Celebrity
branding is a method of advertising which uses the services of a celebrity to
promote a product or service with the help of their fame and status in the
society. This method has several approaches; it can involve a celebrity simply appearing
in a commercial and the celebrity can be signed for attending events for
promotion. Another method is to start a product line using their name as a
brand. Perfume and garments are the largest product lines involving such a
promotion. All the top actors, singers and models are known to give their name
to a certain brand or licensed products. Jennifer Lopez started her own line of
clothing a while ago which features designer clothes personally designed by
her.
A
customer’s buying behavior is hugely influenced by famous people. Marketing
experts, using associative learning principles, analyzes the lifestyle of the
celebrities to properly assign them to the brand which depicts them perfectly.
Their fashion sense, appeal, awareness, fame and public image are reviewed
thoroughly to assign them the right charity work or product. Repetition,
blocking, CS pre-exposure, extinction, overshadowing, belongingness, and
association set size are the principles on the basis of which analysis is done
like the famous Miss World Aishwarya Rai of India who has very beautiful eyes was
chosen to campaign for eye donation project. Some of the celebrities are known
for their distinct voice. This concept led to the voice-over method in
advertising. Their voices merely attract customers when used in a commercial.
Today,
nearly twenty percent of the advertising industry utilizes celebrity
endorsement. A celebrity is bound to endorse many products and brands over a
course of time. Each time a different image of the celebrity is being projected
to the public. The company should keep in mind the previous identity and play
accordingly. Projecting a different person every time will sustain the interest
of the customers, but at the same time the two identities shouldn’t conflict with
each other. The captain of England
soccer team David Beckham has endorsed many products. While advertising for
Gillette, his taste for hairstyles was considered and he was given a bald look.
When campaigning for Police his passion for fashion was portrayed all over and
heavily jeweled David Beckham was depicted.
If
a celebrity isn’t comfortable with being pictured differently each time he or
she can create a graphic image or logo of their own which can be used each time
they advertise for a particular product. The logo can reflect the personality
of the respective celebrity, like the font can be stylish if the celebrity is
fashion conscious like Jennifer Lopez who created a logo of JLO, which is used
to advertise perfume and even clothing line of her own. Another advantage in
this approach is that the brand can still be appealing to the crowds even after
the celebrity has lost his or her looks as they won’t require visual
recognition and aids in the long-term negotiations. The celebrity logo itself
carries the style and attitude.
Millions
of dollars are being invested by marketers to get the promotional support of
super stars every year. Davie Brown Entertainment has an agency completely
devoted to the purpose of choosing a celebrity for a product. They not only
judge a celebrity’s caliber to affect brand affinity and consumer’s taste but
also design the advertisements for the celebrities to feature in it.
