka jawaab nahin’ to the most
recent sensational association of Hrithik Roshan with
Tamariind, celebrities have done wonders for brand recall.
The rewards of using celebrities for your brands
Associating a brand with a top-notch celebrity can do
more than perk up brand recall. It can create linkages
with the star’s appeal, thereby adding refreshing and
new dimensions to the brand image. It can also create
media and promotion opportunities that sweep the consumer
off her feet.
Research conducted by Katherine Eckel, professor of
economics at U.S. Virginia Tech, has revealed that celebrities
or ‘higher status agents’ can get people to make a better
choice but cannot influence ‘people to make a foolish
choice’.
In India today, the use of celebrity advertising for
companies has become a trend and a perceived winning
formula of corporate image-building and product marketing.
This phenomenon is reflected in the recent market research
finding that 8 out of 10 TV commercials scoring the
highest recall were those with celebrity appearances.
A few examples: Sachin Tendulkar-Adidas, Sourav Ganguly-Britannia,
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati-J. Hampstead, Shah Rukh
Khan-Pepsi, Sushmita Sen-Epson and Aishwarya Rai-Coke.
The effectiveness of the endorser depends upon the meaning
he or she brings to the endorsement process.
There is a three-stage process of meaning transfer which
involves the formation of the celebrity image, transfer
of meaning from celebrity to brand and finally from
brand to consumer. This is what leads to effective celebrity
advertising.
The selection of a celebrity for a brand is done primarily
on the basis of a marketing brief prepared either by
the corporate or the advertising agency. Once the relationship
between the brief, the brand and the celebrity is established,
the association is accomplished. For example, when S.
Kumar was to launch its new range of readymade garments,
Tamariind, there was the realisation that one brand
of apparel couldn’t be very different from the others,
and what would make the difference was the packaging.
So in came teen heartthrob Hrithik Roshan. The brand
personality of Tamariind matches that of Hrithik — Tamariind
being a new brand and Hrithik the new heartthrob. The
idea behind Tamariind is the ‘flavour you wear’ — a
brand catering to the fun-loving and adventurous youth.
And the ambassador chosen is a successful and extremely
exciting personality — a youth icon of today’s times.
So the marriage is apt and justified.
The best advertising comes from a deep understanding
of the consumer and how he/she connects with your brands.
Therefore, the jhatka of Mirinda needs a personality
with a sense of humour. That’s Govinda and Amitabh for
you.
However, there’s one fact that advertisers using celebrity
endorsements need to keep in mind — never let the celebrity
become your brand. In doing so, one runs the risk of
killing the brand no sooner has the hype and hoopla
around the celebrity faded. A classic example of the
above is Dinesh Suitings, where Sunil Gavaskar, the
brand spokesperson, was allowed to rule the brand, thus
becoming bigger than it. No sooner had the association
ceased than the brand lost its identity, thereby creating
confusion in people’s minds. Therefore, the use of a
celebrity must be proportionate to the objective.
It is also important for one to be completely clear
about why a brand should use a celebrity. Is it to boost
sales or to boost image? Or is it just to keep the brand
alive? If the objective is increase of sales, the celebrity
should be used for short-term promotions and brand activities.
(A classic example is the Rani Mukherjee campaign for
Bata which is believed to have helped boost sales for
the ladies’ footwear brand, Sundrop, by a whopping 500
per cent.) In the event of an image-building exercise,
the celebrity can be used for a longer period of time,
so that the brand can derive the benefit of the celebrity’s
image on its own. The association of Sushmita Sen, ex-Miss
Universe, helped the brand Epson achieve instant recognition
in the computer printer category, even with established
giants like Hewlett Packard and Wipro in the running.
To conclude, one must not rely too heavily on the fame
of the celebrity. One must look more for the genre of
consumer that he/she represents, as eventually all celebrities
are what they are because of a set of consumers thinks
they are that way. These celebrities represent the aspirational
values that the consumer wants to articulate. Last,
but not least, one must build the brand not on a transient
celebrity but an enduring one.
So, the celebrities are here to turn your brands into
celebrities. Are you ready for it?
There’s one fact that advertisers using celebrity
endorsements need to keep in mind — never let the celebrity
become your brand. In doing so, one runs the risk of
killing the brand no sooner has the hype and hoopla
around the celebrity faded. . |
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