The Siyaram Celebrity Endorsement Experience

THE J.HAMPSTEAD STORY Contd...

Siyaram's strategy of opting for multiple brand endorsements seemed to have diluted the impact of the scandal on the brand. The company began working on a new series of commercials featuring the Leander/Mahesh duo, but dropped them as the brand ambassadors in October, 2000. Though company sources denied that they had given up the celebrity endorsement route for J.Hampstead, the perils of celebrity endorsement began to be seriously examined by Indian companies and advertising agencies.

THE CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT ISSUE

Celebrity endorsements began way back in the 19th century with UK's Queen Victoria endorsing Cadbury's Cocoa. Using celebrities for promotion has been a common marketing communications strategy, practiced globally. Marketers believe celebrity endorsers are more effective than non-celebrity endorsers in generating actual sales from the customers, and positively influence the consumption of the products they are associated with. The fact that celebrities remain in constant media focus helps create high recall rates for the commercials that feature them. Their attractive qualities are transferred to the product being promoted. Some of the main reasons for companies using celebrity endorsers are given in Table II.

TABLE II
MAJOR REASONS FOR UTILIZING CELEBRITY ENDORSERS

Celebrity advertisements stand out amidst the other advertisements

They facilitate attention getting

Celebrity values define and refresh the brand image

Celebrities add new dimensions to the brand image

Celebrities give the brand instant credibility

The use of celebrities gives the brand enhanced PR coverage

The use of celebrities make it easier for the agencies to convince clients about the campaign's success

Source: www.cjsm.com

However, selecting the right celebrity endorsers is usually a tough task. A wrong choice can ruin the image of a brand. (Table III gives the criteria used for selecting a celebrity.) The acceptance of an advertisement message is largely determined by the attractiveness of the celebrity presenting the message. Also, the message conveyed by the celebrity must match the product message. Relevance is a very important factor in celebrity endorsements. If there is very little fit between the celebrity and the brand personae, the advertisement could prove counter-productive. Interestingly, the selection of Hansie Cronje for J.Hampstead was criticized on these very grounds by an executive from the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather. He said, �Cronje is such a casual chap and he looks so awkward and uncomfortable in a suit.� The man behind the popular Pepsi ads, filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar said, �J Hampstead is a perfect example of using a celebrity without a script.�