Celebrity Endorsements: Theoretical Explanations of Meaning Transfer - and Schema-based-Models - Recent Developments

Technische Universität Chemnitz
Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Lehrstuhl für Marketing und Handelsbetriebslehre
8th semester

Celebrity Endorsements: Theoretical Explanations of
Meaning Transfer – and Schema-based-Models –
Recent Developments

by: Matthias Röderstein

Contents

1 Preface  1

2 Celebrity Endorsement: the Conceptual Framework  2

2.1 Celebrities as Endorsers in the Communication Process 2
2.2 Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers 2
2.3 Schema Theory: Cognitive Structures in the Mind of Consumers  3

3 Models of Celebrity Endorsement  5

3.1 Source Attractiveness  5
3.2 Source Credibility 6
3.3 Match-Up Hypothesis  9
3.4 Meaning-Transfer Model 13

4 Conclusion 16

Bibliography  V
 

1 Preface

Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Heidi Klum, Günther Jauch, Thomas Gottschalk, they have all something in common. They are famous due to their public appearance and achievements in sport, television, magazines etc. Additionally, all of them are promoting or endorsing products. The use of famous spokesperson or celebrities in marketing communications in the United States is growing since the late 1970’s and has reached a percentage of nearly 25% at the end of the 1990’s.¹ Statistics for the german market also suggest an increased use of famous testimonials, although their percentage relative to other communication strategies is seen as lower.² Some researchers contend a positive economic effect of celebrity endorsements despite they are very expensive.³ Noticing that endorsement contracts with celebrities are expensive raises several questions. What makes them so interesting for companies? Why are marketeers using celebrities instead of “normal” people? For executive directors it may be useful to know how the “right” celebrity could be selected from the big crowd of popular persons. Furthermore, which are the factors predicting wether a celebrity is effective or not as an endorser? From a more scientific point of view, it is interesting to shed light to the processes through which consumers perceive advertisements with celebrities.

As the title of this study suggests, these questions are answered in a somehow theoretical way, but with some practical conclusions. Chapter 2 explains to which extent the celebrity may be part of the communication process and which effectiveness criteria exist. Having defined and classified the main concepts of this paper in chapter 2, which are celebrity endorsement and schemas, some models that are related to celebrity endorsements are explained. Research of celebrity endorsement has focused mainly on four different approaches. First, the characteristics of an endorser as a source of information, divided in attractiveness (3.1) and credibility (3.2). Additionally, Match-Up between product and endorser characteristics are examined (3.3). Finally, in a more comprehensive model, researchers investigated in transfer of meanings from celebrities to products and then to consumers (3.4). This study will end with some limitations and expectations to further research.

2 Celebrity Endorsement: the Conceptual Framework

2.1 Celebrities as Endorsers in the Communication Process

Communication policy is an important area of marketing policy. Various instruments are at the disposal of marketeers: such as the classical instruments of advertising, sponsoring, public relations and product placement, but also “new“ communication forms like events, fairs and particularly the internet. More and more popularity gains the use of endorsers (a person who gives a favorable opinion about something, for instance about a brand or a product).⁴ This study will focus on celebrity endorsements in print advertising. Three types of endorsers are widely used in print advertising: the celebrity endorser, the professional expert and the typical consumer.⁵ Giving a definition, “the celebrity endorser is defined as any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement.“⁶ The professional expert endorser is characterized as an individual “possessing superior knowledge regarding the product class endorsed” while the typical consumer is circumscribed as an ordinary person without special knowledge about the product class endorsed.⁷ Advertising with its character of direct communication leads to the consideration of SHANNON AND WEAVER’S Communication Model as an underlying concept.⁸ According to this model, a message arises at an information source, which encodes it to send it via a channel towards a receiver, who, in turn, has to decode it. During the message transition there could occur noise (sources of interference) that weakens the message content or makes it even undecodable.

2.2 Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsers

However, celebrity endorsers could strenghten the communication message and are a direct determinant of the brand image or brand personality. ⁹ Therefore, the arrangement of the celebrity should be carefully considered in the planning process of the communication and the brand-equity management. Clear Objectives ought to be determined in order to observe the effectiveness of the endorsement deal. Besides the economic objectives of advertisement (e.g. increaseed total revenue or market share), there exist several psychological objectives. Namely, an increased awareness of the brand/ product name, a more differentiated knowledge of brand/product characteristics by consumers, enhanced attitude towards the ad (Aad), towards the brand (AB) and above all, increased purchase intentions (PI).¹⁰

2.3 Schema Theory: Cognitive Structure s in the Mind of Consumers

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1 cf. Erdogan (1999), p. 292

2 cf. Haase (2000), p. 56

3 cf. Agrawal, Kamakura (1995), p. 60; Mathur, Mathur, Rangan (1997), p. 72; Farrell et al. (2000), p. 11

4 e.g. Knott, James (2004), p. 87; Silvera, Austad (2004), p. 1509; Daneshvary, Schwer (2000), p. 203

5 cf. Friedman, Friedman (1979), p. 63

6 cf. McCracken (1989), p. 310

7 cf. Friedman, Friedman (1979), p. 63

8 cf. Meffert (1991), p. 447

9 cf. Mäder (2005), p. 39; for some (negative) effects when a celebrity endorses more than one product see Tripp, Jensen, Carlson (1994)

10 cf. Mayer (1990), p. 23; for a systematization of criterias: ibid., pp. 40 ff.