Celebrity Branding and Product Branding: Similarities and Differences

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.

A celebrity is defined by the media and society through characterisations; the introduction of various on-line and print media platforms enhance the presence of celebrity culture, such for advertising, activism, different genres of television (e.g. reality, gastronomical), and even political avenues as well (Driessens). Their fame is developed based on prominence cum establishment in the entertainment industry that transforms their recognition into a popular culture. In Graeme Turner’s Understanding Celebrity, he discusses the effects of contemporary popular culture representing celebrity as an icon of cultural change (Turner Understanding Celebrity). The power of a celebrity uses his status and popularity to create discourse with the public and media; how each present themselves to an audience in performances or marketing, these functions as general tokens of success in their glamourous lives (Driessens). The discursive effect in the celebrity contemporary culture aligns close to religion, with some qualities credited to particular celebrities and religious figures. The way some fans admire their celebrity figures reflects a spiritual experience, as fans view their idol as a person with immortal talents and influential qualities. This phenomenon is linked to how the media glorifies the celebrity and thus, produces a celebrated figure with an astounding influence amongst the public (Turner Understanding Celebrity). As a result, the celebrity’s economic value is

Celebrity Endorsement is a form of brand or advertising that involves a well-known individual using their fame to help promote a product or service. The most common business users of products are manufactures of perfumes, and clothing. Some Techniques that are used are for example, television ads and launch event appearances.

Have you ever wondered what influences us to behave the way we do? Look a certain way? Or even looked for an explanation to what causes us to apply a certain perspective regarding personal and controversial issues? One of the answers to these questions may revolve around the influence we absorb from celebrities. A definitive term for celebrity is an iconic figure to a category or group who has achieved success in one or multiple aspects of their lives. As a result, these individuals have drawn in publicity and fame. Over the years with the advances in media and other forms of communication, celebrities have become topics of discussion worldwide, rather if it’s at school, with colleagues or at the dinner table, it is fair to say that

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

Celebrity endorsement is a billion dollar industries today (Kambitsis et al., 2002) with companies signing deals with celebrities hoping that they can help them stand out from the clutter and give them a unique and relevant position in the mind of the consumer. According to Solomon (2002), the reasons for using celebrity endorsement involves its potential to create awareness, positive feelings towards their advertising and brand. Research has shown that celebrity endorsement can have an impact on the consumer’s attention, recall, evaluations and purchase intentions (Atkin and Block, 1993), Celebrity endorsement is a widely used tactic in marketing and much research

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

Have you ever wondered why celebrities advertise for products that you wouldn't think the celebrity would ever use? There are many reasons why a celebrity would advertise for a company like McDonalds or Pepsi. In return children and teenagers are greatly influenced by these celebrity endorsements. These celebrities don't use the products that they appear to use in advertisements, they get payed a lot of money to make it look like they use certain products.

Since then, there has been an intricate relationship to people 's identity in such a way in that celebrities are often viewed as a useful endorsement in transferring and communicating the meanings and symbols of a brand image to the general public.

Langmeyer and Walker (1991,p.364) state that use of celebrities as a important part of marketing communication strategy, it can help firms to support corporate and build brand image, it is a fairly common practice.

Why people agreed to pay Rs.5 for attending Narendra Modi’s Rally? Why do we have people who build temples in name of Rajnikant and Amitabh Bachhan and not for any other equally successful movie star? Is it only because of the talents possessed by these individuals or something beyond that? Do these personalities “brand” themselves and consciously do or refrain from doing things that affect their brand image? We all already have a personal brand, every person does. In our profession, industry or area of expertise, our personal brand has grown like a pearl inside an oyster, built from layers of our behaviour, treatment of others, the result of our work and the things

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A brand serves to add dimensions to a product to differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same needs. The strength of brands is measured by the price differential that consumers are willing to pay over other products in the same category (Keller, 2012). For many young people, it is not buying a pair of jeans, but buying GAP or Tommy Hilfiger or Levis. As per the article in Business Week (Wechsler, 1997, p. 64) this “barrages of brand names offers the irresistible promise of instant cool.”

Schaefer et.al,2010 discusses about differences between Chinese and U.S. consumers’ general attitudes towards ACEs(Athlete celebrity endorsers). He stated that celebrity endorsements to be an effective

The great brand names seeks success once they inhibit a market on the basis of how comprehendible a brand name is, this is mainly because the words project both the meanings and the feelings. So a brand name must be comprehendible enough to communicate the overall brand strategy. That could either communicate the functional aspect, an emotional aspect or a set of straight forward communicative meaning. Media is one among the most influential factor that serves as the central force of attraction in all contemporary societies. The conservative societies might find it hard to acknowledge the reality of this fact but once we glance over the scattered impact of media on our minds and behaviors we are left with no option but to admit to the fact that media reflects us, our culture and above all shapes the reality of our worlds. But as far as the contemporary societies are concerned media and