Advantages And Disadvantages Of Brand Ambassadors

A brand is what can either attract people to you or make people avoid you; people would identify you by the brand you portray. One can communicate their brand through actions and words. “It is essential to understand that wherever we are, in whatever we do, we are all building our brand”.

Ever since the start of commercial radio in the 20’s and the since the first silver screen entered the market, broadcasting messages by celebrities has been a tool employed to endorse products.”Just about every star was associated with one sponsor’s product he or she plugged.”(1). Over the years celebrity endorsement became an essential part of marketing (more than 25% of television ads feature celebrities)(5), for the endorser it became an easy way of generating an income while for the endorsing company it became a guaranteed way to reach a wide segment of potential clients.

The literature on Akhtar et al. (2016) has highlighted celebrities have the greater effect on customer purchase intention through celebrity endorsement and sponsorship. More specifically, companies chose celebrity endorsement and celebrity sponsorship as their marketing strategy also shown an increase in sales reports on both products and services (Akhtar et al., 2016).The literature on Akhtar et al. (2016) has highlighted celebrities have the greater effect on customer purchase intention through celebrity endorsement and sponsorship. More specifically, companies chose celebrity endorsement and celebrity sponsorship as their marketing strategy also shown an increase in sales reports on both products and services (Akhtar et al., 2016).The literature

The athlete can be trusted – We have numerous examples of athletes that have embarrassed the companies that they endorse. The largest and most recent is Tiger, but even mom-and-pop stores need to do their due diligence before they sign an endorser. Nike could sit back and weather the storm, but smaller companies might not be able to. (Miller)

Companies are very selective when choosing a celebrity to endorse their product because they know the person is a great candidate for them to sell their product to the consumers. Before the company signs on the celebrities to endorse their brands, the companies need to make sure that these celebrities meet three basic qualifications.

People think “oh that product looks amazing, I want it” just because celebrities are in the advertisement, and it looks more credible. Consumers get influenced into buying products when the advertisement is amusing. Although that may be the case, it is up to the consumer to be responsible with what he/she is buying. Cover Girl’s Plumping Mascara commercial featuring Katy Perry does not get every girl persuade to buy it. Even though the commercial is great and looks like the product works really well, does not mean every person who sees the advertisement feels pressured into buying the product. Several men and women believe it is insulting to use celebrity advertisement to promote products and others think it is the buyer who has the responsibility of not getting suckered into buying everything he/she sees. Also advertisment is a way to promote products, celebrities should be allowed in

Use of celebrities in advertising is no new concept, companies have used celebrities to sell everything from cars, to moisturizer. Celebrities, due to our consumerist and media based society, are the ideal salespeople. (Wright, 2015) PETA’s campaign team understands that celebrity can help sell products and put a spin on that marketing technique by using celebrity endorsement in order to sell their ideals, and a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. Celebrity endorsement can help companies and non-profit organizations such as PETA to gain public recognition, and to make a strong impression on viewers and consumers, so that they will remember the product, or in PETA’s case, consumers will remember the ideals and advocacy that the organization is promoting. (Fleck, Korchia, & Le Roy, 2012) It’s also apparent that a celebrities attractiveness has something to do with it as well. Fleck, Korchia, and Le Roy also state that “A celebrity spokesperson's physical attractiveness has a positive impact on brand recall, attitude toward the brand and purchasing intent”

The article suggests that money and exposure are key reasons for celebrities to tie their name to a large company that may not be healthy for children, for this reason; one questions the qualities of the celebrity. For example, one can question qualities of a famous athlete that endorses Sprite because soda leads to dehydration and athletes’ focus is often staying hydrated. Next, businesses use celebrities as a marketing strategy to gain attention for the product that the company wants endorsed. This causes the business to spend more money on more influential people leading to the assumption that celebrities are endorsing products that they do not actually use on a daily basis for money. After one is able to think critically about the logistics of the celebrity endorsing the product one can find that it is most likely about being paid or reaching a new

Celebrity endorsement is possibly the most successful form of advertising. The fact that a celebrity approves of a product is often enough for people to get on board. Advertisements create a false life or image. Chiat says in his article: “Advertising--including movies, TV, and music videos--presents to us a world that is not our world but rather a collection of images and ideas created for the purpose of selling” (Chiat 212) .There is no better way to sell a false life or idea than to have a celebrity sell it for you.

Aaker (1996) states brand is a product, an organization, and a symbol. This is where individuals differentiate themselves and stand out by having a unique value. A personal brand is the actual perception of others. When a person creates a personal brand, then they will stand out easily.

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition”. However, as Keller highlights, a brand is also “something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the marketplace”. Therefore, a brand is an identity created to differentiate itself from the competitors and to be remembered in consumer’s mind.

Celebrity endorsements are one of the most famous methods of marketing used today. Celebrity endorsers are being used in about 25% of all the advertisements that we can see on the television. Marketers are investing large sums of money to have a contract with the celebrities as they believe that celebrities can affect the chances of success of a product. (Erica Weintraub Austina*, 2008) Kiakati

Companies may also use celebrities to try to control or manipulate the consumer into buying the endorsed product. This may have a negative impact, as consumers may view the celebrities as being puppets for the company. Companies are using celebrities to influence the consumers’ behavior in a certain direction, at the same time the consumer often may perceive the celebrity to by lying when indorsing certain products. For example, many a celebrity has been photographed while enjoying a cold Pepsi much to the dismay of the marketing department for Coke that they are promoting. The celebrity is no longer perceived as genuine and may loss

Furthermore there are other researches as well which suggest that the approach of using a celebrity to endorse a product can not be viewed as a general practice of using any celebrity for any product endorsement. Pornpitakpan (2003), while discussing match-up hypothesis, describes the results of a study by Erdogen et al (2001) which suggests that "British advertising agency managers considered various criteria like celebrity- target audience match, celebrity-product match, overall image of the celebrity, cost of hiring the celebrity, celebrity trustworthiness, controversy risk, celebrity familiarity, celebrity prior endorsements, celebrity likeability, risk of celebrity overshadowing the brands, celebrity expertise, celebrity profession and celebrity physical attractiveness". A match between the target market and the endorser is important for effectively transmitting right message to target audience. For example, the advertisements which are produced by Pepsi, are mostly targeted for youths and so the celebrity endorsers that they use in their advertisements are young personalities. The match up hypothesis goes true for the multiple celebrity advertising as well. A good example of this is the Pulse Polio campaign taken up in India to eradicate the polio

“Define what your brand stands for, its core values and tone of voice, and then communicate consistently in those terms” (Mainwaring, n.d.). Personal branding is the message you intend to send to others that is a reflection of you, your values, and what you stand for. Branding yourself is vital in the business world today considering it can help you with, better opportunity discovery, better networking career advancement, and better success. It can also develop and define you as a leader. From “actors, musicians, athletes and models, the famous and near famous are all competing for market position in popular culture. Like products, celebrities even rename themselves to craft a brand identity” (Solomon, Marshall, & Stuart, 2016). Regardless