Role of Celebrities In Branding

Feb 16, 2018 — Branding

Celebrities have a massive fan following and use their status to promote a brand. Many people look up to them as icons and are prone to use products they endorse. Celebrities have been involved in branding since the inception of the 20th century. Companies are investing a huge amount of money in signing celebrities to endorse their brand and influence minds of customers. Hiring a right celebrity to promote a brand is an essential task as it contributes towards building a brand and market presence. There various benefits of hiring a celebrity to endorse a brand and spread the word about what the brand stands for. Branding companies can help in finding the right celebrity to endorse brands. Following are the roles celebrities play in branding:

Building brand equity:

Getting a name associated with a celebrity is one of the most important steps in building brand equity. For instance, Nike, a sports apparel company signed tennis and other athletes to endorse their brands prior to signing Michael Jordan, a basketball legend. The company signed him in 1984, and since then, basketball shoes Nike Air Jordan has become a brand contributing nearly 58% market share of the $4.2 billion U.S. basketball shoe market in 2015. The three-decade of the relationship between Nike and Air Jordan has conveyed that Nike represents what Michael Jordan represents. Same is the case with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish footballer. Establishing brand equity is possible for companies by signing celebrities to endorse their products.

Remembering ads after watching their celebrities in them:

If people can recall ads of certain products, it helps the company to make sales. One of the easiest ways to make them remember ads is to feature celebrities in them. When a celebrity is acting in an advertisement and sending a message about what the brand represents, people are likely to remember the brand name and advertisement. Featuring an action hero in an ad of aerated drink that wants to give a message to do something adventurous will help in remembering the ad as people already have an image of an action hero as adventurous in their mind.

Makes people believe the product is a huge brand & contributes to superstar status:

When a superstar with enormous following endorses a product, it shows people that the brand is huge. When Roger Federer endorses a product or brand, it shows that the brand is not local, it is global and people would like to be part of it. Same is the case with Usain Bolt. Puma signed him to spread the Forever Faster campaign. It makes people think Puma apparels help Usain Bolt run faster than anyone else. Moreover, it helps companies to make people believe that it is a high-quality product.

Opening up new markets & demographics:

Companies are always looking to expand into new markets. Signing a celebrity from a region they want to expand would help in spreading the word about the brand. Moreover, signing a celebrity to a target audience of specific age would help in widening the reach. Moreover, the youth spends most of their times on the social media. Signing their favorite celebrities would help in reaching the young audience easily.

Celebrities are helpful in spreading the word about the brand and conveying what brands represent. Using a celebrity status will be helpful for companies to convey the brand image and spread brand awareness.