Didn’t get the desired results from your business advertising strategy? Or, want to increase the reach and awareness of your brand? Whatever it is, it’s time to rethink your approach! Celebrity branding is one of the most effective advertising strategies that you can use to tap into the untouched market. Today, in this blog, we will discuss what it is all about, how to select a celebrity for brand marketing along with some inspiring examples of successful celebrity branding.
Table of content:
- An introduction to celebrity branding
- Why do brands use celebrity endorsement?
- How to select the celebrity for brand marketing
- Inspiring examples of Celebrity Branding
An Introduction to Celebrity Branding
Celebrity branding, also known as celebrity endorsement, is a form of advertising strategy that uses the name and fame of a public figure to promote a brand, products, services or to raise awareness about a particular issue.
You have to show some sort of value to that celebrity to make him work for your brand. It could be in the form of monetary value or might be the free usage of your products.
There are many ways you can advertise your brand through celebrity endorsements. You can capture the market through social media platforms, on the cover page of a magazine, interviews, daily online blogs, celebrities on the Red Carpet, celebrities attending any kind of event, etc.
Why do brands use celebrity branding?
This is, no doubt, a customer-centric era. And, celebrity branding can create magic if done effectively and efficiently. A celebrity or a public figure got his fame for his or her achievements in his or her field. A few examples are:
- Actor: Amitabh Bachhan, Akshaya Kumar
- Actress: Sara Ali Khan, Alia Bhatt
- Sport Athletes: Virat Kohli, M.S. Dhoni.
- Comedian: Kapil Sharma, Raju Shrivastava
- Singer: Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal
- Fashion Designers: Sabyasachi Mukherjee
And, the list goes on…
Now, the question is why do brands use celebrity branding? Let’s figure it out!
Persuasion Power: A public figure has the persuasion power of influencing the customers’ purchase decision. They can draw the attention of the target group quite easily.
Attractiveness of Advertisement: Researchers state that celebrity endorsement improves the attractiveness of advertisement ratings which can boost the financial returns of the companies.
Emotional Ties: Celebrity branding allows recognizing and recalling a brand faster due to emotional ties.
Rational Ties: Sometimes, customers act more rationally than emotionally. For example, one of the Mutual Fund advertisements points to the risk factor involved in transactions. So, they associate it with Sachin Tendulkar, the popular Indian cricketer, who won the matches, and risk is also involved there.
PR Coverage: This form of brand advertising involves high PR coverage.
Demographic Connect: The selection of celebrities may vary based on demographic traits like their age, gender, location, etc. For example, it will sound rational if the advertisement of energy drinks or stylish clothes will be done by a young celebrity because they’re more energetic and fashion-conscious persons.
Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: Celebrity branding also helps in the rejuvenation of a stagnant brand.
So, these are some of the reasons why do brands use celebrity branding.
How to Select the Celebrity for Brand Marketing
Working with a celebrity is a huge step towards increasing brand recognition allowing your brand to reach an untapped market through an influential connection.
Now, the question is how to find out which celebrity is a good fit for your brand? Well…here is how!
1. Research, Research, and Research…
A little research on the celebrities can help you find out who can be the best spokesperson for your brand. Research what brands and products that celebrity has promoted earlier. Ideally, you should choose those who have already promoted a brand or products like yours.
2. Who is the audience?
No matter how huge the fan following of a celebrity is, it won’t work until the audience is not of the right segment. Obviously…you can’t promote a funky collection to those who’re interested in traditional designs. That’s why you have to find out whether or not a celebrity’s existing audience overlaps with your target demographic and whether or not the audience size is big enough to boost your revenues and justify your business cost.
3. Audience engagement shouldn’t be ignored.
If a celebrity has a big audience size but a low engagement rate then it won’t work for you. Say, for example, a celebrity has 20 million followers on Facebook. But, on average, he gets 100 likes per post. Do you think it sounds reasonable? Think about it!
The more the engagement rate, the more likely they’ll listen to them.
4. Look for Traits
Whenever the marketer is using a celebrity, they look for a special trait that fits their brand message. For example, Aishwarya Rai, the Miss World in 1994, beautifully endorses the L’Oreal brand. Her beauty is the perfect fit for the brand message of L’Oreal, thereby, resulting in enhanced brand value. And, that’s how a marketer should emphasize upon.
Inspiring Examples of Celebrity Branding
Now, let’s take a look at a few examples of celebrity branding. This will surely help you understand what kind of celebrity will suit your brand the most.
- Kalyan Jewellers: Featuring Amitabh Bachhan
2. Prestige: Featuring Aishwarya Rai & Abhishek
3. Borolein: Featuring Vidya Balan
4. Mutual Funds: Featuring Sachin Tendulkar
5. Horlicks Protine Plus: Featuring Akshaya Kumar
So, this is how you can leverage celebrity branding to promote your brand, products, and services. We hope these examples would help you a lot in creating your own advertising strategy. Stay tuned and we’ll come back with more interesting stuff for you!
