Advertising: Celebrity VS Expert Endorsing, Which One is More Effective ?

According to a research, on average one out of every five advertisements in U.K and one out every four advertisements in U.S, includes a celebrity as an endorser. Not to mention that every fifth ad on global level features a celebrity ⁽¹⁾ (honestly these “celebrity people” are making some really big money I am jealous! Don’t tell me you are not!!!).

Okay now let’s talk about effectiveness of these “celebrity people”, As you know the above research is specifically dealing with celebrity endorsing, so let me give you another reference that deals with both (celebrity & expert), according to another research, around 20% of television advertisements in the U.S  have some famous person as an endorser ⁽²⁾.

Celebrity VS Expert endorsing which one is more effective ?

Now when it comes to effectiveness, I believe it depends on the following five things.

1.       Customer interest in Product/Service

2.       Technology

3.       Product/service homogeneity

4.       Perceived Risk

5.       Emotions, Feelings transfer from Celebrity to Brand

Let me explain

Customer Interest/involvement in Product/Service

High interest or involvement in product/service means customer needs more than just a celebrity endorsement because he/she is taking high interest and thus needs answers, demands strong arguments, valid assertions, logic by a credible source (expert endorsement).

Thus in such case your advertisement should feature an expert endorser and vice versa.

Technology

If your product/service is made out of high tech, high level tech involved in it, utilizes high level of technology, then in that case you should utilize expert endorser in your ads and vice versa.

Product/Service Homogeneity

Well when your product/service is ordinary, has tons of alternatives, me-too’s due to product/service homogeneity then in that case you can only differentiate your product/service from the rest by having a strong celebrity endorsement or by branding.

And if what you are offering is new, not something ordinary, not widely available then you need expert endorsement to elaborate, explain what your offering is all about.

Fact: In year 2013 U.S companies spent whopping $140 billion in advertising ⁽³⁾. 

Perceived risk

Perceived Risk: The  nature  and  level  of uncertainty felt  by  a customer  while considering  a  particular  purchase  decision.

If the perceived risk is high then you would need an expert endorser in your ad to minimize it.

For instance in case of high:

Quality risk: Utilize Quality Expert endorsement

Financial risk: Utilize financial Expert endorsement

Physical risk: Utilize Physical Expert endorsement

Fact: According to a research average American is confronted with 16000 advertisement messages per day ⁽⁴⁾.

Emotions, Feelings transfer from Celebrity to Brand

If you want your brand (product/service) to arouse similar feelings, emotions, meanings (given by your target market to a particular celebrity) in your target market, then you need to use celebrity endorsement.

For more details on this read Associate Learning Theory and The Theory of Semantic Processing by Collins, Elizabeth  F.  Loftus & Allan M.

That’s it, over to you guys ;)

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References

1.       Halonen-Knight, E. and Hurmerinta, L. (2010), “Who endorses whom? Meaning transfer in celebrity endorsement”, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 452-60.

2.       Agrawal,  Jagdish, and Wagner  A. Kamakura (1995), "The Economic Worth  of Celebrity Endorsers:  An  Event Study Analysis,"  Journal  of Marketing,  59 (July), 56-62.

3.    Kantar Media
    
4.    Allison Enright, What Amazon’s strong growth means for competitors, Internet Retailer, October 2010.