With the many upcoming brands, employing product endorsement advertising has proven to be an easier way to reach potential customers. To improve brand visibility, many firms are using this method. This method transfers the product from producer to consumer with an endorser in advertising.
Although this strategy is expensive and few firms can afford it, it has proven to have some strategic effects. The emergence of great networks has extended the scope of celebrity endorsement as an advertising technique, and many firms have bent their backs toward this effective strategy.
As a result, old brand marketing tactics used in the past slowly decreased in prominence. The power is gradually shifting from companies to individuals, posing a threat to most firms.
Companies are now using celebrity marketing, giving them partnerships to rejuvenate and promote their brand. Today, there is a lot more interest coming from companies and celebrities.
Although this may be effective, it is risky for firms that put their power and trust entirely on celebrities. Celebrities make mistakes, and when they do, that might affect the brands they endorse. They can also overshadow the brands they support, and consumers may focus on the celebrity, not the product.
Why has celebrity endorsement become so popular, and why are many brands using this strategy?
First and foremost, people believe what they see. Consumer beliefs, opinions, and attitudes towards a particular product or service are influenced by the information given about it by a credible source, in this case, the celebrity.
Consumers, therefore, form a positive attitude towards celebrities. In other words, they create more purchase intentions by changing consumers’ perceptions and beliefs.
The main reason brands engage celebrities in their advertisement is because that helps them target clients directly. A celebrity endorser with attributes such as attractiveness, trustworthiness, and familiarity positively influences consumers’ perception of the quality of the product or service, brand loyalty, and purchase intentions.
If consumers are fans of a particular celebrity, they place a higher value on products that celebrities endorse. They associate the success of the product with the star. Besides that, this has strategic effects on inhibiting rivals’ chances of thriving and, in turn, decreasing the rival’s benefits. These effects have given firms a hard time because they can only counter that by using the same strategy that some firms may not afford.
In an age where everyone is on social media, there’s no doubt that celebrities have a huge role to play in what we consume on those platforms and how we perceive certain products based on their recommendations.
Some celebrities are brutal with their truth about specific products and may take down some companies if their reviews are not too good. In that case, since many people believe what they hear or see, they may withdraw from using specific products.
This has created tough competition between firms since all of them are after getting the best celebrities which typically requires a substantial budget that most firms can’t afford. The best firm with the best offer goes with the best celebrity and gets the best endorsement.
