Celebrity Endorsement in a nutshell
1. What is Celebrity Endorsement?
Celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising in which brands collaborate with celebrities and leverage their public recognition to promote relevant products or services. The history of celebrity endorsement dates back to the 19th century when British actress Lillie Langtry became the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product by being a spokesperson of Pears Soap.
Since then, this exorbitant form of advertising has been employed by marketers all around the world to achieve different objectives, ranging from building brand awareness and reinforcing brand associations to increasing sales and profit.
2. Types of celebrity endorsement
A study on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in 2023 divides celebrity endorsement into 2 primary types: commonality and complementarity. Brands use commonality when they want to take advantage of the celebrity’s well-known expertise and talent to strengthen the existing brand associations, while complementarity is prioritised when brands introduce new offerings to the market and want to leverage the celebrity’s fame to accelerate the promotion.
Many professionals and academics have confirmed the effectiveness of both 2 types of celebrity endorsement. Many marketers believe that the fit between brand identity and the celebrity’s image in commonality results in positive brand attitudes and engagement. Meanwhile, many believe that celebrities can help new brands build awareness and familiarity in complementarity.
Proven Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement in Advertising
1. Build Brand Awareness
Without a doubt, advertisements that feature celebrities often draw more attention from the public than non-celebrity ones. This is explained by the theory about the attentional bias towards human faces and expressions which subtly states that we are inclined to focus on people’s facial expressions and behaviours when watching an advertisement.
And if the face is familiar to us (e.g. the face of a popular celebrity), the effect will be even stronger, making it easier for us to recognise and recall the advert. These are all key elements which help brands build brand awareness and familiarity.
Bonus, a study back in 1985 found that featuring celebrities in advertising can significantly enhance brand awareness of brands in high-involvement categories such as automobiles, real estate, etc., which require customers to process and analyse carefully before making decisions.
2. Build Brand Identity and Key Associations
Celebrities are well-known and inspiring individuals who are primarily admired by a large group of the public for their lifestyles, personality traits, gorgeous appearance, and incredible achievements in particular areas. Hence, they can transfer their distinctive characteristics to the brand identity or contribute to the brand’s desired associations.
In other words, if consumers do not have much brand knowledge and associations, they will be more likely to rely on particular cues (including celebrities) given by brands to quickly form their perceptions. Hence, brands need to consider celebrities’ known expertise and credibility to avoid associating their identities with undesired characteristics.
3. Increase Purchase Intent and Impulse Buying Behaviours
Research has shown that the attractiveness and credibility of celebrities play an essential role in building trust from customers and persuading them to buy the endorsed products. When the brand is not known by its target audience, it has to use the power and influence of stars to make people aware of it and form some associations through endorsement.
A study on celebrity endorsement in developing countries shows that the characteristics of the endorser, such as attractiveness and trustworthiness, influence consumer perceptions of brand quality, and eventually nurture their intent to purchase.
Besides, celebrity endorsement is believed to generate more impulse buying tendencies as impulsive buyers are likely to be affected by emotional stimuli and their relationships with the stars.
The latest study on the topic in 2023 concludes that a strong perceived connection with the celebrity endorser results in higher feelings of self-pleasure and arousal among the audience while watching the advertisement. These positive emotions are directly associated with impulse buying behaviours.
4. Enhance Brand Loyalty and Advocacy
When a celebrity endorses a brand, it can evoke positive emotions and perceptions among consumers. Especially, if consumers have a strong affinity for the celebrity and trust their judgment, they may transfer these feelings to the endorsed brand. As a result, consumers may develop a sense of loyalty to the brand due to its association with the celebrity they admire.
Yet, we need to be aware that the effectiveness of this may be affected by other external factors such as the previous relationship between the brand and its customers, and the celebrity-brand congruence.
A study on brand loyalty states that if consumers perceive the brand as already high quality and competent before the endorsement, the overall impact on brand loyalty will be much stronger. Besides, a high degree of alignment between the brand identity and the celebrity’s persona also influences consumers’ attitudes towards the brand. High congruence means that the brand is authentic and credible, which are prerequisites for higher loyalty and advocacy.
5. Celebrity Endorser helps brands justify their high price tags
Brands often utilise the celebrities’ level of expertise and prominent achievements to signal the high quality of the advertised offerings. The more perceived quality consumers have, the more they are willing to pay for the brands. It is believed that consumers perceive brands endorsed by celebrities as trustworthy as they assume brands have to pay millions of dollars to get the endorsement.
However, celebrity endorsement is not the only for brands to engage with their target audience and achieve the above factors. Creativity in advertising remains the most important element that helps brands get through the advertising clutter and connect with customers both cognitively and emotionally. I have written a blog ‘How to apply creativity in advertising?‘, please take a quick look at it.
The Vampire Effect – The Negative Side of Celebrity Endorsement
The vampire effect refers to the condition in which the fame and prominence of the celebrity overshadow other branded elements in the advertisement (or the endorser sucks dry the lifeblood of the brand). More often than not, this phenomenon takes place when the brand collaborates with a celebrity who is more well-known and recognisable than itself.
Some surveys back in 2015 provide some evidence related to this effect. The early study on the vampire effect concludes that brand recall of adverts featuring celebrities can be worse than that of non-star adverts. The primary cause of this is the overall layout and design of the adverts in which the audience cannot notice any relevance or fit between the brands and the celebrities.
Sometimes brands choose global superstars to endorse their products, these individuals will draw all of the customers’ attention away from the branded stimuli.
As a result, customers spend more time and effort looking at the celebrity endorser’s gestures and behaviours, which means that they tend to ignore or feel less engaged with other elements such as product features, etc. that require lots of cognitive thinking.
Another study on the use of the eye-tracking technique in advertising in 2021 shows that the length of the scenes that feature the image of celebrities will also affect the outcome of the advert. The longer duration the celeb has in the advert, the more attention he/she will steal from the advertised brand.
Read more blogs about Marketing at: Marketing With Thang
How To Address The Vampire Effect To Maximise The Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement?
1. A more diligent design of visual cues in the advertisement
As I have mentioned above, the visual elements of the advert can significantly affect how the audience pays their attention. Hence, brands should craft a more good-looking advertisement which focuses on the contact between the celebrity and the advertised products. This calls for the careful selection of the endorser as his/her match with the product will influence customer engagement.
Besides, it is recommended that as the vampire effect will be more likely to occur if the background cues take customers too much time and effort to process, brands should consider simplifying the design of branded elements featured in the advert.
2. Prioritise Brand-Celebrity-Audience congruence
Firstly, brands should consider the fit between their identity and the celebrity’s well-known image. Customers perceive popular stars and will try to imitate their lifestyles and distinctive attributes by purchasing anything these individuals promote.
Yet, if the audience figures out that celebrities are driven to endorse the brand due to commercial incentives (money) or there is simply no match and relevance between them and the brand, they will be very disappointed and even turn their back on the collaboration. Hence, brand-celebrity congruence is key to advertising success.
Secondly, the relationship between the prospective endorsers and the target audience should be taken into account. As mentioned above, if customers see celebrities as their role models, it will be a good signal of a potential endorsement. Choosing the right persona makes it easier for brands to transfer the unique characteristics of celebrities to their own sets of associations.
Case Study: The Success of Nike’s Celebrity Endorsement
The final section of the blog today will be about some critical lessons we can learn from the incredible success of Nike’s Celebrity Endorsement in advertising. Over the last decades, the iconic sports apparel and footwear brand has been renowned not only for its exceptional offerings but also for its brilliant selection of global sports icons such as football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, basketball best player Lebron James, the goat of golf Tiger Wood, etc. Let’s see which lessons we can absorb from these symbolic collaborations.
Lesson 1: Brand-celebrity congruence is key
Nike always prioritises the authenticity and relevance of its identity when choosing stars to endorse its products. The brand carefully aligns its brand identity with the personalities of its chosen celebrities, ensuring a natural fit that resonates with its target audience.
For example, the brand launched the “LeBron James: Come out of Nowhere” campaign in 2016, celebrating James’ journey from humble beginnings to NBA superstardom. The commercial featured a video narrating James’s rise to prominence, showcasing his resilience and determination, which match perfectly with Nike’s core value – ‘Just do it!’.
Even though LeBron only appears for about 10 seconds in the nearly 2-minute commercial, it’s a clever way to avoid the “vampire effect” and reinforce the brand’s core brand image and associations.
Lesson 2: Emotional connection between the brand and customers
Nike understands the power of emotional connection in celebrity endorsement. By featuring athletes who embody determination, resilience, and triumph over adversity, the brand touches the global audience in their hearts and inspires them to succeed.
In 2018, Nike released a powerful ad titled “Dream Crazier“, narrated by Serena Williams and featuring many popular female athletes well-recognised across diverse sports, from gymnast Simone Biles and snowboarder Chloe Kim to fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad. The advert depicts these female sportsmen’s resilience in the face of gender challenges, which engages with the female audience emotionally, motivating them to keep going forward no matter how hard it is.
By featuring many stars across sectors, Nike successfully dealt with the vampire effect, positioning itself as the ordinary product for extraordinary people in the world of sports.
Lesson 3: Long-term partnerships
Nike’s success in celebrity endorsement results from its commitment to long-term partnerships with the endorsers. The first lifelong contract was signed in 1984 when Nike committed to a long-term partnership with Michael Jordan, arguably one of the best basketball superstars ever. Later on, in 2015 the brand signed another lifelong $1 billion contract with Lebron James. Another 2 athletes awarded this privilege are Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin Durant, both of whom are well-known for their outstanding achievements.
Lesson 4: A focus on global appeal and diversity
Nike successfully addresses the vampire effect in celebrity endorsement by featuring athletes from diverse backgrounds and sports disciplines. Each celebrity brings their own unique persona and fan base to the campaign, allowing the brand to connect with multiple demographic segments simultaneously.
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Academic Sources for this blog:
Chan, T.H., Chau, B.K.H. (2023) Mitigating the Vampire Effect of Using Celebrity in Advertising: An Eye-Tracking Approach. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising. 44(4), pp.453-472.
Jun, M., Han, J., Zhou, Z., and Eisingerich, A.B. (2023) When is celebrity endorsement effective? Exploring the role of celebrity endorsers in enhancing key brand associations. Journal of Business Research. 164, p.113951.
Osei-Frimpong, K., Donkor, G., and Owusu-Frimpong, N. (2019) The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Consumer Purchase Intention: An Emerging Market Perspective. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. 27(1), pp.103-121.
Sy Chu
As an analytical and creative marketing enthusiast skilled in customer analysis, content research and brand management, my passion is help businesses gain insights into their brand and marketing strategies to drive impactful outcome to their success.