The article focuses on celebrity endorsement and its use by marketers. It also explains the problems that marketers face when they do not choose the right celebrity for their brands.

INTRODUCTION

Celebrity endorsements pull in hundreds of crores every year, and are widely preferred by marketers to promote their products. Using celebrities for endorsing brands has become a trend for building the brands as well as the company's image.

Who are these celebrities? What does celebrity endorsement mean?
A celebrity is a person who is well recognized by the public, and has a reputation for his/her expertise in his/her chosen field. Sports persons and film stars fit the bill perfectly. Promotion of a company's products through these celebrities is termed as celebrity endorsement.

Why in general are they preferred by marketers?
The company makes use of the celebrity's characteristics and qualities to establish an analogy with the products specialties with an aim to position them in the minds of the target consumers. Celebrity endorsement, thus, is one of the powerful tools adopted by companies/marketers to consolidate their brand(s) in the crowded marketplace.

Consumers prefer to own a brand that has a good reputation, and when someone like a famous film star or a sport star is associated with that particular brand, it is obvious that the consumers will get attracted to it, because the consumer wants to maintain some status, and feels that using a brand promoted by a star can satisfy their need better.

There is a myth that celebrity endorsement is used to give a brand advantage over its competitors. However, choosing a celebrity for this purpose requires considerable amount of calculations. There should be something common between the brand and the celebrity promoting it.

WHY CELEBRITIES?

A company needs to create awareness and interest in the consumers mind when it unveils a new brand or product. To be successful, brands need to convince consumers that they carry a different image and value from other competing products. In other words, brands have to show their true personality to the potential consumer(s).

An effective way to do this is through celebrity endorsements. As MG Parmeswaran, executive director of an leading ad agency 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." People always wish to see their favorite stars and marketers, and advertisers are quick to capitalize on such ideas.

Endorsement of a product/service by a celebrity gives out the message that it is as authentic and credible as the celebrity is. The urge that people have of enjoying the same recognition and status like their favorite stars is often the main reason for the increasing use of celebrities for products/services endorsement.

Celebrities increase brand awareness and define values and new dimensions of the brand. Marketers use this approach to capture mind and market spaces for their brands. The underlying reason for any celebrity endorsement has to be more sales, with more consumers using the brand.

There are lots of ads on the television, the radio, and even in theatres these days, and most of these ads feature either film stars or cricketers, or both. As a result, it is becoming increasingly tough to ensure that one's share of voice is heard. Using a celebrity in an ad is, therefore, much effective, in that it captures a definite mindshare of the prospective consumer, and if the features and attributes of the brand match with those of the celebrity, the brand will surely be hit.

Why Rahul Dravid chosen to promote Castrol Brand?
Rahul Dravid is considered the most dependable batsman in the Indian team, and he transfers this characteristic of reliability and dependability to the brand(s) he endorses. The reason why Castrol uses Dravid to promote its engine oil seems to be logical, as the company wants to convey to the target customers that Castrol is dependable, and gives the vehicle a long life.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT CELEBRITY

Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly figure among a handful of celebrities who have been endorsing brands. The use of a celebrity should help in building the brand's image. The pros and cons of using a particular celebrity have to be considered before using them for endorsements.

Credibility of the celebrity is often one of the basic factors in determining his/her suitability for the endorsement. Marketers have to check if there exists a match between the brand and the celebrity, and whether the deal is worth the investment.

There are some basic criteria for selecting the right kind of celebrity for a brand. They are:
The celebrity's image has to fit with the advertising idea and match the target audience and the product;
Values, popularity, and the availability of the celebrity;
Cost of acquiring the celebrity;
Previous endorsement (if any),
The celebrity's profession.
There should be a synergy between the celebrity, the ad message and the product. This helps in the customers developing an interest towards the brand.

SUCCESSFUL ENDORSERS
Celebrity endorsements have found good acceptance among the customers as an effective way of promoting brands. In a survey, it was found that in 20% of TV ads in the US feature celebrities, most of them from the sports arena, and these are done to gain ground in the consumers' minds with their interest for sports and sport stars. Some of the well known and of course successful endorsers at International level and national level are briefed below.

International Endorsers:

Michael Jordan
Nike has benefited from using Michael Jordon, the famous basket ball player by getting him endorse its shoes. Things have worked Nike's way, as basketball is a highly popular sport in the US and when someone like Michael Jordan says he uses Nike, it indeed creates a huge impact on the minds of the consumers. Nike has, in a way, justified its use of Jordan through the profits it made.

David Beckham
David Beckham, the soccer player from the UK, is an icon both as a footballer and as an individual. His gaming skills, stylish looks and lifestyle, have got him good recognition and a great fan following all over the world.
When it comes to endorsements, analysts consider Beckham next only to Michael Jordan. He has been associated with quite a few brands like Pepsi, Vodafone, Adidas, Gillette, Police, Brylcream, etc. His lifetime deal with Adidas alone earns him $160 mn, with many of his other endorsements being successful.
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods, the top golfer, has been associated with Nike and Accenture3. The first 5-year deal he signed with Nike was worth $40 mn, and the company later extended that. According to an estimate by Forbes magazine, Tiger Woods had made as much as $78 mn between June 2002 and June 2003, of which a meager $7 mn (9% of total) was from his tournaments.

Indian Endorsers:
In the Indian context also, there have been quite a few examples of brands, which have been successful after being endorsed by famous personalities. The trend kicked off with movie and television stars being used for the endorsements. Further, in India, cricket is followed like a religion and has, thus, turned to be a breeding ground for stars who can be used by marketers. Marketers have been very quick in identifying this, and started using cricket stars to endorse their brands/products. Both category of endorsers are briefed below.

Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan has been endorsing many brands for quite some time now. Companies have been in a mad rush to include Bachchan in their promotions to attract customers, because of the following and respect the senior and talented star carries. It is a sort of belief for every marketer and company that he can endorse any brand or any product and that the association will win customer attention. Some of the brands that this great man endorses are Cadbury chocolate, Nerolac paints, Pepsi, Parker pens, ICICI, Dabur and many more. This kind of reputation has often led companies to spend huge amounts on signing film stars.

Shahrukh khan
Shahrukh khan also has been in the endorsing business, and his endorsements include Pepsi, Hyundai Santro and Videocon to name a few.

Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev, the great Indian cricketer and "Wisdom Indian Cricketer of the Century", used to endorse Palmolive and Boost during his tenure in the Indian cricket team.

Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar, also referred to as the little master, who carries a nation's hope on his shoulders in every game that he plays. Tendulkar has been associated with nearly a dozen brands, and companies have been paying him some hundreds of crores of rupees to vouch for their brands. The little master has given his charismatic touch to brands like MRF, Pepsi, Boost, TVS, Airtel, etc.

SOME CONCERNS

Celebrities can build brands, and at the same time, companies may have to fold up if the endorsement does not click with the target audience. Marketers need to be careful before choosing a celebrity for endorsing their brand, as they spend huge amounts on their brands and also on the celebrity.
The brand can only fare well in the market if it can generate some bonding or relationship with the endorser. If this fails, the consumer may get confused, and that could hamper the future prospects of the brand. Experts opine that companies have to be careful in choosing the right celebrity for promoting their brands, which could otherwise land them in trouble.

The erroneous choice of a celebrity for endorsing the brand can cause the expectations of the company and the sales to fail. This way, not only does the brand lose its identity, even the celebrities' image could be at risk for being associated with a failed brand. Ads featuring the celebrities should never allow the celebrities' image to overshadow the brand itself. When Maruti launched their family car `Versa', the company had decided to use Amitabh and Abhishek to feature in its ads. The ads were successful, but they could not create sales as the consumers were expecting a much better product after seeing Amitabh in the ad.

These days, there is an intense rush of commercials on the small screen as fillers between serials, movies, star shows, cricket matches, news and many other programs. The information overload caused due to excessive use of the same or different stars across the same or different products can lead to confusion among the consumers. Consider Amitabh Bachchan who lends his charisma to so many brands. Every now and then, we find him on television or in the print ads endorsing one product or another. Whether it is Cadbury chocolate, Nerolac paints, Pepsi, Parker pens, ICICI or Dabur products, finding Amitabh everywhere may not appeal much to the consumers, who will fail to understand what values he stands for. Although he is considered the darling of the media men and some brands have gained from his association, it might not happen with all the brands. Commoditization of anything eventually makes it lose its significance.
According to an expert, "There are five reasons why celebrity endorsements won't work. They are: Improper positioning, Brand-celebrity disconnect, Clutter, Dissatisfaction with product quality/performance, and Confusion/Skepticism".

THE OTHER WAY (WHAT WITHOUT CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS?)

The other face of the argument is that some companies' promotions were successful even though they never used stars to endorse their brands in the market. Raymonds has never shown celebrities in its ads. Its ads just explore the relationship between a father and son, wife and husband, teacher and student(s) etc. The attributes of the brand and the benefits of the product, which have been perfectly reflected in the ads, have helped Raymonds to touch a chord with the consumers, elevating it to its iconic status. Brands such as AMUL, Asian Paints never used a celebrity, but were still able to reach the masses. While Asian paints used a Gattoo symbol with a paintbrush in hand, AMUL used a small girl as the company's logo. Both the companies have given the consumers reliable and quality products and, thus, gained considerable market share. The most recent example of a brand that has done pretty well to grab the attention of consumers is `Hutch', which featured a small kid with a dog, not a celebrity!

CONCLUSION

It will be only a matter of time before companies realize that using a celebrity alone cannot guarantee the success of their product. Even if marketers feel to use them then they do seem to have some good plans in selecting the stars for their endorsements, considering only those stars who have had some sort of consistent success stories in their career than opting for "one-time wonders".