Introduction
Celebrities are individuals who are globally regarded as people who have achieved something in their area of expertise. The areas in which people can become celebrities are vast, ranging from politics to sports to different forms of entertainment. Because of their popularity, stars can be used in advertisements and marketing campaigns to promote certain products or services, and are referred to as endorsers.
Celebrity endorsements date back to the middle of the nineteenth century as famous people began being heavily present in advertisements with the widespread popularity of television. TV ads have become one of the primary resources of contemporary marketing, while the current trend is rapidly shifting toward the Internet and social media. Despite the changes in the marketing channels, celebrities remain to be relevant tools for advertisements that reach global audiences that could not be reached before.
Endorsements
The success of endorsements that include celebrities is attributed to the fact that consumers can associate a person with the brand that he or she is promoting. The association between a person and a brand creates a link between a celebrity and a company, which helps potential consumers to relate to the brand and be more inclined to purchase the products or services that it offers. The face of the brand that celebrities provide is expected to bring attention to the company. For instance, George Clooney became a face for Nespresso Company back in 2006. The appeal of Clooney as an actor brought popularity to Nespresso, which greatly benefited the sales and the overall reputation of the product advertised by the actor.
While brands acquire significant advantages thanks to celebrity enforcements, the latter also benefit from partnerships with companies. Not only do celebrities get great exposure in advertisements, but they also get paid high amounts of money for their appearances. An example of a fruitful collaboration between a brand and a celebrity is the partnership between Michael Jordan and Nike. Since 1984, when the initial line of Air Jordans came to the market, Nike used Jordan as the face of the campaign, with the shoe gaining wide popularity with thirty-three editions and re-releases of various designs. According to the report from Forbes, since the first collaboration with Nike, Michael Jordan earned around $1.3 billion, which is a substantial amount of money. Moreover, the collaboration with Nike led the basketball player to create his brand under Nike’s umbrella, Jordan Brand, which has long had the reputation of the second best-selling company specializing in sneakers in the United States.
Endorsements have shown to be popular tools for marketers to promote their companies, services, and products. The overall positive image and characteristics that celebrities have are appealing to customers, which is offers a benefit for marketers who gain success in triggering consumers to purchase the services or products being promoted. Previously, companies have been focusing on celebrities in such areas as entertainment and sports, while today, the trend includes social media influencers. This category of celebrities is relatively new because social media influencers have only become relevant recently as companies have begun investing in online advertising.
Compared to conventional celebrities who have acquired popularity because of their talent and work, social media celebrities have become successful by working on personal branding and gaining a large following on such platforms as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and others. Social media influencers have a unique way of promoting themselves – they develop personal content on a variety of themes ranging from fashion to food. The influencers who are predominantly used for company advertising are female and created their professions based on their reputations as fashion, food, fitness, or beauty bloggers.
It is reasonable for companies to use both traditional and social media celebrities in their advertisements because of the high competition and the need to attract audiences to particular products or services. The positive reputations of influencers can have a positive impact on how consumers perceive the credibility of the brand that their favorite stars are promoting. Both expertise and trustworthiness are important in this case – trust is needed to embed the notions of integrity and honesty that would be transferred to the audience of potential purchasers. In advertisements that employ endorsements, the trustworthiness of a person is imperative because of its overall positive influence on purchasing intentions. The better is the reputation of a celebrity or influencer, the more likely will customers opt for the product or service that they promote.
In general, celebrities are usually likable and believable individuals whom ‘regular people’ can trust, which is a significant benefit for advertisements. Although, it is important to account for limitations of using celebrities in marketing, such as liability associated with scandals in which a person may be involved. The unfavorable publicity that presents a celebrity in a negative light is highly likely to hurt the success of a marketing campaign as well as the products themselves. Importantly, the severity of the impact will depend on the extent to which a celebrity and the product are connected. Thus, based on how a celebrity is perceived, either positively or negatively, the effect on the brand will be proportionate.
Celebrity scandals and the negative publicity associated with them are usually associated with their personal life and or the choices that they had made, especially in terms of socially-unacceptable behaviors such as violence or drug consumption. The example of Tiger Woods illustrates this problem brilliantly. As a well-liked personality, he was signed to endorse products from Gillette, Nike, Electronic Arts, and others. In 2009, when the golf player was involved in reckless driving and infidelity scandals, his popularity declined. Nike’s profits for Woods campaigns fell alongside the overall drop in the customer base. Although some companies may consider any publicity to be good, which means more attention and the impact of ads that include celebrities. Besides, it was found that negative information is stored in one’s memory for longer compared to neutral information.
Conclusion
To conclude, celebrity endorsements offer great opportunities for brands to advertise their products or services to large audiences. The recognition and the impact of such people’s presence in marketing campaigns are expected to increase purchasing and overall company income. The current trend to include social media influencers and not only traditional celebrities is interesting as the web sphere remains expanding. The more influence and trustworthiness a personality has, the more likely it is for the audience to buy what is being promoted to them by that person. While there are some pitfalls to celebrity endorsements, such a method of advertising is not expected to grow out of popularity any time soon.